"Then I don't think I would again, if I were you," the other advised. "There is nothing against her, but she is a great friend of certain members of the Royal Family who are not very well disposed towards us, and she is rather a brainy little person. They use her a good deal, I believe, as a means of confidential communication between here and Vienna. She has been back and forth three or four times lately, without any apparent reason."
Norgate stood with his hands in his pockets, frowning slightly.
"Why, she's half an Englishwoman," he remarked.
"She may be," Mr. Gray admitted drily. "The other half's Austrian all right, though. I can't tell you anything more about her, my dear fellow. All I can say is that she is in my book, and so long as she is there, you know it's better for you youngsters to keep away. Be off now. I am decoding a dispatch."
Norgate retraced his steps to his own room. Ansell glanced up from a mass of passports as he entered.
"How's the Secret Service Department this morning?" he enquired.
"Old Gray seems much as usual," Norgate grumbled. "One doesn't get much out of him."
"Chief wants you in his room," Ansell announced. "He's just come in from the Palace, looking like nothing on earth."
"Wants me?" Norgate muttered. "Righto!"
He went to the looking-glass, straightened his tie, and made his way towards the Ambassador's private apartments. The latter was alone when he entered, seated before his table. He was leaning back in his chair, however, and apparently deep in thought. He watched Norgate sternly as he crossed the room.