“Oh, Excellency, it is partly my fault, and yet how could I have prevented it? It was that elderly official of the Princess of Dardania’s--Colonel Czartoriski. The first two or three days after you started he was continually sending letters and desiring to see you, though I assured him you could receive no one. Then he disguised himself with a false beard and green spectacles--yes, Excellency!--and told the people of the house that he was a doctor for whom you had sent, and they showed him which were your rooms. He did not approach by the staircase, knowing that I should be on the watch, and Dietrich also, but came up the steps leading from the garden, and crept along the verandah, and so peeped in at the window of your room. Dietrich caught sight of him first, and rushed out. Hearing a scuffle, I followed, and penetrated the man’s disguise immediately. We delivered him over to the police, after handling him not too gently, but the Scythian Consul came to his assistance, and got him released at once.” “But what has all this led to?” demanded Cyril, who had been listening with what patience he might as the Thracian poured out his tale while they were crossing the courtyard. “Why, Excellency, your enemies had learnt that you were away, and they took advantage of the news immediately. There is a recrudescence of Anti-Semitism all over Europe, especially in Neustria. The great Lutetian preacher is delivering a course of sermons against the Jews, and the ‘Petite Parole’ opens its columns daily to correspondents urging the most atrocious measures. All the other papers are following suit, members of the Government have denounced the Palestine scheme in the Chamber, and there are signs that the different political parties are willing to meet on the common ground of hatred of the Jews.” “Well, we know how to manage Neustria.” “But that is not the worst, Excellency. M. Lucien Salomans is dead.” “What, murdered?” “They call it suicide. He was present at some public entertainment, at which one of the performers made a violent attack on the Jews. He remonstrated, and became involved in a heated discussion with several gentlemen near him. It is alleged that he left the hall exclaiming that, Jew though he was, it was in his power to destroy Neustria if he chose----” “Blatant fool!” cried Cyril furiously. “Excellency, he is dead. He was arrested that evening, and his house searched. In prison he was visited by two high officials, who spent some time in his cell. This was late at night, and in the morning he was discovered to be dead. They say that he shot himself to avoid being surprised into disclosures, but it is whispered that one of his visitors, enraged by his persistent silence, killed him with the revolver which had been held to his head to extort a confession.” “But surely he had not had the madness---- Did things end there?”