was inclined to wonder whether his secretary had
made a mistake.

"I was told that you wished to see me," he said. "I am Sir Edward
Bransome."

Mr. James B. Coulson nodded appreciatively.

"Very good of you, Sir Edward," he said, "to put yourself out at this
time of night to have a word or two with me. I am sorry to have troubled
you, anyway, but the matter was sort of urgent."

Sir Edward bent his head.

"I understand, Mr. Coulson," he said, "that you come from the United
States."

"That is so, sir," Mr. Coulson replied. "I am at the head of a
syndicate, the Coulson & Bruce Syndicate, which in course of time hope
to revolutionize the machinery used for spinning wool all over the
world. Likewise we have patents for other machinery connected with
the manufacture of all varieties of woollen goods. I am over here on a
business trip, which I have just concluded."

"Satisfactorily, I trust?" Sir Edward remarked.

"Well, I'm not grumbling, sir," Mr. Coulson assented. "Here and there I
may have missed a thing, and the old fashioned way of doing business on
this side bothers me a bit, but on the whole I'm not grumbling."

Bransome bowed. Perhaps, after all, the man was not a fool!

"I have a good many friends round about Washington," Mr. Coulson
continued, "and sometimes, when they know I am coming across, one or
the other of them finds it convenient to hand me a letter. It isn't the
postage stamp that worries them," he added with a little laugh, "but
they sort of feel that anything committed to me is fairly safe to reach
its right destination."

"Without disputing that fact for one moment, Mr. Coulson," Sir Edward
remarked, "I might also suggest that the ordinary mail service between
our countries has reached a marvellous degree of perfection."

"The Post Office," Mr. Coulson continued meditatively, "is a great
institution, both on your side and ours, but a letter posted in
Washington has to go through a good many hands before it is delivered in
London."

Sir Edward smiled.

"It is a fact, sir," he said, "which the various Governments of Europe
have realized for many years, in connection with the exchange of
communications one with the other. Your own great country, as it grows
and expands, becomes, of necessity, more in touch with our methods. Did
I understand that you have a letter for me, Mr. Coulson?"

Mr. Coulson produced it.

"Friend of mine you may have heard of," he said, "asked me to leave this
w