"It was out of consideration for your Excellency," replied the stranger quietly. "I had the honour to serve under your Excellency some years ago, in England." "Impossible!" said the Colonel. "You are Spanish, but----" "Of Spanish parents, Señor, but English-born. I joined the regiment at Blankhampton. My room-mate was Sergeant Tom Mannis." Darcy drew in his breath sharply. "Your Excellency may remember he died of fever." "I never saw or heard of your friend!" "Though he was your Excellency's body-servant," suggested the stranger. Darcy bit his moustache. "When he died," continued the speaker, "he bequeathed certain papers to me, containing evidence of a ceremony performed over a certain officer of his regiment, then stationed in Ireland, in the month of August three years ago." "Ah," said the Colonel, "I think I see the drift of your remarks, my friend. You wish to have a little chat with me, eh?" The man nodded. "It is a pleasant night," continued Darcy, "suppose we stroll a trifle farther from the house." He slipped his hand furtively behind him. "With pleasure," acquiesced the other. "But," he added, as they took their first step forward, "the Señor will find only blank cartridges in his revolver. It is a matter that I attended to personally." Darcy swore under his breath. Aloud he said, simply:-- "Say what you have to say, and be quick. I shall be missed from the ballroom." The man nodded again, and plunged abruptly into his narration. "There is an island at the mouth of the X----River, off the coast of this country, as you have probably heard. It contains large manufactories for the sale of a staple article, which we produce. Owing to an amiable arrangement between the heads of the firm in England and our Government, a monopoly of this article is secured to them, in return for which certain officials in this country receive thousands of pesetas a year. As your Excellency may remember, a treaty is pending between this country and Great Britain, looking to the secession of the island to the latter. If the treaty succeeds, the monopoly, owing to your accursed free-trade principles, will cease, and the island and its products be thrown open to competition." "It has been suggested by certain patriotically disposed personages, with a desire for their country's good, that a prearranged disposition of forty thousand pounds in gold among a majority of the members of the Cabinet who are to pass upon the treaty some six months hence, might result in its rejection." "Well," said Darcy, shortly, "what of that?"