“Yes; but the margin by which we escaped is too narrow to contemplate.”

“We have a saying that a miss is as good as a mile,” remarked Judge Claiborne.  “We have never told Mr. Armitage that we found the papers in the safety box at New York to be as he described them.”

“They are dangerous.  We have hesitated as to whether there was more risk in destroying them than in preserving them,” said the Baron.

Armitage shrugged his shoulders and laughed.

“They are out of my hands.  I positively decline to accept their further custody.”

A messenger appeared with a telegram which the Baron opened and read.

“It’s from the commander of the Sophia Margaret, who is just leaving Rio Janeiro for Trieste, and reports his prisoners safe and in good health.”

“It was a happy thought to have him continue his cruise to the Brazilian coast before returning homeward.  By the time he delivers those two scoundrels to his government their fellow conspirators will have forgotten they ever lived.  But”—­and Judge Claiborne shrugged his shoulders and smiled disingenuously—­“as a lawyer I deplore such methods.  Think what a stir would be made in this country if it were known that two men had been kidnapped in the sovereign state of Virginia and taken out to sea under convoy of ships carrying our flag for transfer to an Austrian battle-ship!  That’s what we get for being a free republic that can not countenance the extradition of a foreign citizen for a political offense.”

Armitage was not listening.  Questions of international law and comity had no interest for him whatever.  The valley breeze, the glory of the blue Virginia sky, the far-stretching lines of hills that caught and led the eye like sea billows; the dark green of shrubbery, the slope of upland meadows, and that elusive, vanishing gleam of white,—­before such things as these the splendor of empire and the might of armies were unworthy of man’s desire.

The Baron’s next words broke harshly upon his mood.

“The gratitude of kings is not a thing to be despised.  You could go to Vienna and begin where most men leave off!  Strong hands are needed in Austria,—­you could make yourself the younger—­the great Stroebel—­”

The mention of his name brought back the Baron’s still unanswered question.  He referred to it now, as he stood before them smiling.

“I have answered all your questions but one; I shall answer that a little later,—­if you will excuse me for just a few minutes I will go and get the answer,—­that is, gentlemen, I hope I shall be able to bring it back with me.”

He turned and ran down the steps and strode away through the long shadows of the garden.  They heard the gate click after him as he passed into the Claiborne grounds and then they glanced at each other with such a glance as may pass between two members of a peace commission sitting on the same side of the table, who will not admit to each other that the latest proposition of the enemy has been in the nature of a surprise.  They did not, however, suffer themselves to watch Armitage, but diplomatically refilled their glasses.