"Volpetti has doubtless arrived," he said to himself and then rising, he took up the package of papers which had recently been collected and pressed a finger upon a hidden spring back of his chair, whereupon one of the panels swung open, revealing a dark, narrow passageway, at the farther end of which there was an iron shutter. Entering, he touched this lightly with his knuckles and no sooner had it rolled upward than a man's voice hoarsely whispered from the opened room: "I am here, Excellency." The chamber which the baron entered was furnished in mahogany, the walls painted to match, and the floor was covered with a cheap carpet. It lacked windows and was ventilated only by the stovepipe. A lantern was suspended from the ceiling and he quickly turned it upon the individual who had announced himself. "Lower the shutter," ordered the baron, and the man obeyed, closing the chamber's only exit. "Now bring cup and salver." The man took from the cupboard a deep bronze cup with handles representing two sirens of protruding bosom. Unstopping a bottle, he emptied its contents into the cup and then, striking a flint, ignited a taper which he applied to the liquid. He then placed the cup on the stove. A blue flame arose, and in it the baron lighted, one by one, the documents he had just been handling at his desk. He watched the burning sheets as they turned to black crumpled shapes and then to shapeless ashes upon the metal salver. The odor from the burning seals was wafted to his face and a slight shiver came over him. He was enjoying his power of obliterating history, cunningly causing past happenings to seem as though they had not been. Feeling relieved at the destruction of the papers, he said amiably to Volpetti: "When you are again here, 'twill be because _that_ has been accomplished." Chapter VI THE BAILIFF The man to whom those significant words A were addressed, and whom the baron called Volpetti, appeared to have just arrived after a long journey. Much dust whitened his clothes, his shoes and his abundant dark hair, which last was in a disorderly condition. He seemed somewhat over thirty, of a southern type, having tanned skin and a heavy beard which extended almost to his eyes. His answer was formal: "_That_ shall be accomplished tonight." "Are you certain?" "Infallibly so. The fool is in clever hands. I am just from London, bringing two boxes of steel implements, scissors and knives, which have served to corroborate my commercial character. Beyond the Channel I was Albert Serra, a Catalan, making purchases in London to smuggle through Gibraltar. Not the devil himself could have spotted me." "Come to the point," commanded the superintendent. "You are skillful in disguises. I myself hardly recognize you in that beard and mop of hair."