, 1905-10-25

red and grew pale. He grew weak
and he grew strong. He shouted at the
top of his voice INT he spoke in whis-
ers. The document could not be
.ound.
When he had been reduced to a prop
er frame of mind he was told by the
second lord that he had been criminal
ly careless: that while he sat and ate
some spy Of some foreign government
had walked into the open Office and
Hwiped Il document that might cost
England 100000 lives and 500, 000, 900
in cash. 1t was gently intimated that
he was known to be absentminded, and
1t was limited that he might have taken
the document along to read at lunch
and left it lying beside his plate. A.
messenger was rushed off, but he re-
turned with the statement that the
waiter had not seen such Il paper. He
added that the waiter WIS n low brow
ed, suspicious looking chap and that he
was probably a liar.
FOR two long days Il number of first
and second and third lords held their
DiNoth IL Sdlc was SCuIClicu
no less than fifty times. The top of n
bare table was scanned until the eyes
of the ached. The waste pa
per basket, the floor, the coal rack, the
corners Inc all other places were
searched, but in vain. Two detectives
were detailed to watch every move
ment of the waiter. The cabman who
had J-i.rn,, {ba G,,.A 1A,1 b ,-a, a.~1
back was put under surveillance. The
clerical staff was made to feel that 1t
might find itself in Newgate within
the ext t~wenty-four hours, and had
New Zealand captured Australia the
excitement in that particular depart
ment could not have been more intense.
When the first lord and the second
lord and the third lord went into Sc
cret council for the tenth time, turning
even the broom and the door mat out
into the hall and stopping up the key
hole of the door, the two latter lords
had some figures to submit. A reward
must be offered for the return of the
document, and it must be large enough
to appeal to the cupidity of the robber.
They figured that 100000 would do 1t
and that the first lord would have to
pay 1t out of his own pocket. If he
hadn't been so fat and stupid he would
have tainted away. AS 1t was, he was
properly crushed for the next PROPOSE
ton. The idea was to have him disap-
pear for n couple of months. When the
thief found that no reward was to be
offered he might return the document.
There was a belief that he was a per.
sonal enemy of the first lord and had
meant to spite him alone. If ne first
lord would get out of the country for
Il few weeks or months the second and
third lords would carry on the case
the honor of the honorable.
The first lord jumped at the oppor-
tunity held out. He didn't want to see
England plunged into calamity Inc
neither did he want to pay a reward of
100000. He left the office Immediately
and fastened home to pack up and
start for Switzerl and, and a long breath
of relief extended from the second lord
down to the smallest messenger boy.
Some n was paid a large Zee Tor
work done, and the incident was clos
ed-that Is, the first lord wrote back
weekly to ask If the document had been
found, and the second lord answered
as regularly that 1t had not, but he
was still hot on the trail. After six or
eight weeks had passed the first lord
was one day handed the missing docu-
ment by a disguised man who fled on
the instant, but the lord retired to his
bedroom and opened the envelope.
There was ii document. 1t was a writ
ten recipe for making French cottage
cheese. The first lord shut one eye
and sat and thought for an hour. Then
the light dawned, and he laid the docu-
ment aside and whispered: E.
"A man may be n first lord and d
first ass at the same time, and I'm a
living example of the fact.'