``Who was that, young feller?'' the doctor instantly asked.

``That was the fille de chambre, the one you thought couldn't get the eggs out. She looked mighty interested, though. Anyhow she's coming back in five minutes to do the room.''

The doctor's mind was working at a great speed; he rose to put his greatcoat on and addressed Alex in a muted voice.

``Have you got our keys handy?''

``Right in my pocket.''

``All right. Now you go outside and beckon me when it's safe.'' The hall was empty and Alex beckoned; they climbed the stairs which creaked, very loudly to their sensitive ears, and reached the next floor. A guest was locking his room; they passed behind him and got to Alex's room unnoticed. The doctor sat down rather wearily, caressing the hen and remarking that the city was not the place for a poultry loving man, but no sooner was the remark out than a knock at this door obliged him to cover the hen with his greatcoat once more. At the door Alex managed to persuade the increasingly astonished fille de chambre to return in ten minutes. It was evident that a second transfer had to be effected, and that it had to take place between the time the fille finished the doctor's room and the time she began Alex's. They waited three minutes and then crept out on tip-toe; the halls were empty and they passed down the stairs to number nine and listened at the door. A bustle of sheets being smoothed and pillows being arranged indicated the fille de chambre's presence inside; they listened and suddenly a step towards the door announced another important fact. The doctor shot down to the lavatory and turned the doorknob, but to no effect: the lavatory was occupied. Although a look of alarm passed over his face, he did not arrest his movements but disappeared into the shower room just as the chambermaid emerged from number nine. Alex suppressed those expressions of relief which offered to prevail in his face and escape from his throat; unwarranted they were in any case for, as he stood facing the fille de chambre, his ears were assailed by new sounds from the interior of the shower room. The events of the last quarter of an hour, mysterious to any bird accustomed only to the predictable life of coop and barnyard, had overcome the doctor's hen and she gave out a series of cackly wails, perhaps mourning her nest, but briefly enjoyed. The doctor's wits had not left him, however, for all his sixty-eight years, and the wails were almost immediately lost in the sound of water rushing out from the showerhead. Alex nodded to the maid as though nothing unusual were taking place and entered the doctor's room. Shortly, the doctor himself entered, his hair somewhat wet from the shower, but evidently satisfied with the outcome of their adventures. Without comment he opened the closet and from its shelves constructed a highboard around the egg case which he had placed on the floor inside. Next, the hen was nested and all seemed well. The two men sat for some time, savoring the pleasure of escape from peril and the relief such escape brings, before they got up and left the hotel, the doctor to go to the conference house and Alex to go to the main post office.