ill be returned intact to the fund from which they came.
I want, also, to impress upon you, Sir James, the fact that Baron
de Streuss offered one hundred thousand pounds for that letter."

Sir James nodded thoughtfully. He stooped down and scrawled a few
lines on half a sheet of note-paper.

"You must take this to Lord Estcourt at once," he said, "and tell
him the whole affair, omitting all specific information as to the
nature of the papers. The thing must be arranged, of course."

Half-a-dozen reporters, who had somehow got hold of the fact that
the Prime Minister and his colleague from the Foreign Office were
going down to Windsor on a special mission, followed them, but even
they remained altogether in the dark as to the events which were
really transpiring. They knew nothing of the interview between the
Czar and his August host--an interview which in itself was a
chapter in the history of these times. They knew nothing of the
reason of their royal visitor's decision to prolong his visit
instead of shortening it, or of his autograph letter to the
President of the French Republic, which reached Paris even before
the special mission from St. Petersburg had presented themselves.
The one thing which they did know, and that alone was significant
enough, was that the Czar's Foreign Minister was cabled for that
night to come to his master by special train from St. Petersburg.
At the Austrian and German Embassies, forewarned by a report from
Baron de Streuss, something like consternation reigned. The
Russian Ambassador, heckled to death, took refuge at Windsor under
pretence of a command from his royal master. The happiest man in
London was Prince Rosmaran.

CHAPTER XXXVI

LAVERICK ACQUITTED

At mid-day on the following morning Laverick stepped down from the
dock at Bow Street and, as the evening papers put it, "in company
with his friends left the court." The proceedings altogether took
scarcely more than half-an-hour. Laverick's solicitor first put
Shepherd in the box, who gave his account of Morrison's visit to
the restaurant, spoke of his hurried exit, and identified the knife
which he had seen him snatch up. Cross-examined as to why he had
kept silent, he explained that Mr. Morrison had been a good customer
and he saw no reason why he should give unsolicited evidence which
would cost a man his life. Directly, however, another man had been
accused, the matter appeared to him to be altogether di