hand and tin sign which read, "To the President's Room. Second Story.
Take the Elevator." The idlers in the lobby had recognized her, and a
whisper spread until it swelled into a buzz outside that she was the
professional beauty.

"Can I see the President?" she asked of a policeman who alone guarded
the door of the chief magistrate.

"Name, please," said the functionary, who still clung to this relic of
the formality of the past.

"Say a lady," she said, haughtily, and the man, impressed by her mien,
threw open the door.

Mrs. Carey found herself in the presence of a large, heavily built man,
with a bald head and long, coal-black beard, who was sitting at a desk.
He was smoking, and the spacious but bare room was thick with tobacco
smoke. A table, on which were empty bottles and the remains of a lunch,
stood in one corner. Several men, who also had cigars in their mouths,
were sprawling on an enamel cloth lounge in the bay-window which
commanded the street. At her entrance these latter arose, and, at a
glance from their chief at the desk, shambled out of the room by a side
door, casting, however, over their shoulders glances of curiosity and
surprise. She waited until they had closed the door, then lifted her
veil.

President Bagshaw rose and made a bow, which was an unusual act of
homage on his part, for he was a woman-hater as well as an atheist. He
even removed the cigar from his mouth.

"What can I do for you, madam?" he asked.

"I have important information for the government." She paused an
instant. "Are we quite alone?"

The President went to the side door, and carefully bolted it. Then he
resumed his seat, and, resting his ponderous, seamy jaw upon the flat of
his hand, waited for her to begin. He was used to all sorts of devices
as a prelude to requests for office or emolument, and his expression
betokened little interest or expectation. Had not the serious character
of the communication she was about to make rendered coquetry at the
moment distasteful to Mrs. Carey, she would assuredly have been tempted
to tamper with the indifference of this matter-of-fact personage, who
even already had recovered from the trifling shock to his principles
which her entrance had caused.

"I have proofs," said she in a low tone, "of a serious conspiracy among
the Royalists."

His countenance changed a little, and a contracted brow of a business
man became noticeable. "In what part of the Republic?" he asked.

"It