stand a siege.

The Empress had long been in England, whither, indeed, she had fled,
with the assistance of a worthy and courageous gentleman, her American
dentist, within a few hours of our departure from Fecamp. The Emperor,
a broken man bearing the seed of death, had been allowed to join her
at Chiselhurst, thus returning to the land where he had found asylum
in his early adversity. It is strange how the Buonapartes, from the
beginning to the close of their wondrous dynasty, had to deal with
England.

The first of that great line died a captive to English arms, the last
perished fighting our foes.

"Paris has not fallen yet, has it, sir?" the waiter asked me when he
brought my breakfast on the following day--and I think the world
talked of little else than Paris that rainy morning. For the siege had
now lasted six weeks, and the ring of steel and iron was closing
around the doomed city.

The London newspapers had not arrived, so the morning news was passed
from mouth to mouth with that eagerness which is no respecter of
persons. Strangers spoke to each other in the coffee-room, and no man
hesitated to ask a question of his neighbour--the whole world seemed
akin. In those days Southampton was the port of discharge for the
Indian liners, and the hotel was full, every table being occupied. I
looked over the bronzed faces of these administrators, by sword and
pen, of our great empire, and soon decided that Charles Miste was not
among them. The wisdom that cometh in the morning had, in fact, forced
me to conclude that the search for the miscreant was better left in
the hands of Mr. Sander and his professional assistants.

[Illustration: "IT IS THE LADY WHO ARRIVED YESTERDAY," ANSWERED THE
WAITER.]

At the breakfast table I received a telegram from Sander informing me
that Paris still held out. He wired me this advice according to
arrangement; for he had decided that Miste, feeling, like all
Frenchmen, ill at ease abroad, was only awaiting the surrender to
return to Paris, and there begin more active measures to realise his
wealth. As soon, therefore, as the city fell I was to hasten thither
and there meet Sander.

The arrival of my message occasioned a small stir in the room, and
many keen glances were directed towards me as I read it. I handed it
to my nearest neighbour, explaining that he in turn was at liberty to
pass the paper on. It was not long before the waiter came to me with
the request that he might ma