know then there was anything wrong, and besides, how could we have
hidden the launch?"

"Well, it's done anyway. We needn't worry about it now, except that
it seems to me that for the same reason the launch has served its
purpose. We can't use it here because the people at the clearing
know it, and we can't use it at the unloading end, for all on board
the Girondin would recognize it directly they saw it."

Merriman nodded without speaking and Hilliard continued:

"I think, therefore, that we should leave the launch at Bordeaux
tonight and go back to London overland. I shall write Mr. Coburn
saying we have found Poste Restante letters recalling us. You can
enclose a note to Miss Coburn if you like. When we get to town we
can apply at the Inquiry Office at Lloyd's to find out where the
Girondin calls in England. Then let us go there and make inquiries.
The launch can be worked back to England some other time. How does
that strike you?"

"Seems all right. But I should leave the launch at Bordeaux. We
may have to come back, and it would furnish us with an excuse for
our presence if we were seen."

Hilliard gave a little sigh of relief. Merriman's reply took a
weight off his mind, not because of the value of the SUGGESTION
- though in its way it was quite useful - but because of its
indication of Merriman's frame of mind. He had feared that because
of Miss Coburn's connection with the affair he would lose his
friend's help, even that they might quarrel. And now he saw these