lock of his door. He looked up and saw
with surprise a man who was not dressed in uniform.

"Who are you? What do you want?" exclaimed Dumiger, "for there is such
a thing as intrusion even in a prison."

The man whom he addressed only replied by taking possession of the
single chair which stood by the bedside; he then very quietly and
coolly took a tinder-box from his pocket, struck a light in the
most deliberate manner, and lit the small lamp which had remained
unreplenished from the preceding evening. Dumiger had then an
opportunity of examining his visitor.

He was a little, jesuitical, sly, crafty, leering person, with a
quick, intelligent, practical eye--a man who was evidently conversant
with the world; and to judge from the sensual expression of his mouth
and the protuberance at the nape of the neck, whose world was of the
worst description--a phrenologist or physiognomist would have hung him
at once. It is fortunate for some men that these sciences are not more
extensively understood, or a great many persons would suffer for their
natural and cerebral conformation.

"You will soon be free, my son."

"Free! thank God!" exclaimed Dumiger, throwing himself back on his
pillow and clasping his hands in gratitude.

"You are too quick, young man," continued the stranger. "I said you
would soon be free, if--you see there is an _if_. It is for you to
remove it."

"If--if what? I will do anything you tell me," almost shrieked
Dumiger, so terrified was he at the possibility of his hopes deserting
him.

"Well," continued the little man, putting on his spectacles and
examining the roll of his papers, "I will commence by telling you that
I am a native of Hamburgh and like yourself, a great mechanist. I was
sent for by the Council last evening, to examine all the models which
have been received. I do not hesitate to say to you that yours is by
far the best."

"God be praised, Marguerite, Marguerite!" ejaculated Dumiger.

"Yes," quickly remarked the mysterious visitor, "yours is by far
superior to all the rest, but it will not win the prize."

"Not win the prize!" said Dumiger; for now all his ambition had
returned to him.

"Certainly not," was the reply; "you know as well as I do that the
machinery requires some directing power. No one knows how to apply it:
no one knows the secret."

"Yes, there is a secret," said the youth, his face brightening even
through the cold, clammy prison atmosphere.

"And you c