She does not look much interested. She won't stay long," he
whispered, and added aloud, "that little one is the master. See how he
pushes the others aside! He is stronger than the other two, though he
is so small."

"He can snap, too," said The Rat.

"She is coming now," warned Marco, and then laughed aloud as if at the
Pekingese, which, catching sight of their mistress at the shop-door,
began to leap and yelp for joy.

Their mistress herself smiled, and was smiling as Marco drew near her.

"May we look at them, Madame?" he said in French, and, as she made an
amiable gesture of acquiescence and moved toward the carriage with him,
he spoke a few words, very low but very distinctly, in Russian.

"The Lamp is lighted," he said.

The Rat was looking at her keenly, but he did not see her face change
at all. What he noticed most throughout their journey was that each
person to whom they gave the Sign had complete control over his or her
countenance, if there were bystanders, and never betrayed by any change
of expression that the words meant anything unusual.

The great lady merely went on smiling, and spoke only of the dogs,
allowing Marco and himself to look at them through the window of the
carriage as the footman opened the door for her to enter.

"They are beautiful little creatures," Marco said, lifting his cap,
and, as the footman turned away, he uttered his few Russian words once
more and moved off without even glancing at the lady again.

"That is ONE!" he said to The Rat that night before they went to sleep,
and with a match he burned the scraps of the sketch he had torn and put
into his pocket.

XX

MARCO GOES TO THE OPERA

Their next journey was to Munich, but the night before they left Paris
an unexpected thing happened.

To reach the narrow staircase which led to their bedroom it was
necessary to pass through the baker's shop itself.

The baker's wife was a friendly woman who liked the two boy lodgers who
were so quiet and gave no trouble. More than once she had given them a
hot roll or so or a freshly baked little tartlet with fruit in the
center. When Marco came in this evening, she greeted him with a nod
and handed him a small parcel as he passed through.

"This was left for you this afternoon," she said. "I see you are
making purchases for your journey. My man and I are very sorry you are
going."

"Thank you, Madame. We also are sorry," Marco answered, taking the
parcel. "T