the King of
Greece."

"Confound Loubersac! He goes to all the entertainments."

Steps were heard, some brief words were spoken in the adjacent
corridor, an orderly opened the door and saluted.

"Captain Muller has arrived, Monsieur!"

Extended very much at his ease on a comfortable couch, Colonel
Hofferman was polishing his nails, whilst Commandant Dumoulin stood
respectfully before him tightly encased in his sober light infantry
uniform. Dumoulin was fully alive to the importance of his position:
was he not the repository of the famous key which unlocked the steel
press?

The colonel looked up at his subordinate.

"You are going to put Captain Muller in the way of things here,
Commandant, are you not?"

"Yes, Colonel!"

"It will be a good thing to have a talk with Captain Muller. He comes
just at the moment when we have some very nasty business in
hand--difficult--very worrying.... That's so, Dumoulin?"

"True, Colonel! That's a fact."

Hofferman pressed a bell. An orderly appeared.

"Ask Captain Muller to kindly step in here."

Almost at once Captain Muller entered, saluted, and remained standing
at some distance from his chief.

"Take this arm-chair, Captain." Hofferman was amiable politeness
itself. Dumoulin, rather scandalised that the colonel should encourage
such familiarity in a subordinate, was on the point of retiring
discreetly. The colonel made him sit down also.

Hofferman turned to Captain Muller.

"You come amongst us, Monsieur, at a sad moment. You know, of course,
that you are Captain Brocq's successor? A most valuable officer, to
whom we were greatly attached."

Captain Muller bent his head. He murmured:

"We were men of the same year, comrades at the school--Brocq and I."

Hofferman continued:

"Ah, well, you are to take on the work begun by Captain Brocq.... Now
tell me, Captain, what importance do you attach to the orders
regarding the roll-call, the mustering and distribution of the
mechanics and operatives of the artillery in the various corps--from
the point of view of mobilisation, that is?"

"It is of the very greatest importance, Colonel."

"Good!"

Hofferman paused. He continued, in a low tone and with a grave air:

"In the newspapers--oh, in ambiguous terms, but clear enough to the
initiated--the public has been given to understand that not only has
an important document been stolen from Captain Brocq before, or at the
time of his assassination, or after it, b