with a twitch at the corner of his lips, "that somewhere about August
next year you will find your hands full."

"August next year can take care of itself," was the cool reply.

"In the meantime," Seaman continued, "the Princess understands the
situation and is, I think, impressed. She will at any rate do nothing
rash. You and she will meet within the course of the next few hours, but
on reasonable terms. To proceed! As I drove back here after my interview
with the Princess, I decided that it was time you made the acquaintance
of the person who is chiefly responsible for your presence here."

"Terniloff?"

"Precisely! You have maintained, my young friend," Seaman went on after
a brief pause, during which one waiter had brought their cocktails and
another received their order for dinner, "a very discreet and laudable
silence with regard to those further instructions which were promised
to you immediately you should arrive in London. Those instructions will
never be committed to writing. They are here."

Seaman touched his forehead and drained the remaining contents of his
glass.

"My instructions are to trust you absolutely," Dominey observed, "and,
until the greater events stir, to concentrate the greater part of my
energies in leading the natural life of the man whose name and place I
have taken."

"Quite so," Seaman acquiesced.

He glanced around the room for a moment or two, as though interested
in the people. Satisfied at last that there was no chance of being
overheard, he continued:

"The first idea you have to get out of your head, my dear friend, if it
is there, is that you are a spy. You are nothing of the sort. You are
not connected with our remarkably perfect system of espionage in the
slightest degree. You are a free agent in all that you may choose to say
or do. You can believe in Germany or fear her--whichever you like. You
can join your cousin's husband in his crusade for National Service,
or you can join me in my efforts to cement the bonds of friendship and
affection between the citizens of the two countries. We really do not
care in the least. Choose your own part. Give yourself thoroughly into
the life of Sir Everard Dominey, Baronet, of Dominey Hall, Norfolk, and
pursue exactly the course which you think Sir Everard himself would be
likely to take."

"This," Dominey admitted, "is very broad-minded."

"It is common sense," was the prompt reply. "With all your ability, you
could not in si