Then, in a few minutes, he seemed to wake, looked round him, at the walls, the ceilings, the people, and said:

"A narcotic, I suppose?"

"Yes," said the doctor.

"Have they found . . . the man?"

"No."

He seemed to be meditating and several times jerked his head with a thoughtful air: but they soon saw that he was asleep.

The Emperor went up to Waldemar:

"Order your car round."

"Oh? . . . But then, Sire . . . ?"

"Well, what? I am beginning to think that he is taking us in and that all this is merely play-acting, to gain time."