Bailey Thompson looked meditative, and, after a pause, proceeded. “Outside the building, at every twenty paces or so, you will find men stationed. They are merely firemen, whose chief duty it is to see no bomb is thrown into the rooms or deposited outside by the anarchists, who have frequently threatened it. They are not soldiers, and are not in any way armed.”
Teddy Parsons breathed heavily and murmured, “Capital!”
“And what force is there inside?”
“There are a great number of men about, attendants and so forth, but I cannot conceive them capable of any resistance.”
“You don’t imagine they are secretly armed?” asked the palpitating Teddy.
“Dear me, no, any more than the attendants at an ordinary club!”
“In short,” said Mr. Brentin, “you feel pretty confident that neither inside nor outside we are likely to encounter a single weapon of offence?”
“Perfectly confident. Perfectly confident, gentlemen.”
“And what about the army?” Parsons asked. “I understand the Prince of Monaco has an army of seventy men.”
“Quite correct,” Bailey Thompson replied, “but it is stationed up in Monaco, at least a mile away.”