nce shook his head.

"Another time," he declared. "Another time."

He hurried away. It was already half past ten and the saloon was almost
empty. The steward came up to them.

"The saloon is being closed for the night, sir," he announced.

"Let us go on deck," Peter suggested.

They found their way up on to the windward side of the promenade,
which was absolutely deserted. Far away in front of them now were the
disappearing lights of the Lusitania. The wind roared by as the great
steamer rose and fell on the black stretch of waters. Peter stood very
near to his companion.

"Listen, Sogrange," he said, "the affair is clear now save for one
thing."

"You mean Sirdeller's motives?"

"Not at all," Peter answered. "An hour ago, I came across the
explanation of these. The one thing I will tell you afterwards. Now
listen. Sirdeller came abroad last year for twelve months' travel. He
took a great house in San Sebastian."

"Where did you hear this?" Sogrange asked.

"I read the story in the New York Herald," Peter continued. "It is
grossly exaggerated, of course, but this is the substance of it.
Sirdeller and his suite were stopped upon the Spanish frontier and
treated in an abominable fashion by the customs officers. He was forced
to pay a very large sum, unjustly I should think. He paid under protest,
appealed to the authorities, with no result. At San Sebastian he was
robbed right and left, his privacy intruded upon. In short, he took a
violent dislike and hatred to the country and every one concerned in it.
He moved with his entire suite to Nice, to the Golden Villa. There he
expressed himself freely concerning Spain and her Government. Count von
Hern heard of it and presented Marsine. The plot was, without doubt,
Bernadine's. Can't you imagine how he would put it? 'A revolution,' he
would tell Sirdeller, 'is imminent in Spain. Here is the new President
of the Republic. Money is no more to you than water. You are a patriotic
American. Have you forgotten that a warship of your country with six
hundred of her devoted citizens was sent to the bottom by the treachery
of one of this effete race? The war was an inefficient revenge. The
country still flourishes. It is for you to avenge America. With money
Marsine can establish a republic in Spain within twenty-four hours.'
Sirdeller hesitates. He would point out that it had never been proved
that the destruction of the Maine was really due to Spanish treachery.
It is t