u to pardon me," he said, "for occupying your time with
my inquiries. I thank you for the way in which you have received me.
Good-bye."

He bowed his way to the door. Then he turned to Gorman again.

"You will understand, I am sure, that mine was a purely business
inquiry. I am not interested in any of the scandal which unfortunately
is connected with the name of his Majesty, or with that of the
charming lady of whom I spoke. Still less am I concerned with the
state affairs of Megalia. I have no connection with Megalia."

Gorman sat thinking for a while after Goldsturmer left him. The
jeweller's visit and his questions were natural enough. Such inquiries
are made every day. There was nothing surprising in the offer of one
per cent. on the money which was to change hands in return for
information. Gorman was a politician. It was not the first time he had
been offered a commission. He hoped it would not be the last. What
puzzled him was Goldsturmer's final remark. Why should the man have
said he had no interest in the state affairs of Megalia unless indeed
he was interested, was on the track of a suspected secret?

Once more Gorman lamented the fact that women were mixed up in a
business affair.

"Damn Madame Ypsilante," he said.

Then, finding some relief for his feelings in expressing them aloud:

"Damn that woman's tongue."

Gorman was puzzled and therefore anxious. His commission on the sale
of Salissa--his rake-off, as Donovan called it--was large, a sum
which Gorman did not want to lose. He was most anxious that the
transaction should be successfully completed and the money actually
paid. The King's evident nervousness about the Emperor impressed him
unpleasantly. Gorman was not a student of foreign politics. He did not
know precisely what the Emperor's position was. Megalia was nominally
an independent state. Its King could, he supposed, cede a portion of
territory to a foreign power without consulting any other monarch. Yet
the Emperor evidently had to be considered, might put a stop to the
whole business. Konrad Karl had no doubts about that, and he ought to
know.

I am sure that I should be doing Gorman an injustice if I were to
represent him as anxious only about the commission. He had a queer
liking for the unfortunate Konrad Karl. He wanted--as everybody who
knew her did--to gratify Miss Daisy Donovan. And he took a sporting
interest in the sale of Salissa. There was a novelty about the
purchase o