I proceeded very stealthily, because I knew that in view of the presence of such important people, watchers and sentries would be placed about the house, and in this I was not mistaken, for looking through one of the long windows--there were half a dozen in the hall--I could see two policemen walking slowly along a path which ran parallel with the house. The only danger was that they would also post watchers inside the house. As a matter of fact, there were two, but these men were posted on the next floor, one at each end of a passage leading to the apartments where the distinguished guests were sleeping. The study I found after a tiresome search. It was situated in an annex and reached by another passage which ran at right angles to the main corridor. The door was fastened by a patent lock which, however, presented no difficulties to Heinrich Falkenburg, one of my assistants, whose services I am pleased to acknowledge. I made a very careful examination of the door with my pocket-lamp and there appeared to be no wires and no alarm signal. You may wonder how I came to distinguish the study from the other rooms. I will tell you. It was the only room that was locked. I opened the door cautiously and listened for the sound of a bell. We stood for nearly five minutes before we ventured into the room, and when we did, we were rewarded. There was only one window and across that heavy purple velvet curtains had been drawn. There was a large library-table in the middle on which were several ash-trays filled with cigar ash. There was no need for me to make this discovery, for the room was heavy with the scent of cigar smoke and cedar wood. So, thought I, the excellent plenipotentiaries have met here and not in the saloon. I looked about and found some scraps of paper in the waste-paper basket. Some were covered with figures, a few were just fantastically scrawled designs such as men make when their minds are occupied and their hands are idle. There were one or two blue books relating to food supply, but nothing of any great moment, though I very carefully pocketed all the written matter. The search was necessarily slow since we depended upon our flash lamps, though we might have switched on the lights with impunity. In one corner of the room was a large and an old-fashioned safe. It stood about two metres high and a metre broad and had two narrow doors. Upon this Heinrich got to work and in half an hour I had the satisfaction of seeing the doors swing open. What a tribute to my perspicacity! What a triumphant vindication of a “Hun’s” foresight! Call us “Boches,” call us by every vile name that your kultural deficiencies may suggest, but bear ungrudging witness to the everything-foreseeing perfections of German organization!