who lies in wait for the unwary at the frontier, would now be an
inmate of a hospital. To have lived thirty-five years, and to
have ground out thirteen of them in her Majesty's, is to have
acquired a certain disdain for danger, even when it is masked. I
am curious to see how far these threats will go. It will take a
clever man to trap me. The incognito is a fort. By the way, I
wonder how the inspectors at the station came to overlook my
traps? Strange, considering what I have gone through."

At this moment the knuckles of a hand beat against the door.

"Come in!" answered the Englishman, wheeling his chair, but
making no effort to rise. "Come in!"

The door swung in, and there entered a short, spectacled man in
dark gray clothes which fairly bristled with brass buttons. He
was the chief inspector of customs. He bowed.

The Englishman, consternation widening his eyes, lowered his
pipe.

"Monsieur Hamilton's pardon," the inspector began, speaking in
French, "but with your permission I shall inspect your luggage
and glance at your passports." He bowed again.

"Now do you know, mon ami," replied the Englishman, "that
Monsieur Hamilton will not permit you to gaze even into yonder
washbowl?" He rose lazily.

"But, Monsieur," cried the astonished official, to whom non-