“Which is not so simple after all, as one studies the situation.  Mr. Armitage is here, quite within reach.  We suspect him of being a person of distinction.  He evinced unusual interest in a certain document that was once in your own hands—­”

“Our own hands, if you would be accurate!”

“You are captious; but granted so, we must get them back.  The gentleman is dwelling in a bungalow on the mountain side, for greater convenience in watching events and wooing the lady of his heart’s desire.  We employed a clumsy clown to put him out of the world; but he dies hard, and now we have got to get rid of him.  But if he hasn’t the papers on his clothes then you have this pleasant scheme for kidnapping him, getting him down to your steamer at Baltimore and cruising with him until he is ready to come to terms.  The American air has done much for your imagination, my dear Jules; or possibly the altitude of the hills has over-stimulated it.”

“You are not the fool you look, my dear Durand.  You have actually taken a pretty fair grasp of the situation.”

“But the adorable young lady, the fair Mademoiselle Claiborne,—­what becomes of her in these transactions?”

“That is none of your affair,” replied Chauvenet, frowning.  “I am quite content with my progress.  I have not finished in that matter.”

“Neither, it would seem, has Mr. John Armitage!  But I am quite well satisfied to leave it to you.  In a few days we shall know much more than we do now.  I should be happier if you were in charge in Vienna.  A false step there—­ugh!  I hesitate to think of the wretched mess there would be.”

“Trust Winkelried to do his full duty.  You must not forget that the acute Stroebel now sleeps the long sleep and that many masses have already been said for the repose of his intrepid soul.”

“The splendor of our undertaking is enough to draw his ghost from the grave.  Ugh!  By this time Zmai should have filed our cablegram at the Springs and got your mail at the hotel.  I hope you have not misplaced your confidence in the operator there.  Coming back, our giant must pass Armitage’s house.”

“Trust him to pass it!  His encounters with Armitage have not been to his credit.”

The two men were dressed in rough clothes, as for an outing, and in spite of the habitual trifling tone of their talk, they wore a serious air.  Durand’s eyes danced with excitement and he twisted his mustache nervously.  Chauvenet had gone to Washington to meet Durand, to get from him news of the progress of the conspiracy in Vienna, and, not least, to berate him for crossing the Atlantic.  “I do not require watching, my dear Durand,” he had said.

“A man in love, dearest Jules, sometimes forgets;” but they had gone into the Virginia hills amicably and were quartered with the postmaster.  They waited now for Zmai, whom they had sent to the Springs with a message and to get Chauvenet’s mail.  Armitage, they had learned, used the Lamar telegraph office and they had decided to carry their business elsewhere.