Wilhelm fingered this dainty piece of mechanism curiously, wondering where it was made. He guessed Milan as the place of its origin, knowing enough of cutlery to admire the skill and knowledge of metallurgy that had gone to its construction, and convinced as he laid it down that it was foreign. He was well aware that no smith in Germany could fashion a lancet so exquisitely tempered. He then turned his attention to the document which had been fastened to the table by this needle-like stiletto. At the top of the parchment were the same letters that had been cut in the handle of the dagger. _S. S. G. G._ _First warning. Wear this dagger thrust into your doublet over the heart, and allow him who accosts you, fearing nothing if your heart be true and loyal. In strict silence safety lies_. Wilhelm laughed. “It is some lover’s nonsense of Elsa’s,” he said to himself. “‘If your heart be true and loyal,’ that is a woman’s phrase and nothing else.” Calling his wife, he held out the weapon to her and said: “Where did you get this, Elsa? I would be glad to know who your armourer is, for I should dearly love to provide my men with weapons of such temper.” Elsa looked alternately at the dagger and at her husband, bewildered. “I never saw it before, nor anything like it,” she replied. “Where did you find it? It is so frail it must be for ornament merely.” “Its frailness is deceptive. It is a most wonderful instrument, and I should like to know where it comes from. I thought you had bought it from some armourer and intended me to wear it as a badge of my office. Perhaps it was sent by the Empress. The word ‘loyalty’ seems to indicate that, though how it got into this room and on this table unknown to me is a mystery.” Elsa shook her head as she studied the weapon and the message critically. “Her Majesty is more direct than this would indicate. If she had aught to say to you she would say it without ambiguity. Do you intend to wear the dagger as the scroll commands?” “If I thought it came from the Empress I should, not otherwise.” “You may be assured some one else has sent it. Perhaps it is intended for me,” and saying this Elsa thrust the blade of the dagger through the thick coil of her hair and turned coquettishly so that her husband might judge of the effect. “Are you ambitious to set a new fashion to the Court, Elsa?” asked Wilhelm, smiling. “No; I shall not wear it in public, but I will keep the dagger if I may.”