“I was at Camperdown House yesterday,” he remarked. “Her Ladyship was regretting that she saw you so seldom.”

“I have been a little remiss,” Mr. Sabin answered. “I hope to lunch there to-morrow.”

“You have seen the evening paper, Brott?” the Prince asked.

“I saw the early editions,” Brott answered. “Is there anything fresh?”

The Prince dropped his voice a little. He drew Brott on one side.

“The Westminster declared that you had left for Windsor by an early train this afternoon, and gives a list of your Cabinet. The Pall Mall, on the other hand, declares that Letheringham will assuredly be sent for to-morrow.”

Brott shrugged his shoulders.

“There are bound to be a crop of such reports at a time like this,” he remarked.

The Prince dropped his voice almost to a whisper.

“Brott,” he said, “there is something which I have had it in my mind to say to you for the last few days. I am not perhaps a great politician, but, like many outsiders, I see perhaps a good deal of the game. I know fairly well what the feeling is in Vienna and Berlin. I can give you a word of advice.”