here we can take the night boat to Harwich. Let us
set out without further delay."

"And that fellow in there?" remarked the detective with a grim laugh.
"We've got to take him with us, you know. He'll be wanted in London for
the murder of the man Noel."

"Yes. That also is important." Dufrenne went into the adjoining room and
stood looking at the sleeping barber. "But not so important as the
return of the snuff box to Monsieur de Grissac."

Duvall followed him, and lifting one of Seltz's arms, let it drop
suddenly. It fell to his side, lifeless. "He's sleeping like a log. The
doctor must have given him a pretty stiff dose. I don't see how we are
going to travel with him in this condition."

"Then we must leave him in the care of Monsieur Lefevre's other agents
here in Brussels. We cannot delay an instant, on any account."

"I do not agree with you, monsieur. There is one thing which is as
important to me as the recovery of the snuff box could possibly be to
Monsieur de Grissac, and that is, the safety of my wife."

"Your wife?" Dufrenne stared at him in surprise.

"Yes, monsieur, my wife. She is at present in Dr. Hartmann's house. How
she came there, I do not know, but I imagine that our friend the Prefect
sent her there, to assist, if occasion offered, in our work. In that he
was wise; but for her presence, I fear my plan would have failed. Had
Seltz rung the doorbell, and been admitted by any of the doctor's
servants, I doubt if I should have been able to get the box from him
before the latter had seen him. I should then have been obliged to use
force, and the results might have been disastrous."

"Yes, monsieur. I see that. The young lady at Dr. Hartmann's was sent by
Monsieur Lefevre. His agents here have already informed me of that. But
that she is your wife I did not know." He pondered for a moment,
glancing at his watch. "It is a great pity. Delay may be most dangerous.
Why do you not send her word to join you in Paris?"

Duvall frowned, and began to walk about the room nervously. "A few
hours' delay can make no difference," he presently said. "The box is
perfectly safe in our hands. I am not, however, at all convinced that my
wife is perfectly safe in the hands of Dr. Hartmann."

"But he knows nothing?"

"That I cannot say. So far he does not, I think, suspect that Seltz was
the man he expected from London. If he had, he would never have let me
leave his office. Luckily for us, Seltz was a stranger