One step further along the path of the informer, the spy, and the "trap," and we come to means whose ignominy is such that even the Germans themselves are forced to admit their dishonesty. Thus, at Liége most of the letter-boxes on the house-doors are closed by means of nails. Why? At the end of 1914 many citizens of Liége used to receive _Le Courrier de la Meuse_, a newspaper edited and printed at Maestricht by Belgian refugees. There was no great mystery about its distribution; the paper was simply slipped into the letter-box. But the German agents spied on the vendors, and having done so, searched the houses at which the newspaper was delivered. The subscriber, of course, was condemned to pay a fine. Did part of this go to the spy? It is probable; in any case it was not long before the spies were importing _Le Courrier de la Meuse_ in order themselves to place it in the letter-boxes of well-to-do houses. A search conducted immediately revealed the prohibited article, and, in spite of the indignant denials of the victim, the fine was inflicted. At Ferrières, near Jemelle, worse than this was done. A German priest pretended that the curé of Ferrières had repeated, before a witness, a private conversation held some hours earlier. Moreover, he wanted to garble the conversation. The abbé's action was repugnant in such a degree that even Baron von Bissing himself was a little uneasy about the matter, and revoked the punishment awarded to the Belgian. While the mission of the spies and _agents-provocateurs_--including the _abbés-provocateurs_ or ecclesiastical "traps"--was to procure the condemnation to various penalties of as many Belgians as possible, other "agents" in the pay of Germany commenced a vast inquiry, in order to prove, in the face of the evidence itself, the crimes of the "francs-tireurs." Well!--in spite of all the manoeuvres of spies and _provocateurs_ and the inquirers themselves, in spite of the personal rancour which impelled a few rare Belgians to become the accomplices of the Germans, and to denounce, in a spirit of vengeance, certain of their fellow-citizens, never did the Germans succeed in mentioning a single name, not one single name, of a Belgian civilian accused of having fired upon the German troops. We say expressly "accused," and not "convicted," to show that nowhere, in village or provincial town, although petty rivalry is so acute, and although informers, even though anonymous, would have been welcomed with joy by the Germans, nowhere was any one found to assert that a Belgian civilian had fired on the German troops. No, it was so improbable, so manifestly false, that not even the most miserable of wretches would have dreamed of formulating such a calumny.