n easily make a hundred thousand pounds within a
fortnight. The general at first refused and became a trifle--well, just a
trifle resentful, even vindictive; but by showing a bold front I've
brought him round. To-morrow I shall clinch the matter. That is my
intention."

"It will be a brilliant snap, if you can actually accomplish it," was the
red-bearded man's enthusiastic reply. He now spoke in English, but with a
strong American accent. "I made an attempt two years ago, but failed, and
narrowly escaped imprisonment."

"A dozen attempts have already been made, but all in vain," replied the
doctor, drawing hard at his cigar. "Therefore, I'm all the more keen to
secure success."

"You certainly have been very successful over here, Doctor," observed the
foreigner, whose English had been acquired in America. "We have heard of
you in New York, where you are upheld to us as a model. Jensen once told
me that your methods were so ingenious as to be unassailable."

"Merely because I am well supplied with funds," answered the other with
modesty. "Here, in England, as elsewhere, any man or woman can be
bought--if you pay their price. There is only one section of the
wonderful British public who cannot be purchased--the men and women who
are in love with each other. Whenever I come up against Cupid, experience
has taught me to retire deferentially, and wait until the love-fever has
abated. It often turns to jealousy or hatred, and then the victims fall
as easily as off a log. A jealous woman will betray any secret, even
though it may hurry her lover to his grave. To me, my dear Gustav, this
fevered world of London is all very amusing."

"And your profession as doctor must serve as a most excellent mask. Who
would suspect you--a lonely bachelor in such quarters as these?"
exclaimed his visitor.

"No one does suspect me," laughed the doctor with assurance. "Safety lies
in pursuing my increasing practice, and devoting all my spare time
to--well, to my real profession." He flicked the ash off his cigar as he
spoke.

"Your friend, Elcombe, will have to be very careful. The peril is
considerable in that quarter."

"I know that full well. But if he failed it would be he who would
suffer--not I. As usual, I do not appear in the affair at all."

"That is just where you are so intensely clever and ingenious," declared
Heureux. "In New York they speak of you as a perfect marvel of foresight
and clever evasion."

"It is simply a