at once in conversation.

"Delighted to see you in such company, my young friend," he declared.
"I think that half an hour's conversation with Prince Herschfeld would
put some of those fire-eating ideas out of your head. That's the man
whom we have to thank for the everyday improvement of our relations
with Germany."

"The Prince has the reputation of being a great diplomatist,"
Norgate remarked.

"Added to which," Hebblethwaite continued, "he came over here charged,
as you might say, almost with a special mission. He came over here to
make friends with England. He has done it. So long as we have him in
London, there will never be any serious fear of misunderstanding between
the two countries."

"What a howling optimist you are!" Norgate observed.

"My young friend," Hebblethwaite protested, "I am nothing of the sort. I
am simply a man of much common sense, enjoying, I may add, a few hours'
holiday. By-the-by, Norgate, if one might venture to enquire without
indiscretion, who was the remarkably charming foreign lady whom you were
escorting?"

"The Baroness von Haase," Norgate replied. "She is an Austrian."

Mr. Hebblethwaite sighed. He rather posed as an admirer of the other sex.

"You young fellows," he declared, "who travel about the world, are much
to be envied. There is an elegance about the way these foreign women
dress, a care for detail in their clothes and jewellery, and a carriage
which one seldom finds here."

They had reached the far end of the field, having turned their backs, in
fact, upon the polo altogether. Norgate suddenly abandoned their
conversation.

"Look here," he said, in an altered tone, "do you feel inclined to answer
a few questions?"

"For publication?" Hebblethwaite asked drily. "You haven't turned
journalist, by any chance, have you?"

Norgate shook his head. "Nevertheless," he admitted, "I have changed my
profession. The fact is that I have accepted a stipend of a thousand a
year and have become a German spy."

"Good luck to you!" exclaimed Hebblethwaite, laughing softly. "Well, fire
away, then. You shall pick the brains of a Cabinet Minister at your
leisure, so long as you'll give me a cigarette--and present me, when we
have finished, to the Baroness. The country has no secrets from you,
Norgate. Where will you begin?"

"Well, you've been warned, any way," Norgate reminded him, as he offered
his cigarette case. "Now tell me. It is part of my job to obtain from you
a sta