uder and louder.
De Grost rose and stretched himself.

"Your servants are moving about in the house," he remarked. "I think
that we might consider our vigil at an end."

Monsieur de Lamborne rose with alacrity.

"My friend," he said, "I feel that I have made false pretenses to you.
With the day I have no fear. A thousand pardons for your sleepless
night."

"My sleepless night counts for nothing," the Baron assured him, "but,
before I go, would it not be as well that we glance together inside the
safe?"

De Lamborne shook out his keys.

"I was about to suggest it," he replied.

The ambassador arranged the combination and pressed the lever. Slowly
the great door swung back. The two men peered in.

"Untouched!" De Lamborne exclaimed, a little note of triumph in his
tone.

De Grost said nothing, but held out his hand.

"Permit me," he interposed.

De Lamborne was conscious of a faint sense of uneasiness. His companion
walked across the room and carefully weighed the packet.

"Well?" De Lamborne cried. "Why do you do that? What is wrong?"

The Baron turned and faced him.

"My friend," he said, "this is not the same packet." The ambassador
stared at him incredulously.

"You are jesting!" he exclaimed. "Miracles do not happen. The thing is
impossible."

"It is the impossible, then, which has happened," De Grost replied,
swiftly. "This packet can scarcely have gained two ounces in the night.
Besides, the seal is fuller. I have an eye for these details."

De Lamborne leaned against the back of the table. His eyes were a little
wild, but he laughed hoarsely.

"We fight, then, against the creatures of another world," he declared.
"No human being could have opened that safe last night."

The Baron hesitated.

"Monsieur de Lamborne," he said, "the room adjoining is your wife's."

"It is the salon of Madame," the ambassador admitted.

"What are the electrical appliances doing there?" the Baron demanded.
"Don't look at me like that, De Lamborne. Remember that I was here
before you arrived."

"My wife takes an electric massage every day," Monsieur de Lamborne
answered, in a hard, unnatural voice. "In what way is Monsieur le Baron
concerned in my wife's doings?"

"I think that there need be no answer to that question," De Grost said,
quietly. "It is a greater tragedy which we have to face."

Quick as lightning, the Frenchman's hand shot out. De Grost barely
avoided the blow.

"You shall answer to me f