Crochard read it and re-read it, a strange light in his eyes.
"And now the other one," he said, finally.
Lépine stared at him.
"How do you know there is another one?" he demanded.
"Of course there is another one!" retorted Crochard, impatiently. "Any fool would know that!"
Still staring, Lépine handed him the second sheet of tissue.
Crochard took one glance at it; then he looked at his companion.
"Do you mean to say, Lépine," he asked, "that, in the face of these telegrams, you remain unconvinced—that you do not see the danger?"
"I see no danger," repeated the Prefect, doggedly.
"And yet I tell you, Lépine," said Crochard, leaning forward across the table and speaking in deadliest earnest, "that the danger is desperate. You are blind to it, a thing which astonishes me; M. Delcassé can do nothing—his hands are tied by the red tape of his position. There remains only Crochard! If I sit idle, if I fold my hands, within a month Germany will declare war and will sweep over France like a pestilence. Yesterday she struck the first blow; I tremble to think what the second may be!"