ordon. He is a correspondent," Kalonay answered,
without turning his head. His eyes were still fixed on the terrace as
though he had seen a ghost.

The King slapped his hand on the arm of the chair. "You promised me,"
he said, "that we should be free from that sort of thing. That is why
I agreed to come here instead of going to Algiers. Go out, Barrat, and
send him away."

Barrat pressed his lips together and shook his head.

"You can't send him away like that," he said. "He is a very important
young man."

"Find out how much he will take, then," exclaimed the King, angrily,
"and give it to him. I can better afford to pay blackmail to any
amount than have my plans spoiled now by the newspapers. Give him what
he wants--a fur coat--they always wear fur coats--or five thousand
francs, or something--anything--but get rid of him."

Barrat stirred uneasily in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. "He
is not a boulevard journalist," he replied, sulkily.

"Your Majesty is thinking of the Hungarian Jews at Vienna," explained
Kalonay, "who live on chantage and the Monte Carlo propaganda fund.
This man is not in their class; he is not to be bought. I said he was
an American."

"An American!" exclaimed Mrs. Carson and her daughter, exchanging rapid
glances. "Is it Archie Gordon you mean?" the girl asked. "I thought
he was in China."

"That is the man--Archie Gordon. He writes books and explores places,"
Kalonay answered.

"I know him. He wrote a book on the slave trade in the Congo,"
contributed Colonel Erhaupt. "I met him at Zanzibar. What does he
want with us?"

"He was in Yokohama when the Japanese-Chinese war broke out," said
Kalonay, turning to the King, "and he cabled a London paper he would
follow the war for it if they paid him a hundred a week. He meant
American dollars, but they thought he meant pounds, so they cabled back
that they'd pay one-half that sum. He answered, `One hundred or
nothing,' and they finally assented to that, and he started; and when
the first week's remittance arrived, and he received five hundred
dollars instead of the one hundred he expected, he sent back the
difference."

"What a remarkable young man!" exclaimed the King. "He is much too
good for daily wear. We don't want anyone like that around here, do
we?"

"I know Mr. Gordon very well," said Miss Carson. "He lived in San
Francisco before he came East. He was always at our house, and was a
great friend of