CHAPTER XI

WHO SMOKED THE GREGORIDES BRAND

I left the presence of the Japanese Emperor deeply disheartened.

It is true I had myself foretold this failure, and that his Japanese
majesty and his advisers had been good enough to compliment me in
almost extravagant terms on the energy and resourcefulness I had
shown in baffling the enemies of peace.

But I am unaccustomed to defeat, no matter what are the odds against
me, and I felt that the first point in the game had been scored
against by the formidable woman whose beauty and strangely composite
character had fascinated me, even while I was countermining her.

For my work was not yet over. Indeed, it had but just begun.

I had not succeeded in averting war between the two great Powers of
Asia. But I hoped to thwart the efforts which I feared would be made
to extend the conflagration to Europe.

As soon as I had found myself once more on civilized ground, I had
despatched a cable to my Paris office, announcing my whereabouts and
asking for information.

The reader may be excused if he has forgotten a little episode which
marked my stay in Petersburg. I had noticed something peculiar and at
the same time familiar in the scent of the tobacco smoked by
Petrovitch, the financial adventurer whose scheme to enrich himself
and a corrupt clique of courtiers out of the spoils of Korea and
China was the true cause of the war.

By a ruse I had secured one of the cigarettes, smoked by this
dangerous plotter, and having ascertained that it bore the mark
_Gregorides, Crown Aa_, had instructed my staff to ascertain the
history of this particular make of cigarettes.

While I was resting in my hotel in Tokio, waiting for the reply to my
cable, I was honored by a visit from no less a personage than Privy
Councillor Katahashi, President of the Imperial Bank of Japan.

"I have come," the Privy Councillor explained as soon as the door was
closed, "to express the high sense of your ability and devotion which
we all possess, and to ask if it is possible for Japan to secure your
services."

Deeply gratified by this proposal, I was obliged to explain that I
was already retained in the interest of Russia.

"But what interest?" Mr. Katahashi persisted. "It is clear that you
are not acting on behalf of that group which has just succeeded in
its purpose of forcing a war."

"That is so," I admitted. "It is no breach of confidence--in fact, I
serve my employers by assuring you th