me. He was a fine fellow, I doubt not: had
much merit of his faultless bow, and great worth in the nicety of his
spotless waistcoat, but God never made one so dull or so preposterous a
blockhead. I see him now, rolling up the starved hairs which struggled
for existence upon his chin, and letting his cuffs lie well upon his
bony wrists as he asked me, with a floating drawl--

"And what service can I do for you?"

For me! What service could _he_ do for me? I smiled at him, and did not
disguise my contempt.

"If there is any responsible person here," I said, with emphasis upon
the word responsible, "I should be glad to impart to him some very
curious, and, as it seems to me, very remarkable, information
concerning a war-ship which has just left Spezia, and is supposed to be
the property of the Brazilian Government."

"It's very good of you, don't you know," he replied, as he bent down to
arrange his ample trousers; "but I fancy we heard something about her
last week, so we won't trouble you, don't you know"; and he felt to see
if his bow were straight.

"You may have heard something of the ship," I answered with warmth,
"but that which I have to communicate is not of descriptive, but of
national, importance. You cannot by any means have learnt my story, for
there is only one man living who knows it."

He looked up at the clock a moment as though seeking inspiration, but
his mind was quite vacant when he replied--

"It's awfully good of you, don't you know; we're so frightfully busy
this month; if you could come up in a month's time----"

"In a month's time," I said, rising with scorn, "in a month's time, if
you and yours don't stand condemned before Europe for a parcel of fools
and incompetents, then you'll send for me, but I'll see you at blazes
first--good-morning!"

I was outside the office before his exclamation of surprise had passed
away; and within half an hour I sat in the private room of the
secretary to the Black Anchor Steamship Company. He was a sharp man of
business, keen-visaged as a ferret, and restless as a nervous horse
long reined in. I told him shortly that I had reason to doubt the truth
of the statement that a warship recently built at Spezia was intended
for the purposes set down to her; that I believed she was the property
of an American adventurer whose motives I scarce dared to realise; that
I had proof, amounting to conviction, that this man possessed jewels
which were commonly account