“I haven’t had the opportunity of congratulating you upon becoming one of our hereditary legislators, Lord Dorminster, since you took your seat in the House of Lords,” he said.  “Pray let me do so now.  I hope that we may count upon your support.”

“My support, sir,” Nigel replied, “will be given to any Party which will take the urgent necessary steps to protect this country against a great danger.”

“God bless my soul!” the Prime Minister exclaimed.  “Another of you!”

“I can only guess who my predecessors were,” Nigel continued, smiling, “but I will frankly confess that the object of my visit is to beg you to reestablish our secret service in Germany, Russia and China.”

“Nothing,” the other declared, “would induce me to do anything of the sort.”

“Are you aware,” Nigel enquired, “that there is a considerable foreign secret service at work in this country at the present moment?”

“I am not aware of it, and I don’t believe it,” was the blunt retort.

“I have absolute proof,” Nigel insisted.  “Not only that, but two ex-secret service men whom my uncle sent out to Germany and Russia on his own account were murdered there as soon as they began to get on the track of certain things which had been kept secret.  A report from one of these men got through and was stolen from my uncle’s library in Belgrave Square on the day he was murdered.  You will remember that I placed all these facts before you on the occasion of a previous visit.”

Mervin Brown nodded.

“Anything else?” he asked patiently.

“You know that a special envoy from China is on his way here at the present moment to meet Immelan?”

“Oscar Immelan, the German Commissioner?”

“The same,” Nigel assented.

“A most delightful fellow,” the Prime Minister declared warmly, “and a great friend to this country.”

“I must take the liberty of disagreeing with you,” Nigel rejoined, “because I know very well that he is our bitter enemy.  Prince Shan, who is on his way from China to meet him, is the envoy of the one country outside Europe whom we might fear.  We sit still and do nothing.  We have no means of knowing what may be plotted against us here in London.  At least a polite request might be sent to Prince Shan to ask him to pay you a visit and disclose the nature of his conference with Immelan.”

“If he cares to come, we shall be glad to see him,” Mervin Brown replied, “but I for one shall not go out of my way to talk politics.”

“Do you know what politics are, sir?” Nigel asked, in a sudden fury.

The Prime Minister’s eyes flashed for a moment.  He controlled himself, however, and rang the bell.