The Weight of the Crown by Fred M. White

A silence fell on the little group for a time. All Peretori's gaiety had vanished. He looked very moody and thoughtful as be sat there turning recent events over in his mind. With all his faults, and there were many, he was an Asturian at heart. He was prepared to do a deal for the sake of his country. He had always promised himself that some day he would settle down and be a credit to his nationality. The career of mad jest must stop some time. It was impossible not to understand the mischief that he had just done. But there was a mobile and clever brain behind all this levity, and already Peretori begun to see his way to a subtle and suitable revenge.

"Have those stolen papers anything to do with it?" he asked. "That Foreign Office business, you know."