you to do; and I will double the amount
when you have carried the work out success fully."

Four hundred francs! It was not lavish, it was perhaps not altogether
the price I would have named, but it was vary good, these hard times.
You understand? We were all very poor in France in that year 1815 of
which I speak.

I am always quite straightforward when I am dealing with a client who
means business. I pushed aside the litter of papers in front of me,
leaned my elbows upon my desk, rested my chin in my hands, and said
briefly:

"M. Charles Saurez, I listen!"

He drew his chair a little closer and dropped his voice almost to a
whisper.

"You know the Chancellerie of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" he
asked.

"Perfectly," I replied.

"You know M. de Marsan's private office? He is chief secretary to M.
de Talleyrand."

"No," I said, "but I can find out."

"It is on the first floor, immediately facing the service staircase,
and at the end of the long passage which leads to the main staircase."

"Easy to find, then," I remarked.

"Quite. At this hour and until twelve o'clock, M. de Marsan will be
occupied in copying a document which I desire to possess. At eleven
o'clock precisely there will be a noisy disturbance in the corridor
which leads to the main staircase. M. de Marsan, in all probability,
will come out of his room to see what the disturbance is about. Will
you undertake to be ready at that precise moment to make a dash from
the service staircase into the room to seize the document, which no
doubt will be lying on the top of the desk, and bring it to an address
which I am about to give you?"

"It is risky," I mused.

"Very," he retorted drily, "or I'd do it myself, and not pay you four
hundred francs for your trouble."

"Trouble!" I exclaimed, with withering sarcasm.

"Trouble, you call it? If I am caught, it means penal
servitude--New Caledonia, perhaps--"

"Exactly," he said, with the same irritating calmness; "and if you
succeed it means four hundred francs. Take it or leave it, as you
please, but be quick about it. I have no time to waste; it is past
nine o'clock already, and if you won't do the work, someone else
will."

For a few seconds longer I hesitated. Schemes, both varied and
wild, rushed through my active brain: refuse to take this risk, and
denounce the plot to the police; refuse it, and run to warn M. de
Marsan; refuse it, and-- I had little time for reflection. My uncouth
c