and the duties of my espionage
system. From you I look for other things. I desire you to enter into the
spirit of your assumed position. As a typical English country gentleman
I desire you to study the labour question, the Irish question, the
progress of this National Service scheme, and other social movements of
which you will receive notice in due time. I desire a list compiled
of those writers who, in the Reviews, or by means of fiction, are
encouraging the suspicions which I am inclined to fancy England has
begun to entertain towards the Fatherland. These things are all on
the fringe of your real mission. That, I believe, our admirable friend
Seaman has already confided to you. It is to seek the friendship, if
possible the intimacy, of Prince Terniloff."

The Kaiser paused, and once more his eyes wandered to the landscape
which rolled away from the plate-glass windows of the car. They were
certainly not the eyes of a dreamer, and yet in those moments they
seemed filled with brooding pictures.

"The Princess has already received me graciously," Dominey confided.

"Terniloff is the dove of peace," the Kaiser pronounced. "He carries
the sprig of olive in his mouth. My statesmen and counsellors would have
sent to London an ambassador with sterner qualities. I preferred not.
Terniloff is the man to gull fools, because he is a fool himself. He is
a fit ambassador for a country which has not the wit to arm itself on
land as well as by sea, when it sees a nation, mightier, more cultured,
more splendidly led than its own, creeping closer every day."

"The English appear to put their whole trust in their navy, your
Majesty," Dominey observed tentatively.

The eyes of his companion flashed. His lips curled contemptuously.

"Fools!" he exclaimed. "Of what use will their navy be when my sword is
once drawn, when I hold the coast towns of Calais and Boulogne, when
my cannon command the Straits of Dover! The days of insular nations are
passed, passed as surely as the days of England's arrogant supremacy
upon the seas."

The Kaiser refilled his glass and Dominey's.

"In some months' time, Von Ragastein," he continued, "you will
understand why you have been enjoined to become the friend and companion
of Terniloff. You will understand your mission a little more clearly
than you do now. Its exact nature waits upon developments. You can at
all times trust Seaman."

Dominey bowed and remained silent. His companion continued a