Perhaps I was unnecessarily
concerned about those two cards whose seven punctured spots had
appeared to me under such startling circumstances! Yet I could not
refrain from asking myself: What role will they play in the drama?
What importance do they bear? What conclusion must be drawn from
the fact that the submarine constructed from the plans of Louis
Lacombe bore the name of `Seven-of-Hearts'?
Daspry gave little thought to the other two cards; he devoted all
his attention to another problem which he considered more urgent;
he was seeking the famous hiding-place.
"And who knows," said he, "I may find the letters that Salvator did
not find--by inadvertence, perhaps. It is improbable that the Varin
brothers would have removed from a spot, which they deemed
inaccessible, the weapon which was so valuable to them."
And he continued to search. In a short time, the large room held
no more secrets for him, so he extended his investigations to the
other rooms. He examined the interior and the exterior, the stones
of the foundation, the bricks in the walls; he raised the slates of
the roof.
One day, he came with a pickaxe and a spade, gave me the spade,
kept the pickaxe, pointed to the adjacent vacant lots, and said:
"Come.
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