r East. Exactly what that will be
depends upon Prince Maiyo. With a renewal of our treaty we could go to
the country tomorrow. Without it, especially if the refusal should come
from them, there will be some very ugly writing across the page."

The Duke threw away his cigarette.

"Well," he said, "we can only do our best. The young man seems friendly
enough."

The Prime Minister nodded.

"It is precisely his friendliness which I fear," he said.

CHAPTER XVII. A GAY NIGHT IN PARIS

Mr. James B. Coulson was almost as much at home at the Grand Hotel,
Paris, as he had been at the Savoy in London. His headquarters were at
the American Bar, where he approved of the cocktails, patronized the
highballs, and continually met fellow-countrymen with whom he gossiped
and visited various places of amusement. His business during the daytime
he kept to himself, but he certainly was possessed of a bagful of
documents and drawings relating to sundry patents connected with the
manufacture of woollen goods, the praises of which he was always ready
to sing in a most enthusiastic fashion.

Mr. Coulson was not a man whose acquaintance it was difficult to make.
From five to seven every afternoon, scorning the attractions of the
band outside and the generally festive air which pervaded the great
tea rooms, he sat at the corner of the bar upon an article of furniture
which resembled more than anything else an office stool, dividing his
attention between desultory conversation with any other gentleman who
might be indulging in a drink, and watching the billiards in which some
of his compatriots were usually competing. It was not, so far as one
might judge, a strenuous life which Mr. Coulson was leading. He had been
known once or twice to yawn, and he had somewhat the appearance of a man
engaged in an earnest but at times not altogether successful attempt to
kill time. Perhaps for that reason he made acquaintances with a little
more than his customary freedom. There was a young Englishman, for
instance, whose name, it appeared, was Gaynsforth, with whom, after a
drink or two at the bar, he speedily became on almost intimate terms.

Mr. Gaynsforth was a young man, apparently of good breeding and some
means. He was well dressed, of cheerful disposition, knew something
about the woollen trade, and appeared to take a distinct liking to his
new friend. The two men, after having talked business together for some
time, arranged to dine togeth