they would have excepted me?"

"It is Monsieur Rolland who writes," said Vendale. "And, as you say, he
must certainly have forgotten. That view of the matter quite escaped me.
I was just wishing I had you to consult, when you came into the room. And
here I am tried by a formal prohibition, which cannot possibly have been
intended to include you. How very annoying!"

Obenreizer's filmy eyes fixed on Vendale attentively.

"Perhaps it is more than annoying!" he said. "I came this morning not
only to hear the news, but to offer myself as messenger, negotiator--what
you will. Would you believe it? I have letters which oblige me to go to
Switzerland immediately. Messages, documents, anything--I could have
taken them all to Defresnier and Rolland for you."

"You are the very man I wanted," returned Vendale. "I had decided, most
unwillingly, on going to Neuchatel myself, not five minutes since,
because I could find no one here capable of taking my place. Let me look
at the letter again."

He opened the strong room to get at the letter. Obenreizer, after first
glancing round him to make sure that they were alone, followed a step or
two and waited, measuring Vendale with his eye. Vendale was the tallest
man, and unmistakably the strongest man also of the two. Obenreizer
turned away, and warmed himself at the fire.

Meanwhile, Vendale read the last paragraph in the letter for the third
time. There was the plain warning--there was the closing sentence, which
insisted on a literal interpretation of it. The hand, which was leading
Vendale in the dark, led him on that condition only. A large sum was at
stake: a terrible suspicion remained to be verified. If he acted on his
own responsibility, and if anything happened to defeat the object in
view, who would be blamed? As a man of business, Vendale had but one
course to follow. He locked the letter up again.

"It is most annoying," he said to Obenreizer--"it is a piece of
forgetfulness on Monsieur Rolland's part which puts me to serious
inconvenience, and places me in an absurdly false position towards you.
What am I to do? I am acting in a very serious matter, and acting
entirely in the dark. I have no choice but to be guided, not by the
spirit, but by the letter of my instructions. You understand me, I am
sure? You know, if I had not been fettered in this way, how gladly I
should have accepted your services?"

"Say no more!" returned Obenreizer. "In yo