ad he chosen, have put the forces of the law in motion against
him. But Racksole, seeing that everything pointed to the fact that Rocco
was now pursuing his vocation honestly, decided to leave him alone. The
one difficulty which Racksole experienced after the demise of Jules--and
it was a difficulty which he had, of course, anticipated--was connected
with the police. The police, very properly, wanted to know things.
They desired to be informed what Racksole had been doing in the Dimmock
affair, between his first visit to Ostend and his sending for them to
take charge of Jules' dead body. And Racksole was by no means inclined
to tell them everything. Beyond question he had transgressed the laws of
England, and possibly also the laws of Belgium; and the moral excellence
of his motives in doing so was, of course, in the eyes of legal justice,
no excuse for such conduct. The inquest upon Jules aroused some bother;
and about ninety-and-nine separate and distinct rumours. In the end,
however, a compromise was arrived at. Racksole's first aim was to pacify
the inspector whose clue, which by the way was a false one, he had so
curtly declined to follow up. That done, the rest needed only tact and
patience. He proved to the satisfaction of the authorities that he had
acted in a perfectly honest spirit, though with a high hand, and that
substantial justice had been done. Also, he subtly indicated that, if it
came to the point, he should defy them to do their worst. Lastly, he
was able, through the medium of the United States Ambassador, to bring
certain soothing influences to bear upon the situation.

One afternoon, a fortnight after the recovery of the Hereditary Prince
of Posen, Aribert, who was still staying at the Grand Babylon, expressed
a wish to hold converse with the millionaire. Prince Eugen, accompanied
by Hans and some Court officials whom he had sent for, had departed with
immense eclat, armed with the comfortable million, to arrange formally
for his betrothal.

Touching the million, Eugen had given satisfactory personal security,
and the money was to be paid off in fifteen years.

'You wish to talk to me, Prince,' said Racksole to Aribert, when they
were seated together in the former's room.

'I wish to tell you,' replied Aribert, 'that it is my intention to
renounce all my rights and titles as a Royal Prince of Posen, and to be
known in future as Count Hartz--a rank to which I am entitled through my
mother.

Als