took him by the arm and led him into the library of the house
in the Rue de St. Quintaine. The six men who were already there waiting
rose to their feet.

"Gentlemen," the Marquis said, "is it your will that I should be
spokesman?"

There was a murmur of assent. Then Sogrange turned toward his companion,
and something new seemed to have crept into his manner--a solemn, almost
a threatening note.

"Peter Ruff," he continued, "you have trifled with the one organization
in this world which has never allowed liberties to be taken with it. Men
who have done greater service than you have died, for the disobedience
of a day. You have been treated leniently, according to the will of
Madame. According to her will, and in deference to the position which
you must now take up among us, we will treat you as no other has ever
been treated by us. The Double-Four admits your leadership and claims
you for its own."

"I am not prepared to discuss anything of the sort," Peter Ruff
declared, doggedly, "until my wife is restored to me."

The Marquis smiled.

"The traditions of your race, Mr. Ruff," he said, "are easily manifest
in you. Now hear our decision. Your wife shall be restored to you on the
day when you take up this position to which you have become entitled.
Sit down and listen."

Peter Ruff was a rebel at heart, but he felt the grip of iron.

"During these four years when you, my friend, have been growing turnips
and shooting your game, events in the great world have marched, new
powers have come into being, a new page of history has been opened. As
everything which has good at the heart evolves toward the good, so we
of the Double-Four have lifted our great enterprise onto a higher plane.
The world of criminals is still at our beck and call, we still claim
the right to draw the line between moral theft and immoral honesty, but
to-day the Double-Four is concerned with greater things. Within the
four walls of this room, within the hearing of these my brothers, whose
fidelity is as sure as the stones of Paris, I tell you a great secret.
The government of our country has craved for our aid and the aid of our
organization. It is no longer the wealth of the world alone, which we
may control, but the actual destinies of nations."

"What I suppose you mean to say is," Peter Ruff remarked, "that you've
been going in for politics?"

"You put it crudely, my English bull-dog," Sogrange answered, "but you
are right. We are occup