ent of the United States."

"Yes," I said.

"You must mix with him on a footing of the most open-handed
friendliness. Be at the White House continually. Make yourself in the
fullest sense of the words the friend and adviser of the President. All
this I think is clear. In fact, it is only what is done, as you know, by
all the masters of international diplomacy."

"Precisely," I said.

"Very good. And then," continued the Baron, "as soon as you find
yourself sufficiently _en rapport_ with everybody, or I should say," he
added in correction, for the Baron shares fully in the present German
horror of imported French words, "when you find yourself sufficiently
in enggeknupfterverwandtschaft with everybody, you may then proceed to
advance your peace terms. And now, my dear fellow," said the Baron,
with a touch of genuine cordiality, "one word more. Are you in need of
money?"

"Yes," I said.

"I thought so. But you will find that you need it less and less as you
go on. Meantime, good-bye, and best wishes for your mission."

Such was, such is, in fact, the mission with which I am accredited. I
regard it as by far the most important mission with which I have been
accredited by the Wilhelmstrasse. Yet I am compelled to admit that up to
the present it has proved unsuccessful. My attempts to carry it out
have been baffled. There is something perhaps in the atmosphere of this
republic which obstructs the working of high diplomacy. For over five
months now I have been waiting and willing to dine with the American
Cabinet. They have not invited me. For four weeks I sat each night
waiting in the J. hotel in Washington with my suit on ready to be asked.
They did not come near me.

Nor have I yet received an invitation from the British Embassy inviting
me to an informal lunch or to midnight supper with the Ambassador.
Everybody who knows anything of the inside working of the international
spy system will realize that without these invitations one can do
nothing. Nor has the President of the United States given any sign. I
have sent ward to him, in cipher, that I am ready to dine with him on
any day that may be convenient to both of us. He has made no move in the
matter.

Under these circumstances an intrigue with any of the leaders of
fashionable society has proved impossible. My attempts to approach them
have been misunderstood--in fact, have led to my being invited to
leave the J. hotel. The fact that I was compelled to lea