course the _Official_
printed a half-hearted denial which was far worse than an avowal. Then
the division was abolished, and the illustrated papers made filthy
caricatures of us, and drew pictures of Mornac, sabre in hand,
decapitating a nest full of American rattlesnakes and British cobras,
and Rochefort printed a terrible elaboration of the fable of the
farmer and the frozen serpent."

"Oh, that's enough," I said, sick with rage and disgust. "Let them
look out for their own country now. I pity the Empress; I pity the
Emperor. I don't know what Mornac means to do, but I know that the
Internationale boa-constrictor is big enough to swallow government,
dynasty, and Empire, and it is going to try."

"I am certain of one thing," said Speed, staring out over the sun-lit
water with narrowing eyes. "I know that Mornac is using Buckhurst."

"Perhaps it is Buckhurst who is using Mornac," I suggested.

"I think both those gentlemen have the same view in end--to feather
their respective nests under cover of a general smash," said Speed.
"It would not do for Mornac to desert the Empire under any
circumstances. But he can employ Buckhurst to squeeze it dry and then
strike an attitude as its faithful defender in adversity."

"But why does Buckhurst desire to go to Paradise?" I asked.

The boat swung into a dock near the Point du Jour; a few passengers
left, a few came aboard; the boat darted on again under the high
viaduct of masonry, past bastions on which long siege cannon glistened
in the sunshine, past lines of fresh earthworks, past grassy
embankments on which soldiers moved to the rumble of drums.

"I know something about Paradise," said Speed, in a low voice.

I waited; Speed chewed his cigar grimly.

"Look here, Scarlett," he said. "Do you know what has become of the
crown jewels of France?"

"No," I said.

"Well, I'll tell you. You know, of course, that the government is
anxious; you know that Paris is preparing to stand siege if the
Prussians double up Bazaine and the army of Chalons in the north. But
you don't know what a pitiable fright the authorities are in. Why,
Scarlett, they are scared almost to the verge of idiocy."

"They've passed that verge," I observed.

"Yes, they have. They have had a terrible panic over the safety of
the crown jewels--they were nervous enough before the robbery. And
this is what they've done in secret:

"The crown jewels, the bars of gold of the reserve, the great
pictures