“Are you mad, Kranz? Do you take me for an imbecile old woman? Am I feeble-minded--do I _look_ feeble-minded--that you should dare to--to play such a trick upon me?” He was obviously working himself up into one of his official rages. “You--you tell me that you have an infallible means for obtaining secret information, no matter how hidden. You persuade me to come and test it--_me!_ I give you credit for your impudence!--and this is what it is!” He almost choked with offended dignity. “Be careful, Kranz! You have traded this once upon your record with us--you will never do it again! To bring me--_me!_--to this absurdity!--to expect me to listen to the hypnotic ravings of that idiot girl! I wonder you didn’t offer me crystal-gazing!” “But, _Excellenz_----!” The old man waved a hand at him. “My dear Kranz,” he said, dropping suddenly into a tone of tolerant contempt. “I forgive you this once. I daresay you have been the victim of a genuine hallucination. You would not have dared else.--You don’t drug, do you?” The question was asked with a disconcertingly sudden sharpness. The younger man made a gesture of emphatic denial, defying the piercing gray eyes that probed him. The old man grunted. “Keep your sanity, Kranz--or the Bureau will lose a valued servant. Drop this nonsense. I know what I am talking about--I studied psychology under Wundt of Jena. The whole thing is a hallucination--the raving of the dream-self released from control--_dummes Zeug!_--Give me my coat!” “_Excellenz_, I implore you!” The old man looked at him with a snarl of savage mockery. “Don’t waste any more of my time, Kranz! Look at her--is it even probable that an imbecile creature like that can be of use in our business? Look at her, I say!” He flung out a hand toward a young girl who stood with obvious reluctance in the centre of the luxuriously furnished apartment. She was perhaps eighteen but her youth had neither beauty nor charm. Her features were soft and heavy; the nose thick; the chin receding; the eyes weak and protuberant. Unmistakably, her personality was of the feeblest. Her face flooded scarlet with shame and her eyes swam with tears at this brutal insult. Yet evidently she did not dare to rush away. Only she looked beseechingly toward Kranz, like a dog who awaits a sign from its master. His sallow face blanched. The thin lips under the dark moustache lost their curves, became a straight line. “Agathe!” he said, and his voice of command was strangely in contrast with the tone in which he had entreated the old man. “Go into the next room and wait!” The girl vanished without a word. Kranz waited until she had closed the door, and then he turned once more to his superior. “I implore Your Excellency to listen!” he said with a desperate gesture. “I stake my reputation upon it----” The old man grunted scornfully. “Your reputation!” The dark eyes flashed. “My reputation with you, _Excellenz_,” he corrected in a gentle voice of complete cynicism.