I puzzled over it, as one does sometimes, for a minute or more, before I opened the letter.

In a moment I saw it was from Clement de Crequy.

'My mother is here,' he said: 'she is very ill, and I am bewildered in this strange country.

May I entreat you to receive me for a few minutes ?' The bearer of the note was the woman of the house where they lodged.

I had her brought up into the anteroom, and questioned her myself, while my carriage was being brought round.