"I don't believe it," he said. "I believe that you are----" "Captain von Klausen, I have learned all that I want to know about your religious faith, and I am not in the slightest degree interested in the question of your other beliefs. I say to you that my wife has gone away, and I am afraid that, whether you like it or not, you are obliged, for the present, to accept my word." "I will not accept your word!" "Pardon me, but I don't see what else you can very well do. Of course, you might watch the house, but the Corniche gets very hot by midday." "You joke. You can joke about such a thing!" "I have never been so serious as I am now." Stainton emphasised his words with a gesture of his left hand, in which he held the now crumpled letter. "That letter!" said von Klausen with sudden inspiration. "It is from her!" "It is." "Ah, you have intercepted a letter from her to me!" "I am not in the habit of reading my wife's personal letters to other people--when she writes any. This note is addressed to me, and it is this note that tells me of her departure." "It tells you where she is going?" "It tells me that and more. It tells me that she is sorry for a wound she thinks she has inflicted on my feelings, and she proposed to look for rest in a certain secluded place." The Austrian's blue eyes brightened. "A secluded place?" he repeated, excitedly. "Exactly; but I shall not tell you its name. I shall keep that to myself until I have had another interview with my wife." The Captain looked closely at Stainton. "You mean to follow and chastise her?" he asked. "There," said Stainton, quietly, "I think we reach a point where the matter becomes entirely my own affair." XXI THE MAN AND HIS GOD If you look in your Baedeker's "Southern France," you will find, in very small type, on page 479, the following brief paragraph: "From Aubagne or Auriol to the Ste. Baume. From Aubagne an omnibus (5 fr.) plies four times weekly via (3 M.) Gemenos to the (4 hrs.) Hotellerie (see below). From Auriol an omnibus (50 c.) plies to the (51/2 M.) St. Zacherie (Lion d'Or), whence we have still 8 M. of bad road (carr. 10-20 fr.) to the Hotellerie de la Ste. Baume, situated on the plateau or Plan d'Aulps, 3/4 hr. below the grotto. The E. portion of the plateau is occupied by a virgin *Forest with fine trees--The Ste. Baume is, according to tradition, the grotto to which Mary Magdalen retired to end her days; it has been transformed into a chapel and is still a frequented pilgrim resort. It has given its name to the mountains among which it lies."