They drew up the motor beside a wood and waited. The whole day went by in this way. It was evening before a squad of cavalry arrived, dispatched from Treves in search of the motor-car. Two hours later, Lupin stepped out of the car, and still escorted by his two Germans, by the light of a lantern climbed the steps of a staircase that led to a small room with iron-barred windows. Here he spent the night. * * * * * The next morning, an officer led him, through a courtyard filled with soldiers, to the centre of a long row of buildings that ran round the foot of a mound covered with monumental ruins. He was shown into a large, hastily-furnished room. His visitor of two days back was sitting at a writing-table, reading newspapers and reports, which he marked with great strokes of red pencil: "Leave us," he said to the officer. And, going up to Lupin: "The papers." The tone was no longer the same. It was now the harsh and imperious tone of the master who is at home and addressing an inferior . . . and such an inferior! A rogue, an adventurer of the worst type, before whom he had been obliged to humiliate himself! "The papers," he repeated. Lupin was not put out of countenance. He said, quite calmly: "They are in Veldenz Castle." "We are in the out-buildings of the castle. Those are the ruins of Veldenz, over there." "The papers are in the ruins." "Let us go to them. Show me the way." Lupin did not budge. "Well?" "Well, Sire, it is not as simple as you think. It takes some time to bring into play the elements which are needed to open that hiding-place." "How long do you want?" "Twenty-four hours." An angry movement, quickly suppressed: "Oh, there was no question of that between us!" "Nothing was specified, neither that nor the little trip which Your Imperial Majesty made me take in the charge of half a dozen of your body-guard. I am to hand over the papers, that is all." "And I am not to give you your liberty until you do hand over those papers." "It is a question of confidence, Sire. I should have considered myself quite as much bound to produce the papers if I had been free on leaving prison; and Your Imperial Majesty may be sure that I should not have walked off with them. The only difference is that they would now be in your possession. For we have lost a day, Sire. And a day, in this business . . . is a day too much. . . . Only, there it is, you should have had confidence." The Emperor gazed with a certain amazement at that outcast, that vagabond, who seemed vexed that any one should doubt his word. He did not reply, but rang the bell: "The officer on duty," he commanded. Count von Waldemar appeared, looking very white. "Ah, it's you, Waldemar? So you're all right again?" "At your service, Sire."