"You derned hayseed!" burst in Mr. Pilgrim. "You have your p'ints, but at this pertic'ler moment I think you're more suited for raisin' cabbages than for secretary work. If you can't tell the difference in the handle of a Bunyan MS. and your notes on Charlotte Brontë in the dark, you might know a banana from a potato in daylight. You're--you're---- Man, you put the Brontë notes in the drawer, and left Bunyan out--brushed him on the floor in the dark, an' the help lit the fire with him. Gor!" The secretary collapsed. "Never mind, Mr. Tullitt," said Miss Pilgrim. "It was entirely a mistake. I might have done it myself. It comes of working so late. Dad, I guess there's plenty more old manuscripts in the British Isles waiting for dollars to fetch them." "I reckon there's only one Bunyan MS.," said Mr. Pilgrim, solemnly, "and that's gone to light Hydropathic fires because my secretary doesn't carry wax vestas in his pyjamas. Hey! But what about that hole in the window?" Mr. and Miss Pilgrim, the secretary, and Lord Roker stared blankly at it. * * * * * And that is why Lord Roker was not able to show the Bunyan MS. at the next meeting of the Burglars' Club. VII. THE GREAT SEAL. THE Hon. Richard Hilton stared at the type-written letter with distinct feelings of pleasure. This is what he read:-- SIR,--I have the honour to inform you of your election as a member of the Club, conditional upon your attendance on the 5th proximo with the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, procured in the usual way.--Yours faithfully, THE HON. SECRETARY. "That's good," he ejaculated. "Ribston's a trump. But what on earth's the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, and where is it to be found?" Mr. Hilton's library was chiefly devoted to sport and fiction, and he could find no reference to it therein. He had therefore to make inquiries outside, when he learnt that the Great Seal of the United Kingdom was the property of the Lord Chancellor for the time being, that it was a very important object indeed, its impression being requisite at the foot of the highest documents of State; and, consequently, that its unexpected absence might very well upset the nation's affairs and incidentally bring serious trouble upon anyone who had tampered with it. Mr. Hilton's sporting instincts were roused. "It seems to me," he thought, "that this is going to be the best thing I have had on since I walked across Thibet disguised as a second-class Mahatma. But where does the Chancellor keep the thing?"