“Never mind a small detail like that one, prince.”
“No, indeed. Well, when I represented his majesty there, certain matters arose which led me to make a suggestion to my august master, which I believed would redound to the credit, and greatly to the aggrandizement also, of my own country.”
“And that matter was—what?”
“I will go into all of that presently, Mr. Carter. It is not my purpose now to keep anything back from you; but permit me to get over the main point of the matter first.”
“As you please.”
“When I first proposed it, I was smiled at; then I scored. Heed was at last taken of my suggestions, and I was directed to begin work on the idea. That, I may say, happened ten years ago.”
“It is not a new thing, then.”
“From the point of time, it is not.”
“Well, sir?”
“I remained in—er—Siam three years longer. Then I suggested that, in order to prosecute the work upon which I had begun action, it would be well to place another man there, and to send me to the court of St. James. I figured that I could work from there, with less chance of my purpose being discovered than from Siam itself.”