The surmises, the exclamations, the whispers and suspicions that passed from one to the other, it is needless to record; it will suffice to say that, after an animated conversation with the mysterious visitor, Mr Bullion once more joined the circle and said, "You will be ready, all of you, to start for France to-morrow. I have business of importance that calls for my presence in Tours. Say not a word, but obey." CHAPTER III. So, in a week, they were all comfortably settled in a hotel at Tours. Mr Bullion was sitting in the parlour, apparently in deep and pleasant contemplation; for the corners of his mouth were involuntarily turned up, and he inspected the calf of his leg with self-satisfied admiration. Mr Cocker was on a chair in the corner, probably multiplying the squares in the table-cover by the flowers in the paper. "How do you like France, Mr Cocker?" said Mr Bullion. "Not at all, sir; the folks has no sense; and no wonder we always wallop them by sea or land." "Hem! Must I remind you, sir, that this is _my_ country; that the French are my countrymen; and that you by no means wallop them either by sea or land." "_You_ French! _you_ Frenchman!" replied Mr Cocker; "that _is_ a joke! Bullion ain't altogether a French name, I think? No, no; it smells of the bank; _it_ does. You ain't one of the _parlevous_--_you_ ain't, that's certain." "How often have I to order you, sir, not to doubt my word?" said Mr Bullion; and emphacised his speech with a form of expression that is generally considered a clencher. "There! there!" cried Cocker, triumphant; "I told you so. Is there ever a Frenchman could swear like that? They ain't Christians enough to give such a jolly hearty curse as yourn; so you see, sir, it's no go to pass yourself off for a _Mounseer_." "Leave the room, sir, and send Mr Hope to me at once!" Cocker obeyed, puzzled more and more at the fancy his master was possessed with to deny his country. "It would, perhaps, have been wiser," thought Mr Bullion, "to have left the plebeian fools at home till everything was formally completed; but still, nothing, I suppose, would have satisfied them but the evidence of their own eyes." "Mr Hope," he said, as that young gentleman entered the room, "sit down beside me; nay, no ceremony, I shall always treat you with condescension and regard." "You are very good, sir." "I am, sir; and I trust your conduct will continue such as to justify me in remaining so. You may have observed, Mr Hope, a change in my manner for some time past. You can't have been fool enough, like Miss Smith and Mr Cocker, to doubt the reality of the fact I stated, namely, that I am French by birth,--did you doubt it, sir?" "Why, sir,--in fact--since you insist on an answer--"