* * * * * *
When I went back to my room after dinner I really thought the time to go and fetch the Grand Duchess would never come.
At length ten o'clock struck, then quarter past. I went out quietly and peeped through the library door. Good. There was no light. If Cyrus Beck had unfortunately taken it into his head to work there that night we should have had to begin all over again.
Half-past struck, but it took me barely two minutes to cut across the garden. I wasn't late.
Very quietly I opened the door leading into the park. A puff of fresh air braced me up.
As I was closing it again I started. A hand had just been placed on my shoulder. At that moment I heard a voice:
"Professor Vignerte, I'm delighted to meet you!"
It was Lieutenant von Hagen.
The night was pitch-black, and we could not see each other. But I thought I detected that the hand he had put on my shoulder was a little unsteady. In an instant I recovered all my self-control.
"I thought you were at your mess," I said.