Chapter 2
WHY THE SAFE WAS OPENEDThat day was an active one in Questura, or police office, of
Leghorn.
Detectives called, examined the safe, and sagely declared it to
be burglar-proof, had not the thieves possessed the key. The
Foreign Office knew that, for they supply all the safes to the
Consulates abroad, in order that the precious ciphers shall be kept
from the prying eyes of foreign spies. The Questore, or chief of
police, was of opinion that it was the ciphers of which the thieves
had been in search, and was much relieved to hear that they were in
safekeeping far away in Downing Street.
His conjecture was the same as my own, namely, that the reason
of Hornby's call upon me was to ascertain the situation of the
Consulate and the whereabouts of the safe, which, by the way,
