"Very well, _Excellenz_. Anything more?" "Write to me in a week's time if everything has gone off well. Write to our Paris address and not before: it would be useless." "Then you're going back to France, _Excellenz_?" "Yes, my plan is ripe." "The same plan?" "Yes. The weather is in our favor. It has been raining for days and the staff have told me that they mean to act on their side. So I shall be there to-morrow evening; and it will only need a touch of the thumb . . ." "That's it, a touch of the thumb, no more. I've worked at it myself and everything's ready. But you spoke to me of another plan, to complete the first; and I confess that that one . . ." "It's got to be done. Luck is turning against us. If I succeed, it will be the end of the run on the black." "And have you the Kaiser's consent?" "I didn't ask for it. It's one of those undertakings one doesn't talk about." "But this one is terribly dangerous, _Excellenz_." "Can't be helped." "Sha'n't you want me over there, _Excellenz_?" "No. Get rid of the chit for us. That will be enough for the present. Good-bye." "Good-bye, _Excellenz_." The spy released the brakes. The car started. The drive which ran round the central lawn led to a lodge which stood beside the garden-gate and which served as a guard-room. The high walls surrounding the grounds rose on either side of it. An officer came out of the lodge. Karl gave the pass-word, "Hohenstaufen." The gate was opened and the motor dashed down a high-road which first passed through the little town of Èbrecourt and next wound among low hills. So Paul Delroze, at an hour before midnight, was alone in the open country, with Élisabeth and Karl the spy. If he succeeded in mastering the spy, as he did not doubt that he could, Élisabeth would be free. There would then remain nothing to do but to return to Prince Conrad's villa, with the aid of the pass-word, and pick up Bernard there. Once the adventure was completed in accordance with Paul's designs, the tunnel would bring back all the three of them to the Château d'Ornequin. Paul therefore gave way to the delight that was stealing over him. Élisabeth was with him, under his protection: Élisabeth, whose courage, no doubt, had yielded under the weight of her trials, but who had a claim upon his indulgence because her misfortunes were due to his fault. He forgot, he wished to forget all the ugly phases in the tragedy, in order to think only of the end that was near at hand, his wife's triumph and deliverance. He watched the road attentively, so as not to miss his way when returning, and planned out his attack, fixing it at the first stop which they would have to make. He resolved that he would not kill the spy, but that he would stun him with a blow of his fist and, after knocking him down and binding him, throw him into some wood by the road-side.