regard are the most
intractable people in the world, we were probably less acquainted with
foreign languages than any people in Europe. He looked surprised.

"I think, sir, you rate yourselves too low. May I offer you a cigar? I
can assure you of its quality, for I import my own. It is true that I
have not met many Englishmen in my time, but I have met none who have
not been admirable linguists. A friend of mine, an Englishman, who was
in this neighborhood but a few weeks ago, is one of the finest I have
known. He may perhaps be known to you. Have you ever met, may I ask, the
honorable Brunow?"

This gave me a little inward start, and I had begun to guess already
at the identity of my companion. I bit the end from the cigar I had
accepted from him a moment before, and asked,

"The Honorable George Brunow?"

"That is he," cried the young fellow, delightedly. "You know him?"

"He is my companion," I replied. "I left him asleep at the auberge less
than an hour ago."

"You are the friend of my friend Brunow!" he exclaimed. "Sir, I am
delighted to meet you. And Brunow is here again? What news! And do you
stay long? Oh, once again life will be bearable. In this dull hole,
sir, I pledge you my most sacred word of honor, a man has but one
contemplation; his thoughts are all towards suicide. Figure for yourself
the life we lead here: the commandant a bachelor of sixty, and "--he
lowered his voice and bent laughingly to my ear--"a bore the most
intense, the most rigid, the most unbending, conceivable by the mind
of man. But pardon me--that is my name. You have not travelled in this
direction with Brunow without hearing it?"

"No, indeed," I answered. "Brunow has spoken of you hundreds of times.
I have no card, but my name is Fyffe. Brunow shall give us a formal
introduction by-and-by."

I did my best to carry off the situation, but I doubt if I achieved any
very great measure of success. I can say honestly that if there is one
thing in this world I abhor with all my heart and soul it is treachery.
And there was no escape from the fact that I was here for the express
purpose of playing the traitor with this amiable and friendly young
fellow, and there is no escape from the fact that I was bound to go
on playing the traitor with him, to receive his friendly advances, to
accept his welcome, and all the while to plot and plan to work away from
him the prisoner it was his duty to guard, and for whose safe-keeping
his reputa