e Minister answered. "I know quite well what he
is here for. He is here to make up his mind whether it will pay Japan to
renew her treaty with us, or whether it would be more to her advantage
to enter into an alliance with any other European power. He has been to
most of the capitals in Europe. He has been here with us. By this time
he has made up his mind. He knows quite well what his report will be.
Yet you can't get a word out of him. He is a delightful young fellow,
I know, but he is as clever as any trained diplomatist I have ever come
across. I've had him to dine with me alone, and I've done all that I
could to make him talk. When he went away, I knew just exactly as much
as I did before he came."

"He seems pleased enough with us," the Duke remarked.

"I am not so sure," the Prime Minister answered. "He has travelled about
a good deal in England. I heard of him in Manchester and Sheffield,
Newcastle and Leicester, absolutely unattended. I wonder what he was
doing there."

"From my experience of him," the Duke said, "I don't think we shall know
until he chooses to tell us."

"I am afraid you are right," the Prime Minister declared. "At the same
time you might just drop a hint to your wife, and to that remarkably
clever young niece of hers, Miss Penelope Morse. Of course, I don't
expect that he would unbosom himself to any one, but, to tell you
the truth, as we are situated now, the faintest hint as regards his
inclinations, or lack of inclinations, towards certain things would
be of immense service. If he criticised any of our institutions, for
instance, his remarks would be most interesting. Then he has been
spending several months in various capitals. He would not be likely to
tell any one his whole impressions of those few months, but a phrase,
a word, even a gesture, to a clever woman might mean a great deal. It
might also mean a great deal to us."

"I'll mention it," the Duke promised, "but I am afraid my womenfolk are
scarcely up to this sort of thing. The best plan would be to tackle him
ourselves down at Devenham."

"I thought of that," the Prime Minister assented. "That is why I am
coming down myself and bringing Bransome. If he will have nothing to say
to us within a week or so of his departure, we shall know what to think.
Remember my words, Devenham,--when our chronicler dips his pen into the
ink and writes of our government, our foreign policy, at least, will
be judged by our position in the fa