36 FOR THE FLAG

impossible to deal ; one in whose mind no sense of pro-
portion any longer existed ; and even had Gaydon offered
him ten thousand millions the madman would have
demanded more.

Count d’Artigas and Captain Spade had watched him
closely from the beginning of this outburst ; the Count
still phlegmatic, though with lowering looks; the Captain
shaking his head to express; “ Decidedly there is nothing
to be done with this unfortunate person.”

Roch finally fled, and as he ran across the garden he
cried in a voice choked with rage,—

“ Thousands of millions! thousands of millions!”

Gaydon then turned to the Principal, and said curtly :
“I warned you!”

He set offin pursuit of his charge, and having joined
him he took him by the arm without much resistance, and
led him into the pavilion, locking the door.

Count d’Artigas remained alone with the Principal, while
Captain Spade for the last time traversed the garden inside
the wall.

“‘T exaggerated nothing, Count,” declared the Principal.
“Tt is undeniable that M. Roch’s malady is increasing
daily, and in my opinion it will develop into incurable
insanity. Ifall the money he demands were given to him,
nothing could be gained by it.”

“That is probable,” replied Count d’Artigas ; “and yet,
if his demands amount to an absurdity, he has none the
less invented a machine whose power is, so to speak,
infinite.”