l, Rudolph!"

With a final hug the embrace abruptly ended, and the Baron hastily
glanced at his watch.

"Ach, nearly had I forgot! I must go to ze club for half an hour."

"Must you?"

"To meet a friend."

"What friend?" asked the Baroness quickly.

"A man whose name you vould know vell--oh, vary vell known he is! But
in diplomacy, mine Alicia, a quiet meeting in a club is sometimes better
not to be advertised too moch. Great wars have come from one vord
of indiscretion. You know ze axiom of Bismarck--'In diplomacy it is
necessary for a diplomatist to be diplomatic.' Good-by, my love."

He bowed as profoundly as if she were a reigning sovereign, blew an
affectionate kiss as he went through the door, and then descended the
stairs with a rapidity that argued either that his appointment was
urgent or that diplomacy shrank from a further test within this mansion.

CHAPTER II

For the last year or two the name of Rudolph von Blitzenberg had
appeared in the members' list of that most exclusive of institutions,
the Regent's Club, Pall Mall; and it was thither he drove on this fine
afternoon of July. At no resort in London were more famous personages
to be found, diplomatic and otherwise, and nothing would have been
more natural than a meeting between the Baron and a European celebrity
beneath its roof; so that if you had seen him bounding impetuously up
the steps, and noted the eagerness with which he inquired whether a
gentleman had called for him, you would have had considerable excuse
for supposing his appointment to be with a dignitary of the highest
importance.

"Goot!" he cried on learning that a stranger was indeed waiting for
him. His face beamed with anticipatory joy. Aha! he was not to be
disappointed.

"Vill he be jost the same?" he wondered. "Ah, if he is changed I shall
veep!"

He rushed into the smoking-room, and there, instead of any bald
notability or spectacled statesman, there advanced to meet him a merely
private English gentleman, tolerably young, undeniably good-looking, and
graced with the most debonair of smiles.

"My dear Bonker!" cried the Baron, crimsoning with joy. "Ach, how
pleased I am!"

"Baron!" replied his visitor gaily. "You cannot deceive me--that
waistcoat was made in Germany! Let me lead you to a respectable tailor!"

Yet, despite his bantering tone, it was easy to see that he took an
equal pleasure in the meeting.

"Ha, ha!" laughed the Baron, "vot a fonny zing to