your majesty would leave no
stone unturned to intercept this despatch, the Czar wrote a duplicate
with his own hand, which he entrusted to me, in the hope that I might
baffle the conspirators."

"Where is it?"

"I endeavored to conceal it by unstitching the front of the shirt I
am wearing, and sewing it up between the folds.

"Unfortunately I was drugged at a dinner party in Petersburg just
before starting. I was unconscious for an hour and a half, and I fear
that the opponents of peace have taken advantage of the opportunity
to find and rob me of the letter. But I will see, with your majesty's
permission."

The Mikado made no answer. Amid a breathless silence, with all the
room watching my movements, I tore open my shirt-front and extracted
a paper.

It was blank.

"So," commented the Japanese Emperor, sternly, "you have no such
credentials as you boasted of having."

"Pardon me, sire. Anticipating that the War Party would suspect the
object of my mission, and would resort to some such step to defeat
it, I purposely provided them with a document to steal, believing
that when they had robbed me of it they would allow me to proceed
unmolested. My real credentials are here."

I drew out my cigarette case, found the partially smoked cigarette I
had had in my mouth when I ran the gauntlet of the spies at Dalny,
and proceeded to cut off the paper. On the inner surface these words
were written in the hand of the Czar:

The bearer of this, M. V----, has my full confidence, and
is authorized to settle conditions of peace.
NICHOLAS.

As I respectfully placed the scrap of paper, with its charred edges,
in the Mikado's hand, I was conscious of a profound sensation in the
room. Aged statesmen and brilliant commanders bent eagerly across
the table to learn the character of the message thus strangely
brought to its destination.

His majesty read the brief note aloud. It was received with a murmur,
not entirely of satisfaction I was surprised to note.

Seeing that the Mikado made no remark, I ventured to say:

"I hope that the extreme character of the measures adopted by the
Czar to assure your majesty of his peaceful sentiments will have the
effect of convincing you that they are genuine."

The Emperor of Japan glanced around his council board as if to
satisfy himself that he and his advisers were of one mind before
replying:

"I appreciate the zeal and the extraordinary skil