h his hands in his pockets, frowning slightly.

"Why, she's half an Englishwoman," he remarked.

"She may be," Mr. Gray admitted drily. "The other half's Austrian all
right, though. I can't tell you anything more about her, my dear fellow.
All I can say is that she is in my book, and so long as she is there, you
know it's better for you youngsters to keep away. Be off now. I am
decoding a dispatch."

Norgate retraced his steps to his own room. Ansell glanced up from a mass
of passports as he entered.

"How's the Secret Service Department this morning?" he enquired.

"Old Gray seems much as usual," Norgate grumbled. "One doesn't get much
out of him."

"Chief wants you in his room," Ansell announced. "He's just come in from
the Palace, looking like nothing on earth."

"Wants me?" Norgate muttered. "Righto!"

He went to the looking-glass, straightened his tie, and made his way
towards the Ambassador's private apartments. The latter was alone when he
entered, seated before his table. He was leaning back in his chair,
however, and apparently deep in thought. He watched Norgate sternly as he
crossed the room.

"Good morning, sir," the latter said.

The Ambassador nodded.

"What have you been up to, Norgate?" he asked abruptly.

"Nothing at all that I know of, sir," was the prompt reply.

"This afternoon," the Ambassador continued slowly, "I was to have taken
you, as you know, to the Palace to be received by the Kaiser. At seven
o'clock this morning I had a message. I have just come from the Palace.
The Kaiser has given me to understand that your presence in Berlin is
unwelcome."

"Good God!" Norgate exclaimed.

"Can you offer me any explanation?"

For a moment Norgate was speechless. Then he recovered himself. He forgot
altogether his habits of restraint. There was an angry note in his tone.

"It's that miserable young cub of a Prince Karl!" he exclaimed.
"Last night I was dining, sir, with the Baroness von Haase at the
Cafe de Berlin."

"Alone?"

"Alone," Norgate admitted. "It was not for me to invite a chaperon if the
lady did not choose to bring one, was it, sir? As we were finishing
dinner, the Prince came in. He made a scene at our table and ordered me
to leave."

"And you?" the Ambassador asked.

"I simply treated him as I would any other young ass who forgot
himself," Norgate replied indignantly. "I naturally refused to go, and
the Baroness left the place with me."

"And you did not expect