to hold for a moment the fingers which
grasped her skirt.

"I think," he whispered, "that after you Lucille would be dull!"

She laughed.

"That is because Lucille has morals and a conscience," she said, "and
I have neither. But, dear me, how much more comfortably one gets on
without them. No, thank you, Prince. My coupe is only built for one.
Remember."

She flung him a careless nod from the window. The Prince remained on the
pavement until after the little brougham had driven away. Then he smiled
softly to himself as he turned to follow it.

"No!" he said. "I think not! I think that she will not get our good
friend Souspennier. We shall see!"

CHAPTER XXIV

A barely furnished man's room, comfortable, austere, scholarly. The
refuge of a busy man, to judge by the piles of books and papers which
littered the large open writing-table. There were despatch boxes turned
upside down, a sea of parchment and foolscap. In the midst of it all a
man deep in thought.

A visitor, entering with the freedom of an old acquaintance, laid
his hand upon his shoulder and greeted him with an air of suppressed
enthusiasm.

"Planning the campaign, eh, Brott? Or is that a handbook to Court
etiquette? You will need it within the week. There are all sorts of
rumours at the clubs."

Brott shook himself free from his fit of apathetic reflection. He would
not have dared to tell his visitor where his thoughts had been for the
last half hour.

"Somehow," he said, "I do not think that little trip to Windsor will
come just yet. The King will never send for me unless he is compelled."

His visitor, an ex-Cabinet Minister, a pronounced Radical and a lifelong
friend of Brott's, shrugged his shoulders.

"That time," he said, "is very close at hand. He will send for
Letheringham first, of course, and great pressure will be brought to
bear upon him to form a ministry. But without you he will be helpless.
He has not the confidence of the people."

"Without me," Brott repeated slowly. "You think then that I should not
accept office with Letheringham?"

His visitor regarded him steadily for a moment, open-mouthed, obviously
taken aback.

"Brott, are you in your right senses?" he asked incredulously. "Do you
know what you are saying?"

Brott laughed a little nervously.

"This is a great issue, Grahame," he said. "I will confess that I am in
an undecided state. I am not sure that the country is in a sufficiently
advanced state for o