pened and recorked without leaving
any trace of the operation?' Babylon was a trifle sarcastic.

'I don't see the necessity of opening the bottle in order to poison the
wine,' said Racksole. 'I have never tried to poison anybody by means
of a bottle of wine, and I don't lay claim to any natural talent as a
poisoner, but I think I could devise several ways of managing the trick.
Of course, I admit I may be entirely mistaken as to Jules' intentions.'

'Ah!' said Felix Babylon. 'The wine cellars beneath us are one of the
wonders of London. I hope you are aware, Mr Racksole, that when you
bought the Grand Babylon you bought what is probably the finest stock of
wines in England, if not in Europe. In the valuation I reckoned them at
sixty thousand pounds. And I may say that I always took care that the
cellars were properly guarded. Even Jules would experience a serious
difficulty in breaking into the cellars without the connivance of the
wine-clerk, and the wine-clerk is, or was, incorruptible.'

'I am ashamed to say that I have not yet inspected my wines,' smiled
Racksole; 'I have never given them a thought. Once or twice I have taken
the trouble to make a tour of the hotel, but I omitted the cellars in my
excursions.'

'Impossible, my dear fellow!' said Babylon, amused at such a confession,
to him--a great connoisseur and lover of fine wines--almost incredible.
'But really you must see them to-morrow. If I may, I will accompany
you.'

'Why not to-night?' Racksole suggested, calmly.

'To-night! It is very late: Hubbard will have gone to bed.'

'And may I ask who is Hubbard? I remember the name but dimly.'

'Hubbard is the wine-clerk of the Grand Babylon,' said Felix, with
a certain emphasis. 'A sedate man of forty. He has the keys of the
cellars. He knows every bottle of every bin, its date, its qualities,
its value. And he's a teetotaler. Hubbard is a curiosity. No wine can
leave the cellars without his knowledge, and no person can enter the
cellars without his knowledge. At least, that is how it was in my time,'
Babylon added.

'We will wake him,' said Racksole.

'But it is one o'clock in the morning,' Babylon protested.

'Never mind--that is, if you consent to accompany me. A cellar is the
same by night as by day. Therefore, why not now?'

Babylon shrugged his shoulders. 'As you wish,' he agreed, with his
indestructible politeness.

'And now to find this Mr Hubbard, with his key of the cupboard,' said
Rack