edge hammer,
and in one of the quarterlies a professor at Cambridge showed the
absurdity of the alleged invention from a scientific point of view.

"I swear," cried Mr. Hardwick, as he paced up and down his room, "that I
shall be more careful after this in the handling of truth; it is a most
dangerous thing to meddle with. If you tell the truth about a man, you
are mulcted in a libel suit, and if you tell the truth about a nation,
the united Press of the country are down upon you. Ah, well, it makes
the battle of life all the more interesting, and we are baffled to fight
better, as Browning says."

The editor had sent for Miss Baxter, and she now sat by his desk while
he paced nervously to and fro. The doors were closed and locked so that
they might not be interrupted, and she knew by the editor's manner that
something important was on hand. Jennie had returned to London after
a month's stay in Vienna, and had been occupied for a week at her old
routine work in the office.

"Now, Miss Baxter," said the editor, when he had proclaimed his distrust
of the truth as a workable material in journalism, "I have a plan to set
before you, and when you know what it is, I am quite prepared to hear
you refuse to have anything to do with it. And, remember, if you _do_
undertake it, there is but one chance in a million of your succeeding.
It is on this one chance that I propose now to send you to St.
Petersburg--"

"To St. Petersburg!" echoed the girl in dismay.

"Yes," said the editor, mistaking the purport of her ejaculation, "it is
a very long trip, but you can travel there in great comfort, and I want
you to spare no expense in obtaining for yourself every luxury that the
various railway lines afford during your journey to St. Petersburg and
back."

"And what am I to go to St. Petersburg for?" murmured Jennie faintly.

"Merely for a letter. Here is what has happened, and what is happening.
I shall mention no names, but at present a high and mighty personage in
Russia, who is friendly to Great Britain, has written a private letter,
making some proposals to a certain high and mighty personage in England,
who is friendly to Russia. This communication is entirely unofficial;
neither Government is supposed to know anything at all about it. As a
matter of fact, the Russian Government have a suspicion, and the British
Government have a certainty, that such a document will shortly be in
transit. Nothing may come of it, or great th