inspector and was now Prime Minister of England. The great man received
his visitor with an air of good-natured tolerance.

"Heard of you from Scotland Yard, haven't I, Lord Dorminster?" he said,
as he waved him to a seat. "I gather that you disagreed very strongly
with the open verdict which was returned at the inquest upon your
uncle?"

"The verdict was absolutely at variance with the facts," Nigel declared.
"My uncle was murdered, and a secret report of certain doings on the
continent, which he was decoding at the time, was stolen."

"The medical evidence scarcely bears out your statement," Mr. Mervin
Brown pointed out dryly, "nor have the police been able to discover how
any one could have obtained access to the room, or left it, without
leaving some trace of their visit behind. Further, there are no
indications of a robbery having been attempted."

"I happen to know more than any one else about this matter," Nigel
urged,--"more, even, than I thought it advisable to mention at the
inquest--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
far-seeing enough to understand that under the seeming tranquillity
abroad there is a universal and deep-seated hatred of this country."

"I look upon that statement as misleading and untrue," the Minister
declared. "Your late uncle belonged to that mischievous section of
foreign politicians who believed in secret treaties and secret service,
and who fostered a state of nervous unrest between countries otherwise
disposed to be friendly. We have turned over a new leaf, Lord