'Figure,' he began, as we joined the others, 'zat zis gentilman 'ere 'as offer me money for ze dog! He agrees zat it is to me, you see? Ver well zen, zere is no more to be said!' 'Why, Weatherhead, have _you_ lost faith too, then?' said the Colonel. I saw that it was no good--all I wanted now was to get out of it creditably and get rid of the Frenchman. 'I'm sorry to say,' I replied, 'that I'm afraid I've been deceived by the extraordinary likeness. I don't think, on reflection, that that _is_ Bingo!' 'What do you think, Travers?' asked the Colonel. 'Well, since you ask me,' said Travers, with quite unnecessary dryness, 'I never did think so.' 'Nor I,' said the Colonel; 'I thought from the first that was never my Bingo. Why, Bingo would make two of that beast!' And Lilian and her aunt both protested that they had had their doubts from the first. 'Zen you pairmeet zat I remove 'im?' said the Frenchman. 'Certainly' said the Colonel; and after some apologies on our part for the mistake, he went off in triumph, with the detestable poodle frisking after him. When he had gone the Colonel laid his hand kindly on my shoulder. 'Don't look so cut up about it, my boy,' he said; 'you did your best--there was a sort of likeness, to any one who didn't know Bingo as we did.' Just then the Frenchman again appeared at the hedge. 'A thousand pardons,' he said, 'but I find zis upon my dog--it is not to me. Suffer me to restore it viz many compliments.' It was Bingo's collar. Travers took it from his hand and brought it to us. 'This was on the dog when you stopped that fellow, didn't you say?' he asked me. One more lie--and _I_ was so-weary of falsehood! 'Y-yes,' I said reluctantly, that was so.' 'Very extraordinary,' said Travers; 'that's the wrong poodle beyond a doubt, but when he's found, he's wearing the right dog's collar! Now how do you account for that?' 'My good fellow,' I said impatiently, 'I'm not in the witness-box. I _can't_ account for it. It--it's a mere coincidence!' 'But look here, my _dear_ Weatherhead,' argued Travers (whether in good faith or not I never could quite make out), 'don't you see what a tremendously important link it is? Here's a dog who (as I understand the facts) had a silver collar, with his name engraved on it, round his neck at the time he was lost. Here's that identical collar turning up soon afterwards round the neck of a totally different dog! We must follow this up; we must get at the bottom of it somehow! With a clue like this, we're sure to find out, either the dog himself, or what's become of him! Just try to recollect exactly what happened, there's a good fellow. This is just the sort of thing I like!'