o, a King who is thought to be an assassin
... you don't know what might be made of it.... This extraordinary
Frederick-Christian takes advantage of his impunity. He's had lots of
time since the death of Susy to slip quietly back to his own country....
That would have let us out ... instead of which he comes out in the
limelight ... gets himself talked about ... a nice time to choose, I
must say!"

M. Annion was interrupted by the entrance of a clerk who handed him a
visiting card.

"Who is it now?... Ah ... show them in."

He then turned to M. Vicart:

"Don't go.... It may be something connected with the King."

The door was opened and the visitors announced:

"M. the Commissaire of Police Giraud--Mlle. Marie Pascal."

"Well, Monsieur Giraud ... take a seat, Mademoiselle ... what have you
come about?"

"A very serious business," answered M. Giraud. "I have come to see you
after a visit from Mlle. Marie Pascal. She will repeat to you the
extraordinary things she has said to me."

"What is it all about, Mademoiselle?"

Pale and anxious, Marie Pascal rose and advanced to M. Annion's desk,
and said, with a trembling voice:

"Monsieur, I went to M. Giraud about a call I wanted to make on his
Majesty Frederick-Christian, King of Hesse-Weimar."

"Yes?"

"Well, Monsieur, I was not received by the King."

M. Annion evinced no surprise.

"Unless I am mistaken you are the lace-maker who was so tragically mixed
up in the death of Susy d'Orsel?... It was you who found the chemise ...
it was you who ... however, go ahead, Mademoiselle, you were received by
a secretary, by a chamberlain?"

"No! no! I was received by the King, but by a King who wasn't the real
one, but an impostor!"

"Good God!" cried M. Annion.

Here was this impostor affair cropping up again. The girl must be crazy.

"But it's unbelievable! Come, Mademoiselle, weigh well the gravity of
your words--you can scarcely be making this up as a joke, I hope. You
can furnish absolute proof of what you say? Why do you think the King is
not the King?"

Marie Pascal had recovered her self-control, and she gave M.
Annion a detailed account of the audience she had obtained with
Frederick-Christian. She hid nothing, neither his former warmth of
feeling nor his recent coldness. She explained that his face no longer
looked the same, nor had his voice the same sound, that he had attempted
to hide behind the screen and finally that she was quite sure the man