invite him to remain with them for the length of his stay in port. He
pays his score in news from home. On such occasions everything is of
the best, even for a simple lieutenant. At Sfax an officer on a visit
meant--one extra course, vintage wine and old liqueurs.

"But this time I imagined from the looks the officers exchanged that
perhaps the old stock would stay undisturbed in its cupboard.

"'You have all, I think, heard of Captain de Saint-Avit, gentlemen,
and the rumors about him. It is not for us to inquire into them, and
the promotion he has had, his decoration if you will, permits us to
hope that they are without foundation. But between not suspecting an
officer of being a criminal, and receiving him at our table as a
comrade, there is a gulf that we are not obliged to bridge. That is
the matter on which I ask your advice.'

"There was silence. The officers looked at each other, all of them
suddenly quite grave, even to the merriest of the second lieutenants.
In the corner, where I realized that they had forgotten me, I tried
not to make the least sound that might recall my presence.

"'We thank you, Colonel,' one of the majors finally replied, 'for your
courtesy in consulting us. All my comrades, I imagine, know to what
terrible rumors you refer. If I may venture to say so, in Paris at the
Army Geographical Service, where I was before coming here, most of the
officers of the highest standing had an opinion on this unfortunate
matter which they avoided stating, but which cast no glory upon
Captain de Saint-Avit.'

"'I was at Bammako, at the time of the Morhange-Saint-Avit mission,'