man of puny physique, employed the other as a guard and protector.  It may be added that no information came from Paris as to what the objects of Monsieur Caratal’s hurried journey may have been.  This comprises all the facts of the case up to the publication in the Marseilles papers of the recent confession of Herbert de Lernac, now under sentence of death for the murder of a merchant named Bonvalot.  This statement may be literally translated as follows: 

“It is not out of mere pride or boasting that I give this information, for, if that were my object, I could tell a dozen actions of mine which are quite as splendid; but I do it in order that certain gentlemen in Paris may understand that I, who am able here to tell about the fate of Monsieur Caratal, can also tell in whose interest and at whose request the deed was done, unless the reprieve which I am awaiting comes to me very quickly.  Take warning, messieurs, before it is too late!  You know Herbert de Lernac, and you are aware that his deeds are as ready as his words.  Hasten then, or you are lost!

“At present I shall mention no names—­if you only heard the names, what would you not think!—­but I shall merely tell you how cleverly I did it.  I was true to my employers then, and no doubt they will be true to me now.  I hope so, and until I am convinced that they have betrayed me, these names, which would convulse Europe, shall not be divulged.  But on that day . . . well, I say no more!

“In a word, then, there was a famous trial in Paris, in the year 1890, in connection with a monstrous scandal in politics and finance.  How monstrous that scandal was can never be known save by such confidential agents as myself.  The honour and careers of many of the chief men in France were at stake.  You have seen a group of ninepins standing, all so rigid, and prim, and unbending.  Then there comes the ball from far away and pop, pop, pop—­there are your ninepins on the floor.  Well, imagine some of the greatest men in France as these ninepins and then this Monsieur Caratal was the ball which could be seen coming from far away.  If he arrived, then it was pop, pop, pop for all of them.  It was determined that he should not arrive.

“I do not accuse them all of being conscious of what was to happen.  There were, as I have said, great financial as well as political interests at stake, and a syndicate was formed to manage the business.  Some subscribed to the syndicate who hardly understood what were its objects.  But others understood very well, and they can rely upon it that I have not forgotten their names.  They had ample warning that Monsieur Caratal was coming long before he left South America, and they knew that the evidence which he held would certainly mean ruin to all of them.  The syndicate had the command of an unlimited amount of money—­absolutely unlimited, you understand.  They looked round for an agent who was capable of wielding this gigantic power.  The man chosen must be inventive, resolute, adaptive—­a man in a million.  They chose Herbert de Lernac, and I admit that they were right.