  We report on XMM-Newton observations performed on 2001 September 13-14 of the
neutron star X-ray transient KS 1731-260 in quiescence. The source was detected
at an unabsorbed 0.5-10 keV flux of only 4 - 8 x 10^{-14} erg/s, depending on
the model used to fit the data, which for a distance of 7 kpc implies a 0.5-10
keV X-ray luminosity of approximately 2 - 5 x 10^{32} erg/s. The September 2001
quiescent flux of KS 1731-260 is lower than that observed during the Chandra
observation in March 2001. In the cooling neutron star model for the quiescent
X-ray emission of neutron star X-ray transients, this decrease in the quiescent
flux implies that the crust of the neutron star in KS 1731-260 cooled down
rapidly between the two epochs, indicating that the crust has a high
conductivity. Furthermore, enhanced cooling in the neutron star core is also
favored by our results.
