to say nothing, but to go alone to England in secret and rescue
the Crown Prince. The four conspirators had already left our capital;
therefore I went in hot pursuit, travelling across Europe, and reaching
London on the day before we met. I managed to overtake them, and,
watching their movements, I travelled by the same train down to
Huntingdon. On arrival there, while they were bargaining with a fly-man
to take them on their fateful errand, I got into a cab and drove with
all speed out to Buckworth. I had been there before, and knew the place
well. I crossed the lawn, entered the drawing-room by the French window,
and found little Paul alone. The Latours were out, he said; so I induced
him to leave the place with me without the knowledge of the servants. I
desired to see the Latours, and also to watch the movements of the
assassins; therefore we hid in the wood close to the house at a spot
where I had once met Latour secretly with a message from Her Majesty,
who somehow mistrusted Latour's wife. In half an hour three of the men
arrived, and were met by Latour, who had returned almost at the same
moment. They entered, carrying some hand-baggage with them, and I was
compelled to remain in hiding, awaiting an opportunity to speak with
him. At half-past seven, however, to my great surprise I saw them slip
out one by one, and disappear into the wood close to where little Paul
and I were hiding in the undergrowth. Then, suspecting something was
wrong by the stealthiness of their movements, I crept across the grounds
and re-entered the drawing-room from the lawn, where, to my horror, I
found Latour and his wife lying dead. I saw that a tragedy had been
enacted, and, regaining the wood, hastened on with little Paul in the
opposite direction, until I came to the Great North Road, and there met
you driving your car. They had heard from Latour that the child had
wandered out somewhere, and were, I knew, scouring the country for him.
Only by your aid the Crown Prince was saved, and we came here into
hiding, the King sending my father to meet me and to live here as his
son's protector."

"But why did they kill the Latours?"

"It was part of the conspiracy. Latour, who had recently been back in
Bosnia, had, they discovered, given information to the chief of police
regarding a plot against the Queen, and they, the revolutionists, had
condemned both him and his wife to death."

"And the packet which they demanded of me?"

"It cont