"What is that?"
"That I am given free scope and allowed to act according to the needs of the moment, without troubling about the public, who are growing impatient, or my superiors, who are intriguing against me."
"I agree."
"In that case, Monsieur le Président, in a few days from this I shall be the victor . . . or I shall be dead."
At Saint-Cloud. A little villa situated on one of the highest points of the upland, in an unfrequented road.
It was eleven o'clock at night. M. Lenormand left his car at Saint-Cloud and walked cautiously along the road. A shadow appeared.
"Is that you, Gourel?"
"Yes, chief."
"Did you tell the brothers Doudeville that I was coming?"
"Yes, your room is ready, you can go to bed and sleep . . . unless they try to carry off Pierre Leduc to-night, which woul
