ere regarding him
askance; that, as they waited in the drafty hall for cars and taxis,
the noble lords in stars and ribbons, the noble ladies in tiaras and
showing much-fur-lined galoshes, were discussing his strange
appearance. They might well believe the youth was ill; they might
easily have considered him intoxicated. Outside rose the voices of
servants and police calling the carriages. Inside other servants
echoed them.

"The Duchess of Sutherland's car!" they chanted. "Mrs. Trevor Hill's
carriage! The French ambassador's carriage! Baron Haussmann's car!"

Like one emerging from a trance, Sam sprang upright. A little fat man,
with mild blue eyes and curly red hair, was shyly and with murmured
apologies pushing toward the exit. Before he gained it Sam had
wriggled a way to his elbow.

"Baron Haussmann!" he stammered. "I must speak to you. It's a matter
of gravest importance. Send away your car," he begged, "and give me
five minutes."

The eyes of the little fat man opened wide in surprise, almost in
alarm. He stared at Sam reprovingly.

"Impossible!" he murmured. "I--I do not know you."

"This is a letter of introduction," said Sam. Into the unwilling
fingers of the banker he thrust the folded paper. Bending over him, he
whispered in his ear. "That," said Sam, "is the Treaty of London!"

The alarm of Baron Haussmann increased to a panic.

"Impossible!" he gasped. And, with reproach, he repeated: "I do not
know you, sir! I do not know you!"

At that moment, towering above the crush, appeared the tall figure of
Senator Seward. The rich man of the New World and the rich man of
Europe knew each other only by sight. But, upon seeing Sam in earnest
converse with the great banker, the senator believed that without
appearing to seek it he might through Sam effect a meeting. With a
hearty slap on the shoulder he greeted his fellow countryman.

"Halloo, Sam!" he cried genially. "You walking home with me?"

Sam did not even turn his head.

"No!" he snapped. "I'm busy. Go 'way!"

Crimson, the senator disappeared. Baron Haussmann regarded the young
stranger with amazed interest.

"You know him!" he protested. "He called you Sam!"

"Know him?" cried Sam impatiently. "I've got to know him! He's going
to be my father-in-law."

The fingers of the rich man clutched the folded paper as the claws of a
parrot cling to the bars of his cage. He let his sable coat slip into
the hands of a servant