"Dorothy Cullerton!" I gasped. "I recollect that piece of Chinese jade she wore in Florence! What is she doing here, meeting that man clandestinely?" "The man slipped something into her hand beneath the table and she put it into her handbag," Hambledon said. "I have a suspicion that it was a small roll of French bank notes." "Payment for some information, perhaps," I said. "I don't trust that young stockbroker's wife. Well?" I asked. "And what then?" "On leaving the Rotonde they drove to the Rue de Rivoli, where the lady alighted and entered the Hôtel Wagram, while he went along to the Hôtel du Louvre," was his reply. I was much puzzled at the secret meeting between the affable Frenchman and young Mrs. Cullerton, and next day by watching the entrance to the Hôtel Wagram, which was an easy matter in the bustle of the Rue de Rivoli, I satisfied myself that my surmise was correct, for at eleven o'clock she came forth, entered a taxi, and drove away. My next inquiry was at the head office of the Crédit Lyonnais, in the Boulevard des Italiens, but, as I suspected, the name of my French fellow-traveller was unknown. "We have no official of the name of Suzor," replied the polite assistant director whom I had asked to see. "The gentleman must be pretending to be associated with us, monsieur. It is not the first time we have heard of such a thing." So it was apparent that Suzor was not a bank official after all! In the meantime Hambledon was keeping watch at the Hôtel du Louvre, and it was not until afternoon that he rejoined me to report what had occurred. It seemed that Suzor had, just before noon, strolled to the Grand Café, where he had met a well-dressed man who was awaiting him. They took coffee together, and then entering a taxi drove out to the Bois, where at the Pré Catelan they were joined by a smartly dressed young woman who was, no doubt, an actress. The three sat talking for a quarter of an hour, after which the two men left her and returned to a small restaurant in the boulevard St. Martin, where they took their _déjeuner_. Afterwards Suzor had returned to his hotel. At my suggestion my companion had become on friendly terms with the under concierge, who had promised to inform him if Monsieur Suzor should chance to be leaving. It was well that he had arranged this, for when at six o'clock Hambledon again went to the hotel the man in uniform told him that Monsieur Suzor was leaving the Quai d'Orsay at eleven o'clock that night by the through express for Madrid. I saw that for me to travel to Spain by the same train as the man who had posed as a banker would be to court exposure. Hence Hambledon volunteered to travel to the Spanish capital in all secrecy, while I promised to join him as soon as he sent me his address. That journey was destined to be an adventurous one indeed, as I will duly explain to you, but its results proved more startling and astounding than we ever anticipated. CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH