at this did not reach Marshal Massena."

"My own assumption is that he put off sending it, intending to replace
it by the actual plan--which he here confesses to the expectation of
obtaining shortly."

"I think he died at the right moment. Anything else?"

"Indeed," said Colonel Grant, "I have kept the best for the last."
And unfolding yet another document, he placed it in the hands of the
Commander-in-Chief. It was Lord Liverpool's note of the troops to be
embarked for Lisbon in June and July--the note abstracted from the
dispatch carried by Captain Garfield.

His lordship's lips tightened as he considered it. "His death was
timely indeed, damned timely; and the man who killed him deserves to be
mentioned in dispatches. Nothing else, I suppose?"

"The rest is of little consequence, sir."

"Very well." He rose. "You will leave these with me, and the wallet as
well, if you please. I am on my way to confer with the members of the
Council of Regency, and I am glad to go armed with so stout a weapon
as this. Whatever may be the ultimate finding of the court-martial, the
present assumption must be that Samoval met the death of a spy caught
in the act, as you suggested. That is the only conclusion the Portuguese
Government can draw when I lay these papers before it. They will
effectively silence all protests."

"Shall I tell O'Moy?" inquired the colonel.

"Oh, certainly," answered his lordship, instantly to change his mind.
"Stay!" He considered, his chin in his hand, his eyes dreamy. "Better
not, perhaps. Better not tell anybody. Let us keep this to ourselves for
the present. It has no direct bearing on the matter to be tried. By the
way, when does the court-martial sit?"

"I have just heard that Marshal Beresford has ordered it to sit on
Thursday here at Monsanto."

His lordship considered. "Perhaps I shall be present. I may be at Torres
Vedras until then. It is a very odd affair. What is your own impression
of it, Grant? Have you formed any?"

Grant smiled darkly. "I have been piecing things together. The result
is rather curious, and still very mystifying, still leaving a deal to be
explained, and somehow this wallet doesn't fit into the scheme at all."

"You shall tell me about it as we ride into Lisbon. I want you to come
with me. Lady O'Moy must forgive me if I take French leave, since she is
nowhere to be found."

The truth was, that her ladyship had purposely gone into hiding, after
the fashion of suf