"Now, however, I have exhausted my budget. I arrived at Paris last night. I strongly advise you to come hither at once, if you still desire to prosecute your search. "You, Monsieur, can do what I could not venture to do; you can ask the son of Don Juan if, amid the correspondence of his father, which he may have preserved, there be any signed Marigny or Duval--any, in short, which can throw light on this very obscure complication of circumstances. A grand seigneur would naturally be more complaisant to a man of your station than he would be to an agent of police. Don Juan's son, inheriting his father's title, is Monsieur le Marquis de Rochebriant; and permit me to add, that at this moment, as the journals doubtless inform you, all Paris resounds with the rumour of the coming war; and Monsieur de Rochebriant--who is, as I have ascertained, now in Paris--it may be difficult to find anywhere on earth a month or two hence.--I have the honour, with profound consideration, &c., &c., RENARD." The day after the receipt of this letter Graham Vane was in Paris. CHAPTER II. Among things indescribable is that which is called "Agitation" in Paris-- "Agitation" without riot or violence--showing itself by no disorderly act, no turbulent outburst. Perhaps the cafes are more crowded; passengers in the streets stop each other more often, and converse in small knots and groups; yet, on the whole, there is little externally to show how loudly the heart of Paris is beating. A traveller may be passing through quiet landscapes, unconscious that a great battle is going on some miles off, but if he will stop and put his ear to the ground he will recognise by a certain indescribable vibration, the voice of the cannon. But at Paris an acute observer need not stop and put his ear to the ground; he feels within himself a vibration--a mysterious inward sympathy which communicates to the individual a conscious thrill--when the passions of the multitude are stirred, no matter how silently. Tortoni's cafe was thronged when Duplessis and Frederic Lemercier entered it: it was in vain to order breakfast; no table was vacant either within the rooms or under the awnings without. But they could not retreat so quickly as they had entered. On catching sight of the financier several men rose and gathered round him, eagerly questioning: "What do you think, Duplessis? Will any insult to France put a drop of warm blood into the frigid veins of that miserable Ollivier?" "It is not yet clear that France has been insulted, Messieurs," replied Duplessis, phlegmatically. "Bah! Not insulted! The very nomination of a Hohenzollern to the crown of Spain was an insult--what would you have more?"