256
THE SURAKARTA
der Annis' sallow skin, and his sun-bleached, close-cut hair seemed to bristle. He slid into the chair nearest to Hereford.
"Really, now, you begin to interest me," he said. "Am I to suppose"
"What?"
"That this man Lund was in your employ?"
"Lund was then, is now, and at times before, during the last thirty months, has been in my employ, though never openly. The Regan estate, Mr. Annis, is one which, for reasons that I think are plain, has been a continued bait for sharpers, impostors and international marriage bureaus. Miss Regan has made it very plain to me that she would not brook any open interference in such affairs. Once, before this matter of the Soesoehoenan took me by surprise, the pres-
