Dr. House quietly pursued an inquiry into this matter, and after some months came to the conclusion that the instigator, if not the actual writer of the letter, was a certain Captain Trail, commander of one of the king’s trading vessels. It seems that while in Singapore port, one night at eleven o’clock the captain fired a salute in honour of a ball on shore given by a friend. The British consul complained to his superior against the alarm caused by the firing, and his government forwarded the complaint to Bangkok. The captain was arrested and cast into a native gaol, which was crowded with low class prisoners, and was there for several days before his friends learned of the case. Some of the missionaries interceded for him and secured his release. When he left Bangkok he threatened to get even with the government for his treatment, and there was good reason to suppose that the letter was the means of revenge he took. This entry in Dr. House’s journal was annotated in pencil several years afterwards, adding “the letter was doubtless gotten up between Josephs (the Armenian merchant) and Capt. Eames, a friend of Captain Trail, with the knowledge of the prime minister, who was piqued at the king, and whose knowledge of the state affairs had given the insinuations in the letter which aroused the king’s hostility.” Fortunately, time convinced the king of the total innocence of all the missionaries and in due time the cloud of disfavour vanished. VIII SIAM OPENS HER DOORS—MORE WORKERS ENTER The accession of King Mongkut so completely changed the attitude of the government towards foreign nations that the danger of a clash with England disappeared over night. In due course of time Queen Victoria sent a note of congratulations to the new Siamese sovereign and expressed her desire to send an envoy for the purpose of revising the existing treaty. Upon receipt of this letter the king despatched it to Dr. House with the request to “transcribe it in a plain, legible hand”; for though the king could read and write English fairly, he preferred to have letters from abroad transcribed in a handwriting with which he was familiar, to avoid misunderstanding. In this connection, Mrs. Leonowens, who acted as his English secretary some years later, says that at times the king would insist upon his own diction in English in spite of warning of its turgidity, and when his communications of this character were misinterpreted he would lay the blame on his amanuensis.