A Deal With China
Written by
Copyright 1899
Published in Cassell's Magazine, October 1899. Collected in the next year.
Monsieur Roché appeals to Aide Lerestelle for help yet again. An envoy from China, presumably on a world tour for "pleasure and enlightenment" is really in France "to gain a pledge .. for defensive or even offensive protection". The envoy handed to Roché a small gold seal that was to be used to close the response for help. Within minutes of the delivery and before it could be used, the seal went missing. Lerestelle is asked to find who had stolen the now-valuable object.