u will allow me, to be quite
frank with you."

"I have no wish for your confidences, Prince," I answered. "They cannot
possibly concern or interest me."

"Do not be too sure of that," he said. "Like all young men of your age,
you jump too readily at conclusions. It is very possible that you and I
may be of service to one another, and I may add that those who have been
of service to the Prince of Malors have seldom had cause to regret it."

"This conversation," I interposed, "seems to me to be beside the point.
I have no desire to be of service to you. My inclinations are rather
the other way."

"The matter may become more clear to you if you will only curb your
impatience, my young friend," the Prince said. "It is only my ambition
to serve my country, to command the gratitude of a nation which to-day
regards both me and mine with mingled doubt and suspicion. I have
ambitions, and I should be an easy and generous master to serve."

"I am honoured with your confidence, Prince, but I still fail to see how
these matters concern me," I said, setting my teeth hard.

"With your permission I will make it quite clear," he continued. "For
years your War Office has suffered from constant dread of an invasion by
France. The rumour of our great projected manoeuvres in the autumn have
inspired your statesmen with an almost paralysing fear. They see in
these merely an excuse for marshalling and equipping an irresistible
army within striking distance of your Empire. Personally I believe that
they are entirely mistaken in their estimate of my country's intentions.
That, however, is beside the mark. You follow me?"

"Perfectly," I assured him. "This is most interesting, although as yet
it seems to me equally irrelevant."

"Your War Office," the Prince continued, "has established a Secret
Council of Defence, whose only task it is to plan the successful
resistance to that invasion, if ever it should take place. You, Mr.
Ducaine, are, I believe, practically the secretary of that Council. You
have to elaborate the digests of the meetings, to file schemes for the
establishment of fortifications and camps; in a word, the result of
these meetings passes through your hands. I will not beat about the
bush, Mr. Ducaine. You can see that you have something in your keeping
which, if passed on to me, would accomplish my whole aim. The army
would be forced to acknowledge my claim upon them; the nation would hear
of it."

"Well," I asked, "s