I was obliged to admit that such was my opinion. His lordship proceeded. ‘This state of things constitutes a national danger. In a country like ours, run on democratic lines, it is almost hopeless to look to Parliament for any improvement. The only remedy is for some one who has the interests of his country at heart to supplement the work of the public service by a private intelligence department conducted at his own expense, just as in the case of a newspaper proprietor.’ I gave the speaker a quick glance of interrogation. I happened to be aware that the Marquis, in spite of his high rank, was not a very wealthy man, and it was therefore clear to me that he was not speaking of himself. ‘Such a person as you describe would, indeed, deserve well of his country,’ was all I thought it prudent to say. ‘I shall be glad if you will consider me as the person concerned,’ Lord Bedale said in a tone which warned me that I was on delicate ground. ‘I have sent for you to ask if you will accept a commission from me to act as a Secret Service agent in the interests of Great Britain.’ I hesitated. It is my fixed rule to deal only with principals, and I could not escape the conclusion that Lord Bedale was merely the agent of another. ‘Will you let me ask your lordship one question?’ I said. ‘Do you offer me this commission as a private citizen solely, or am I at liberty to infer, from your position in the Royal Household, that you have no concealments from the exalted personage you serve, and that by accepting your offer I shall, in effect, be serving his Majesty?’ The Marquis studied my face carefully before answering. ‘It seems to me that such an inference is right and natural, and one that you are bound to make,’ he said slowly. ‘Then I shall feel highly honoured by accepting,’ I returned, bowing. The question of terms was disposed of to our mutual satisfaction. I came away from the Palace filled with reverence for the monarch who, unless I were completely deceived, had decided to contribute out of his private purse to the defence of the great Empire whose politicians were so neglectful of its safety. On my return to Paris I set to work to organise a special department for the purpose of collecting intelligence likely to be of importance to the British Empire. I was amused to find that several of the secret agents in the service of the British Foreign Office were receiving much larger salaries from the Russian Government than from the one they were supposed to act for. Among other similar discoveries my agents reported to me that a certain British Vice-Consul in the Euphrates Valley, a Greek by extraction, had secretly taken out letters of naturalisation as a German subject. It was on this man’s recommendation chiefly that the British Government had been induced to give its countenance to the project for a German railway to Baghdad.