"I am whichever I choose for the moment," was the cool response. "If you
doubt my credentials, I can perhaps establish myself in your confidence
by repeating the conversation which took place between you and the
Kaiser on the terrace of the Imperial Palace at Potsdam between three
and four o'clock on the afternoon of April the seventh. You gave the
Kaiser a little character sketch of your colleagues in the Cabinet, and
you treated with ridicule the bare idea that one or two of them, at any
rate, would ever consent--"

"That will do," the Minister interrupted hoarsely.

"Just as you will," the other observed. "I wish you good-day, sir. The
issue is before you now quite plainly. Let us soon be able to appreciate
the effect of your changed attitude."

Lord Romsey touched his bell in silence and his visitor took a grave and
decorous leave. He walked with the secretary down the hall.

"These are sad days for all of us," he said benignly. "I have been
telling Lord Romsey of some of my experiences in Brussels. I was
American chaplain at the new church there when the war broke out. I have
seen sights which I shall never forget, horrors the memory of which will
never leave me."

The secretary nodded sympathetically. He was trying to get off early,
however, and he had heard a good deal already about Belgium.

"Will you let one of the servants fetch you a taxicab?" he suggested.

"I prefer to walk a little distance," Mr. Sidney replied. "I am quite
at home in London. I was once, in fact, invited to take up a pastorate
here. I wish you good-day, sir. I have had a most interesting
conversation with your chief, a conversation which will dwell for a long
time in my memory."

The secretary bowed and Mr. Sidney walked slowly to the corner of the
Square. Arrived there, he hailed a passing taxicab which drew up at once
by the side of the kerb. In stepping in, he brushed the shoulder of a
man who had paused to light a cigarette. He lingered for a moment to
apologise.

"I beg your pardon," he commenced--

For a single moment his self-possession seemed to desert him. He looked
into the cold, incurious face of the man in an officer's uniform who was
already moving away, as though he had seen a ghost. His hesitation was a
matter of seconds only, however.

"It was very clumsy of me," he concluded.

Major Thomson touched his cap as he moved off.

"Quite all right," he said serenely.

CHAPTER VI

The room was a study in