I shall ask you to sign, after reading either or all, precisely
as the directions you have received from your home government instruct.
On behalf of the three greatest Latin countries, as special envoy of
each, I will sign first."
He dropped into the chair, signed each of the three parchment pages
three times, then rose and offered the pen to the cowled figure at one
end of the semicircle. The man came forward, read the English
transcript, studied the three signatures already there with a certain
air of surprise, then signed. The second man signed, the third man, and
the fourth.
The fifth had just risen to go forward when the door opened silently and
Mr. Grimm entered. Without a glance either to right or left, he went
straight toward the table, and extended a hand to take the compact.
For an instant there had come amazement, a dumb astonishment, at the
intrusion. It passed, and the hand of the man who had done the talking
darted out, seized the compact, and held it behind him.
"If you will be good enough to give that to me, your Highness,"
suggested Mr. Grimm quietly.
For half a minute the masked man stared straight into the listless eyes
of the intruder, and then:
"Mr.
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