The Duke of Benoit du Sault frowned a little.

“The newspapers! the newspapers!” he exclaimed. “They have given me the publicity I shunned. I have sought to do quietly what I could for that unfortunate man on——Pardon me, monsieur; what do you think of Dreyfus?”

“I think as think nine Americans out of ten, if not ninety-nine out of a hundred.”

“And that is—what?”

“That Dreyfus is innocent!”

The face of the duke seemed to clear, although it remained strangely pale, while there seemed to be something of a hunted look in his piercing eyes.

“I am glad to hear you say that,” he spoke in a low tone. “I have known that America sympathized with him.”

“My card, monsieur.”

Frank took his card from a morocco case and passed it across the table, adding:

“A friendly exchange, that may serve as an introduction, if you care to have it so.”