at
his chief in astonishment.

"I was just coming to report to you, sir," he said. "The birds have
flown."

"Indeed!" sneered Lepine. "So you have discovered that, have you? But
the installation is here, I suppose?"

"Yes, sir," answered Pigot, very red. "On the fourth floor."

Lepine bounded up the stairs, and Pigot followed in silence. He felt
that he had been used unjustly; after all, he was not a wizard--what did
the Chief expect!

At the top of the house, Lepine glanced first into the narrow room which
we have already seen; then he returned to the landing and opened the
other door. It led into a still narrower room, also extending to the
front of the house, and lighted by a single window. Lepine went to the
window and looked out. Over the roof of the low market across the way,
he could see the harbour, the warships, and the wreck of _La Liberte_.
Then he turned to an examination of the room.

A heavy box stood before the window, and on the floor beside it were
three large batteries. Some pieces of copper wire were lying about, but
there was nothing else. In the top of the box, however, four holes had
been bored, as though for the reception of bolts, and one side of the
box was badly burned. The sill of the window was also scorched and
blistered.

"You have the proprietor of this house?" Lepine inquired.

"He is below," Pigot announced, and went to fetch him.

But from the proprietor, a nervous little man with a dirty beard, Lepine
learned little. He lived at the rear of the ground floor, and ten days
or perhaps two weeks before, a man had knocked at the door and asked if
the upper floor was to rent.

"What sort of man?" Lepine inquired.

"A dark man, with white hair, sir; not a bad-looking man, but not a
Frenchman."

"A German, perhaps."

"No, most certainly not a German; an Italian or a Spaniard."

"What was his business?"

"He said he was an inventor and desired the top floor for his
experiments. I told him that in that case I should have to charge extra,
as experiments were always dangerous. He did not object, and paid a
month in advance. He seemed a very harmless person."

"Was he alone?"

"At that time, yes, sir. But when he returned with his baggage, his
daughter accompanied him."

"How do you know it was his daughter?"

"He told me so, sir. The resemblance was very evident. Besides, he
insisted that I supply material to curtain off a portion of the room for
her bed."

Lepine reco