The Hindu remained for an hour in the cafe, smoking and drinking some kind of syrup, and one of my fellows watched him. Presently the proprietor called him into a little room behind the counter and closed the door. The Hindu and the quadroon remained there for a few minutes, then the Hindu came out and left the cafe, returning to his abode. There was a telephone in this inner room, and my agent was of opinion that the Indian had entered either to make or to receive a call. I caused the line to be tapped. On the following night the Hindu came back to the cafe, followed by one of my men. I posted myself at a selected point and listened for any message that might pass over the line to or from the cafe. At about the same hour as before--according to the report--someone called up the establishment, asking for "Miguel." This was the quadroon, and I heard his thick voice replying. The other voice--which had first spoken--was curiously sibilant but very distinct. Yet it did not sound like the voice of a Frenchman or of any European. This was the conversation: "Miguel." "Miguel speaks." "_Scorpion._ A message for Chunda Lal." "Very good." Almost holding my breath, so intense was my excitement, I waited whilst Miguel went to bring the Hindu. Suddenly a new voice spoke--that of the Hindu. "Chunda Lal speaks," it said. I clenched by teeth; I knew that I must not miss a syllable. "Scorpion" replied ... in voluble _Hindustani_--a language of which I know less than a dozen words! CHAPTER II CONCERNING THE GRAND DUKE Although I had met with an unforeseen check, I had nevertheless learned three things. I had learned that Miguel the quadroon was possibly in league with the Hindu; that the Hindu was called Chunda Lal; and that Chunda Lal received messages, probably instructions, from a third party who announced his presence by the word "_Scorpion_." One of my fellows, of course, had been in the cafe all the evening, and from him I obtained confirmation of the fact that it had been the Hindu who had been summoned to the telephone and whom I had heard speaking. Instant upon the man at the cafe replacing the telephone and disconnecting, I called up the exchange. They had been warned and were in readiness. "From what subscriber did that call come?" I demanded. Alas! another check awaited me. It had originated in a public call office, and "Scorpion" was untraceable by this means! Despair is not permitted by the traditions of the Service de Surete. Therefore I returned to my flat and recorded the facts of the matter thus far established. I perceived that I had to deal, not with a designing woman, but with some shadowy being of whom she was an instrument. The anomaly of her life was in a measure explained. She sojourned in Paris for a purpose--a mysterious purpose which was concerned (I could not doubt it) with the Grand Duke Ivan. This was not an amorous but a political intrigue.