de."

"Not yet," said Balsamides.

And so our interview ended. When I saw Paul and told him the news, he
seemed to think that the search was already at an end. I found it hard
to persuade him that a week or two might elapse before anything definite
was known. In his enthusiasm he insisted that I should answer John
Carvel's letter by begging him to come at once. As he was the person
most concerned, I yielded, and wrote.

"It is strange," said Paul, "that we should have accomplished more in a
single month than has been done by all the official searching in a year
and a half."

"The reason is very simple," I answered. "The Lala did not chance to be
in want of money until lately. Everything we have discovered has been
found out by means of that watch."

"Griggs," said Paul, "Balsamides is a very clever fellow, but he has not
thought of asking one question. Why was the Lala never in want of money
before?"

"I do not know."

"Because, in some way or other, he is out of favor with his Khanum. If
that is the case, this is the time to bribe him."

"Very true," I said. "In any case, if he is trying to get money, it is a
sign that he needs it, in spite of our friend's declaration that he and
his kind cannot be bribed."

XIV.

It often happens, when our hopes are raised to the highest pitch of
expectation, and when we think we are on the eve of realizing our
well-considered plans, that an unexpected obstacle arises in our path,
like the impenetrable wall which so often in our dreams suddenly
interposes itself between us and the enemy we are pursuing. At such
moments we are apt to despair of ourselves, and it is the inability to
rise above this dejection at the important crisis which too often causes
failure. After we had discovered the watch, and after Balsamides had
traced it to the house of Laleli Khanum Effendi, it seemed to me that
the end could not be far. It could not be an operation of superhuman
difficulty to bribe some one in the harem to tell us what we wanted to
know. In a few days this might be accomplished, and we should learn the
fate of Alexander Patoff.

It was at this point, however, that failure awaited us. The house of
Laleli was impenetrable. The scheme to establish communication by means
of the story-teller did not succeed. The old woman was received once,
but saw nothing, and never succeeded in gaining admittance again. Selim,
the Lala, ceased at that time to pay regular visits to Stambo