,« continued the
lady, whose enunciation was caressing and slow, »apropos of this explosion in
Greenwich Park. It appears we all ought to quake in our shoes at what's coming
if those people are not suppressed all over the world. I had no idea this was
such a grave affair.«
    Mr. Vladimir, affecting not to listen, leaned towards the couch, talking
amiably in subdued tones, but he heard the Assistant Commissioner say:
    »I've no doubt that Mr. Vladimir has a very precise notion of the true
importance of this affair.«
    Mr. Vladimir asked himself what that confounded and intrusive policeman was
driving at. Descended from generations victimized by the instruments of an
arbitrary power, he was racially, nationally, and individually afraid of the
police. It was an inherited weakness, altogether independent of his judgment, of
his reason, of his experience. He was born to it. But that sentiment, which
resembled the irrational horror some people have of cats, did not stand in the
way of his immense contempt for the English police. He finished the sentence
addressed to the great lady, and turned slightly in his chair.
    »You mean that we have a great experience of these people. Yes; indeed, we
suffer greatly from their activity, while you« - Mr. Vladimir hesitated for a
moment, in smiling perplexity - »While you suffer their presence gladly in your
midst,« he finished, displaying a dimple in each clean-shaven cheek. Then he
added more gravely: »I may even say - because you do.«
    When Mr. Vladimir ceased speaking the Assistant Commissioner lowered his
glance, and the conversation dropped. Almost immediately afterwards Mr. Vladimir
took leave. Directly his back was turned on the couch the Assistant Commissioner
rose, too.
    »I thought you were going to stay and take Annie home,« said the lady
patroness of Michaelis.
    »I find that I've yet a little work to do to-night.«
    »In connection -?«
    »Well, yes - in a way.«
    »Tell me, what is it really - this horror?«
    »It's difficult to say what it is, but it may yet be a cause célèbre,« said
the Assistant Commissioner.
    He left the drawing-room hurriedly, and found Mr. Vladimir still in the
hall, wrapping up his throat carefully in a large silk handkerchief. Behind him
a footman waited, holding his overcoat. Another stood ready to open the door.
The Assistant Commissioner was duly helped into his coat,
