which _Rainbow Gold_ was
finished, I was all but a wreck. It had been arranged between the editor
of the _Cornhill_ and myself that the completed copy of my book should
be in his hands on a given date, and for some reason I was afraid to
trust it to the post, and determined to carry it to London and deliver
it with my own hands. For this purpose it was necessary that I should
catch the Malle Des Indes early on the Sunday morning at Jemelle two
miles away. I had a little leather case constructed, in which to carry
my manuscript, and this I had seen more than half completed on the
Thursday afternoon. I strolled into the shop of the village _cordonnier_
on Saturday morning to ask why it had not been delivered, and I found
the man busy on a duplicate of it which he promised to deliver before
the evening. It came out on inquiry that he had sold the case I had
ordered to a person who described himself as a commercial traveller,
and who was staying at the Chevaux Blancs, a little hotel in the village
which was frequented by people of his class. I satisfied myself that the
work would be done in time, and when it was delivered in the course of
the evening, I naturally supposed that there was an end of the matter. I
met the purchaser of my box on the platform at Jemelle, and we travelled
by the same train as far as Lille. There I got another momentary glimpse
of him and thenceforth saw him no more.

I travelled on to Dover without adventure, but there, as I was quitting
the boat, I was encountered by a man who, although he was in plain
clothes, was immediately recognisable as a member of the police force.
He laid his hand upon my shoulder and said: "I beg your pardon, but I
must ask you to accompany me to the Captain's cabin." I not unnaturally
asked him why. He pointed to the box I held and asked if that were my
property. I answered of course in the affirmative and he said in quite
the official manner that he must trouble me to go with him, and made
a motion to relieve me of my burden. I handed the box to him and he
conducted me, still with a hand upon my shoulder, to the companion-way.
In the captain's cabin I found two or three men who were all very grave,
and all very suave and polite. One of them asked me my name, and another
whether I had not left the village of Rochefort by such and such a train
in the morning. I answered both questions without hesitation, and I
noticed that my interlocutor looked a little puzzled. I was a