The first assertion was simply an absurdity, as there was no silver in the house, unless it was in a corner of the cellar which was walled up, and which--on the express directions of the Chief--was left unopened. The true story about the clock was quite different to that circulated by Madame Jesse. The article in question was the timepiece in the drawing-room with the small bronze demon. Madame Jesse offered the Chancellor this piece of furniture, which in itself was of comparatively little value, at an exorbitant price, on the assumption that he prized it as a witness to the important negotiations that had taken place in her room. I believe she asked 5,000 francs for it. But she overreached herself, and her offer was declined. “I remember,” said the Minister afterwards in Berlin, “observing at the time that possibly the impish figure on the clock, which made such faces, might be particularly dear to her as a family portrait, and that I should be sorry to deprive her of it.” CHAPTER X AUTUMN DAYS AT VERSAILLES The day after our arrival at Versailles I forwarded the following statement with regard to the measures taken against Jacoby, in accordance with the Chief’s views. It was an answer to the protests which had been made by the German press against his arrest, and not merely by the democratic and the progressist organs, which invariably criticise political and military affairs from the standpoint of private morals. “We still hear a great deal about the alleged illegality committed in arresting Jacoby. That measure might have been inopportune; perhaps less importance might have been attached to his demonstrations. But there was nothing illegal in the course adopted, as we are now in a state of war, when the civil code must yield to military necessity. The imprisonment of Jacoby falls within the military jurisdiction, with which the police and the judicial authorities have nothing to do. It is in no sense to be regarded as a punishment. Jacoby is simply a prisoner of war, just as would be a spy arrested in Germany, with whom of course we do not wish otherwise to compare him. In other words, he was one of the forces that increased the difficulty of attaining the object of the war, and had accordingly to be rendered harmless.