"Pray be seated," I hastened to exclaim as I took the chair at my desk and faced the trio. "I mustn't say, of course, I expected this honour, because, after the way Fotheringay sprang at me in the auction market, I certainly got the impression he had no particular friendliness for me left--but--" "But that is precisely what we have come about," interposed the earl eagerly. "Those three old manuscripts which we made so terrific a fight over--" My lips closed, and a new look of resolution came into my face. "I see," I replied. "Then, as it is a matter of business, I beg you tell me what you desire in a plain, business-like fashion." There was an awkward pause; and then Lord Cyril began: "I understand, Mr Glynn," he said in his most seductive tones, "from no less an authority than the earl here, that you have been retained to get possession of three historical documents that were found among the effects of a certain dead refugee priest who called himself Alphonse Calasanctius. Now, are you aware to what those deeds relate?" I nodded, and the two men exchanged a quick look of intelligence. "That being so," proceeded Lord Cuthbertson, "you will doubtless realise how important it is that His Majesty's Government, and not an enemy of this country, should obtain possession of them." "Quite," I returned, determining to meet the statesman's strategy with diplomacy as far-reaching as his own. "And may I take it that you are prepared, as far as lies in your power, to assist His Majesty's Government in this direction?" "That is hardly necessary," I said, with a smile. "I have not got the documents at all. They are in the hands of a man with whom I am but little acquainted--Mr Zouche. Wouldn't it be better if pressure were placed on him?" "I can hardly agree in that," said the Foreign Secretary softly, and I saw I had countered but not defeated him. "In the first place, Mr Zouche is not an English subject, like yourself. He is Spanish, with all the absurd notions of the average Spaniard as to the future glories and magnificence of Spain. In the second place, he and Lord Fotheringay have had this very point over between them, and the hunchback has absolutely refused to assist us or the earl, who really put him on the track of the documents, and who is now trying, in vain, unfortunately, to frighten him out of them."