The Great Prince Shan

-sought-for interview with the Right Honourable Mervin Brown, who had started life as a factory inspector and

as he waved him to a seat. "I gather that you disagreed very strongly

lared. "My uncle was murdered, and a secret report of certain doin

police been able to discover how any one could have obtained access to the room, or left it, without leavi

uest-and I beg you to listen to me, Mr. Mervin Brown. I know that you considered my uncle to be in some respects a crank, because he was

ians who believed in secret treaties and secret service, and who fostered a state of nervous unrest between countries otherwise disposed to be friendl

g the report upon which he was engaged, I could have offered you proof not only of the exis

e disappeared," Mr. Mervin B

the person who murdered m

nourable gen

e. I am in no way prejudiced, however, and am willing to listen to anything you may have to say whic

u may have read of. Of the two sent to Germany, one has disappeared, and the other died in hospital, without a doubt poisoned, a few days after he had sent the report to England which was stolen from my uncle's desk. That report was brought over by Lady Maggie Trent, Lord Dorminster's stepdaughter, who was really the brains of the enterprise and under another name was acting as governess to the children of He

enemies

hook hi

. "My uncle had only commenced to dec

said, "that you connect your uncle's death dire

olut

lusion you ar

entable abnegation of all secret service defence, and that, in plain words, my uncle was murdered by an agent of one of thes

e was a man of some natural politeness, but he fo

will consider all that you have said. I

artment and secret service, even on a lesser scale, and don't rest until you have di

uld be to be guilty of an infringement of the spirit of the League of Nations,

ose to

I see you don't believe a word o

pleasantly, as he touched the bell

irred by the little puffs of west wind. He exchanged greetings with a few acquaintances, lingered here and there before the shop windows, and presently developed a fit of contemplation engendered by the thoughts which were all the time at the back of his mind. Bond Street was crowded with vehicles of all sorts, from wonderfu

ter asked quietly, as he laid

Tell me whether anything strikes you about the Bond Street of

al figure in his distinctively cut morning coat, his carefully tied crava

is it my fancy or has this country become a trifl

l sm

Kensington, suddenly enriched, had come to spend their money in new quarters. Not only that, but there is a difference in the wares set out in the shops,

opman. He wants the fat cheques, and he caters for the people who can write them. Let us pursue our reflections a little farther and in a different directi

mewhat curious hesitation which he

week or two," he said doubtfully. "Beside

at her loveliest in the spring. The Ritz Restaurant will look like a bouquet of flowers.

ned together to