“All right, send for him.”

The secretary smiled, and said: “That’s easier said than done. He’s away up in the wilds, somewhere, on his vacation.”

“Ger-reat Scott!” ejaculated the Major.

Alfred groaned; the color went out of his face, and he began to slowly collapse in his clothes. The secretary said, wonderingly:

“Why, what are you Great-Scotting about, Major? The Prince gave you twenty-four hours. Look at the clock; you’re all right; you’ve half an hour left; the train is just due; the passport will arrive in time.”

“Man, there’s news! The train is three hours behind time! This boy’s life and liberty are wasting away by minutes, and only thirty of them left! In half an hour he’s the same as dead and damned to all eternity! By God, we must have the passport!”

“Oh, I am dying, I know it!” wailed the lad, and buried his face in his arms on the desk. A quick change came over the secretary, his placidity vanished away, excitement flamed up in his face and eyes, and he exclaimed:

“I see the whole ghastliness of the situation, but, Lord help us, what can I do? What can you suggest?”

“Why, hang it, give him the passport!”

“Impossible! totally impossible! You know nothing about him; three days ago you had never heard of him; there’s no way in the world to identify him. He is lost, lost—there’s no possibility of saving him!”

The boy groaned again, and sobbed out, “Lord, Lord, it’s the last of earth for Alfred Parrish!”

Another change came over the secretary.

In the midst of a passionate outburst of pity, vexation, and hopelessness, he stopped short, his manner calmed down, and he asked, in the indifferent voice which one uses in introducing the subject of the weather when there is nothing to talk about, “Is that your name?”

The youth sobbed out a yes.

“Where are you from?”

“Bridgeport.”

The secretary shook his head—shook it again—and muttered to himself. After a moment:

“Born there?”

“No; New Haven.”

“Ah-h.” The secretary glanced at the Major, who was listening intently, with blank and unenlightened face, and indicated rather than said, “There is vodka there, in case the soldiers are thirsty. The Major sprang up, poured for them, and received their gratitude. The questioning went on.

“How long did you live in New Haven?”

“Till I was fourteen. Came back two years ago to enter Yale.”

“When you lived there, what street did you live on?”