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We have received a message. It is impossible for him to be present in person." He

stopped, giving a curious impression of having left the sentence unfinished.

A very slow smile overspread the face of the other. He looked round at a circle of

uneasy faces.

"Ah! I understand. I have read of his methods. He works in the dark and trusts no

one. But, all the same, it is possible that he is among us now...." He looked round

him again, and again that expression of fear swept over the group. Each man

seemed eyeing his neighbour doubtfully.

The Russian tapped his cheek.

So be it. Let us proceed."

The German seemed to pull himself together. He indicated the place he had been

occupying at the head of the table. The Russian demurred, but the other insisted.

It is the only possible place," he said, "for--Number One. Perhaps Number

Fourteen will shut the door?"

In another moment Tommy was once more confronting bare wooden panels, and

the voices within had sunk once more to a mere undistinguishable murmur.

Tommy became restive. The conversation he had overheard had stimulated his

curiosity. He felt that, by hook or by crook, he must hear more.

There was no sound from below, and it did not seem likely that the doorkeeper

would come upstairs. After listening intently for a minute or two, he put his head

round the curtain. The passage was deserted. Tommy bent down and removed his

shoes, then, leaving them behind the curtain, he walked gingerly out on his

stockinged feet, and kneeling down by the closed door he laid his ear cautiously

to the crack. To his intense annoyance he could distinguish little more; just a

chance word here and there if a voice was raised, which merely served to whet his

curiosity still farther.

He eyed the handle of the door tentatively. Could he turn it by degrees so gently

and imperceptibly that those in the room would notice nothing? He decided that

with great care it could be done. Very slowly, a fraction of an inch at a time, he

moved it round, holding his breath in his excessive care. A little more--a little

more still--would it never be finished? Ah! at last it would turn no farther.

He stayed so for a minute or two, then drew a deep breath, and pressed it ever so

The Secret Adversary