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a precipitate return to Russia, leaving England early on Sunday morning. The

gang had fled from Astley Priors in a panic, leaving behind, in their haste, various

damaging documents which compromised them hopelessly. With these proofs of

conspiracy in their hands, aided further by a small brown diary taken from the

pocket of the dead man which had contained a full and damning resume of the

whole plot, the Government had called an eleventh-hour conference. The Labour

leaders were forced to recognize that they had been used as a cat's paw. Certain

concessions were made by the Government, and were eagerly accepted. It was to

be Peace, not War!

But the Cabinet knew by how narrow a margin they had escaped utter disaster.

And burnt in on Mr. Carter's brain was the strange scene which had taken place

in the house in Soho the night before.

He had entered the squalid room to find that great man, the friend of a lifetime,

dead--betrayed out of his own mouth. From the dead man's pocket-book he had

retrieved the ill-omened draft treaty, and then and there, in the presence of the

other three, it had been reduced to ashes.... England was saved!

And now, on the evening of the 30th, in a private room at the Savoy, Mr. Julius P.

Hersheimmer was receiving his guests.

Mr. Carter was the first to arrive. With him was a choleric-looking old gentleman,

at sight of whom Tommy flushed up to the roots of his hair. He came forward.

Ha!" said the old gentleman, surveying him apoplectically. "So you're my nephew,

are you? Not much to look at--but you've done good work, it seems. Your mother

must have brought you up well after all. Shall we let bygones be bygones, eh?

You're my heir, you know; and in future I propose to make you an allowance--and

you can look upon Chalmers Park as your home."

"Thank you, sir, it's awfully decent of you."

Where's this young lady I've been hearing such a lot about?"

Tommy introduced Tuppence.

Ha!" said Sir William, eyeing her. "Girls aren't what they used to be in my young

days."

"Yes, they are," said Tuppence. "Their clothes are different, perhaps, but they

themselves are just the same."

247

The Secret Adversary