CHAPTER XIX.
CAPTAIN CLAIBORNE ON DUTY When he came where the trees were thin, The moon sat waiting there to see; On her worn palm she laid her chin, And laughed awhile in sober glee To think how strong this knight had been.
-- William Vaughn Moody.
In some mystification Captain Richard Claiborne packed a suit-case in his quarters at Fort Myer.

Being a soldier, he obeyed orders; but being human, he was also possessed of a degree of curiosity.

He did not know just the series of incidents and conferences that preceded his summons to Washington, but they may be summarized thus: Baron von Marhof was a cautious man.

When the young gentlemen of his legation spoke to him in awed whispers of a cigarette case bearing an extraordinary device that had been seen in Washington he laughed them away; then, possessing a curious and thorough mind, he read all the press clippings relating to the false Baron von Kissel, and studied the heraldic emblems of the Schomburgs.

As he pondered, he regretted the death of his eminent brother-in-law, Count Ferdinand von Stroebel, who was not a man to stumble over so negligible a trifle as a cigarette case.
But Von Marhof himself was not without resources.