had allowed me to look after the interests of the
paper at the Foreign Office, Sir James would not have snubbed me."

"If the Foreign Office dared to do such a thing, it would hear of
something not to its advantage from the Diplomatic Service; and so,
goodnight, my dear." And, with additions, the nephew repeated the
benediction of the uncle.

Jennie drove directly to the office of the _Daily Bugle_, and, for the
last time, mounting the stairs, entered the editorial rooms. She found
Mr. Hardwick at his desk, and he sprang up quickly on seeing who his
visitor was. "Ah, you have returned," he cried. "You didn't telegraph to
me, so I suppose that means failure."

"I don't know, Mr. Hardwick. It all depends on whether or not your
object was exactly what you told me it was."

"And what was that? I think I told you that my desire was to get
possession of the document which was being transmitted from St.
Petersburg to London."

"No; you said the object was the mollifying of old Sir James Cardiff, of
the Foreign Office."

"Exactly; that was the ultimate object, of course."

"Very well. Read this card. Sir James gave it to me at Charing Cross
Station less than half an hour ago."

The editor took the card, turned it over in his hands once or twice, and
read the cordial message which the old man had scribbled on the back of
it.

"Then you have succeeded," cried Hardwick. "You got the document; but
why did you give it to Sir James yourself, instead of letting me hand it
to him?"

"That is a long story. To put it briefly, it was because the messenger
carrying the document was Lord Donal Stirling, who is--who is--an old
friend of mine. Sir James is his uncle, and Lord Donal promised that he
would persuade the old man to let other newspapers have no advantages
which he refused to the _Daily Bugle_. I did not give the document to
Sir James, I gave it back to Lord Donal."

"Lord Donal Stirling--Lord Donal Stirling," mused the editor. "Where
have I heard that name before?"

"He is a member of the British Embassy at St. Petersburg, so you may
have seen his name in the despatches."

"No. He is not so celebrated as all that comes to. Ah, I remember now. I
met the detective the other night and asked him if anything had come of
that romance in high life, to solve which he had asked your assistance.
He said the search for the missing lady had been abandoned, and
mentioned the name of Lord Donal Stirling as the foolish young ma