"GENTLEMEN,--I observe by your note of April 5 that I now
have £22,750 on current account. Please invest half of this
sum in 3 per cent. Consols and half in bearer bonds before the
coupons are detached. I shall be obliged if you will sell my
shares in the Bank of England, and put the proceeds in London
omnibuses. That will be a safe investment and, I think, a
profitable one. Your obedient servant,

"HADGI STAVROS.

"P. S. Oblige me by sending a hundred guineas to Messrs. Ralli
Brothers as my subscription towards the Hellenic School at
Liverpool."

Mrs. Simons, who, like her daughter, did not speak Greek, leaned towards
me.

"Mr. Schultz, is he dictating the terms of our ransom?" she asked.

"No, madam," I replied. "He is writing to his bankers."

Mrs. Simons turned to the box of Turkish delight. I found more pleasure
in listening to the king's business correspondence. It was
extraordinarily interesting.

The next letter was addressed to George Micrommati, Secretary of the
King of the Mountains Co., Ltd., the Courts of Justice, Athens.

"I am sorry to say," Hadgi Stavros dictated, "that the company's
operations have been much restricted owing to the bad harvest and to the