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Cannes has to say about this.’
‘No, no!’ insisted Mary. ‘We’ve got to get out to-night.’
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ said Dick, and added, ‘but money
will certainly have to change hands.’ Looking at them as
though they were the innocents that he knew they were not,
he shook his head: ‘Of all the crazy stunts!’
Lady Caroline smiled complacently.
‘You’re an insanity doctor, aren’t you? You ought to be
able to help us—and Gausse has GOT to!’
At this point Dick went aside with Gausse and talked
over the old man’s findings. The affair was more serious than
had been indicated—one of the girls whom they had picked
up was of a respectable family. The family were furious, or
pretended to be; a settlement would have to be made with
them. The other one, a girl of the port, could be more eas-
ily dealt with. There were French statutes that would make
conviction punishable by imprisonment or, at the very least,
public expulsion from the country. In addition to the diffi-
culties, there was a growing difference in tolerance between
such townspeople as benefited by the foreign colony and the
ones who were annoyed by the consequent rise of prices.
Gausse, having summarized the situation, turned it over to
Dick. Dick called the chief of police into conference.
‘Now you know that the French government wants to en-
courage American touring—so much so that in Paris this
summer there’s an order that Americans can’t be arrested
except for the most serious offenses.’
‘This is serious enough, my God.’
‘But look now—you have their Cartes d’Identité?’
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