And beside these pictures I placed this of the prosperous commercial house, founded by the man before me, a man whose salary would probably be sniffed at by a deputy-a.s.sistant controller in the British War Office.

A bank, paying its way, and adding to the revenues of j.a.pan, and yet every member of its staff a tireless spy, ready to go anywhere and risk everything on behalf of his native country!

Mr. Katahashi seemed to ignore the effect produced on my mind by his modest explanation.

"I have told you this," he resumed, "because if I can succeed in satisfying you that we are both working for the same ends, or at least against the same enemy, I hope it will be agreeable to you to co-operate with me."

I drew my brows together in anxious thought. In spite of the flattery and deference of the Privy Councillor I could not but feel that I should be the junior partner in any such combination as he proposed, or, rather, I should find myself an instrument in the hands of one whose methods were strange to me.

"Although his imperial majesty was not familiar with your name, you must not suppose that your reputation is not known in the right quarters. I have a very full report on your work in my office. I had intended from the first to engage your services if we required any Western aid; and, as a matter of fact, I was on the eve of sending you a retainer, when I heard I had been antic.i.p.ated by----"

"By Lord Bedale," I put in swiftly.

"By Lord Bedale, certainly," the j.a.panese acquiesced with a polite bow and smile.

"After your interview with him, I lost sight of you," my extraordinary companion went on. "Your wonderful transformation into a Little Englander of the Peace-at-any-Price school threw my agents off the scent. But I heard of your interview with Nicholas II."

"You did!"

Mr. Katahashi nodded.

"I recognized you in that transaction. I even guessed that you might make an attempt to carry through a message from the Czar. But, knowing the influences arrayed against you, I never expected you to succeed. Your appearance in our Council-Room was a triumph on which I congratulate you warmly.

"And now," the Mikado's Privy Councillor continued, "there remain two questions:

"Supposing you are satisfied that the real author of this war is not any one in Russia, but a certain monarch who smokes cigarettes made by the house of Gregorides--

"And that the same ambitious ruler is now weaving his snares to entangle Great Britain, in short your own employer, the----"

"Marquis of Bedale," I again slipped in.

Again the same polite but incredulous bow and smile from the j.a.panese statesman.

"Would you be willing to accept a retainer from us?"

I sat upright, frowning.

The somewhat haughty att.i.tude of the Emperor of j.a.pan still rankled within me.

"I will accept a retainer from his majesty the Mikado," I announced stiffly. "From no one else."

Mr. Katahashi looked thoughtful.

"I will see what can be done," he murmured. "The second question----"

There was a momentary hesitation in his manner.

"I have just spoken to you of the precept of the great English philosopher."

"It was, if I remember rightly, that you should employ only j.a.panese in the service of j.a.pan?"

The Privy Councillor bowed.

"Therefore, you will see, we are obliged to make a proposal which may seem to you unusual--perhaps unreasonable."

"And this proposal is?" I asked, with undisguised curiosity.

"That you should become a j.a.panese."

I threw myself back in my chair, amazed.

"Your Excellency, I am an American citizen."

"So I have understood."

"An American citizen is on a level with royalty."

"That is admitted."

"Even the Dowager Empress of China, when engaging me in her service, though she raised my ancestors to the rank of marquises, did not ask me to forego my citizenship of the United States."

"That is not necessary," the Privy Councillor protested.

"Explain yourself, if you will be so good."

"A man may be an American citizen, although by birth he is a Frenchman, a German, or even a negro. You yourself are a Pole, I believe."

I could only bow.

"Now I do not propose that you should relinquish your political allegiance, but only that you should exchange your Polish nationality for a j.a.panese one."

"But how, sir?"

"It is very simple. By being adopted into a j.a.panese family."

I sat and stared at the j.a.panese statesman, with his mask-like face and impenetrable eyes. I seemed to be in some strange dream.

Who shall judge the ways of the Asiatic! This daring organizer, a match for the most astute minds of the West, believed that he could only make sure of fidelity by persuading me to go through what seemed the comedy of a mock adoption, a ceremony like the blood brotherhood of an African tribe.

"And suppose I consent, into what family do you purpose to introduce me?"

The Privy Councillor's look became positively affectionate as he responded:

"If you would honor me by becoming my kinsman?"

I rose to my feet, shaking my head slowly.

"I appreciate the compliment your Excellency pays me. But, as we have just now agreed, an American citizen has no equals except royalty.

Let us return to the German Emperor and his designs. If I cannot serve you directly I may be able to do so indirectly."