Part First Chapter 1 At the Telegraph

On the third day of August, 1870, I left Paris in search of John
Buckhurst.

On the 4th of August I lost all traces of Mr. Buckhurst near the
frontier, in the village of Morsbronn.

The remainder of the day I
spent in acquiring that "general information" so dear to the
officials in Paris whose flimsy systems of intelligence had already
begun to break down.

On August 5th, about eight o'clock in the morning, the military
telegraph instrument in the operator's room over the temporary
barracks of the Third Hussars clicked out the call for urgency, not
the usual military signal, but a secret sequence understood only by
certain officers of the Imperial Military Police.

The operator on duty therefore stepped into my room and waited while I took his place at
the wire.

I had been using the code-book that morning, preparing despatches for
Paris, and now, at the first series of significant clicks, I dropped
my left middle finger on the key and repeated the signal to Paris,
using the required variations. Then I rose, locked the door, and
returned to the table.

"Who is this?" came over the wire in the secret code; and I answered
at once: "Inspector of Foreign Division, Imperial Military Police, on
duty at Morsbronn, Alsace."

After considerable delay the next message arrived in the Morse code:
"Is that you, Scarlett?"

And I replied: "Yes. Who are you? Why do you not use the code? Repeat
the code signal and your number."

The signal was repeated, then came the message: "This is the
Tuileries. You have my authority to use the Morse code for the sake of
brevity.