rstood you to say that he did not intend to
publish the document, even if he got it."

"That is quite true. He wished to act as the final messenger himself,
and was to meet me at Charing Cross Station, secure the envelope, and
take it at once to its destination."

"I must confess," said the young man, with a bewildered expression,
"that I don't see the object of that. Are you sure he told you the
truth?"

"Oh, yes. The object was this. It seems that there is in the Foreign
Office some crusty old curmudgeon who delights in baffling Mr. Hardwick.
This official--I forget his name; in fact, I don't think Mr. Hardwick
told me who he was--seems to forget the _Daily Bugle_ when important
items of news are to be given out, and Mr. Hardwick says that he favours
one of the rival papers, and the _Bugle_ has been unable, so far, to
receive anything like fair treatment from him; so Mr. Hardwick wanted
to take the document to him, and thus convince him there was danger in
making an enemy of the _Daily Bugle_. As I understood his project, which
didn't commend itself very much to me, Hardwick had no intention of
making a bargain, but simply proposed to hand over the document, and ask
the Foreign Office man to give the _Bugle_ its fair share in what was
going."

"Do you mean to say that the official in question is the man to whom I
am to give this letter?"

"Yes."

"Oh, my prophetic soul, my uncle! Why, that is Sir James Cardiff, the
elder brother of my mother; he is a dear old chap, but I can well
understand an outsider thinking him gruff and uncivil. If the editor
really means what he says, then there will be no difficulty and no
disappointment. If all that is needed is the winning over of old Jimmy
to be civil to Hardwick, I can guarantee that. I am the especial
_protege_ of my uncle. Everything I know I have learned from him.
He cannot understand why the British Government does not appoint me
immediately Ambassador to France; Jimmy would do it to-morrow if he had
the power. It was through him that I heard of this letter, and I believe
his influence had a good deal to do with my getting the commission of
special messenger. It was the chagrin that my uncle Jimmy would have
felt, had I failed, that put the final drop of bitterness in my cup of
sorrow when I came to my senses after my encounter with the Russian
police. That would have been a stunning blow to Sir James Cardiff. We
shall reach Charing Cross about 7.30 to-night, an