blem of tickets by my genius so _superbe_. We at first
tried to take them, but _apres_ we abandoned the project so hopeless
and travelled _sans payer_. When asked at the barriers or in the
lifts, we offered pennies, and the men who collected took them
joyfully, asking not whence we came. It was _une procedee tres
simple_. It is possible that these wayward uncounted pennies dropped
into their own pockets. They rejoiced always to receive them. From
Wimbledon we returned to Earl's Court, and then, descending by an
electric staircase, which moved of itself, again found ourselves in
the Tubes. I loved that _escalier electrique_; one day I will return
and ascend and descend upon it for hours. From Earl's Court we went to
Piccadilly Circus; there we made another change for Oxford Circus;
there we again got out, and at last, after penetrating the bowels of
your London, travelled to Liverpool Street. By this time it had become
dark, and the spy's passion for underground travel had spent itself.
He crossed the street, descended to the grand station of the Eastern
Railway, and took a ticket for Burnham-on-Crouch. Exhausted, but ever
vigilant, Froissart and his faithful men took also tickets for
Burnham-on-Crouch.

"I will not weary you more with our wanderings, but after many hours,
at ten o'clock, we at last arrived at this place. The spy was met upon
the _quai_ by another villain, with whom he held converse, and the
pair of them, ignorant that the vengeance of Froissart overshadowed
them, marched heedlessly, openly, to the river side and entered a
large house of which the gardens ran down to the water. I left there
my two faithful but weary ones on watch, and hastened to the _salle de
police_. There an Inspector and a young _officier anglais_--a
sub-lieutenant of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve--were awaiting my
arrival with impatience. To them I told my story with the brevity that
I now recount it to you. They were intrigued greatly, and the
_sous_-lieutenant struck me violently upon the back and said, _ma
foi_, that I was a 'downy old bird,' It was a compliment _tres
'bizarre mais tres aimable._ I was, it appeared, an old bird of the
downiest plumage. I had noted the name of the house, and the Inspector
seized a Directory. 'We have suspected that house for some time,' said
he. There is a big boat-house at the bottom of the garden containing a
large sea-going motor-boat. The proprietor calls himself English, but
does not loo