Excerpt from The Stolen Statesman: Being the Story of a Hushed-Up Mystery
"Look! Here he comes - at last!" cried a well-dressed young woman, evidently from the suburbs, who had been standing in patience for nearly an hour with a small knot of the curious in Downing Street, that narrow, official-looking thoroughfare which is the hub of the British Empire.
The dark-painted door of the Prime Minister's old-fashioned official residence had been opened by a sedate-looking manservant, and there had emerged into the sunlight of that June morning in 1913 a tall, alert, clean-shaven man of about fifty, whose features were aquiline, whose eyes were keen and penetrating, and who walked with light springy step towards Parliament Street.
The little crowd drew back respectfully as the constable on duty waved his hand. The people were there in order to see the Ministers in the flesh, for a meeting of the cabinet had just been held, and one after the other its members were taking leave of the Premier.
The tall man in a silk hat and dark grey frock-coat smiled as he passed that knot of the curious, for, loud enough for him to hear, one working-man remarked:
"Ah! Monkton's the man! He'll be Prime Minister some day - you bet!"
Reginald Monkton, for it was he who was passing, glanced at the speaker and shook his head, whereat the little crowd laughed, while the man who had made the prophecy said loudly:
"Yes, you will, sir. And the whole country will support you!"
Whereat there was a hearty cheer, while the popular secretary of State for the Colonies beat a hasty retreat, and the police constable grinned.
"A fine fellow! What a man!" declared another admirer in the crowd. "Yes, he always hits out from the shoulder, and doesn't mind a bit what people think!" said another, while a third declared: "He tells the truth - which is more than some of 'em do!"
"You're right!" shouted the working-man.
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