Grant met Cornelius Blunn on Fifth Avenue one morning a week or so later,—Cornelius Blunn resplendent in a light grey suit, with a waistcoat cut very low, a carefully arranged white tie, white spats, and a white Homburg hat. He had the air of a man pleased with his appearance.

“Well, my young friend,” he exclaimed, stopping Grant. “How goes it?”

“I think you are winning,” was the frank reply.

“That’s a sure thing,” Blunn declared. “I mean, how do you amuse yourself?”

“Indifferently,” Grant confessed. “Your accursed organisations are getting on my nerves.”

“To tell you the truth, you’re getting on mine a little,” Blunn confided. “You know, I’m not thin-skinned, but you’ve been getting a trifle savage lately. I should very much dislike anything to happen to you, but it has been suggested to me once or twice that New York would be a healthier place without you.”

“The old threat,” Grant rejoined lightly. “By the bye, why shouldn’t two play at that game? I look upon you as one of the greatest enemies to the world’s peace at present existing. Why shouldn’t I kill you?”

“Too risky, my young friend. You’re not in touch with the criminal organisation of this city, and to attempt anything of the sort yourself would be madness.”

“I’m not so sure about the madness,” Grant replied. “I think that I could prove justifiable homicide.”

Blunn smiled.

“That’s just your trouble,” he expostulated. “You can’t prove anything. You’ve got some very sound ideas in your head. You’ve insight all right. You can trace the natural sequence of events. But the trouble is you’re short of facts.”

“Perhaps I am,” Grant acknowledged. “Perhaps I know a little more than you imagine.”

Blunn looked thoughtfully along the crowded pavement.

“I should hate very much to think that you did,” he said. “It would leave me only one alternative.”

“I wonder,” Grant meditated, “how much you understand of the science of bluff.”

“Nothing,” was the emphatic reply. “I have always treated you with the utmost candour. I tell you everything that may be for your good. Now I’ll tell you another thing which you probably do not know because for some reason or other it has been kept rather secret. I only knew myself a few hours ago. The next meeting of the nations subscribing to the Limitation of Armaments has been fixed for about five weeks ahead. That will be before a final decision can be arrived at with reference to the matter in which we are interested.”

“In Washington?” Grant demanded.

“In Washington.”

“Lord Yeovil will be present?”

“Naturally. You will have an opportunity of telling him of the progress you have made. Our friends over here will arrange to finish the meetings of the Limitation of Armaments and bid their guests farewell before the news of their adverse decision with reference to the Pact is known.”

“You are really a very interesting fellow to meet,” Grant admitted. “You are always full of information.”

“We must see more of one another,” Blunn murmured. “Meanwhile—”

They saluted with great politeness and passed on. Grant was obsessed with only one thought. Lord Ye............