The baffled police only see in the visit to the "bal de minuit," a bourgeois intrigue of ordinary character. Jules dares not tell all. He fears the stern French law. Tossing on his bed of pain, his only course is to secretly visit Leroyne & Co. The bereaved lover feels that the parties who followed him, were directed by some malign agency which is fraught with future danger for him. The poniard of darkness may reach his heart, if he betrays his designs. Strongly suspecting Natalie de Santos, yet he knows her revenge struck through meaner hands than her own. He has no proof. Not a clue. Villa Rocca is to him unknown. He fears to talk. He hobbles forth to his vocation, and dares not even visit Marie's grave. Spies may track him as on that fatal night. And even Leroyne's bank may be watched. He must take this risk, for his only reward lies in that mysterious address. Jules, in workman's blouse, spends an hour with the grave-faced banker of the Rue Vivienne. When he emerges, he has ten one-thousand-franc notes in his waist-lining and the promise of more. The banker knows the whole story of Jules' broken hopes; of the promised reward; the double crime. He directs Jules Tessier to further await orders at the caf‚, and to ignore the whole affair. A significant hint about going forth at night makes Jules shudder. And the cipher cablegram gives Hardin the disjointed facts of Marie's death! His one ally gone. Her lips sealed forever. Musing in his library, Hardin's clear head unravels this intrigue. The Paris police know not the past history of the actors in this drama. Jules is simply greedy and thick-headed. Leroyne & Co. are passionless bankers. But Hardin gathers up the knotted threads and unravels all. Accustomed to weigh evidence, to sift facts, his clear mind indicates Natalie de Santos as the brain, Villa Rocca as the striking assassin of this plot. It is all aimed at him. "Ah, yes!" the chafing lawyer muses, as he walks the legal quarter-deck of his superb library. "Villa Rocca and Natalie are lovers. The girl tried to blackmail them. She was trapped and put out of the way. "Marie B‚rard dead--one dangerous ally gone. Villa Rocca and Natalie are the only two who know all. Her mind is his now. "Ah, I have it!" with a devilish sneer. "I will separate these two billing and cooing lovers. If I get Villa Rocca here, he will never get back to France. "When he is out of the way, Natalie can prove nothing. "If she comes here I will treat her story as that of an insane woman." Hardin draws a glass with shaking hand. "Yes; a private asylum." As for the heiress, there are plans in his mind he dare not whisper. Illegitimacy and other reasons may bar her rights. The heiress knows nothing and she has not a paper. Some outsider must fight this case. In Hardin's dreams he sees his enemies at his feet. On Ernesto Villa Rocca's handsome face is the pallor of death. Lagunitas and its millions are his by right of power and cunning.