"'All this they may do if they like, and yet this lady of mine will convey the despatch into the fortress.'

"'I should like to know her secret.'

"''Tis a very simple one. She will learn the whole despatch by heart from beginning to end.'

"The General began to laugh.

"'Oho ho! My dear friend, you don't suppose that we would entrust our couriers with a despatch in good Hungarian for the enemy to snap it up on the way, and thus learn all about our military operations. It may also be deliberately betrayed. In the times in which we now live men are quick enough to discover excuses for changing their saddles. This despatch contains all our secrets: where we are strong, where we are weak, where we want to assume the offensive, where we are obliged to stand on the defensive. Such a despatch would be worth 200,000 florins to the enemy at the very least.'

"'I can assure you, General, that neither I nor this lady will betray it.'

"'You couldn't if you would, for the whole despatch is in cipher. Take it, and look at it. Do you understand a word of it? Can any one possibly learn it by heart?'

"The writing which he placed in my hand was composed of a jumble of letters grouped into words—characters whose contents could scarcely be called language at all. I nevertheless assured the General that this lady of mine would learn the despatch off by heart all the same.

"''Tis impossible.'

"'Nothing is impossible. Once, when we were actors ...'