CHAPTER VIII. The Foreign Office--the New Private Secretary--a Cabinet

The Foreign Office--The new Private Secretary--A Cabinet key--Concerning theatricals--Some surnames which have passed into everyday use--Theatricals at Petrograd--A mock-opera--The family from Runcorn--An embarrassing predicament--Administering the oath--Secret Service--Popular errors--Legitimate employment of information--The Phoenix Park murders--I sanction an arrest--The innocent victim--The execution of the murderers of Alexander II.--The jarring military band--Black Magic--Sir Charles Wyke--Some of his experiences--The seance at the Pantheon--Sir Charles' experiments on myself--The Alchemists--The Elixir of Life, and the Philosopher's Stone--Lucid directions for their manufacture--Glamis Castle and its inhabitants--The tuneful Lyon family--Mr. Gladstone at Glamis--He sings in the glees--The castle and its treasures--Recollections of Glamis