rang for a
porter, told him to shove it on a taxi, and descended to settle my
bill. Mercifully, the clerk who had stopped me in the morning was off
duty. I could have squealed with delight. I paid my reckoning, tipped
about eight people I'd never seen before, and climbed into the cab.
Ten minutes later I was at the _Quai d'Orsay_.

"By the time I was in the wagon lit it was ten minutes to five....

"I sank down upon the seat in silent gratitude. The comfortable glow
of salvation began to steal over my limbs. I looked benevolently about
me. I reflected that, after all, the last thirty hours of my life had
been rich with valuable experience. Smilingly I decided not to regret
them. When I thought of the scene in the baggage-room, I actually
laughed. Then the conductor put his head in at the door and said that
there was somebody to see me from the _Gare du Nord_."

Berry suspended his recital and buried his face in his hands.

"I shall never be the same again," he said brokenly. "Never again. Up
to then I had a chance--a sporting chance of recovery. At that moment
it snapped. In a blinding flash I saw what a fool I'd been. If I'd
only stayed on the platform, if I'd only gone into the restaurant car,
if I'd only locked myself in a lavatory till the train had started, I
should have been all right. As it was, I was caught--bending.

"It was the official I'd seen in the morning all right. After a
preliminary flurry of ejaculation, he locked the door behind him and
began to talk.... Don't ask me what he said, because I didn't hear.
When the rope's round your neck, you're apt to miss the subtleties of
the hangman's charge. After a time I realised that he was asking me a
question. I stared at him dully and shook my head. With a gesture of
despair, he glanced at his watch.

"'_Monsieur_,' he said, 'the train departs. I have sought you all day.
The superintendent has told me to speak with you at all costs--to beg
that you will lodge no complaint. He is desolated that your baggage
was injured. It is a misfortune frightful. He cannot think how it has
occurred. But to complain--no. I will tell _Monsieur_ the truth.
Twice in the last half-year an English officer's baggage has gone
astray. But one more complaint from your Embassy, and the
superintendent will be replaced. And in ten short days, _Monsieur_, he
will have won his pension.... Ah, _Monsieur_, be merciful.'

"I was merciful.

"I waved the f