is first of all to learn what the wishes
are, I wrote you the few lines of yesterday.'

'I suspect there must be a mistake somewhere,' began Kearney, with
difficulty. 'At least, I intimated to Atlee the shape in which the
Viceroy's favour would be most agreeable to us, and I came here prepared to
find you equally informed on the matter.'

'Ah, indeed! I know nothing--positively nothing. Atlee telegraphed me, "See
Kearney, and hear what he has to say. I write by post.--ATLEE." There's the
whole of it.'

'And the letter--'

'The letter is there. It came by the late mail, and I have not opened it.'

'Would it not be better to glance over it now?' said Dick mildly.

'Not if you can give me the substance by word of mouth. Time, they tell
us, is money, and as I have got very little of either, I am obliged to be
parsimonious. What is it you want? I mean the sort of thing we could help
you to obtain. I see,' said he, smiling, 'you had rather I should read
Atlee's letter. Well, here goes.' He broke the envelope, and began:--

'"MY DEAR MR. WALPOLE,--I hoped by this time to have had a report to make
you of what I had done, heard, seen, and imagined since my arrival, and yet
here I am now towards the close of my second week, and I have nothing to
tell; and beyond a sort of confused sense of being immensely delighted with
my mode of life, I am totally unconscious of the flight of time.

'"His Excellency received me once for ten minutes, and later on, after some
days, for half an hour; for he is confined to bed with gout, and forbidden
by his doctor all mental labour. He was kind and courteous to a degree,
hoped I should endeavour to make myself at home--giving orders at the same
time that my dinner should be served at my own hour, and the stables placed
at my disposal for riding or driving. For occupation, he suggested I should
see what the newspapers were saying, and make a note or two if anything
struck me as remarkable.

'"Lady Maude is charming--and I use the epithet in all the significance of
its sorcery. She conveys to me each morning his Excellency's instructions
for my day's work; and it is only by a mighty effort I can tear myself from
the magic thrill of her voice, and the captivation of her manner, to follow
what I have to reply to, investigate, and remark on.

'"I meet her each day at luncheon, and she says she will join me 'some day
at dinner.' When that glorious occasion arrives, I shall call it the
event o