he
Emperor, and turns up in Paris with a loose sheet of a treaty between
the two, relative to an attack upon England. Our people got hold of him
at the Cafe Montmartre, and we have hidden him away ever since. Our
friends, the Germans, who seem to have had some suspicions about him,
have filled the city with spies, but from the first we have kept them
off the scent. We had a little difficulty in convincing our friends your
country-people, but we managed to borrow a few papers from the German
Ambassador whilst he was staying at a country-house in England, which
were sufficient."

Spencer was already writing. His coat lay on the floor where he had
thrown it.

"Don't go for a moment, De Bergillac," he said. "I want to ask you a few
things. I can talk and code at the same time. What about Miss Poynton?"

"Well, we had to take care of her too," De Bergillac said. "Of course
all her inquiries over here would have led to nothing, but they knew her
at the English Embassy, so we walked her off from the Cafe Montmartre
one night and took her to a friend of mine, the Marquise de St. Ethol.
We told her a little of the truth, and a little, I'm afraid, which was
an exaggeration. Anyhow, we kept her quiet, and we got her to go to
England for us with Toquet. They had a very narrow shave down at Runton,
by the by."

"After this," Spencer said with a smile, "the secret service people
proper will have to look to their laurels. It is a triumph for the
amateurs."

The Vicomte twirled his tiny black moustache.

"Yes," he said, "we have justified ourselves. It has cost us something,
though!"

"You mean?"

"Louis!"

Spencer stopped writing.

"It was an affair of a million francs," the Vicomte said. "I hope he has
got the money."

Spencer resumed his work.

"The Baron a traitor!" he exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"In England! We are not vindictive. If the Germans paid him a million
francs they got nothing for it. He has been watched from the first. We
knew of it the moment he came to terms with them. He only knows bare
facts. Nothing beyond. He is going to Brazil, I think. We shall not
interfere."

"Tell me why," Spencer said, "you were so down on all of us who joined
in the search for the Poyntons."

"We could not afford to run any risks of your discovering a clue," De
Bergillac answered, "because you in your turn were closely watched by
German spies, hoping to discover them through you. That is why we had to
strike hard at a