Prince," he said, "almost you take me back to the one mother country.
Almost your words persuade me that the strangeness of these Western
lands is a passing thing. We wonder, and as we wonder they shall crumble
away. The sun rises in the East."

The Prince also rose. Servants came silently forward, bearing his hat
and gloves.

"Perhaps," the Prince smiled, as he made his adieux--

"Perhaps," the Ambassador echoed. "Who can tell?"

The Prince sent away his carriage and walked homeward, greeting every
now and then an acquaintance. He walked cheerfully and with a smile upon
his face. There was nothing in his appearance which could possibly have
indicated to the closest observer that this was a man who had taken
death by the hand. At the corner of Regent Street and Pall Mall he
overtook Inspector Jacks. He leaned forward at once and touched the
detective on the shoulder.

"Mr. Jacks," he said, "it is pleasant to see you once more. I was afraid
that I should have to leave without bidding you farewell."

The Inspector started. The Prince laughed to himself as he watched that
gesture. Indeed, a man who showed his feelings so easily would be very
much at a loss in Tokio!

"You are going away, Prince?" the Inspector asked quickly. "When?"

"The exact day is not fixed," the Prince replied, "but it is true that
I am going home. I have finished my work, and, you see, there is nothing
to keep me over here any longer. Tell me, have you had any fortune yet?
I read the papers every day, hoping to see that you have cleared up
those two terrible affairs."

Inspector Jacks shook his head.

"Not yet, Prince," he said.

"Not yet," the Prince echoed. "Dear me, that is very unfortunate!"

Inspector Jacks watched the people who were passing, for a moment, with
a fixed, unseeing gaze.

"I am afraid," he said, "that we must seem to you very slow and very
stupid. Very likely we are. And yet, yet in time we generally reach our
goal. Sometimes we go a long way round. Sometimes we wait almost over
long, but sooner or later we strike."

The Prince nodded sympathetically.

"The best of fortune to you, Mr. Jacks!" he said. "I wish you could have
cleared these matters up before I left for home. It is pure selfishness,
of course, but I have always felt a great interest in your work."

"If we do not clear them up before you leave the country, Prince," the
Inspector answered, "I fear that we shall never clear them up at all."

The Prin