At present their rank was equal, but Roland had beside a double commission from the First Consul and the minister of police, which placed all officers of his own rank under his command, and even, within the limits of his mission, those of a higher rank.
Morgan had not been mistaken in supposing that Amelie's brother was in pursuit of the Companions of Jehu.

If Roland's nocturnal search at the Chartreuse of Seillon was not convincing, the conversation between the young officer and his colleague was proof positive.

In it, it developed that the First Consul was really sending fifty thousand francs as a gift to the monks of Saint-Bernard, by post; but that this money was in reality a trap devised for the capture of the Companions of Jehu, if all means failed to surprise them in the Chartreuse of Seillon or some other refuge.
It now-remained to be seen how these bandits should be captured.
The case was eagerly debated between the two officers while they had breakfast.

By the time dessert was served they were both agreed upon a plan.
That same evening, Morgan received the following letter: Just as Adler told us, next Friday at five o'clock the mail-coach will leave Paris with fifty thousand francs for the fathers of Saint-Bernard.
The three places, the one in the coupe and the two in the interior, are already engaged by three travellers who will join the coach, one at Sens, the other two at Tonnerre.

The travellers are, in the coupe, one of citizen Fouche's best men: in the interior M.Roland de Montrevel and the colonel of the 7th Chasseurs, garrisoned at Macon.