“Well,” she answered, “now that you put it in that manner I may as well admit that your suggestion is correct.”

“And what is the object of his sudden visit to Paris?”

“I cannot make out,” she replied in a more confidential tone. “As I tell you, de Wolkenstein introduced him, but, as m’sieur knows, I am very quick to detect a face that I have once seen, and I recognised him in an instant.”

“Sibyl told me that he had a long chat with her, and she described him as a most charming fellow.”

“Ah, no doubt! I suspected him and watched. It was evident that he came to my salon in order to meet her.”

“To meet Sibyl! Why?”

“That I cannot tell.”

“But I think, Baronne, we may be both agreed upon one point.”

“And that is?”

“That the man who now calls himself Rodolphe Wolf is here in Paris with some secret motive.”