“You are very kind, Duke,” Bransome answered. “I suppose Haviland explained the matter to you.”
The Duke nodded.
“You are going to help me entertain my other distinguished visitor,” he remarked. “I fancy we shall be quite an interesting party.”
Bransome glanced around.
“I hope most earnestly,” he said, “that we shall induce our young friend to be a little more candid with us than he has been. One can’t get a word out of Hesho, but I’m bound to say that I don’t altogether like the look of things. The Press are beginning to smell a rat. Two leading articles this morning, I see, upon our Eastern relations.”
The Duke nodded.
“I read them,” he said. “We are informed that the prestige and success of our ministry will entirely depend upon whether or not we are able to arrange for the renewal of our treaty with Japan. I remember the same papers shrieking themselves hoarse with indignation when we first joined hands with our little friends across the sea!”
His secretary approached Bransome and touched him on the shoulder.
“There is a person in the anteroom, sir,” he said, “whom I think that you ought to see.”
The Duke nodded and passed on. The Secretary drew his chief on one side.