"Marco Dario, of Geneva," answered the Italian, showing his medal. "I found it on my father's body, in Champagne, one day after we had been fighting side by side. He had never spoken to me about it."
"Nevertheless you have come here."
"I did not intend to. And then, in spite of myself, as I had returned to Champagne—to my father's tomb, I took the train to Vannes."
"Yes," she said: "like the others you have obeyed the command of our common ancestor. What ancestor? And why this command? That is what Monsieur Delarue is going to reveal to us. Come Monsieur Delarue: all is in order. All of us have the token. It is now in order for us to call on you for the explanation."
"What explanation?" asked the lawyer, still dazed by so many surprises. "I don't quite know...."
"How do you mean you don't know?... Why this leather satchel.... And why have you made the journey from Nantes to Roche-Périac? Come, open your satchel and read to us the documents it must contain."
"You truly believe——"
"Of course I believe! We have, all five of us, these gentlemen and myself, performed our duty in coming here and informing you of our identity. It is your turn to carry out your mission. We are all ears."
The gayety of the young girl spread around her such an atmosphere of cordiality that even Maître Delarue himself felt its beneficent effects. Besides, the business was already in train; and he entered smoothly on ground over which the young girl had traced, in the midst of apparently impenetrable brushwood, a path which he could follow with perfect ease.
"But certainly," said he. "But certainly.... There is nothing else to do.... And I must communicate what I know to you.... Excuse me.... But this affair is so disconcerting."