one.

"Who the devil are you?" he asked, thickly.

Maurice seldom forgot a face. He recognized this one. "Oho!" he said,
"so it's you, eh? I did not expect to meet you. Happily I had you in
mind. You are not employed at present as a porter at the Grand Hotel? So
it is you, my messenger!"

"Who are you and what are you talking about? I don't know you."

"Wait a moment and I'll refresh your memory." Maurice theatrically
thrust a cigar between his teeth and struck a match. As the flame
illumined his features the questioner started. "So you do not recognize
me, eh? You haven't the slightest remembrance of Herr Hamilton and his
sprained ankle, eh? Sit down or I'll break your head with this stein,
you police spy!" dropping the bantering tone.

The other sat down, but he whistled sharply; and Maurice saw the dozen
or so rise from the other tables and come hurriedly in his direction. He
pushed back his chair and rose, his teeth firmly embedded in the cigar,
and waited.

"What's the trouble, Kopf?" demanded the newcomers.

"This fellow accuses me of being a spy and threatens to break my head."

"O! break your head, is it? Let us see. Come, brothers; out with this
fellow."

Maurice saw that they were about to charge him, and his hand went to his
hip pocket and rested on the butt of the revolver which the Colonel had
given him. "Gentlemen," he said, quietly, "I have no discussion with
you. I have a pistol in my pocket, and I'm rather handy with it. I
desire to talk to this man, and talk to him I will. Return to your
tables; the affair doesn't concern you."

The intended assault did not materialize. They scowled, but retired a
few paces. They saw the movement toward the hip pocket, and they noted
the foreign twist of the tongue. Moreover, they did not like the angle
of the speaker's jaws. They shuffled, looked questioningly at one
another, and, as if all of a single mind, went slowly back to their
chairs. Kopf grew pale. Indeed, his pallor was out of all proportion
with the affair, which Maurice took to be no more than a comedy.

"Brothers," he said, huskily, "he will not dare."

"Don't you doubt it for a moment," interrupted Maurice, taking out the
revolver and fondling it. "Any interference will mean one or more cases
for the hospital. Come, I'm not the police," to Kopf. "I am not going
to hurt you. I wish only to ask you a few questions, which is my right
after what has passed between us. We'll go to my hotel, wher