drew my brows together in anxious thought. In spite of the flattery
and deference of the Privy Councillor I could not but feel that I
should be the junior partner in any such combination as he proposed,
or, rather, I should find myself an instrument in the hands of one
whose methods were strange to me.

"Although his imperial majesty was not familiar with your name, you
must not suppose that your reputation is not known in the right
quarters. I have a very full report on your work in my office. I had
intended from the first to engage your services if we required any
Western aid; and, as a matter of fact, I was on the eve of sending
you a retainer, when I heard I had been anticipated by----"

"By Lord Bedale," I put in swiftly.

"By Lord Bedale, certainly," the Japanese acquiesced with a polite
bow and smile.

"After your interview with him, I lost sight of you," my
extraordinary companion went on. "Your wonderful transformation into
a Little Englander of the Peace-at-any-Price school threw my agents
off the scent. But I heard of your interview with Nicholas II."

"You did!"

Mr. Katahashi nodded.

"I recognized you in that transaction. I even guessed that you might
make an attempt to carry through a message from the Czar. But,
knowing the influences arrayed against you, I never expected you to
succeed. Your appearance in our Council-Room was a triumph on which I
congratulate you warmly.

"And now," the Mikado's Privy Councillor continued, "there remain two
questions:

"Supposing you are satisfied that the real author of this war is not
any one in Russia, but a certain monarch who smokes cigarettes made
by the house of Gregorides--

"And that the same ambitious ruler is now weaving his snares to
entangle Great Britain, in short your own employer, the----"

"Marquis of Bedale," I again slipped in.

Again the same polite but incredulous bow and smile from the Japanese
statesman.

"Would you be willing to accept a retainer from us?"

I sat upright, frowning.

The somewhat haughty attitude of the Emperor of Japan still rankled
within me.

"I will accept a retainer from his majesty the Mikado," I announced
stiffly. "From no one else."

Mr. Katahashi looked thoughtful.

"I will see what can be done," he murmured. "The second question----"

There was a momentary hesitation in his manner.

"I have just spoken to you of the precept of the great English
philosopher."

"It was, if I remember rightly,