"Ah, my dear Shirley, and Dick! Can it be possible! I only heard by
the merest chance that you were here. But Switzerland is the real
meeting-place of the world."

The young Americans greeted the new-comer cordially. A waiter placed a
chair for him, and took his hat. Arthur Singleton was an American, though
he had lived abroad so long as to have lost his identity with any
particular city or state of his native land. He had been an attaché of
the American embassy at London for many years. Administrations changed
and ambassadors came and went, but Singleton was never molested. It was
said that he kept his position on the score of his wide acquaintance;
he knew every one, and he was a great peddler of gossip, particularly
about people in high station.

The children of Hilton Claiborne were not to be overlooked. He would
impress himself upon them, as was his way; for he was sincerely social by
instinct, and would go far to do a kindness for people he really liked.

"Ah me! You have arrived opportunely, Miss Claiborne. There's mystery in
the air--the great Stroebel is here--under this very roof and in a
dreadfully bad humor. He is a dangerous man--a very dangerous man, but
failing fast. Poor Austria! Count Ferdinand von Stroebel can have no
successor--he's only a sort of holdover from the nineteenth century, and
with him and his Emperor out of the way--what? For my part I see only
dark days ahead;" and he concluded with a little sigh that implied
crumbling thrones and falling dynasties.

"We met him in Vienna," said Shirley Claiborne, "when father was there
before the Ecuador Claims Commission. He struck me as being a delightful