e atmosphere of suspicion. I
have known instances where an innocent stranger was suddenly set upon
in the midst of solemn proceedings by two or three impetuous
fellow-members, who nearly jerked his own whiskers from his face
under the impression that they were false. If Simard, therefore,
appeared in his own scraggy beard and unkempt hair it meant that he
communicated with headquarters by some circuitous route. I realised,
therefore, that a very touchy bit of diplomacy awaited me if I was to
learn from himself his actual status. While I pondered over this
perplexity, it was suddenly dissolved by the action of the president,
and another substituted for it.

'Will Brother Simard come forward?' asked the president.

My former subordinate removed his eyes from me, slowly rose from his
chair, and shuffled up to the president's table.

'Brother Ducharme,' said that official to me in a quiet tone, 'I
introduce you to Brother Simard, whom you are commissioned to see into
a place of safety when he has dispersed the procession.'

Simard turned his fishy goggle eyes upon me, and a grin disclosed
wolf-like teeth. He held out his hand, which, rising to my feet, I
took. He gave me a flabby grasp, and all the time his inquiring eyes
travelled over me.

'You don't look up to much,' he said. 'What are you?'

'I am a teacher of the French language in London.'

'Umph!' growled Simard, evidently in no wise prepossessed by my
appearance. 'I thought you weren't much of a fighter. The gendarmes
will make short work of this fellow,' he growled to the chairman.

'Brother Ducharme is vouched for by the whole English circle,' replied
the president firmly.

'Oh, the English! I think very little of them. Still, it doesn't
matter,' and with a shrug of the shoulders he shuffled to his seat
again, leaving me standing there in a very embarrassed state of mind;
my brain in a whirl. That the man was present with his own face was
bewildering enough, but that he should be here under his own name was
simply astounding. I scarcely heard what the president said. It seemed
to the effect that Simard would take me to his own room, where we
might talk over our plans. And now Simard rose again from his chair,
and said to the president that if nothing more were wanted of him, we
should go. Accordingly we left the place of meeting together. I
watched my comrade narrowly. There was now a trembling eagerness in
his action, and without a word he hurried me t