"
"Oh, no!" protested the man with the pearl stud, "it is not for YOU
to sign it. In my opinion, it is Sir Andrew who should pay the costs.
It is time you knew," he said, turning to that gentleman, "that,
unconsciously, you have been the victim of what I may call a
patriotic conspiracy. These stories have had a more serious purpose
than merely to amuse. They have been told with the worthy object of
detaining you from the House of Commons. I must explain to you that,
all through this evening, I have had a servant waiting in Trafalgar
Square with instructions to bring me word as soon as the light over
the House of Commons had ceased to burn. The light is now out, and
the object for which we plotted is attained."
The Baronet glanced, keenly, at the man with the black pearl, and
then, quickly, at his watch. The smile disappeared from his lips, and
his face was set in stern and forbidding lines.
"And may I know," he asked, icily, "what was the object of your
plot?"
"A most worthy one," the other retorted. "Our object was to keep you
from advocating the expenditure of many millions of the people's
money upon more battle-ships.
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