"The Minister of the Interior," continued the man, "has ordered three foreigners, a German, a Spaniard, and an Italian, to leave France. Those persons are Dr. Spellman of Berlin, the Duke D.... of Madrid, and Count Monte-Leone of Naples." "True," said M. H.... "This is at the request of the ministers of those three nations." "Well," said the mysterious man, "it must be at once revoked." "Why?" "Because, if one of these men leave Paris, you have nothing to expect from me." "What say you?" asked H...., with surprise. "I am," said the stranger, in a low tone, "as I told you, the agent of one of those strangers. In his name alone I can tell you what you are so anxious to know--without him I can do nothing. The elevated position of this man, his rank, his connection with Carbonarism, enable him to hear and know all. Without him I am reduced to silence and inertness; for I repeat to you, that he is the thought of which I am the action. Destroy him, and the other is valueless, and you return to ignorance--become especially dangerous as the time approaches for the mine to explode beneath your feet and those of the French monarchy." "Why not name that man? why does he not name himself?" "Because he wishes to preserve his reputation--because he would rather die than avow his services." "Ah, indeed!" said H.... "The matter is difficult. The minister will not revoke these orders: for, while one of the men ceases to be an enemy of the country, the other two yet are." "More than two--twenty of the most powerful, and two hundred thousand others to follow them." "But what interest," asked M. H...., who hoped to arrive by a round about way at a discovery of the one of the three, the presence of whom was so necessary at Paris. "What reason can your _patron_ have to serve us, if he asks for neither gold, place, nor favor?" "A far deeper interest than any of them. That I can confide to you--revenge." "On whom?" "His associates--ungrateful men, who have humiliated him in his self-esteem." "How?" "That is my secret and his." "Well," said H...., "I can understand that. Hatred and revenge make as many informers as cupidity. Our criminal archives prove that." "Well, to the purpose." "All three will leave Paris to-morrow." "Then with one of them will go the safety of France. His name must be a mystery. Revoke the orders, so that our man may remain, unless you prefer by their departure to break the only thread to guide you in this inextricable labyrinth." "But you are here," said H...., unable to repress his anger, and wearied of the bravado and menaces of the man. "What can be obtained neither by money nor by persuasion, is often to be had by rigor."