, 1912-02-08
A your e.coleney has already de-

IA your exceIlency has already de
ciareds'
what has 1t to do with Francer
much or little. 1t depends upon this
side of the Rhine"
"What Imagination! But for your
credentials, NJ. Ferraud, i should not
listen to you one moment
81 have seen some documents"
"Forgeries!" contemptuously.
mot in the least" suavely. "They
are in every part genuine. Thy are
his own"
The chancellor paused, frownlng'
We'll, even Them"
NJ. Ferraud shrugged.
'This fellow. who was forced to re
sign from the navy because of his
tricks at cards. why l doubt If he coulu
stir up a braw in a tavern. Really, III
there was n word of truth In the affair,
we should have acted before this. 1t
In all idle newspaper talk that Germany
wishes war; far from 1t. Still. we lose
no point t. fortify ourselves against the
possibility of 1t Some n has been
telling you old wives tales"
'aTen Thousand Marks" almost In
audibly.
"what was that you said?" cried the
chancellor, whirling round abruptly, for
the words startled him.
Pardon me. l was thinking out loud
about q sum of money"
"Ahr' And yet the chancellor re-
allied thai the other was telling him
as plainly as he dared that the German
government had offered such a sum to
forward the very intrigue which he
was so emphatically denying. why
moi turn the matter over TO your W
ambassador here?"
The secret agent laughed. publicity
is what neither your government nor
mine desires. Thank you"
81 am sorry not to be OF some service
to you"
81 can readily believe that, your ex-
~cellency." not to be outdone In the mat
ter of duplicity. 81 thank you for your
time"
II hadn't the least idea hat you were
In the service; butterflies n diplo-
macy!' with a hearty laugh.
ut is only temporary"
Your Alpine Butterflies compares
favorably with The Life of the Bee"
"That is a very great compliment
And with this the interview, ex-
traordinary in all ways, came to an
end. Neither man had fooled the
other, neither had made any mistake
In his logical deductions. and. in a
way, both were satisfied The han
cellor resumed his more definite labors.
and the secret agent hurried away to
the nearest telegraph office.
$50 1 am to stand on these two
feet?' NJ Ferraud Illuminated. as he
took the seat by the window in the
second class carriage for Munich. "All
the finer the sport Ten thousand
marks! He forgot himself for a mo
ment. And ! might have gone further
Inc said that 10000 marks would be
added to those 10000 II b bride was
accepted and the promise fulfilled.
All. 1t would be beautiful to untangle
this smart all alone, 1t would be the
finest chase hat nae ever fallen to his
lot. No grain of sand. however small.
should escape him There We're fools
In Berlin as well as in Paris. and ne
knew what he knew. Never a move
shall he make that / shan't make The
same. and in one thing / shall move
first. Two million francs! Handsome
Ii is | who must find this treasure.
this fulcrum to the lever which is 70
ing to upheave France. There will be
no difficulty then in prickins the pretty
bubble In the meantime we shall pro
coed to Munich and carefully inquire
into the affairs of the grand opera
singer. HildeGarde Won Mitter
He extracted a wallet : I'm an inner
pocket and opened ii across his knees.
II was full of butterflies.
CHAPTER III.