The Devil's Paw...................................................................................................................................................1

E. Phillips Oppenheim.............................................................................................................................1

The two men, sole occupants of the somewhat shabby cottage parlour, lingered over their port, not so much

with the air of wine lovers, but rather as human beings and intimates, perfectly content with their

surroundings and company. Outside, the wind was howling over the marshes, and occasional bursts of rain

came streaming against the window panes. Inside at any rate was comfort, triumphing over varying

conditions. The cloth upon the plain deal table was of fine linen, the decanter and glasses were beautifully

cut; there were walnuts and, in a far Corner, cigars of a wellknown brand and cigarettes from a famous

tobacconist. Beyond that little oasis, however, were all the evidences of a hired abode. A hole in the closely

drawn curtains was fastened together by a safety pin. The horsehair easychairs bore disfiguring

antimacassars, the photographs which adorned the walls were grotesque but typical of village ideals, the

carpet was threadbare, the closed door secured by a latch instead of the usual knob. One side of the room was

littered with golf clubs, a huge game bag and several boxes of cartridges. Two shotguns lay upon the remains

of a sofa. It scarcely needed the costume of Miles Furley, the host, to demonstrate the fact that this was the

Furley, broadshouldered, florid, with tanned skin and grizzled hair, was still wearing the high sea boots and

jersey of the duck shooter. His companion, on the other hand, a tall, slim man, with high forehead, clear eyes,

stubborn jaw, and straight yet sensitive mouth, wore the ordinary dinner clothes of civilisation. The contrast

between the two men might indeed have afforded some ground for speculation as to the nature of their

intimacy. Furley, a son of the people, had the air of cultivating, even clinging to a certain plebeian strain,

never so apparent as when he spoke, or in his gestures. He was a Member of Parliament for a Labour

constituency, a shrewd and valuable exponent of the gospel of the working man. What he lacked in the higher

qualities of oratory he made up in sturdy common sense. The willo'thewisp Socialism of the moment,

with its many attendant "isms" and theories, received scant favour at his hands. He represented the solid

element in British Labour politics, and it was well known that he had refused a seat in the Cabinet in order to

preserve an absolute independence. He had a remarkable gift of taciturnity, which in a man of his class made

for strength, and it was concerning him that the Prime Minister had made his famous epigram, that Furley

Julian Orden, with an exterior more promising in many respects than that of his friend, could boast of no

similar distinctions. He was the youngest son of a particularly fatuous peer resident in the neighbourhood,

had started life as a barrister, in which profession he had attained a moderate success, had enjoyed a brief but

not inglorious spell of soldiering, from which he had retired slightly lamed for life, and had filled up the

intervening period in the harmless occupation of censoring. His friendship with Furley appeared on the

surface too singular to be anything else but accidental. Probably no one save the two men themselves

"What's all this peace talk mean?" Julian Orden asked, fingering the stern of his wineglass.

Julian Orden moved in his place a little uneasily. His long, nervous fingers played with the stick which stood

Furley looked straight ahead of him. His eyes seemed caught by the glitter of the lamplight upon the

"You know my opinion of war, Julian," he said. "It's a filthy, intolerable heritage from generations of

autocratic government. No democracy ever wanted war. Every democracy needs and desires peace."

"One moment," Julian interrupted. "You must remember that a democracy seldom possesses the imperialistic

"Arrant nonsense!" was the vigorous reply. "A great empire, from hemisphere to hemisphere, can be kept

together a good deal better by democratic control. Force is always the arriere pensee of the individual and the

"These are generalities," Julian declared. "I want to know your opinion about a peace at the present moment."

"Not having any, thanks. You're a dilettante journalist by your own confession, Julian, and I am not going to

"Maybe," was the careless admission. "You're a visitor worth having, Julian. '70 port and homegrown

"I can't imagine," he confessed. "What brings Stenson down to Maltenby. I should have thought that your

"They never do spend ten minutes together alone," Julian replied drily. "I see to that. Then my mother, you

know, has the knack of getting interesting people together. The Bishop is coming, amongst others. And,

Furley, I wanted to ask you do you know anything of a young woman she is half Russian, I believe who

"She lived in Russia for some years, it seems," Julian continued. "Her mother was Russian a great writer on

"Miss Abbeway is rather that way herself," he remarked. "I've heard her lecture in the East End. She has got

hold of the woman's side of the Labour question as well as any one I ever came across."

"Yes, she's goodlooking. A countess in her own right, they tell me, but she keeps her title secret for fear of

losing influence with the working classes. She did a lot of good down Poplar way. Shouldn't have thought

His friend thrust his hands into his trousers pocket and, leaning back in his chair, looked steadfastly at his

"I believe you can, Julian," he admitted. "Sometimes I am not quite sure that I understand you. That's the

"When you get me going on my own subject," Furley remarked, "I find it hard to stop, and you are a

"Oh, yes, I've views of my own," he confessed. "Some day, perhaps, you shall know what they are."

The two men sat in silence for some minutes. Outside, the storm seemed to have increased in violence. Furley

"What on earth have you kept your shooting kit on for?" the latter asked, with lazy curiosity.

Furley glanced down at his incongruous attire and seemed for a moment ill at ease.

He paused abruptly. He was a man of quick perceptions, and he realised his host's embarrassment.

Nevertheless, there was an awkward pause in the conversation. Furley rose to his feet and frowned. He

"Sorry to seem mysterious, old chap," he said. "I've just a bit of a job to do. It doesn't amount to anything, but

"Well, you're welcome to all the amusement you'll get out of it, a night like this"

"There isn't much amusement left in the world, is there, just now?" he remarked gravely.

"Very little indeed. It's three years since I handled a shotgun before tonight."

"I'm a sort of hack journalist as well, as you reminded me just now," Julian explained a little evasively.

"Sometimes. Now and then we come across interesting things, though. For instance, I discovered a most

"Not at present. I discovered it, studying a telegram from Norway. It was addressed to a perfectly respectable

firm of English timber merchants who have an office in the city. This was the original: `Fir planks too narrow

"There I am still at a loss," Julian confessed, "but treated with the cipher it comes out as `Thirtyeight steeple

"Well, of the two," he declared, "I should prefer the first rendering for intelligibility."

"So would most people," Julian assented, smiling, "yet I am sure there is something in it some meaning, of

"Not personally. That doesn't come into my department. The name of the man who manages the London

Furley withdrew the pipe from his mouth. His eyebrows had come together in a slight frown.

"Yes, I know him," Furley replied thoughtfully. "He is secretary of the Timber Trades Union and got in for

"I understand that there is nothing whatever against him personally," Julian continued, "although as a

politician he is of course beneath contempt. He started life as a village schoolmaster and has worked his way

up most creditably. He professed to understand the cable as it appeared in its original form. All the same, it's

very odd that, treated by a cipher which I got on the track of a few days previously, this same message should

He stopped short. Julian, who had been leaning over towards the cigarette bog, glanced around at his friend.

There was a frown on Furley's forehead. He withdrew his pipe from between his teeth.

There was a moment's silence. Furley glanced at the little clock upon the mantelpiece. It was five and twenty

"I don't know whether you have ever heard, Julian," he said, "that our enemies on the other side of the North

Sea are supposed to have divided the whole of the eastern coast of Great Britain into small, rectangular

districts, each about a couple of miles square. One of our secret service chaps got hold of a map some time

"It's only a coincidence, of course," Furley went on, "but number thirtyeight happens to be the twomile

block of seacoast of which this cottage is just about the centre. It stretches to Cley on one side and Salthouse

on the other, and inland as far as Dutchman's Common. I am not suggesting that there is any real connection

between your cable and this fact, but that you should mention it at this particular moment well, as I said, it's

Furley had risen to his feet. He threw open the door and listened for a moment in the passage. When he came

"Julian," he said, "I know you area bit of a cynic about espionage and that sort of thing. Of course, there has

been a terrible lot of exaggeration, and heaps of fellows go gassing about secret service jobs, all the way up

the coast from here to Scotland, who haven't the least idea what the thing means. But there is a little bit of it

done, and in my humble way they find me an occasional job or two down here. I won't say that anything ever

comes of our efforts we're rather like the special constables of the secret service but just occasionally we

"This is my last night. I am off up to town on Monday and 'shan't be able to get down again this season."

"Not the ghost of one. I don't mind admitting that I've had a good many wettings and a few scares on that

stretch of marshland, but I've never seen or heard anything yet to send in a report about. It just happens,

"Something supposed to be up," was the dubious reply. "We've a very imaginative chief, I might tell you."

"But what sort of thing could happen?" Julian persisted. "What are you out to prevent, anyway?"

Furley relit his pipe, thrust a flask into his pocket, and picked up a thick stick from a corner of the room.

"Can't tell," he replied laconically. "There's an idea, of course, that communications are carried on with the

enemy from somewhere down this coast. Sorry to leave you, old fellow," he added. "Don't sit up. I never

fasten the door here. Remember to look after your fire upstairs, and the whisky is on the sideboard here."

"I shall be all right, thanks," Julian assured his host. "No use my offering to come with you, I suppose?"

"Thank heavens!" Julian exclaimed piously, as a storm of rain blew in through the halfopen door. "Good

Furley's reply was drowned in the roar of wind. Julian secured the door, underneath which a little stream of

rain was creeping in. Then he returned to the sitting room, threw a log upon the fire, and drew one of the

Julian, notwithstanding his deliberate intention of abandoning himself to an hour's complete repose, became,

after the first few minutes of solitude, conscious of a peculiar and increasing sense of restlessness. With the

help of a rubbershod stick which leaned against his chair, he rose presently to his feet and moved about the

room, revealing a lameness which had the appearance of permanency. In the small, whiteceilinged

apartment his height became more than ever noticeable, also the squareness of his shoulders and the lean

vigour of his frame. He handled his gun for a moment and laid it down; glanced at the card stuck in the cheap

looking glass, which announced that David Grice let lodgings and conducted shooting parties; turned with a

shiver from the contemplation of two atrocious oleographs, a church calendar pinned upon the wall, and a

battered map of the neighbourhood, back to the table at which he had been seated. He selected a cigarette and

lit it. Presently he began to talk to himself, a habit which had grown upon him during the latter years of a life

"Perhaps," he murmured, "I am psychic. Nevertheless, I am convinced that something is happening,

He stood for a while, listening intently, the cigarette burning away between his fingers. Then, stooping a

little, he passed out into the narrow passage and opened the door into the kitchen behind, from which the

woman who came to minister to their wants had some time ago departed. Everything was in order here and

spotlessly neat. He climbed the narrow staircase, looked in at Furley's room and his own, and at the third

apartment, in which had been rigged up a temporary bath. The result was unilluminating. He turned and

"Either," he went on, with a very slight frown, "I am not psychic, or whatever may be happening is happening

He raised the latch of the door, under which a little pool of water was now standing, and leaned out. There

seemed to be a curious cessation of immediate sounds. From somewhere straight ahead of him, on the other

side of that black velvet curtain of darkness, came the dull booming of the wind, tearing across the face of the

marshes; and beyond it, beating time in a rhythmical sullen roar, the rise and fall of the sea upon the shingle.

But near at hand, for some reason, there was almost silence. The rain had ceased, the gale for a moment had

spent itself. The strong, salty moisture was doubly refreshing after the closeness of the small, lamplit room.

Then he suddenly stiffened. He leaned forward into the dark, listening. This time there was no mistake. A cry,

He stepped quickly back into the sitting room, drew an electric torch from the drawer of the homely little

chiffonier and, regardless of regulations, stepped once more out into the darkness, now pierced for him by

that single brilliant ray. The door opened on to a country road filled with gleaming puddles. On the other side

of the way was a strip of grass, sloping downwards; then a broad dyke, across which hung the remains of a

footbridge. The voice came from the water, fainter now but still eager. Julian hurried forward, fell on his

knees by the side of the dyke and, passing his hands under his friend's shoulders, dragged him out of the

"The bridgegave way when I was half across," was the muttered response. "I think my leg's broken. I fell in

and couldn't get clear just managed to raise my head out of the water and cling to the rail."

"Hold tight," Julian enjoined. "I'm going to drag you across the road. It's the best I can do."

He came to himself in front of the sittingroom fire, to find his lips wet with brandy and his rescuer leaning

"That's all right," Julian assured him. "It isn't broken. I've been over it carefully. If, you're quite comfortable,

"Listen to me. Take your torch go out and examine that bridge. Come back and tell me what's wrong with

"What the dickens does that matter?" Julian objected. "It's the doctor we want. The dyke's flooded, and I

Julian rose to his feet, walked cautiously to the edge of the dyke, turned on his light, and looked downwards.

One part of the bridge remained; the other was caught in the weeds, a few yards down, and the single plank

which formed its foundation was sawn through, clean and straight. He gazed at it for a moment in

astonishment. Then he turned back towards the cottage, to receive another shock. About forty yards up the

lane, drawn in close to a straggling hedge, was a small motorcar, revealed to him by a careless swing of his

torch. He turned sharply towards it, keeping his torch as much concealed as possible. It was empty a small

coupe of pearlgrey a powerful twoseater, with deep, cushioned seats and luxuriously fitted body. He

flashed his torch on to the maker's name and returned thoughtfully to his friend.

"Miles," he confessed, as he entered the sitting room, "there are some things I will never make fun of again.

"Not one," replied Furley. "The soldiers, who are all decent fellows, the old farmer at the back, and your

father and mother are the only people with whom I have the slightest acquaintance in these parts."

"There is something doing in this section, then," he muttered. "Julian, will you take my job on?"

"Put on your sea boots, and your oilskins over your clothes," he directed. "You will want your own stick, so

take that revolver and an electric torch. You can't get across the remains of the bridge, but about fifty yards

down to the left, as you leave the door, the water's only about a foot deep. Walk through it, scramble up the

other side, and come back again along the edge of the dyke until you come to the place where one lands from

"After that, you go perfectly straight along a sort of cart track until you come to a gate. When you have

passed through it, you must climb a bank on your lefthand side and walk along the top. It's a beastly path, and

"Pooh!" Julian exclaimed. "You forget that I am a native of this part of the world."

"You come to a sort of stile at the end of about three hundred yards," Furley continued. "You get over that,

and the bank breaks up into two. You keep to the left, and it leads you right down into the marsh. Turn

seaward. It will be a nasty scramble, but there will only be about fifty yards of it. Then you get to a bit of

rough ground a bank of grassgrown sand. Below that there is the shingle and the sea. That is where you

"Heaven knows," replied Furley, "except that there's a general suggestion of communications between some

person on land and some person approaching from the sea. I don't mind confessing that I've done this job, on

and off, whenever I've been down here, for a couple of years, and I've never seen or heard a suspicious thing

yet. We are never told a word in our instructions, either, or given any advice. However, what I should do

would be to lie flat down on the top of that bank and listen. If you hear anything peculiar, then you must use

your discretion about the torch. It's a nasty job to make over to a pal, Julian, but I know you're keen on

"All over it," was the ready reply. "What about leaving you alone, though, Miles?"

"You put the whisky and soda where I can get at it," Furley directed, "and I shall be all right. I'm feeling

stronger every moment. I expect your sea boots are in the scullery. And hurry up, there's a good fellow. We're

Julian started on his adventure without any particular enthusiasm. He found the crossing, returned along the

side of the bank, trudged along the cart track until he arrived at the gate, and climbed up on the dyke without

misadventure. From here he made his way more cautiously, using his stick with his right hand, his torch, with

his thumb upon the knob, in his left. The lull in the storm seemed to be at an end. Black, lowhanging clouds

were closing in upon him. Away to the right, where the line of marshes was unbroken, the boom of the wind

grew louder. A gust very nearly blew him down the bank. He was compelled to shelter for a moment on its

lee side, whilst a scud of snow and sleet passed like an icy whirlwind. The roar of the sea was full in his ears

now, and though he must still have been fully two hundred yards away from it, little ghostly specks of white

spray were dashed, every now and then, into his face. From here he made his way with great care, almost

crawling, until he came to the stile. In the marshes he was twice in salt water over his knees, but he scrambled

out until he reached the grassgrown sand bank which Furley had indicated. Obeying orders, he lay down

and listened intently for any fainter sounds mingled with the tumult of nature. After a few minutes, it was

astonishing how his eyes found themselves able to penetrate the darkness which at first had seemed like a

black wall. Some distance to the right he could make out the outline of a deserted barn, once used as a

coastguard station and now only a depository for the storing of life belts. In front of him he could trace the

bank of shingle and the line of the sea, and presently the outline of some dark object, lying just out of reach

of the breaking waves, attracted his attention. He watched it steadily. For some time it was as motionless as

the log he presumed it to be. Then, without any warning, it hunched itself up and drew a little farther back.

There was no longer any doubt. It was a human being, lying on its stomach with its head turned to the sea.

Julian, who had entered upon his adventure with the supercilious incredulity of a staunch unbeliever invited

to a spiritualist's seance, was conscious for a moment of an absolutely new sensation. A person of acute

psychological instincts, he found himself analysing that sensation almost as soon as it was conceived.

His heart was beating with unaccustomed vigour; he was conscious of an acute tingling in all his senses.

Then, still lying on his stomach, almost holding his breath, he saw the thin line of light from an electric torch

steal out along the surface of the sea, obviously from the hand of his fellow watcher. Almost at that same

moment the undefined agitation which had assailed him passed. He set his teeth and watched that line of

light. It moved slowly sideways along the surface of the sea, as though searching for something. Julian drew

himself cautiously, inch by inch, to the extremity of the sand hummock. His brain was working with a new

clearness. An inspiration flashed in upon him during those few seconds. He knew the geography of the place

well, the corner of the barn, the steeple beyond, and the watcher lying in a direct line. His cipher was

Perfectly cool now, Julian thought with some regret of the revolver which he had scorned to bring. He

occupied himself, during these seconds of watching, by considering with care what his next action was to be.

If he even set his foot upon the shingle, the watcher below would take alarm, and if he once ran away, pursuit

was hopeless. The figure, so far as he could distinguish it, was more like that of a boy than a man. Julian

began to calculate coolly the chances of an immediate intervention. Then things happened, and for a moment

The line of light had shot out once more, and this time it seemed to reveal something, something which rose

out of the water and which looked like nothing so much as a long strip of zinc piping. The watcher at the edge

of the sea threw down his torch and gripped the end of it, and Julian, carried away with excitement, yielded to

an instant and overpowering temptation. He flashed on his own torch and watched while the eager figure

seemed by some means to unscrew the top of the coil and drew from it a dark, rolledup packet. Even at that

supreme moment, the slim figure upon the beach seemed to become conscious of the illumination of which

he was the centre. He swung round, and that was just as far as Julian Orden got in his adventure. After a

lapse of time, during which he seemed to live in a whirl of blackness, where a thousand men were beating at a

thousand anvils, filling the world with sparks, with the sound of every one of their blows reverberating in his

ears, he opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back, with one leg in a pool of salt water, which was

being dashed industriously into his face by an unseen hand. By his side he was conscious of the presence of a

thickset man in a fisherman's costume of brown oilskins and a southwester pulled down as though to hide

his features, obviously the man who had dealt him the blow. Then he heard a very soft, quiet voice behind

"I am going to make sure of him," he said thickly. Again he heard that clear voice from behind, this time a

little raised. The words failed to reach his brain, but the tone was one of cold and angry dissent, followed by

an imperative order. Then once more his senses seemed to be leaving him. He passed into the world which

seemed to consist only of himself and a youth in fisherman's oilskins, who was sometimes Furley, sometimes

his own sister, sometimes the figure of a person who for the last twentyfour hours had been continually in

his thoughts, who seemed at one moment to be sympathising with him and at another to be playing upon his

face with a garden hose. Then it all faded away, and a sort of numbness crept over him. He made a desperate

struggle for consciousness. There was something cold resting against his cheek. His fingers stole towards it. It

was the flask, drawn from his own pocket and placed there by some unseen hand, the top already unscrewed,

and the reviving odour stealing into his nostrils. He guided it to his lips with trembling fingers. A pleasant

When he opened his eyes again, he first turned around for the tea by his bedside, then stared in front of him,

wondering if these things which he saw were indeed displayed through an upraised blind. There was the

marsh a picture of still life winding belts of sea creeping, serpentlike, away from him towards the land,

with broad pools, in whose bosom, here and there, were flashes of a feeble sunlight.. There were the clumps

of wild lavender he had so often admired, the patches of deep meadow green, and, beating the air with their

wings as they passed, came a flight of duck over his head. Very stiff and dazed, he staggered to his feet.

There was the village to his right, redtiled, familiar; the snug farmhouses, with their brown fields and belts

And then, with a single flash of memory, it all came back to him. He felt the top of his head, still sore; looked

down at the stretch of shingle, empty now of any reminiscences; and finally, leaning heavily on his stick, he

plodded back to the cottage, noticing, as he drew near, the absence of the motorcar from its place of shelter.

Miles Furley was seated in his armchair, with a cup of tea in his hand and Mrs. West fussing over him, as

Julian raised the latch and dragged himself into the sitting room. They both turned around at his entrance.

Furley dropped his teaspoon and Mrs. West raised her hands above her head and shrieked. Julian sank into

"Melodrama has come to me at last," he murmured. "Give me some tea a whole teapotful, Mrs. West and

He waited until their temporary housekeeper had bustled out of the room. Then he concluded his sentence.

"I have been sandbagged," he announced impressively, and proceeded to relate the night's adventure to his

"This," declared Julian, about a couple of hours later, as he helped himself for the second time to bacon and

eggs, "is a wonderful tribute to the soundness of our constitutions. Miles, it is evident that you and I have led

"And a game leg seems to have done the same for you," Julian rejoined. "Did the doctor ask you how you did

"I just said that I slipped on the marshes. One doesn't talk of such little adventures as you and I experienced

"By the bye, what does one do about them?" Julian enquired. "I feel a little dazed about it all, even now living

in an unreal atmosphere and that sort of thing, you know. It seems to me that we ought to have out the

bloodhounds and search for an engaging youth and a particularly disagreeable bully of a man, both dressed in

"Oh, chuck it!" Furley intervened. "The intelligence department in charge of this bit of coast doesn't do things

like that. What you want to remember, Julian, is to keep your mouth shut. I shall have a chap over to see me

"All the same," persisted Julian, "we or rather I was without a doubt a witness to an act of treason. By

some subtle means connected with what seemed to be a piece of gas pipe, I have seen communication with

"For us others," Julian replied, "there exists the post office, the telegraph office and the telephone. I decline to

believe that any reasonable person would put out upon the sea in weather like last night's for the sake of

delivering a letter to any harmless inhabitant of these regions. I will have my sensation, you see, Furley. I

have suffered thank heavens mine is a thick skull! and I will not be cheated of my compensations."

"Well, keep your mouth shut, there's a good fellow, until after I have made my report to the Intelligence

Officer," Furley begged. "He'll he here about four. You don't mind being about?"

"Not in the least," Julian promised. "So long as I am home for dinner, my people will be satisfied."

"I don't know how you'll amuse yourself this morning," Furley observed, "and I'm afraid I shan't be able to

"Don't worry about me," Julian begged. "Remember that I am practically at home it's only three miles to the

Hall from here so you mustn't look upon me as an ordinary guest. I am going for a tramp in a few minutes."

"Lucky chap!" Furley declared enviously. "Sunshine like this makes one feel as though one were on the

"I may," Julian answered thoughtfully. "The instinct of the sleuthhound is beginning to stir in me. There is no

Julian started on his tramp about half an hour later. He paused first at a bend in the road, about fifty yards

"The instinct of the sleuthhound," he said to himself, "is all very well, but why on earth haven't I told Furley

He paused to consider the matter, conscious only of the fact that each time he had opened his lips to mention

it, he had felt a marked but purposeless disinclination to do so. He consoled himself now with the reflection

that the information would be more or less valueless until the afternoon, and he forthwith proceeded upon the

The road was still muddy, and the track of the tyres, which were of somewhat peculiar pattern, clearly visible.

He followed it along the road for a matter of a mile and a half. Then he came to a standstill before a plain oak

gate and was conscious of a distinct shock. On the top bar of the gate was painted in white letters

and it needed only the most cursory examination to establish the fact that the car whose track he had been

following had turned in here. He held up his hand and stopped a luggage trolley which had just turned the

"Only the young lady, sir," the man replied, "Miss Abbeway. She came in a little coupe Panhard."

"She broke down in it yesterday afternoon, sir," he answered, "about halfway up to the Hall here."

"Broke down?" Julian repeated. "Anything serious? Couldn't you put it right for her?"

"She wouldn't let me touch it, sir," the man explained. "She said she had two cracked sparking plugs, and she

wanted to replace them herself. She has had some lessons, and I think she wanted a bit of practice."

"About half a mile up, on the lefthand side, sir, just by the big elm. Miss Abbeway said she was coming

"Then it's been there all the time since yesterday afternoon?" Julian persisted.

"The young lady wished it left there, sir. I could have put a couple of plugs in, in five minutes, and brought

"Any luck with the geese last night, sir?" the man asked. "I heard there was a pack of them on Stiffkey

He made his way up the avenue. At exactly the spot indicated by the chauffeur a little coupe car was

standing, drawn on to the turf. He glanced at the name of the maker and looked once more at the tracks upon

the drive. Finally, he decided that his investigations were leading him in a most undesirable direction.

He turned back, walked across the marshes, where he found nothing to disturb him, and lunched with Purley,

"What about this visitor of yours?" Julian asked, as they sat smoking afterwards. "I must be back at the Hall

"Not coming?" Julian repeated. "Jove, I should have thought you'd have had intelligence officers by the

"For some reason or other," Furley confided, "the affair has been handed over to the military authorities. I

have had a man down to see me this morning, and he has taken full particulars. I don't know that they'll even

"Last night's happening was queer, for that matter," Furley continued. "Their only chance, I suppose, of

getting to the bottom of it is to lie doggo as far as possible. It isn't like a police affair, you see. They don't

want witnesses and a court of justice. One man's word and a rifle barrel does the trick."

"I suppose," he observed, "that if I do my duty as a loyal subject, I shall drop the curtain on last night. Seems

a pity to have had an adventure like that and not be able to open one's mouth about it."

"You don't want to join the noble army of gas bags," he said. "Much better make up your mind that it was a

Julian entered the drawingroom at Maltenby Hall a few minutes before dinner time that evening. His

mother, who was alone and, for a wonder, resting, held out her hand for him to kiss and welcomed him with a

charming smile. Notwithstanding her grey hair, she was still a remarkably younglooking woman, with a

"My dear Julian," she exclaimed, "you look like a ghost! Don't tell me that you had to sit up all night to shoot

Julian drew a chair to his mother's side and seated himself with a little air of relief.

"Never have I been more conscious of the inroads of age," he confided. "I can remember when, ten or fifteen

years ago, I used to steal out of the house in the darkness and bicycle down to the marsh with a twentybore

"And I suppose," his mother went on, "after spending half the night wading about in the salt water, you spent

"Quite right. We got cold and wet through in the evening; we sat up talking till the small hours; we got cold

"A converted sportsman," his mother observed. "I wish you could convert your friend, Mr. Furley. There's a

perfectly terrible article of his in the National this month. I can't understand a word of it, but it reads like

"So long as the world exists," Julian remarked, "there must be Socialists, and Furley is at least honest."

"My dear Julian," his mother protested, "how can a Socialist be honest! Their attitude with regard to the war,

too, is simply disgraceful. I am sure that in any other country that man Fenn, for instance, would be shot."

"Good old Wells!" Julian murmured. "How does he look since he became a Cabinet Minister?"

"Portentous," Lady Maltenby replied; with a smile. "He doesn't look as though he would ever unbend. Then

the Shervintons are here, and the Princess Torski your friend Miss Abbeway's aunt."

"She was English," his mother explained, "a cousin of the Abbeways. She married in Russia and is on her

way now to France to meet her husband, who is in command of a Russian battalion there. She seems quite a

"Naturally. I asked her for a week, and I think she means to stay. We talked for an hour after tea this

afternoon, and I found her most interesting. She has been living in England for years, it seems, down in

"She is a remarkably clever young woman," Julian said thoughtfully, "but a little incomprehensible. If the

"Her father," the Countess replied, "was Colonel Richard Abbeway, who seems to have been military attache

at St. Petersburg, years ago. He married a sister of the Princess Torski's husband, and from her this young

woman inherited a title which she won't use and a large fortune. Colonel Abbeway was killed accidentally in

"My dear boy, what an idea!" his mother exclaimed reprovingly. "On the contrary, the Torskis are one of the

most aristocratic families in Russia, and you know what the Abbeways are. The girl is excellently bred, and I

think her charming in every way. Whatever made you suggest that she might have German blood in her?"

"The Bishop," his mother continued, "looking very tired, poor dear! Doctor George Lennard, from Oxford,

two young soldiers from Norwich, whom Charlie asked us to be civil to and the great man himself."

"Tell me about the great man? I don't think I've seen him to speak to since he became Prime Minister."

"He declares that this is his first holiday this year. He is looking rather tired, but he has had an hour's shooting

The Earl of Maltenby, who entered a moment later, was depressingly typical. He was as tall as his youngest

son, with whom be shook hands absently and whom he resembled in no other way. He had the conventionally

aristocratic features, thin lips and steely blue eyes. He was apparently a little annoyed.

"It's too bad of you, Henry," she expostulated. "You've been trying to talk politics with him. You know that

the poor man was only longing for fortyeight hours during which he could forget that he was Prime Minister

"Precisely, my dear," Lord Maltenby agreed. "I can assure you that I have not transgressed in any way. A

remark escaped me referring to the impossibility of providing beaters, nowadays, and to the fact that out of

my seven keepers, five are fighting. I consider Mr. Stenson's comment was most improper, coming from one

"Something about wondering whether any man would be allowed to have seven keepers after the war," her

husband replied, with an angry light in his eyes. "If a man like Stenson is going to encourage these socialistic

The remaining guests drifted in within the next few moments, the Bishop, Julian's godfather, a curious

blend of the fashionable and the devout, the anchorite and the man of the people; Lord and Lady Shervinton,

elderly connections of the nondescript variety; Mr. Hannaway Wells, reserved yet, urbane, a wonderful type

of the supreme success of mediocrity; a couple of young soldiers, lighthearted and out for a good time, of

whom Julian took charge; an Oxford don, who had once been Lord Maltenby's tutor; and last of all the

homely, very pleasantlooking, middleaged lady, Princess Torski, followed by her niece. There were a few

Whilst Lady Maltenby was engaged in this task, which she performed at all times with the unfailing tact of a

great hostess, Julian broke off in his conversation with the two soldiers and looked steadfastly across the

room at Catherine Abbeway, as though anxious to revise or complete his earlier impressions of her. She was

of medium height, not unreasonably slim, with a deliberate but noticeably graceful carriage. Her complexion

was inclined to be pale. She had large, soft brown eyes, and hair of an unusual shade of chestnut brown,

arranged with remarkably effective simplicity. She wore a long string of green beads around her neck, a black

tulle gown without any relief of colour, but a little daring in its cut. Her voice and laugh, as she stood talking

to the Bishop, were delightful, and neither her gestures nor her accent betrayed the slightest trace of foreign

blood. She was, without a doubt, extraordinarily attractive, gracious almost to freedom in her manner, and yet

with that peculiar quality of aloofness only recognisable in the elect, a very appreciable charm. Julian found

his undoubted admiration only increased by his closer scrutiny. Nevertheless, as he watched her, there was a

slightly puzzled frown upon his forehead, a sense of something like bewilderment mingled with those other

feelings. His mother, who had turned to speak to the object of his attentions, beckoned him, and he crossed

"Julian is going to take you in to dinner, Miss Abbeway," the Countess announced, "and I hope you will be

kind to him, for he's been out all night and a good part of the morning, too, shooting ducks and talking

Lady Maltenby passed on. Julian, leaning on his stick, looked down with a new interest into the face which

"Tell me, Mr. Orden," she asked, "which did you find the more exhausting tramping the marshes for sport,

"As a matter of fact," he replied, "we didn't tramp the marshes. We stood still and got uncommonly wet. And

"Then it must have been the conversation," she declared. "Is your friend a prophet or only one of the

"A prophet, most decidedly. He is a Mr. Miles Furley, of whom you must have heard."

"Miles Furley!" she repeated. "I had no idea that he lived in this part of the world."

"He has a small country house somewhere in Norfolk," Julian told her, "and he takes a cottage down here at

"I will promise that readily, out of consideration to my escort. I wonder how it is," she went on, looking up at

"A frivolous turn of mind, I suppose," he replied. "I certainly prefer to talk art with you."

"But nowadays," she protested, "it is altogether the fashion down at Chelsea to discard art and talk politics."

"It's a fashion I shouldn't follow," he advised. "I should stick to art, if I were you."

"Well, that depends upon how you define politics, of course. I don't mean Party politics. I mean the science of

"I don't know what your political views are, Mr. Orden," she said, "but you must look out for shocks if you

discuss social questions with my niece. In the old days they would never have allowed her to live in Russia.

Catherine laughed, as the Princess passed on. "Tell me some more about your adventures last night?"

She looked up into his face, and Julian was suddenly conscious from whence had come that faint sense of

mysterious trouble which had been with him during the last few minutes. The slight quiver of her lips brought

it all back to him. Her mouth, beyond a doubt, with its half tender, half mocking curve, was the mouth which

he had seen in that tangled dream of his, when he had lain fighting for consciousness upon the marshes.

Julian, absorbed for the first few minutes of dinner by the crystallisation of this new idea which had now

taken a definite place in his brain, found his conversational powers somewhat at a discount. Catherine very

"Please do your duty and tell me about things," she begged. "Remember that I am Cinderella from Bohemia,

"Well, there aren't many to find out about, are there?" he replied. "Of course you know Stenson?"

"I have been gazing at him with dilated eyes," she confided. "Is that not the proper thing to do? He seems to

"I knew him at once from his photographs. He must spend the whole of the time when he isn't in church

visiting the photographer. However, I like him. He is talking to my aunt quite amiably. Nothing does aunt so

"The Shervintons you know all about, don't you?" he went on. "The soldiers are just young men from the

Norwich barracks, Doctor Lennard was my father's tutor at Oxford, and Mr. Hannaway Wells is our latest

"He still has the novice's smirk," she remarked. "A moment ago I heard him tell his neighbour that he

preferred not to discuss the war. He probably thinks that there is a spy under the table."

"Well, there we are such as we are," Julian concluded. "There is no one left except me."

"Then tell me all about yourself," she suggested. "Really, when I come to think of it, considering the length

of our conversations, you have been remarkably reticent. You are the youngest of the family, are you not?

"There were four," he told her. "Henry was killed at Ypres last year. Guy is out there still. Richard is a

"I am ~ a barrister by profession, but I went out with the first Inns of Court lot for a little amateur soldiering

and lost part of my foot at Mons. Since then I have been indulging in the unremunerative and highly

"Monotonous indeed, I should imagine," she agreed. "You spend your time reading other people's letters, do

"Well, I've given up censoring for the present," he confided. "I am going back to my profession."

"How modest!" she murmured. "I suppose you write the leading articles for the Times!"

"For a very young lady," Julian observed impressively, "you have marvellous insight. How did you guess my

"I am better at guessing secrets than you are," she retorted a little insolently.

He was silent for some moments. The faint curve of her lips had again given him almost a shock.

"Because I met some one quite lately within the last few hours, as a matter of fact with a mouth exactly

"But what a horrible thing!" she exclaimed, drawing out a little mirror from the bag by her side and gazing

into it. "How unpleasant to have any one else going about with a mouth exactly like one's own! No, I never

had a brother, Mr. Orden, or a sister, and, as you may have heard, I am an enfant mechante. I live in London,

I model very well, and I talk very bad sociology. As I think I told you, I know your anarchist friend, Miles

"Well, he is a Socialist. I admit that we are rather lax in our definitions. You see, there is just one subject, of

late years, which has brought together the Socialists and the Labour men, the Syndicalists and the

Communists, the Nationalists and the Internationalists. All those who work for freedom are learning breadth.

If they ever find a leader, I think that this dear, smug country of yours may have to face the greatest surprise

"So unusual in a woman!" she mocked. "Do you notice how every one is trying to avoid the subject of the

war? I give them another halfcourse, don't you? I am sure they cannot keep it up."

"The question to be considered," Lord Shervinton pronounced, "is not so much when the war will be over as

what there is to stop it? That is a point which I think we can discuss without inviting official indiscretions."

"If other means fail," declared the Bishop, "Christianity will stop it. The conscience of the world is already

"Our enemies," the Earl pronounced confidently from his place at the head of the table, "are already a broken

race. They are on the point of exhaustion. Austria is, if possible, in a worse plight. That is what will end the

"The deciding factor," Mr. Hannaway Wells put in, with a very noncommittal air, "will probably be

America. She will bring her full strength into the struggle just at the crucial moment. She will probably do

what we farther north have as yet failed to do: she will pierce the line and place the German armies in

The Cabinet Minister's views were popular. There was a little murmur of approval, something which sounded

almost like a purr of content. It was just one more expression of that strangely discreditable yet almost

universal failing, the overreliance upon others. The quiet remark of the man who suddenly saw fit to join

"There is one thing which could end the war at any moment," Mr. Stenson said, leaning a little forward, "and

"The people?" Lord Shervinton repeated. "But surely the people speak through the mouths of their rulers?"

"They have been content to, up to the present," the Prime Minister agreed, "but Europe may still see strange

"Even as a private individual I have said more than I intended," he replied. "I have only one thing to say

about the war in public, and that is that we are winning, that we must win, that our national existence depends

upon winning, and that we shall go on until we do win. The obstacles between us and victory, which may

There was a brief and somewhat uncomfortable pause. It was understood that the subject was to be

abandoned. Julian addressed a question to the Bishop across the table. Lord Maltenby consulted Doctor

Lennard as to the date of the first Punic War. Mr. Stenson admired the flowers. Catherine, who had been

"Tell me about your amateur journalism, Mr. Orden?" she begged. "I have an idea that it ought to be

"You write about politics? Or perhaps you are an art critic? I ought to be on my best behaviour, in case."

"I know little about art," he assured her. "My chief interest in life outside my profession, of course lies in

"You are in earnest, I believe!" she exclaimed. "Have I really found an Englishman who is in earnest?"

"What a pity," she sighed, "that you are so handicapped by birth! Sociology cannot mean anything very

"The vanity of us women!" she murmured. "I have grown to look upon myself as being an exception. I forget

that there might be others. You might even be one of our prophets a Paul Fiske in disguise."

His eyes narrowed a little as he looked at her closely. From across the table, the Bishop broke off an

interesting discussion on the subject of his addresses to the working classes, and the Earl set down his

"No one, sir," Mr. Hannaway Wells replied. "I thought it wise, a short time ago, to set on foot the most

"I must plead guilty," he confessed, "to having visited the offices of The Monthly Review with the same

object. I left a note for him there, in charge of the editor, inviting him to a conference at my house. I received

"Whoever he may be," the Earl declared, "he ought to be muzzled. He is a traitor to his country."

"I cannot agree with you, Lord Maltenby," the Bishop said firmly. "The very danger of the man's doctrines

lies in their clarity of thought, their extraordinary proximity to the fundamental truths of life."

"The man is, at any rate," Doctor Lennard interposed, "the most brilliant anonymous writer since the days of

Mr. Stenson for a moment hesitated. He seemed uncertain whether or no to join in the conversation. Finally,

"Let us all be thankful," he said, "that Paul Fiske is content with the written word. If the democracy of

England found themselves today with such a leader, it is he who would be ruling the country, and not I."

"So we all are," the Bishop declared warmly. "We are all pacifists in the sense that we are lovers of peace.

There is not one of us who does not deplore the horrors of today. There is not one of us who is not

"There is only one way out," the Earl insisted, "and that is to beat the enemy."

"It is the only obvious way," Julian intervened, joining in the conversation for the first time, "but meanwhile,

"It is a question," Mr. Hannaway Wells reflected, "whether the present generation is not inclined to be

mawkish with regard to human life. History has shown us the marvellous benefits which have accrued to the

"History has also shown us," Doctor Lennard observed, "that the last resource of force is force. No brain has

"Human nature, I am afraid, has changed extraordinarily little since the days of the Philistines," the Bishop

"Well, they've all settled it amongst themselves, haven't they?" he murmured. "Here you may sit and listen to

"Yet there is one thing wanting," she whispered. "What do you suppose, if he were here at this moment, Paul

Fiske would say? Do you think that he would be content to listen to these brazen voices and accept their

"With the same proviso," she retorted, "I might reply that Jesus Christ, from all we know of him, might reign

wonderfully in the Kingdom of Heaven, but be certainly wouldn't be able to keep together a Cabinet in

Downing Street! Still, I am beginning to believe in your sincerity. Do you think that Paul Fiske is sincere?"

"I believe," Julian replied, "that he sees the truth and struggles to express it."

"Please do not be long," she whispered. "You must admit that I have been an admirable dinner companion. I

have talked to you all the time on your own subject. You must come and talk to me presently about art."

Julian, with his hand on the back of his chair, watched the women pass out of the soft halo of the electric

lights into the gloomier shadows of the high, vaulted room, Catherine a little slimmer than most of the others,

and with a strange grace of slow movement which must have come to her from some Russian ancestor. Her

last words lingered in his mind. He was to talk to her about art! A fleeting vision of the youth in the yellow

oilskins mocked him. He remembered his morning's tramp and the brokendown motorcar under the trees.

The significance of these things was beginning to take shape in his mind. He resumed his seat, a little dazed.

Maltenby was one of those oldfashioned houses where the port is served as a lay sacrament and the call of

the drawingroom is responded to tardily. After the departure of the women, Doctor Lennard drew his chair

"An interesting face, your dinner companion's," he remarked. "They tell me that she is a very brilliant young

"I watched her whilst she was talking to you," the Oxford don continued. "She is one of those rare young

women whose undoubted beauty is put into the background by their general attractiveness. Lady Maltenby

was telling me fragments of her history. It appears that she is thinking of giving up her artistic career for

"It is curious," Julian reflected, "how the cause of the people has always appealed to gifted Russians.

England, for instance, produces no real democrats of genius. Russia seems to claim a monopoly of them."

"There is nothing so stimulating as a sense of injustice for bringing the best out of a man or woman," Doctor

Lennard pointed out. "Russia, of course, for many years has been shamefully misgoverned."

The conversation, owing to the intervention of other of the guests, became general and platitudinal. Soon

after, Mr. Stenson rose and excused himself. His secretary; who had been at the telephone, desired a short

"Why not?" Lord Shervinton pointed out. "He came into office full of the most wonderful enthusiasm. His

speeches rang through the world like a clarion note. He converted waverers. He lit fires which still burn. But

he is a man of movement. This present stagnation is terribly irksome to him. I heard him speak last week, and

I was disappointed. He seems to have lost his inspiration. What he needs is a stimulus of some sort, even of

"I consider his remark concerning them most illadvised," Lord Maltenby declared pompously.

"I know the people," the Bishop continued, "and I love them. I think, too, that they trust me. Yet I am not sure

that I cannot see a glimmering of what is at the back of Stenson's mind. There are a good many millions in

the country who honestly believe that war is primarily an affair of the politicians; who believe, too, that

victory means a great deal more to what they term `the upper classes' than it does to them. Yet, in every sense

of the word, they are bearing an equal portion of the fight, because, when it comes down to human life, the

life of the farm labourer's son is of the same intrinsic value as the life of the peer's."

Lord Maltenby moved a little in his chair. There was a slight frown upon his aristocratic forehead. He

disagreed entirely with the speaker, with whom he feared, however, to cross swords. Mr. Hannaway Wells,

who had been waiting for his opportunity, took charge of the conversation. He spoke in a reserved manner,

"I must confess," he said, "that I feel the deepest interest in what the Bishop has just said. I could not talk to

you about the military situation, even if I knew more than you do, which is not the case, but I think it is clear

that we have reached something like a temporary impasse. There certainly seems to be no cause for alarm

upon any front, yet, not only in London, but in Paris and even Rome, there is a curious uneasiness afoot, for

which no one can, account which no one can bring home to any definite cause. In the same connection, we

have confidential information that a new spirit of hopefulness is abroad in Germany. It has been reported to

us that sober, clearthinking men and there are a few of them, even in Germany have predicted peace

"The assumption is," Doctor Lennard interpolated, "that Germany has something up her sleeve."

"That is not only the assumption," the Cabinet Minister replied, "but it is also, I believe, the truth."

"One could apprehend and fear a great possible danger," Lord Shervinton observed, "if the Labour Party in

Germany were as strong as ours, or if our own Labour, Party were entirely united. The present conditions,

"That is where I think you are wrong," Hannaway Wells declared. "If the Labour Party in Germany were as

strong as ours, they would be strong enough to overthrow the Hohenzollern clique, to stamp out the

militarism against which we are at war, to lay the foundations of a great German republic with whom we

could make the sort of peace for which every Englishman hopes. The danger, the real danger which we have

to face, would lie in an amalgamation of the Labour Party, the Socialists and the Syndicalists in this country,

"I agree with the Bishop," Julian pronounced. "The unclassified democracy of our country may believe itself

hardly treated, but individually it is intensely patriotic. I do not believe that its leaders would force the hand

of the country towards peace, unless they received full assurance that their confreres in Germany were able to

assume a dominant place in the government of that country a place at least equal to the influence of the

Doctor Lennard glanced at the speaker a little curiously. He had known Julian since he was a boy but had

"You may not know it," he said, "but you are practically expounding the views of that extraordinary writer of

"I have been told," the Bishop remarked, cracking a walnut, "that Paul Fiske is the pseudonym of a Cabinet

"And I," Hannaway Wells retorted, "have been informed most credibly that he is a Church of England

"The last rumour I heard," Lord Shervinton put in, "was that he is a grocer in a small way of business at

"Dear, me!" Doctor Lennard remarked. "The gossips have covered enough ground! A man at a Bohemian

club of which I am a member the Savage Club, in fact assured me that he was an opium drugged

journalist, kept alive by the charity of a few friends; a human wreck, who was once the editor of an important

"You have some slight connection with journalism, have you not, Julian?" the Earl asked his son

"Many," Julian replied, "but none which I have been disposed to credit. I should imagine, myself, that Paul

Fiske is a man who believes, having created a public, that his written words find an added value from the fact

that he obviously desires neither reward nor recognition; just in the same way as the really earnest democrats

of twenty years ago scoffed at the idea of a seat in Parliament, or of breaking bread in anyway with the

"It was a fine spirit, that," the Bishop declared. "I am not sure that we are not all of us a little overinclined

They all turned around in their places. The colonel, a fine, militarylooking figure of a man, shook hands

"My most profound apologies, sir," he said, as he accepted a chair. "The Countess was kind enough to say

that if I were not able to get away in time for dinner, I might come up afterwards."

The Colonel helped himself from the decanter which was passed towards him and exchanged greetings with

"Nothing quite so serious as that, I am glad to say. We have had a little excitement of another sort, though.

Every one was interested. Even after three years of war, there was still something fascinating about the word.

"Dear me!" Lord Maltenby exclaimed. "I should scarcely have considered our outoftheway part of the

"It was a matter of communication," the Colonel confided. "There was an enemy submarine off here last

night, and we have reason to believe that a message was landed. We caught one fellow just at dawn."

"One other," the Colonel acknowledged, sipping his wine appreciatively. "My military police here, however,

are very intelligent, and I should think it very doubtful whether he can escape."

"Was the man who was shot a foreigner?" the Earl asked. "I trust that he was not one of my tenants?"

"His companion is believed to have been quite a youth. There is a suggestion that he escaped in a motorcar,

Lord Maltenby frowned. There seemed to him something incongruous in the fact that a deed of this sort

should have been committed in his domain without his knowledge. He rose to his feet.

"The Countess is probably relying upon some of us for bridge," he said. "I hope, Colonel, that you will take a

The men rose and filed slowly out of the room. The Colonel, however, detained his host, and Julian also

"I hope, Lord Maltenby," the former said, "that you will excuse my men, but they tell me that they find it

necessary to search your garage for a car which has been seen in the neighbourhood."

"There is no doubt," the Colonel explained, "that a car was made use of last night by the man who is still at

large, and it is very possible that it was stolen. You will understand, I am sure, that any enquiries which my

men may feel it their duty to make are actuated entirely by military necessity."

"Quite so," the Earl acceded, still a little puzzled. "You will find my head chauffeur a most responsible man.

He will, I am sure, give them every possible information. So far as I am aware, however, there is no strange

"Only Miss Abbeway's," his son replied. "Her little Panhard was out in the avenue all night, waiting for her to

The Colonel raised his eyebrows very slightly and moved slowly towards the door.

"The matter is in the hands of my police," he said, "but if you could excuse me for half a moment, Lord

Julian entered the drawingroom hurriedly a few minutes later. He glanced around quickly, conscious of a

distinct feeling of disappointment. His mother, who was arranging a bridge table, called him over to her side.

"You have the air, my dear boy, of missing some one," she remarked with a smile.

"After nearly two hours of conversation at dinner! Well, I won't keep you in suspense. She wanted a quiet

Julian hastened off, with a word of thanks. The boudoir was a small room opening from the suite which had

been given to the Princess and her niece a quaint, almost circular apartment, hung with faded blue Chinese

silk and furnished with fragments of the Louis Seize period, a rosewood cabinet, in particular, which had

come from Versailles, and which was always associated in Julian's mind with the faint fragrance of two

Catherine, who was seated before a small, ebony writing table, turned her head at his entrance.

Julian listened for a moment and then closed the door. She sat watching him, with the pen still in her fingers.

The pen with which she had been tapping the table was suddenly motionless. She turned a little farther

"A man was caught upon the marshes this morning and shot an hour ago. They say that. he was a spy.

"The military police are still hunting for his companion. They are now searching the garage here to see if they

This time she remained speechless, but all those illdefined fears which had gathered in his heart seemed

suddenly to come to a head. Her appearance had changed curiously during the last hour. There was a hunted,

almost a desperate gleam in her eyes, a drawn look about her mouth as she sat looking at him.

"The Colonel of the regiment stationed here has just arrived. He is down in the garage now with my father."

"I remembered your mouth," he told her. "I saw your car last night, and I traced it up the avenue this

She rose to her feet and stood for a moment as though listening. Then she thrust her hand down into the

bosom of her gown and produced a small roll of paper wrapped in a sheet of oilskin. He took it from her at

She crossed the room towards the hearthrug and stood there for a moment, leaning against the mantelpiece.

"No one saw me," she said. "I do not think that there is any one but you who could positively identify the car.

Neither my aunt nor the maid who is with us has any idea that I left my room last night."

"Absolutely destroyed," she assured him with a smile. "Some day I hope I'll find courage to ask you whether

"Some day," he retorted, a little grimly, "I am going to have a very serious talk with you, Miss Abbeway."

He made no response to her lighter mood. The appeal in her eyes left him colder than ever.

"I wish to save your life," he declared, "and I mean to do it. At the same time, I cannot forget your crime or

"If you feel like that, then," she said a little defiantly, "tell the truth. I knew the risk I was running. I am not

afraid, even now. You can give me back those papers, if you like. I can assure you that the person on whom

"I happen to be only selfish," Julian replied. "I even despise myself for what I am doing. I am turning traitor

myself, simply because I could not bear the thought of what might happen to you if you were discovered."

"Twentyfour hours ago," he sighed, "I had hoped to answer that question before it was asked."

"This is very tantalising," she murmured. "You are going to save my life, then, and afterwards treat me as

She held out her hand and stopped him. Once more, for a moment, her eyes were distended, her form was

"There is some one coming," she whispered "two or three men, I think. What fools we have been ! We

Her teeth came together for a moment. It was her supreme effort at selfcontrol. Then she laughed almost

"Yo are interfering shockingly with my correspondence," she declared, "and I am sure that they want you for

bridge. Here comes Lord Maltenby to tell you so," she added, glancing towards the door.

Lord Maltenby was very pompous, very stiff, and yet apologetic. He considered the whole affair in which he

"Miss Abbeway," he said, "I beg to present to you Colonel Henderson. An unfortunate occurrence took place

here last night, which it has become the duty of er Colonel Henderson to clear up. He wishes to ask you a

Colonel Henderson frowned. He stepped a little forward with the air of wishing to exclude the Earl from

"May I ask, Miss Abbeway," he began, "whether the small coupe car, standing about a hundred yards down

"I thought you might know something about cars," she explained. "They tell me that two of the sparking

plugs are cracked. I am thinking of replacing them tomorrow morning, if I can get Mr. Orden to help me."

"How long has the car been there in its present condition, then?" the Colonel enquired.

"You don't think it possible that it could have been out on the road anywhere last night, then?"

"Out on the road!" she laughed. "Why, I couldn't get it up to the garage! You go and look at it, Colonel, if

you understand cars. Fellowes, the chauffeur here, had a look at the plugs when I brought it in, and you'll find

"I trust," the Earl intervened, "that my chauffeur offered to do what was necessary?"

"Certainly he did, Lord Maltenby," she assured him. "I am trying hard to be my own mechanic, though, and I

"They are Russian," she told him. "I bought them for that reason. As a matter of fact, they are very good

"Miss Abbeway," the Colonel said, "I don't know whether you are aware that my police are in search of a spy

who is reported to have escaped from the marshes last night in a small motorcar which was left at a certain

spot in the Salthouse road. I do not believe that there are two tyres such as yours in Norfolk. How do you

account for their imprint being clearly visible along the road to a certain spot near Salthouse? My police have

Catherine remained perfectly speechless. A slow smile of triumph dawned upon her accuser's lips. Lord

"Perhaps," Julian interposed, "I can explain the tyre marks upon the road. Miss Abbeway drove me down to

Furley's cottage, where I spent the night, late in the afternoon. The marks were still there when I returned this

"Without a doubt the same marks," Julian replied. "In one place, where we skidded a little, I recognized

"I begin to have hopes," he acknowledged frankly, "that I have been drawn into another mare's nest.

Nevertheless, I am bound to ask you this question, Miss Abbeway. Did you leave your room at all during last

"Not unless I walked in my sleep," she answered, "but you had better make enquiries of my aunt, and

"You would not object," the Colonel continued, more cheerfully still, "if my people thought well to have your

"Not in the least," Catherine replied coolly, "only if you unpack my trunks, I beg that you will allow my maid

"I do not think," Colonel Henderson said to Lord Maltenby, "that I have any more questions to ask Miss

"In which case we will return to the drawingroom," the Earl suggested a little stiffly. "Miss Abbeway, you

will, I trust, accept my apologies for our intrusion upon you. I regret that any guest of mine should have been

"Not outrageous really, dear Lord Maltenby," she said. "I do not quite know of what I have been suspected,

but I am sure Colonel Henderson would not have asked me these questions if it had not been his duty."

"If you had not been a guest in this house, Miss Abbeway," the Colonel assured her, with some dignity, "I

"You come of a race of men, Colonel Henderson, who win wars," she declared graciously. "You know your

"You will be joining us presently, I hope?" Lord Maltenby enquired from the door.

The door closed behind them. Catherine waited for a moment, then she sank a little hysterically into a chair.

"I cannot avoid a touch of melodrama, you see," she confessed. "It goes with my character and nationality.

But seriously, now that that is over, I do not consider myself in the slightest danger. The poor fellow who was

shot this morning belongs to a different order of people. He has been a spy over here since the beginning of

"A quite attractive young woman," she declared, "at least I feel sure you will think so when you know me

It was about halfpast ten on the following morning when Julian, obeying a stentorian invitation to enter,

walked into Miles Furley's sitting room. Furley was stretched upon the couch, smoking a pipe and reading the

Julian dragged up the other dilapidatedlooking easychair to the log fire and commenced to fill his pipe

"Pretty nearly all right again," Furley answered cheerfully. "Seems to me I was frightened before I was hurt.

"No inconvenience at all," Julian declared, stretching himself out. "I suppose I must have a pretty tough

"News enough, of a sort, if you haven't heard it. They caught the man who sandbagged me, and who I

"The devil they did!" Furley exclaimed, taking his pipe from his mouth. "Shot him?. Who the mischief was

"It appears," Julian replied, "that he was a German hairdresser, who escaped from an internment camp two

years ago and has been at large ever since, keeping in touch, somehow or other, with his friends on the other

side. He must have known the game was up as soon as he was caught. He didn't even attempt any defence."

"Shot, eh?" Furley repeated, relighting his pipe. "Serves him damned well right!"

"Who wouldn't? I hate espionage. So does every Englishman. That's why we are such duffers at the game, I

"How in thunder did you get mixed up with this affair, Furley?" he asked quietly.

Furley's bewilderment was too natural to be assumed. He removed his pipe from his teeth and stared at his

"What the devil are you driving at, Julian?" he demanded. "I can assure you that I went out, the night before

last, simply to make one of the rounds which falls to my lot when I am in this part of the world and

nominated for duty. There are eleven of us between here and Sheringham, special constables of a humble

branch of the secret service, if you like to put it so. We are a wellknown institution amongst the initiated.

I've plodded these marshes sometimes from midnight till daybreak, and although one's always hearing

rumours, until last night I have never seen or heard of a single unusual incident."

"You had no idea, then," Julian persisted, "what it was that you were on the lookout for the night before

last? You had no idea, say, from any source whatever, that there was going to be an attempt on the part of the

Furley drew himself stiffly up in his chair. His mass of brown hair seemed more unkempt than usual, his hard

"I mean," Julian replied, "that I have reason to suspect you, Furley, of holding or attempting to hold secret

The pipestem which he was holding snapped in Furley's fingers. His eyes were filled with fury.

"Damn you, Julian!" he exclaimed. "If I could stand on two legs, I'd break your head. How dare you come

Julian was silent for a moment. Furley was sitting upright upon the sofa, his keen eyes aglint with anger.

"You shall have it," was the prompt reply. "The companion of the man who was shot, for whom the police

are searching at this moment, is a guest in my father's house. I have had to go to the extent of lying to save

"Yes! The youth in fisherman's oilskins, into whose hands that message passed last night, is Miss Catherine

Abbeway. The young lady has referred me to you for some explanation as to its being in her possession."

Furley remained absolutely speechless for several moments. His first expression was one of dazed

bewilderment. Then the light broke in upon him. He began to understand. When he spoke, all the vigour had

Furley recovered himself slowly. He stretched out his hand towards the pipe rack, filled another pipe and lit

"Julian," he said, "every word that I have spoken to you about the night before last is the truth. There is a

further confession, however, which under the circumstances I have to make. I belong to a body of men who

are in touch with a similar association in Germany, but I have no share in any of the practical doings the

machinery, I might call it of our organisation. I have known that communications have passed back and

forth, but I imagined that this was done through neutral countries. I went out the night before last as an

ordinary British citizen, to do my duty. I had not the faintest idea that there was to be any attempt to land a

communication here, referring to the matters in which I am interested. I should imagine that the proof, of my

words lies in the fact that efforts were made to prevent my reaching my beat, and that you, my substitute,

"I am an Englishman and a patriot," Furley continued, "just as much as you are, although you are a son of the

Earl of Maltenby, and you fought in the war. You must listen to me without prejudice. There are thoughtful

men in England, patriots to the backbone, trying to grope their way to the truth about this bloody sacrifice.

There are thoughtful men in Germany on the same tack. If, for the betterment of the world, we should seek to

come into touch with one another, I do not consider that treason, or communicating with an enemy country in

"I see," Julian muttered. "What you are prepared to plead guilty to is holding communication with members

"I plead guilty to nothing," Furley answered, with a touch of his old fierceness. "Don't talk like your father

and his class, Julian. Get away from it. Be yourself. Your Ministers can't end the war. Your Government

can't. They opened their mouth too wide at first. They made too many commitments. Ask Stenson. He'll tell

you that I'm speaking the truth. So it goes on, and day by day it costs the world a few hundred or a few

thousand human lives, and God knows how much of man's labour and brains, annihilated, wasted, blown into

the air! Somehow or other the war has got to stop, Julian. If the politicians won't do it, the people must."

"The people," Julian repeated a little sadly. "Rienzi once trusted in the people."

"There's a difference," Furley protested. "Today the people are all right, but the Rienzi isn't here My God!"

"Look here," he said, "we'll talk about the fate of that communication later. What about Miss Abbeway?"

"Miss Abbeway," Julian told him, "was in imminent danger last night of arrest as a spy. Against my

principles and all my convictions, I have done my best to protect her against the consequences of her

ridiculous and inexcusable conduct. I don't know anything about your association, Furley, but I consider you

"It was a cowardly action, Julian," he agreed. "I'm hot with shame when I think of it. But don't, for heaven's

sake, think I had anything to do with the affair! We have a secret service branch which arranges for those

"Nicholas Fenn, the pacifist!" Julian exclaimed. "So you take vermin like that into your councils!"

"Nicholas Fenn," Julian repeated, with a new light in his eyes. "Why, the cable I censored was to him! So he's

"Nicholas Fenn is in it;" Furley admitted, "although I deny that there's any treason whatever in the affair."

"Don't talk nonsense!" Julian replied. "What about your German hairdresser who was shot this morning?"

"It was a mistake to make use of him," Furley confessed. "Fenn has deceived us all as to the method of our

communications. But listen, Julian. You'll be able to get Miss Abbeway out of this?"

"If I don't," Julian replied, "I shall be in it myself, for I've lied myself black in the face already."

"You're a man, for all the starch in you, Julian," Furley declared. "If anything were to happen to that girl, I'd

"I think she's safe for the present," Julian pronounced. "You see, she isn't in possession of the incriminating

"You can't have much doubt about that," was the composed reply. "I shall go to town tomorrow and hand it

"How in heaven's name, man," he groaned, "shall I be able to make you see the truth!"

A touch of the winter sunlight was upon Julian's face which, curiously enough, at that moment resembled his

father's in its cold, patrician lines. The mention of Nicholas Fenn's name seemed to have transformed him.

"If I were you, Furley," he advised, "for the sake of our friendship, I wouldn't try. There is no consideration in

There was the sound of the lifting of the outer latch, a knock at the door. The incoming visitors stood upon no

Mr. Stenson waved aside all ceremony and at once checked Furley's attempt to rise to his feet.

"Pray don't get up, Furley," he begged, shaking hands with him. "I hope you'll forgive such an informal visit.

I met Miss Abbeway on my way down to the sea, and when she told me that she was coming to call on you, I

"You're very welcome, sir," was the cordial response. "It's an honour which I scarcely expected."

Julian found chairs for every one, and Mr. Stenson, recognising intuitively a certain state of tension,

"Miss Abbeway and I," he said, "have been having a most interesting conversation, or rather argument. I find

that she is entirely of your way of thinking, Furley. You both belong to the order of what I call puffball

"Mr. Stenson is a glaring example," she pointed out, "of those who do not know their own friends. Mr. Furley

and I both believe that some time or other our views will appeal to the whole of the intellectual and unselfish

"It's a terrible job to get people to think," Furley observed. "They are nearly always busy doing something

"And these aristocrats!"' Catherine continued, smiling at Julian. "You spoil them so in England, you know.

Eton and Oxford are simply terrible in their narrowing effect upon your young men. It's like putting your raw

"Miss Abbeway is very severe this morning," Stenson declared, with unabated good humour. "She has been

attacking my policy and my principles during the whole of our walk. Bad luck about your accident, Furley. I

suppose we should have met whilst I am down here, if you hadn't developed too adventurous a spirit."

"I am not so sure about that, sir," he said. "Your host doesn't approve of me very much."

"You are all oldfashionedand stiff with prejudice," Furley declared. "Even Orden," he went on, turning to

Catherine, "only tolerates me because we ate dinners off the same board when we were' both making up our

"Our friend Furley," Julian confided, as he leaned across the table and took a cigarette, "has no tact and many

prejudices. He does write such rubbish about the aristocracy. I remember an article of his not very long ago,

entitled `Out with our Peers!' It's all very well for a younger son like me to take it lying down, but you could

scarcely expect my father to approve. Besides, I believe the fellow's a renegade. I have an idea that he was

"That's where you're wrong, then," Furley grunted with satisfaction. "My father was a boot manufacturer in a

country village of Leicestershire. I went in for the Bar because he left me pots of money, most of which, by

"Chiefly in Utopian schemes for the betterment of his betters," Julian observed drily.

"I certainly had an idea," Furley confessed, "of an asylum for incapable younger sons."

"I call a truce," Julian proposed. "It isn't polite to spar before Miss Abbeway."

"To me," Mr. Stenson declared, "this is a veritable temple of peace. I arrived here literally on all fours. Miss

Abbeway has proved to me quite conclusively that as a democratic leader I have missed my vocation."

She looked at him reproachfully. Nevertheless, his words seemed to have brought back to her mind the thrill

of their brief but stimulating conversation. A flash of genuine earnestness transformed her face, just as a

gleam of wintry sunshine, which had found its way in through the open window, seemed to discover threads

of gold in her tightly braided and luxuriant brown hair. Her eyes filled with an almost inspired light:

"Mr. Stenson is scarcely fair to me," she complained. "I did not presume to criticise his statesmanship, only

there are some things here which seem pitiful. England should be the ideal democracy of the world. Your

laws admit of it, your Government admits of it. Neither birth nor money are indispensable to success. The

way is open for the working man to pass even to the Cabinet. And you are nothing of the sort. The cause of

the people is not in any country so shamefully and badly represented. You have a bourgeoisie which

maintains itself in almost feudal luxury by means of the labour which it employs, and that labour is content to

squeak and open its mouth for worms, when it should have the finest fruits of the world. And all this is for

want of leadership. Up you come you David Sands, you Phineas Crosses, you Nicholas Fenns, you Thomas

Evanses. You each think that you represent Labour, but you don't. You represent trade the workers at one

trade. How they laugh at you, the men who like to keep the government of this country in their own

possession! They stretch down a hand to the one who has climbed the highest, they pull him up into the

Government, and after that Labour is well quit of him. He has found his place with the gods. Perhaps they

will make him a `Sir' and his wife a `Lady,' but for him it is all over with the Cause. And so another ten years

"She's right enough," Furley confessed gloomily. "There is something about the atmosphere of the inner life

of politics which has proved fatal to every Labour man who has ever climbed. Paul Fiske wrote the same

thing only a few weeks ago. He thought that it was the social atmosphere which we still preserve around our

politics. We no sooner catch a clever man, born of the people, than we dress him up like a mummy and put

him down at dinner parties and garden parties, to do things he's not accustomed to, and expect him to hold his

own amongst people who are not his people. There is something poisonous about it."

"Aren't you all rather assuming," Stenson suggested drily, "that the Labour Party is the only party in politics

"If they knew their own strength," Catherine declared, "they would be the predominant party. Should you like

"Heaven forbid!" Mr. Stenson exclaimed. "But then we've made up our mind to one thing no general

election during the war. Afterwards, I shouldn't be at all surprised if Unionists and Liberals and even Radicals

"To keep England great," Mr. Stenson replied. "You must remember that so far as any scheme or program

which the Labour Party has yet disclosed, in this country or any other, they are preeminently selfish. England

has mighty interests across the seas. A parishcouncil form of government would very soon bring disaster."

"I don't want to hurry any one," he said, "but my father is rather a martinet about luncheon."

"Will you go on with Miss Abbeway?" he begged. "I will catch up with you on the marshes. I want to have

Julian and his companion crossed the country road and passed through the gate opposite on to the rude track

"You are very interested in English labour questions, Miss Abbeway," he remarked, "considering that you are

"It isn't only the English labouring classes in whom I am interested," she replied impatiently. "It is the cause

of the people throughout the whole of the world which in my small way I preach."

"Your own country," he continued, a little diffidently, "is scarcely a good advertisement for the cause of

"My own country," she said, "has suffered for so many centuries from such terrible oppression that the

reaction was bound, in its first stages, to produce nothing but chaos. Automatically, all that seems to you

unreasonable, wicked even, in a way, horrible will in the course of time disappear. Russia will find herself.

In twenty years' time her democracy will have solved the great problem, and Russia be the foremost republic

"But you are selfish, you English!" she exclaimed. "You see one of the greatest nations in the world going

through its hour of agony, and you think nothing but how you yourselves will be affected! Every thinking

person in Russia regrets that this thing should have come to pass at such a time. Yet it is best for you English

to look the truth in the face. It wasn't the Russian people who were pledged to you, with whom you were

bound in alliance. It was that accursed trick all European politicians have of making secret treaties and secret

understandings, building up buffer States, trying to whittle away a piece of the map for yourselves, trying all

the time to be dishonest under the shadow of what is called diplomacy. That is what brought the war about. It

was never the will of the people. It was the Hohenzollerns and the Romanoffs, the firebrands of the French

Cabinet, and your own clumsy, thickheaded efforts to get the best of everybody and yet keep your

Nonconformist conscience. The people did not make this war, but it is the people who are going to end it."

They walked in silence for some minutes, he apparently pondering over her last words, she with the cloud

passing from her face as, with her head a little thrown back and her eyes halfclosed, she sniffed the strong,

salty air with an almost voluptuous expression of content. She was perfectly dressed for the country, from her

squaretoed shoes, which still seemed to maintain some distinction of shape, the perfectly tailored coat and

skirt, to the smart little felt hat with its single quill. She walked with the free grace of an athlete,

unembarrassed with the difficulties of the way or the gusts which swept across the marshy places, yet not

even the strengthening breeze, which as they reached the sea line became almost a gale, seemed to have

power to bring even the faintest flush of colour to her cheeks. They reached the long headland and stood

"I suppose there is something in that," she admitted. "I really believe that that exceedingly unpleasant person

with whom I was brought into temporary association would have killed you if I had allowed it."

"I am inclined to agree with you," he assented. "I saw him very hazily, but a more criminal type of

"A very short time ago;" he said deliberately, "even friendship would not have satisfied me."

"Poor me!" she sighed. "However, you can rid yourself of the shadow of one as soon as you like after

luncheon. It would be quite safe now, I think, for me to take back that packet."

She looked up into his face. Something that she saw there brought her own delicate eyebrows together in a

"You were only entrusted with it for a time," she reminded him, with ominous calm. "It belongs to me."

"A document received in this surreptitious fashion," he pronounced, "is presumably a treasonable document. I

She walked by his side for a few moments in silence. Glancing down into her face, Julian was almost startled.

There were none of the ordinary signs of anger there, but an intense white passion, the control of which was

obviously costing her a prodigious effort. She touched his fingers with her ungloved hand as she stepped over

a stile, and he found them icy cold. All the joy of that unexpectedly sunny morning seemed to have passed.

"I am sorry, Miss Abbeway," he said almost humbly, "that you take my decision so hardly. I ask you to

remember that I am just an ordinary, typical Englishman, and that I have already lied for your sake. Will you

They had climbed the little ridge of grassgrown sand and stood looking out seaward. Suddenly all the anger

seemed to pass from her face. She lifted her head, her soft brown eyes flashed into his, the little curl of her

lips seemed to transform her whole expression. She was no longer the gravely minded prophetess of a great

cause, the scheming woman, furious at the prospect of failure. She was suddenly wholly feminine, seductive,

"If you were just an ordinary, stupid, stolid Englishman," she whispered, "why did you risk your honour and

Julian leaned even closer over her. She was smiling now frankly into his face, refusing the warning of his

burning eyes. Then suddenly, silently, he held her to him and kissed her, unresisting, upon the lips. She made

no protest. He even fancied afterwards, when he tried to rebuild in his mind that queer, passionate interlude,

that her lips had returned what his had given. It was he who released her not she who struggled. Yet he

"Come and show me the way across this wretched bit of marsh, Orden. I don't like these deceptive green

"`Pitfalls for the Politician' or `Look before you leap'." Julian muttered aimlessly. "Quite right to avoid that

"This may be a short cut back to the Hall," he exclaimed, "but except for the view of the sea and this

gorgeous air, I think I should have preferred the main road! Help me up, Orden. Isn't it somewhere near here

"This very spot," Julian assented. "Miss Abbeway and I were just speaking of it."

They both glanced towards her. She was standing with her back to them, looking out seawards. She did not

"A dreary spot at night, I dare say," the Prime Minister remarked, without overmuch interest. "How do we get

home from here, Orden? I haven't forgotten your warning about luncheon, and this air is giving me a most

"Straight along the top of this ridge for about three quarters of a mile, sir, to the entrance of the harbour

"I have a petrol launch," Julian explained, "and I shall land you practically in the dining room in another ten

"Let us proceed," Mr. Stenson suggested briskly. "What a queer fellow Miles Furley is! Quite a friend of

"I have seen a good deal of him lately," she answered, walking on and making room for Stenson to fall into

step by her side, but still keeping her face a little averted. "A man of many but confused ideas; a man, I

"He had just sense enough to refuse that, I suppose," she observed, moving slowly to the right and thereby

preventing Julian from taking a place by her side. "Yet," she went on, "I find in him the fault of so many

Englishmen, the fault that prevents their becoming great statesmen, great soldiers, or even," she added coolly,

She remained silent. It was as though she had heard nothing. She caught Mr. Stenson's arm and pointed to a

"To think," she said, "with that model, we intellectuals have waited nearly two thousand years for the

According to plans made earlier in the day, a small shooting party left the Hall immediately after luncheon

and did not return until late in the afternoon. Julian, therefore, saw nothing more of Catherine until she came

into the drawingroom, a few minutes before the announcement of dinner, wearing a wonderful toilette of

pale blue silk, with magnificent pearls around her neck and threaded in her Russian headdress. As is the way

with all women of genius, Catherine's complete change of toilette indicated a parallel change in her

demeanour. Her interesting but somewhat subdued manner of the previous evening seemed to have vanished.

At the dinner table she dominated the conversation. She displayed an intimate acquaintance with every

capital of Europe and with countless personages of importance. She exchanged personal reminiscences with

Lord Shervinton, who had once been attached to the Embassy at Rome, and with Mr. Hannaway Wells, who

had been first secretary at Vienna. She spoke amusingly of Munich, at which place, it appeared, she had first

studied art, but dilated, with all the artist's fervour, on her travellings in Spain, on the soft yet wonderfully

vivid colouring of the southern cities. She seemed to have escaped altogether from the gravity of which she

had displayed traces on the previous evening. She was no longer the serious young woman with a purpose.

From the chrysalis she had changed into the butterfly, the brilliant and cosmopolitan young queen of fashion,

ruling easily, not with the arrogance of rank, but with the actual gifts of charm and wit. Julian himself derived

little benefit from being her neighbour, for the conversation that evening, from first to last, was general. Even

after she had left the room, the atmosphere which she had created seemed to linger behind her.

"I have never rightly understood Miss Abbeway," the Bishop declared. "She is a most extraordinarily brilliant

"Tonight you have Catherine Abbeway," he expounded, "as she might have been but for these queer,

alternating crazes of hers art and socialism. Her brain was developed a little too early, and she was

unfortunately, almost in her girlhood, thrown in with a little clique of brilliant young Russians who attained a

great influence over her. Most of them are in Siberia or have disappeared by now. One Anna Katinski was

brought back from Tobolsk like a royal princess on the first day of the revolution."

"It is strange," the Earl pronounced didactically, "that a young lady of Miss Abbeway's birth and gifts should

espouse the cause of this Labour rabble, a party already cursed with too many leaders."

"A woman, when she takes up a cause," Mr. Hannaway Wells observed, "always seeks either for the

picturesque or for something which appeals to the emotions. So long as she doesn't mix with them, the cause

of the people has a great deal to recommend it. One can use beautiful phrases, can idealise with a certain

"I think we are all a little blind," he remarked, "to the danger in which we stand through the great prosperity

"Did I quote?" Julian asked carelessly. "I have a wretched memory. I should never dare to become a

"Fiske is quite right in his main contention," Mr. Stenson interposed. "The war is rapidly creating a new class

of bourgeoisie. The very differences in the earning of skilled labourers will bring trouble before long the

miner with his fifty or sixty shillings, and the munition worker with his seven or eight pounds men drawn

"England," declared the Earl, indulging in his favourite speech, "was never so contented as when wages were

"Those days will never come again," Mr. Hannaway Wells foretold grimly. "The working man has tasted

blood. He has begun to understand his power. Our Ministers have been asleep for a generation. The first of

these modern trades unions should have been treated like a secret society in Italy. Look at them now, and

what they represent! Fancy what it will mean when they have all learnt to combine! when Labour produces

"The ubiquitous Fiske was trying to last week in one of the Reviews," Mr. Stenson replied. "His argument

was that Germany alone, of all the nations in the world, possessed an extra quality or an extra sense I forget

which he called it the sense of discipline. It's born in their blood. Generations of military service are

responsible for it. Discipline and combination that might be their motto. Individual thought has been drilled

into grooves, just as all individual effort is specialised. The Germans obey because it is their nature to obey.

The only question is whether they will stand this, the roughest test they have ever had whether they'll see

"Personally, I think they will," Hannaway Wells pronounced, "but if I should be wrong if they shouldn't

the French Revolution would be a picnic compared with the German one. It takes a great deal to drive a

national idea out of the German mind, but if ever they should understand precisely and exactly how they have

been duped for the glorification of their masters well, I should pity the junkers."

"Do your essays in journalism," the Bishop asked politely, "ever lead you to touch upon Labour subjects,

"I had an interesting talk with Furley this morning," the Prime Minister observed. "He tells me that they are

thinking of making an appeal to this man Paul Fiske to declare himself. They want a leader they want one

"But surely," Julian protested, "they don't expect necessarily to find a leader of men in an anonymous

contributor to the Reviews? Fiske, when they have found him, may be a septuagenarian, or a man of

academic turn of mind, who never leaves his study. 'Paul Fiske' may even be the pseudonym of a woman."

"This afternoon," he announced, "I read the latest article of this Paul Fiske. In my opinion he is an

exceedingly mischievous person, without the slightest comprehension of the forces which really count in

The Bishop's eyes twinkled as he left the room with his hand on his godson's arm.

"It would be interesting," he whispered, "to hear this man Fiske's opinion of your father's last speech in the

It was not until the close of a particularly unsatisfactory evening of uninspiring bridge that Julian saw

anything more of Catherine. She came in from the picture gallery, breathless, followed by four or five of the

young soldiers, to whom she had been showing the steps of a new dance, and, turning to Julian with an

"Take me somewhere, please, where we can sit down and talk," she begged, "and give me something to

"Have I?" she answered. "I don't think so. I used to dance all through the night in Paris and Rome, a few

years ago. These young men are so clumsy, though and I think that I am nervous."

She lay back in her chair and half closed her eyes. A servant brought in the Evian water for which she had

asked and a whisky and soda for Julian. She drank thirstily and seemed in a few moments to have overcome

"I cannot help it. You forget that with me it is a matter of life or death. You must realise that you were only

"I shall take it to London with me tomorrow," he replied, "and hand it over to a friend of mine at the Foreign

"Would nothing that I could do or say," she asked passionately, "influence your decision?"

"Everything that you do or say interests and affects me," he answered simply, "but so far as regards this

matter, my duty is clear. You have nothing to fear from my account of how it came into my possession. It

would be impossible for me to denounce you for what I fear you are. On the other hand, I cannot allow you

"You consider me, I suppose," she observed after a moment's pause, "an enemy spy?"

"Of Overman my confederate," she admitted, "that was true. Of me it is not. I am an honest intermediary

"There can be no communication between the two countries during wartime, except through official

Her eyes flashed. She seemed in the throes of one of those little bursts of tempestuous passion which

"You talk well, as you might be supposed to talk!" she exclaimed, breaking off with an effort. "What have

official channels done to end this war? I am not here to help either side. I represent simply humanity. If you

destroy or hand over to the Government that packet, you will do your country an evil turn."

"I am relieved to hear all that you say," he told her, "and I am heartily glad to think that you do not look upon

yourself as Overman's associate. On the other hand, you must know that any movement towards peace,

"If only you were not the Honourable Julian Orden, the son of an English peer!" she groaned.' "If only you

had not been to Eton and to Oxford! If only you were a man, a man of the people, who could understand!"

"Neither my birth nor my education," he assured her, "have affected my present outlook upon life."

"Pooh!" she scoffed. "You talk like a stiffened sheet of foolscap! I am to leave here tomorrow, then, without

"You must certainly leave when you do leave without that," he assented. "There is one thing, however,

"Because you kissed me?" she observed, without flinching. "I have nothing to forgive. In fact," she went on,

He was puzzled and yet encouraged. She was always bewildering him by her sudden changes from the

woman of sober thoughtfulness to the woman of feeling, the woman eager to give, eager to receive. At that

moment it seemed as though her sex possessed her to the exclusion of everything outside. Her eyes were soft

and filled with the desire of love, her lips sweet and tremulous. She had suddenly created a new atmosphere

"Isn't it clear?" she answered, very softly but with a suspicion of scorn in her low tones. "You kissed me

because I deliberately invited it. I know that quite well. My anger and I have been angry about it is with

He was a little taken aback. Her perfect naturalness was disarming, a little confusing.

"You certainly did seem provocative," he confessed, "but I ought to have remembered."

"You are very stupid," she sighed. "I deliberately invited your embrace. Your withholding it would simply

have added to my humiliation. I am furious with myself, simply because, although I have lived a great part of

my life with men, on equal terms with them, working with them, playing with them, seeing more of them at

For a moment her face shone. There was a look of gratitude in her eyes. Her impulsive grasp of his hand left

"I am glad that you understood," she murmured. "Perhaps that will help me just a little. For the rest, if you

"If I cannot do that," he promised, "I will at least turn the key upon my memories."

"Do more than that," she begged. "Throw the key into the sea, or whatever oblivion you choose to conjure up.

Moments such as those have no place in my life. There is one purpose there more intense than anything else,

that very purpose which by some grim irony of fate it seems to be within your power to destroy."

He remained silent. Ordinary expressions of regret seemed too inadequate. Besides, the charm of the moment

"I suppose," she went on, a little drearily, "that even if I told you upon my honour, of my certain knowledge,

that the due delivery of that packet might save the lives of thousands of your countrymen, might save hearts

from breaking, homes from becoming destitute even if I told you all this, would it help me in my prayer?"

"Nothing could help you," he assured her, "but your whole confidence, and even then I fear that the result

"Oh,, but you are very hard!" she murmured. "My confidence belongs to others. It is not mine alone to give

"You see," he explained, "I know beforehand that you are speaking the truth as you see it. I know beforehand

that any scheme in which you are engaged is for the benefit of our fellow creatures and not for their harm.

But alas! you make yourself the judge of these things, and there are times when individual effort is the most

"Why be prejudiced about me?" he protested. "Believe me, I am not a frivolous person. I, too, think of life

and its problems. You yourself are an aristocrat. Why should not I as well as you have sympathy and feeling

"I am a Russian," she reminded him, "and in Russia it is different. Besides, I am no longer an aristocrat. I am

a citizeness of the world. I have eschewed everything in life except one thing, and for that I have worked with

all my heart and strength. As for you, what have you done? What is your record?"

"Insignificant, I fear," he admitted. "You see, a very promising start at the Bar was somewhat interfered with

"At the present moment you have no definite career," she declared. "You have even been wasting your time

"Your profession!" she scoffed. "That means you will spend your time wrangling with a number of other

bewigged and narrowminded people about uninteresting legal technicalities which lead nowhere and which

"It is within your power to make me look upon you as the bravest, the kindest, the most farseeing of men,"

"I decline to think that you would think any the better of me for committing a dishonourable action for your

"Try me," she begged, her hand resting once more upon his. "If you want my kind feelings, my everlasting

"That is impossible," he declared uncompromisingly. "If you wish to alter my attitude with regard to it, you

must tell me exactly from whom it comes, what it contains, and to whom it goes."

"Sorry that I saved your life," she said boldly. "Why should I not be? There are many who will suffer, many

"I am a human being," he protested. "I have sympathies and heart. I would give my life willingly to save any

"I could never make you understand," she murmured hopelessly. "I shall not try. I dare not risk failure. Is this

He crossed the room and lifted the blind from before one of the high windows which opened seawards. In the

panel of the wall, between the window to which he addressed himself and the next one, was a tall, gilt mirror,

relic of the days, some hundreds of years ago, when the apartment had been used as a drawingroom. Julian,

by the merest accident, for the pleasure of a stolen glance at Catherine, happened to look in it as he leaned

over towards the window fastening. For a single moment he stood rigid. Catherine had risen to her feet and,

without the slightest evidence of any fatigue, was leaning, tense and alert, over the tray on which his

untouched whisky and soda was placed. Her hand was outstretched. He saw a little stream of white powder

fall into the tumbler. An intense and sickening feeling of disappointment almost brought a groan to his lips.

He conquered himself with an effort, however, opened the window a few inches, and returned to his place.

Catherine was lying back, her eyes halfclosed, her arms hanging listlessly on either side of her chair.

"Very much," she assured him. "Still, I think that if you do not mind, I will go to bed. I am troubled with a

very rare attack of nerves. Drink your whisky and soda, and then will you take me into the drawingroom?"

He played with his tumbler thoughtfully. His first impulse was to drop it. Intervention, however, was at hand.

"At last!" the former exclaimed. "I have been looking for you everywhere, child. I am sure that you are quite

"Finish your whisky and soda," Catherine begged Julian, "and I will lean on your arm as far as the staircase."

Fate stretched out her right hand to help him. The Princess took possession of her niece.

"I shall look after you myself," she insisted. "Mr. Orden is wanted to play billiards. Lord Shervinton is

He moved to the door and held it open. Catherine gave him her fingers and a little halfdoubtful smile.

He found no words with which to answer her. The shock of his discovery was still upon him.

"You'll give me thirty in a hundred, Julian," Lord Shervinton called out cheerfully. "And shut that door as

It was at some nameless hour in the early morning when Julian's vigil came to an end, when the handle of his

door was slowly turned, and the door itself pushed open and closed again. Julian, lying stretched upon his

bed, only half prepared for the night, with a dressing gown wrapped around him, continued to breathe

heavily, his eyes halfclosed, listening intently to the fluttering of light garments, the soft, almost noiseless

footfall of light feet. He heard her shake out his dinner coat, try the pockets, heard the stealthy opening and

closing of the drawers in his wardrobe. Presently the footsteps drew near to his bed. For a moment he was

obliged to set his teeth. A little waft of peculiar, unanalysable perfume, halffascinating, halfrepellent, came

to him with a sense of disturbing familiarity. She paused by his bedside. He felt her hand steal under the

pillow, which his head scarcely touched; search the pockets of his dressing gown, search even the bed. He

listened to her soft breathing. The consciousness of her close and intimate presence affected him in an

inexplicable manner. Presently, to his intense relief, she glided away from his immediate neighbourhood, and

the moment for which he had waited came. He heard her retreating footsteps pass through the communicating

door into his little sitting room, where he had purposely left a light burning. He slipped softly from the bed

and followed her. She was bending over an open desk as he crossed the threshold. He closed the door and

She started violently at the sound of his voice, but she did not immediately turn around. When she did so, her

demeanour was almost a shock to him. There was no sign of nervousness or apology in her manner. Her eyes

flashed at him angrily. She wore a loose red wrap trimmed with white fur, a dishabille unusually and

Neither spoke for a moment. Her eyes fell upon a tumbler of whisky and soda, which stood on a round table

"I have not come to bed thirsty," he assured her. "I had another one downstairs to which I helped myself.

This one I brought up to try if I could remember sufficient of my chemistry to determine its contents. I have

been able to decide, to my great relief, that your intention was probably to content yourself with plunging me

"I wanted you out of the way whilst I searched your rooms," she told him coolly. "If you were not such an

obstinate, pigheaded, unkind, prejudiced person, it would not have been necessary."

For a moment she looked as though she were about to strike him with the electric torch which she was

carrying. With a great effort of selfcontrol, however, she changed her mind and threw herself into his

easychair with a little gesture of recklessness. Julian seated himself opposite to her. Although she kept her

face as far as possible averted, he realised more than ever in those few moments that she was really an

extraordinarily beautiful person. Her very attitude was full of an angry grace. The quivering of her lips was

"What sagacity!" she scoffed. "I trusted you with it, and you behaved like a brute. You kept it. It has nothing

"Let us understand one another, once and for all," he suggested. "I will not even discuss the question of

rightful or wrongful possession. I have the packet, and I am going to keep it. You cannot cajole it put of me,

you cannot steal it from me. Tomorrow I shall take it to London and deliver it to my friend at the Foreign

She seemed suddenly to be caught up in the vortex of a new emotion. All the bitterness passed from her

expression. She fell on her knees by his side, sought his hands, and lifted her face, full of passionate entreaty,

"Do not be so cruel, so hard," she begged. "I swear before Heaven that there is no treason in those papers, that

they are the one necessary link in a great, humanitarian scheme. Be generous, Mr. Orden. Julian! Give it back

His hands gripped her shoulders. She was conscious that he was looking past her, and that there was horror in

his eyes. The words died away on her lips. She, too, turned her head. The door of the sitting room had been

opened from outside. Lord Maltenby was standing there in his dressing gown, his hand stretched out behind

For a moment Julian was speechless, bereft of words, or sense of movement. Catherine still knelt there,

trembling. Then Lord Maltenby was pushed unceremoniously to one side. It was the Princess who entered.

The girl rose slowly to her feet. The Princess was leaning on the back of a chair, dabbing her eyes with a

handkerchief and sobbing hysterically. Lord Shervinton's voice was heard outside.

He, too, crossed the threshold and remained transfixed. The Earl closed the door firmly and stood with his

"Come," he said, "we will have no more spectators to this disgraceful scene. Julian, kindly remember you are

not in your bachelor apartments. You are in the house over which your mother presides. Have you any reason

to offer, or excuse to urge, why I should not ask this young woman to leave at daybreak?"

"Because you would be putting an affront upon the lady who has promised to become my wife. I am quite

aware that her presence in my sitting room is unusual, but under the circumstances I do not feel called upon

to offer a general explanation. I shall say nothing beyond the fact that a single censorious remark will be

The Princess abandoned her chorus of mournful sounds and dried her eyes. Lord Waltenby was speechless.

"But why all this mystery?" the Princess asked pitifully. "It is a great event, this. Why did you not tell me,

"There has been some little misunderstanding," Julian explained. "It is now removed. It brought us," he

added, "very near tragedy. After what I have told you, I beg whatever may seem unusual to you in this visit

Lord Maltenby drew a little breath of relief. Fortunately, he missed that slight note of theatricality in Julian's

"Very well, then, Julian," he decided, "there is nothing more to be said upon the matter. Miss Abbeway, you

will allow me to escort you to your room. Such further explanations as you may choose to offer us can be

"You will find that the whole blame for this unconventional happening devolves upon me," Julian declared.

"It was entirely my fault," Catherine murmured repentantly. "I am so sorry to have given any one cause for

She turned towards Julian. He leaned forward and raised her fingers to his lips.

"Catherine," he said, "every one is a little overwrought. Our misunderstanding is finished. Princess, I shall try

Julian held open the door, and they all filed away down the corridor, from which Lord Shervinton had long

since beat a hurried retreat. He stood there until they reached the bend. Catherine, who was leaning on his

father's arm, turned around. She waved her hand a little irresolutely. She was too far off for him to catch her

expression, but there was something pathetic in her slow, listless walk, from which all the eager grace of a

It was not until they were nearing London, on the following afternoon, that Catherine awoke from a lethargy

during which she had spent the greater portion of the journey. From her place in the corner seat of the

compartment in which they had been undisturbed since leaving Wells, she studied her companion through

halfclosed eyes. Julian was reading an article in one of the Reviews and remained entirely unconscious of

her scrutiny. His forehead was puckered, his mouth a little contemptuous. It was obvious that he did not

Catherine, during those few hours of solitude, was conscious of a subtle, slowly growing change in her

mental attitude towards her companion. Until the advent of those dramatic hours at Maltenby, she had

regarded him as a pleasant, even a charming acquaintance, but as belonging to a type with which she was

entirely and fundamentally out of sympathy. The cold chivalry of his behaviour on the preceding night and

the result of her own reflections as she sat there studying him made her inclined to doubt the complete

accuracy of her first judgment. She found something unexpectedly intellectual and forceful in his present

concentration, in the high, pale forehead, the deepset but alert eyes. His long, loose frame was yet far from

ungainly; his grey tweed suit and wellworn brown shoes the careless attire of a man who has no need to rely

on his tailor for distinction. His hands, too, were strong and capable. She found herself suddenly wishing that

the man himself were different, that he belonged to some other and more congenial type.

Julian, in course of time, laid down the Review which he had been studying and looked out of the window.

She sat up and yawned, produced her vanity case, peered into the mirror, and used her powder puff with the

somewhat piquant assurance of the foreigner. Then she closed her dressing case with a snap, pulled down her

"And how," she asked demurely, "does my fiance propose to entertain me this evening?"

"With the exception of one halfhour," he replied unexpectedly, "I am wholly at your service."

"I am afraid that I could not allow anything to interfere with one brief call which I must pay."

She looked away from him out of the window. Beneath her veil her eyes were a little misty. She saw nothing

of the trimly partitioned fields, the rolling pastoral country. Before her vision tragedies seemed to pass, the

bloodstained paraphernalia of the battlefield, the empty, stricken homes, the sobbing women in black,

striving to comfort their children whilst their own hearts were breaking. When she turned away from the

window, her face was hardened. Once more she found herself almost hating the man who was her

companion. Whatever might come afterwards, at that moment she had the sensations of a murderess.

"You may know when you sleep tonight," she exclaimed, "that you will be the bloodguiltiest man in the

"I would not dispute the title," he observed politely, "with your friend the Hohenzollern." "

"He is not my friend," she retorted, her tone vibrating with passion. "I am a traitress in your eyes because I

have received a communication from Germany. From whom does it come, do you think? >From the Court?

From the Chancellor or one of his myrmidons? Fool! It comes from those who hate the whole military party.

It comes from the Germany whose people have been befooled and strangled throughout the war. It comes

"Do you know," she said, leaning a little forward and looking at him fixedly, "if I were really your fiancee

worse! if I were really your wife I think that before long I should be a murderess!"

"I hate you! I think you are the most pigheaded, obstinate, selfsatisfied, ignorant creature who ever ruined a

He accepted the lash of her words without any sign of offence, seemed, indeed, inclined to treat them

"Come," he protested, "you have wasted a lot of breath in abusing me. Why not justify it? Tell me the story of

yourself and those who are associated with you in this secret correspondence with Germany? If you are

working for a good end, let me know of it. You blame me for judging you, for maintaining a certain definite

"I blame you for being what you are," she answered breathlessly. "If you were a person who understood, who

felt the great stir of humanity outside your own little circle, who could look across your seas and realise that

nationality is accidental and that the brotherhood of man throughout the world is the only real fact worthy of

consideration ah! if you could realise these things, I could talk, I could explain."

"I judge you from your life, your prejudices, even the views which you have expressed."

"There are some of us," he reminded her, "to whom reticence is a national gift. I like what you said just now.

Why should you take it for granted that I am a narrow squireen? Why shouldn't you believe that I, too, may

"You feel it personally but not impersonally," she cried. "You feel it intellectually but not with your heart.

You cannot see that a kindred soul lives in the Russian peasant and the German labourer, the British toiler

and the French artificer. They are all pouring out their blood for the sake of their dream, a politician's dream.

Freedom isn't won by wars. It must be won, if ever, by moral sacrifice and not with blood."

"Then explain to me," he begged, "exactly what you are doing? What your reason is for being in

communication with the German Government? Remember that the dispatch I intercepted came from no

"That again is not true," she replied. "I would ask for permission to explain all these things to you, if it were

"The case of your friends will probably be more hopeless still," he reminded her, "after tonight."

"We shall see," she said solemnly. "The Russian revolution surprised no one. Perhaps an English revolution

He made no reply. Her blood tingled, and she could have struck him for the faint smile, almost of amusement,

which for a moment parted his lips. He was already on his feet, collecting their belongings.

"Can you help me," he asked, "with reference to the explanations which it will be necessary to make to your

aunt and to my own people? We left this morning, if you remember, in order that you might visit the Russian

Embassy and announce our betrothal. You are, I believe, under an engagement to return and stay with my

"I cannot think about those things today," she replied. "You may take it that I am tired and that you had

He handed her a card and scribbled a telephone number upon it. They were in the station now, and their

baggage in the hands of separate porters. She walked slowly down the platform by his side.

The slight uncertainty of his speech pleased her. She looked up at him with infinite regret. As they neared the

"I, too, am more sorry than I can tell you;" she said a little tremulously. "Whatever may come, that is how I

They separated almost upon the words. Catherine was accosted by a man at whom Julian glanced for a

moment in surprise, a man whose dress and bearing, confident though it was, clearly indicated some other

status in life. He glanced at Julian with displeasure, a displeasure which seemed to have something of

Her reply was inaudible. Julian quickened his pace and passed out of the station ahead of them.

The Bishop and the Prime Minister met, one afternoon a few days later, at the corner of Horse Guards

Avenue. The latter was looking brown and well, distinctly the better for his brief holiday. The Bishop, on the

contrary, was pale and appeared harassed. They shook hands and exchanged for a moment the usual inanities.

"Tell me, Mr. Stenson," the Bishop asked earnestly, "what is the meaning of all this Press talk, about peace

"You are wrong," was the firm reply. "I have sent my private secretary around to a few of the newspapers this

morning. It just happens to be the sensation, of the moment, and it's fed all the time from the other side."

"Nothing whatever. Believe me, Bishop and there is no one feeling the strain more than I am the time has

"You politicians!" the Bishop sighed. "Do you sometimes forget, I wonder, that even the pawns you move are

"I can honestly say that I, at any rate, have never forgotten it," Mr. Stenson answered gravely. "There isn't a

man in my Government who has a single personal feeling in favour of, or a single benefit to gain, by .the

continuance of this ghastly war. On the other hand, there is scarcely one who does not realise that the end is

not yet. We have pledged our word, the word of the English nation, to a peace based only upon certain

contingencies. Those contingencies the enemy is not at present prepared to accept. There is no immediate

"But are you sure of that?" the Bishop ventured doubtfully. "When you speak of Germany, you speak of

William of Hohenzollern and his clan. Is that Germany? Is theirs the voice of the people?"

"I would be happy to believe that it was not," Mr. Stenson replied, "but if that is the case, let them give us a

"That sign," declared the Bishop, with a gleam of hopefulness in his tone, "may come, and before long."

The two men were on the point of parting. Mr. Stenson turned and walked a yard or two with his companion.

"By the bye, Bishop," he enquired, "have you heard any rumours concerning the sudden disappearance of our

The Bishop for a moment was silent. A passerby glanced at the two men sympathetically. Of the two, he

thought, it was the man in spiritual charge of a suffering people who showed more sign of the strain.

"Singularly little," Mr. Stenson replied. "He left Maltenby with Miss Abbeway the day after their

engagement, and, according to the stories which I have heard, arranged to dine with her that night. She came

to call for him and found that he had disappeared. According to his servant, he simply walked out in morning

clothes, soon after six o'clock, without leaving any message, and never returned. On the top of that, though,

there followed, as I expect you have heard, some very insistent police enquiries as to Orden's doings on the

night he spent with his friend Miles Furley. There is no doubt that a German submarine was close to

"It seems absurd to connect Julian with any idea of treasonable communication with Germany," the Bishop

"Up to a certain point I agree with you," Mr. Stenson confessed, "but there are some further rumours to which

I cannot allude, concerning Julian. Orden, which are, to say the least of it, surprising."

Stenson laid his hand upon his companion's shoulder. "Come," he went on, "I know what is the matter with

you, my friend. Your heart is too big. The cry of the widow and the children lingers too long in your ears.

Remember some of your earlier sermons at the beginning of the war. Remember how wonderfully you spoke

one morning at St. Paul's upon the spirituality to be developed by suffering, by sacrifice. `The hand which

chastises also purifies.' Wasn't that what you said? You probably didn't know that I was one of your listeners,

even . I myself, in those days, scarcely looked upon the war as I do now. I remember crawling in at the side

door of the Cathedral and sitting unrecognised on a hard chair. It was a great congregation, and I was far

away in the background, but I heard. I remember the rustle, too, the little moaning, indrawn breath of emotion

when the people rose to their feet. Take heart, Bishop. I will remind you once more of your own words

The two men separated. The Bishop walked thoughtfully towards the Strand, his hands clasped behind his

back, the echo of those quoted words of his still in his ear. As he came to the busy crossing, he raised his

"Perhaps," he murmured, "my eyes have been closed. Perhaps there are things to be seen."

He called a taxicab and, giving the man some muttered directions, was driven slowly down the Strand,

looking eagerly first on one side of the way and then on the other. It was approaching the luncheon hour and

the streets were thronged. Here seemed to be the meeting place of the Colonial troops, long, sinewy men,

many of them, with bronzed faces and awkward gait. They elbowed their way along, side by side with the

queerest collection of people in the world. They stopped and talked in little knots, they entered and left the

public houses, stood about outside the restaurants. Here and there they walked arm in arm with women.

Taxicabs were turning in at the Savoy, taxicabs and private cars. Young ladies of the stage, sometimes alone,

very often escorted, were everywhere in evidence. The life of London was flowing on in very much the same

channels. There were few, if any signs of that thing for which he sought. The taxicab turned westwards,

crossed Piccadilly Circus and proceeded along Piccadilly, its solitary occupant still gazing into the faces of

the people with that same consuming interest. It was all the same over again the smiling throngs entering

and leaving the restaurants, the smug promenaders, the stream of gaily dressed women and girls. Bond Street

was even more crowded with shoppers and loiterers. The shop windows were as full as ever, the toilettes of

the women as wonderful. Mankind, though khakiclad, was plentiful. The narrow thoroughfare was so

crowded that his taxicab went only at a snail's crawl, and occasionally he heard scraps of conversation. Two

"Evie and I are worn out with shopping. Everything's twice as expensive, but one simply can't do without."

"I shouldn't do without anything, these days. One never knows how long it may last."

The taxicab moved on, and the Bishop's eyes for a moment were halfclosed. The voices followed him,

however. Two women, leading curled and pampered toy dogs, were talking at the corner of the street.

"Sugar, my dear?" one was saying. "Why, I laid in nearly a hundredweight, and I can always get what I want

now. The shopkeepers know that they have to have your custom after the war. It's only the people who can't

"Of course, it's awfully sad about the war, and all that, but one has to think of oneself. Harry told me last

night that after paying all the income tax he couldn't get out of, and excess profits; he is still "

"Drive me to Tothill Street, Westminster," he directed. "As quickly as possible, please."

The man turned up a side street and drove off. Still the Bishop watched, only by now the hopefulness had

gone from his face. He had sought for something of which there had been no sign.

He dismissed his taxicab in front of a large and newly finished block of buildings in the vicinity of

Westminster. A lift man conducted him to the seventh floor, and a commissionaire ushered him into an

already crowded waiting room. A youth, however, who had noticed the Bishop's entrance, took him in

charge, and, conducting him through two other crowded rooms, knocked reverently at the door of an

apartment at the far end of the suite. The door was opened, after a brief delay, by a young man of unpleasant

appearance, who gazed suspiciously at the distinguished visitor through heavy spectacles.

"Show him in at once," a voice from the middle of the room directed. "You can go and have your lunch,

The Bishop found himself alone with the man whom he had come to visit, a moderately tall, thin figure,

badlydressed, with a drooping moustache, bright eyes and good forehead, but peevish expression. He stood

"First time you've honoured us, Bishop," he remarked, with the air of one straining after an equality which he

"I felt an unconquerable impulse to talk with you," the Bishop admitted. "Tell me your news?"

"Everything progresses," Nicholas Fenn declared confidently. "The last eleven days have seen a social

movement in this country, conducted with absolute secrecy, equivalent in its portentous issues to the greatest

revolution of modern times. For the first time in history, Bishop, the united voice of the people has a chance

"Mr. Fenn," the Bishop said, "you have accomplished a wonderful work. Now comes the moment when we

must pause and think. We must be absolutely and entirely certain that the first time that voice is heard it is

"Is there a more righteous cause in the world than the cause of peace?" Fenn asked sharply.

"Not if that peace be just and reasonable," the Bishop replied, "not if that peace can bring to an end this

"You have by now, I suppose, the terms proposed by your your kindred body in Germany?"

"I expect to have them at any moment," he said, "but to tell you the truth, at the present moment they are not

"Just so," the other interrupted. "The document, however, was not where we expected to find it."

"It will mean a certain delay if we don't succeed in getting hold of it," Fenn admitted. "We intend to be firm

"Necessity knows neither friendship nor relationship," Fenn pronounced didactically. "Better ask no

"They concern my conscience," was the grave reply. "Ours is an earnest spiritual effort for peace, a taking

away from the hands of the politicians of a great human question which they have proved themselves unable

to handle. We should look, therefore, with peculiar care to the means we adopt."

Nicholas Fenn nodded. He lit a very pungent cigarette from a paper packet by his side.

"You and I, Bishop," he said, "are pacifists in the broadest meaning of the word, but that does not mean that

we may not sometimes have to use force to attain our object. We have a department which alone is concerned

with the dealing of such matters. It is that department which has undertaken the forwarding and receipt of all

communications between ourselves and our friends across the North Sea. Its operations are entirely secret,

even from the rest of the Council. It will deal with Julian Orden. It is best for you not to interfere, or even to

"I cannot agree," the Bishop protested. "An act of unchristian violence would be a flaw in the whole

Nicholas Fenn looked down at the table. His expression was not altogether pleasant.

"Your position with us, sir," he said, "although much appreciated, does not warrant your interference in

"Nevertheless," the Bishop insisted, "you must please treat me reasonably in this matter, Mr. Fenn.

Remember I am not altogether extinct as a force amongst your followers. I have three mass meetings to

address this week, and there is the sermon next Sunday at Westminster Abbey, at which it has been agreed

that I shall strike the first note of warning. I am a helper, I believe, worth considering, and there is no man

"Exactly what are you asking from me?" Fenn demanded, after a moment's deliberation.

"The matter is one which is being dealt with by our secret service department," Fenn replied, "but I see no

reason why I should not give you all reasonable information. The young man in question asked for trouble,

"I understand," the Bishop reminded his companion, "that he has very nearly, if not altogether, compromised

"That may be so," Fenn admitted, "but it doesn't alter the fact that he refuses to return to her the packet which

"Up to now, absolutely so. Perhaps," Fenn added, with a slightly malicious smile, "you would like to try what

"Julian Orden," he said, "is a young man of peculiarly stubborn type, but if I thought that my exhortations

would be of any benefit, I would not shrink from trying them, whatever it might cost me."

"Better have a try, then," Fenn suggested. "If we do not succeed within the next twentyfour hours, I shall

give you an order to see him. I don't mind confessing," he went on confidentially, "that the need for the

production of that document is urgent, apart from the risk we run of having our plans forestalled if it should

"From your own knowledge of the young man, do you think that it would be of any use? Even Miss Abbeway

is forced to admit that any one less likely to sympathise with our aims it would be impossible to find. At the

same time, if we do arrange an interview for you, use any arguments you can think of. To tell you the truth,

our whole calculations have been upset by not discovering the packet upon his person. He was on his way to

Downing Street when our agents intervened, and we never doubted that he would have it with him. When

"At any time you send for me," the Bishop replied. "Meanwhile, Mr. Fenn, before I leave I want to remind

"Miss Abbeway has already extorted a foolish promise from us," he said. "The young man's safety for the

The Bishop, more from custom than from any appetite, walked across the Park to the Athenaeum. Mr.

"This is a world of rumours," he remarked with a smile. "I have just heard that Julian Orden, of all men in the

Nicholas Fenn, although civilisation had laid a heavy hand upon him during the last few years, was certainly

not a man whose outward appearance denoted any advance in either culture or taste. His morning clothes,

although he had recently abandoned the habit of dealing at a readymade emporium, were neither well

chosen nor well worn. His evening attire was, if possible, worse. He met Catherine that evening in the lobby

of what he believed to be a fashionable grillroom, in a swallowtailed coat, a badly fitting shirt with a single

studhole, a black tie, a collar which encircled his neck like a clerical band, and ordinary walking boots. She

repressed a little shiver as she shook hands and tried to remember that this was not only the man whom

several millions of toilers had chosen to be their representative, but also the duly appointed secretary of the

"I hope I am not late," she said. "I really do not care much about dining out, these days, but your message was

"One must have relaxation," he declared. "The weight of affairs all day long is a terrible strain. Shall we go

They entered the room and stood looking aimlessly about them, Fenn having, naturally enough, failed to

realise the necessity of securing a table. A maitre d'hotel, however, recognised Catherine and hastened to

their rescue. She conversed with the man for a few minutes in French, while her companion listened

"News?" he repeated. "Oh, let's leave it alone for a time! One gets sick of shop."

She raised her eyebrows a little discouragingly. She was dressed with extraordinary simplicity, but the

difference in caste between the two supplied a problem for many curious observers.

"Why should we talk of trifles," she demanded, "when we both have such a great interest in the most

"Our cause, of course," she answered firmly, "the cause of all the peoples Peace."

"One labours the whole day long for that," he grumbled. "When the hour for rest comes, surely one may drop

"Do you feel like that?" she remarked indifferently. "For myself, during these days I have but one thought.

There is nothing else in my life. And you, with all those thousands and millions of your fellow creatures

toiling, watching and waiting for a sign from you oh, I can't imagine how your thoughts can ever wander

from them for a moment, how you can ever remember that self even exists! I should like to be trusted, Mr.

"Naturally," she assented, "and yet the greatest part of it is to come. Tell me about Mr. Orden?"

"There is no change in the fellow's attitude. I don't imagine there will be until the last moment. He is just a

pigheaded, insufferably conceited Englishman, full of class prejudices to his finger tips."

"He is nevertheless a man," she said thoughtfully. "I heard only yesterday that he earned considerable

"No doubt," Fenn remarked, without enthusiasm, "he has the bravery of an animal. By the bye, the Bishop

"Just a personal call," was the elaborately careless reply. "He likes to look in for a chat, now and then. He

spoke about Orden, too. I persuaded him that if we don't succeed within the next twenty four hours, it will be

"Oh, but that was too bad!" she declared. "You know how he feels his position, poor man. He will simply

"With anything in the nature of a conspiracy. Of course, Mr. Orden wouldn't understand. How could he? I

"Nothing," Fenn pronounced, "is cruel that helps the cause. What will you drink, Miss Abbeway? You'll have

"What a horrible idea!" she exclaimed, smiling at him nevertheless. "Fancy a great Labour leader suggesting

"I don't often drink anything myself," he said, "but this seemed to me to be something of an occasion."

"Oh, that?" she murmured. "That is simply a matter of routine. I thought you had some news, or some work."

"Isn't it possible, Miss Abbeway," he pleaded, "that we might have some interests outside our work?"

"I shouldn't think so," she answered, with an insolence which was above his head.

"You must tell me your tastes," she suggested. "Are you fond of grand opera, for instance? I adore it.

"I don't know much about music," he admitted. "My sister, who used to live with me, plays the piano."

"We'll drop music, then," she said hastily. "Books? But I remember you once told me that you had never read

anything except detective novels, and that you didn't care for poetry. Sports? I adore tennis and I am rather

"Well, you see, that leaves us rather a long way apart, outside our work, doesn't it?"

"Even if I were prepared to admit that, which I am not," he replied, "our work itself is surely enough to make

"You are quite right," she confessed. "There is nothing else worth thinking about, worth talking about. Tell

me you had an inner Council this afternoon is anything decided yet about the leadership?"

"If ever there was a great cause in the world," he said, "which stands some chance of missing complete

"I mean it," he assured her. "As you know, a chairman must be elected this week, and that chairman, of

course, will hold more power in his hand than any emperor of the past or any sovereign of the present. That

leader is going to stop the war. He is going to bring peace to the world. It is a mighty post, Miss Abbeway."

"Yet would you believe," he went on, leaning across the table and neglecting for a moment his dinner,

"would you believe, Miss Abbeway, that out of the twenty representatives chosen from the Trades Unions

governing the principal industries of Great Britain, there is not a single one who does not consider himself

Catherine found herself suddenly laughing, while Fenn looked at her in astonishment.

"I cannot help it," she apologised. "Please forgive me. Do not think that I am irreverent. It is not that at all.

But for a moment the absurdity of the thing overcame me. I have met some of them, you know Mr. Cross

"Evans is one of the worst," Fenn interrupted, with some excitement. "There's a man who has only worn a

collar for the last few years of his life, who evaded the boardschool because he was a pitman's lad, who

doesn't even know the names of the countries of Europe, but who still believes that he is a possible candidate.

And Cross, too! Well, he washes when he comes to London, but he sleeps in his clothes and they look like

"Eloquent!" Fenn exclaimed scornfully. "He may be, but who can understand him? He speaks in broad

Northumbrian. What is needed in the leader whom they are to elect this week, Miss Abbeway, is a man of

some culture and some appearance. Remember that to him is to be confided the greatest task ever given to

man. A certain amount of personality he must have personality and dignity, I should say, to uphold the

"There is Mr. Miles Furley," she said thoughtfully. "He is an educated man, is he not?"

"For that very reason unsuitable," Fenn explained eagerly. "He represents no great body of toilers. He is, in

reality, only an honorary member of the Council, like yourself and the Bishop, there on account of his outside

"I remember, only a few nights ago," she reflected, "I was staying at a country house Lord Maltenby's, by

the bye Mr. Orden's father. The Prime Minister was there and another Cabinet Minister. They spoke of the

Labour Party and its leaderless state. They had no idea, of course, of the great Council which was already

secretly formed, but they were unanimous about the necessity for a strong leader. Two people made the same

remark, almost with apprehension: `If ever Paul Fiske should materialise, the problem would be solved!'

"After all, though," he reminded her, "a clever writer does not always make a great speaker, nor has he

always that personality and distinction which is required in this case. He would come amongst us a stranger,

"Not in the broadest sense of the word," Catherine objected. "Paul Fiske is more than an ordinary literary

man. His heart is in tune with what he writes. Those are not merely eloquent words which he offers. There is

a note of something above and beyond just phrasemaking a note of sympathetic understanding which

"Fiske goes right to the spot," he admitted, "but the question of the leadership, so far as he is concerned,

doesn't come into the sphere of practical politics. It has been suggested, Miss Abbeway, by one or two of the

more influential delegates, suggested, too, by a vast number of letters and telegrams which have poured in

upon us during the last few days, that I should be elected to this vacant post."

"Can you think of a more suitable person?" he asked, with a faint note of truculence in his tone. "You have

seen us all together. I don't wish to flatter myself, but as regards education, service to the cause, familiarity

"Yes, yes! I see," she interrupted. "Taking the twenty Labour representatives only, Mr. Fenn, I can see

nothing against your selection, but I fancied, somehow, that some one outside the Bishop, for instance "

"Absolutely out of the question," Fenn declared. "The people would lose faith in the whole thing in a minute.

The person who throws down the gage to the Prime Minister must have the direct mandate of the people."

They finished dinner presently. Fenn looked with admiration at the gold, coroneted case from which

Catherine helped herself to one of her tiny cigarettes. He himself lit an American cigarette.

"I had meant, Miss Abbeway," he confided, leaning towards her, "to suggest a theatre to you tonight in

fact, I looked at some dress circle seats at the Gaiety with a view to purchasing. Another matter has cropped

He produced a folded paper from his pocket and passed it across the table. Catherine read it with a slight

"An order entitling the bearer to search Julian Orden's apartments!" she exclaimed. "We don't want to search

"The best," he answered, tapping with his discoloured forefinger the signature at the foot of the, strip of

"By asking for it," he replied bluntly. "And between you and me, Miss Abbeway, there isn't much we might

"The police have been known to overlook things. Of course, what I am hoping is that amongst Mr. Orden's

"But this has nothing to do with me," she protested. "I do not like to be concerned in such affairs."

"But I particularly wish you to accompany me," he urged. "You are the only one who has seen the packet. It

Catherine made a little grimace, but she objected no further. She objected very strongly, however, when Fenn

tried to take her arm on leaving the place, and she withdrew into her own corner of the taxi immediately they

"You must forgive my prejudices, Mr. Fenn," she said "my foreign bringing up, perhaps but I hate being

"Really," she insisted earnestly, "this sort of thing does not amuse me. I avoid it even amongst my own

"So far as regards our work, you certainly are," she admitted. "Outside it, I do not think that we could ever

"Why not?" he objected, a little sharply. "We're as close together in our work and aims as any two people

could be. Perhaps," he went on, after a moment's hesitation and a careful glance around, "I ought to take you

"I am not inviting anything of the sort," she observed, with faint but wasted sarcasm.

"You know me, of course," he went on, "only as the late manager of a firm of timber merchants and the

present elected representative of the allied Timber and Shipbuilding Trades Unions. What you do not know"

"I imagined," she remarked, "that all Labour leaders were like the Apostles took no thought for such

"One must always keep one's eye on the main chance; Miss Abbeway," he protested, "or how would things be

Her question was framed simply to direct him from a repulsive subject. His embarrassment, however,

"I have saved money all my life," he confided eagerly. "An uncle left me a little. Lately I have speculated

successfully. I don't want to dwell on this. I only wanted you to understand that if I chose I could cut a very

"I really do not see," was the cold response, "how this concerns me in the least."

"You, call yourself a Socialist, don't you, Miss Abbeway?" he demanded. "You're not allowing the fact that

"The accident of birth counts for nothing," she replied"you must know that those are my principles but it

sometimes happens that birth and environment give one tastes which it is impossible to ignore. Please do not

let us pursue this conversation any further, Mr. Fenn. We have had a very pleasant dinner, for which I thank

Her companion handed her out a little sulkily, and they ascended in the lift to the fifth floor. The door was

opened to them by Julian's servant. He recognised Catherine and greeted her respectfully. Fenn produced his

"None at all, madam," was the somewhat depressed admission. "I am afraid that something must have

happened to him. He was not the kind of gentleman to go away like this and leave no word behind him."

"Still," she advised cheerfully, "I shouldn't despair. More wonderful things have happened than that your

master should return home tomorrow or the next day with a perfectly simple explanation of his absence."

"I should be very glad to see him, madam," the man replied, as he backed towards the door. "If I can be of

The valet departed, closing the door behind him. Catherine looked around the room into which they had been

ushered, with a little frown. It was essentially a man's sitting room, but it was well and tastefully furnished,

and she was astonished at the immense number of books, pamphlets and Reviews which crowded the walls

and every available space. The Derby desk still stood open, there was a typewriter on a special stand, and a

"What on earth," she murmured, "could Mr. Orden have wanted with a typewriter! I thought journalism was

generally done in the offices of a newspaper the sort of journalism that he used to undertake."

"Nice little crib, isn't it?" Fenn remarked, glancing around. "Cosy little place, I call it."

Something in the man's expression as be advanced towards her brought all the iciness back to her tone and

"It is a pleasant apartment," she said, "but I am not at all sure that I like being here, and I certainly dislike our

errand. It does not seem credible that, if the police have already searched, we should find the packet here."

There was apparently very little delicacy about Mr. Fenn. He drew a chair to the desk and began to look

"Hm! Our friend seems to have been quite a collector of old books. I expect secondhand booksellers found

him rather a mark. Some fellow here thanking him for a loan. And here's a tailor's bill. By Jove, Miss

Abbeway, just listen to this! `One dress suitfourteen guineas!' That's the way these fellows who don't know

any better chuck their money about," he added, swinging around in his chair towards her. "The clothes I have

on cost me exactly four pounds fifteen cash, and I guarantee his were no better."

"We did not come here, did we, Mr. Fenn, to discuss Mr. Orden's tailor's bill? I can see no object at all in

going through his correspondence in this way. What you have to search for is a packet wrapped up in thin

"Oh, he might have slipped it in anywhere," Fenn pointed out. "Besides, there's always a chance that one of

his letters may give us a clue as to where he has hidden the document. Come and sit down by the side of me,

"I would rather stand, thank you," she replied. "You seem to find your present occupation to your taste. I

"Never think of my own feelings," Fenn said briskly, "when there's a job to be done. I wish you'd be a bit

more friendly, though, Miss Abbeway. Let me pull that chair up by the side of mine. I like to have you near.

You know, I've been a bachelor for a good many years," he went on impressively, "but a little homey place

like this always makes me think of things. I've nothing against marriage if only a man can be lucky enough to

get the right sort of girl, and although advanced thinkers like you and me and some of the others are looking

at things differently, nowadays, I wouldn't mind much which way it was," he confided, dropping his voice a

She snatched her arm away, and this time even he could not mistake the anger which blazed in her eyes.

"Mr. Fenn," she exclaimed, "why is it so difficult to make you understand? I detest such liberties as you are

"Sounds a bit oldfashioned, that," he remarked, scowling a little. "Of course, I don't expect "

"Never mind what you expect," she interrupted, "Please go on with this search, if you are going to make one

at all. The vulgarity of the whole thing annoys me, and I do not for a moment suppose that the packet is

"Then he must have sent it somewhere for safe keeping," she replied. "I had already given him cause to do

"If he has, then amongst his correspondence there may be some indication as to where he sent it," Fenn

pointed out, with unabated illtemper. "If you don't like the job, and you won't be friendly, you'd better take

She sat down, watching him with angry eyes, uncomfortable, unhappy, humiliated. She seemed to have

dropped in a few hours from the realms of rarefied and splendid thought to a world of petty deeds. Not one of

her companion's actions was lost upon her. She watched him study with illconcealed reverence a ducal

invitation, saw him read through without hesitation a letter which she felt sure was from Julian's mother. And

The change in the man was so startling, his muttered exclamation so natural that its profanity never even

grated. His eyes seemed to be starting out of his head, his lips were drawn back from his teeth. Blank,

unutterable surprise held him, dumb and spellbound, as he stared at a halfsheet of type written notepaper.

She herself, amazed at his transformed appearance, found words for the moment impossible. Then a queer

change came into his expression. His eyebrows drew closer together, his lips turned malevolently. He pushed

the paper underneath a pile of others and turned his head towards her. Their eyes met. There was something

"I am your partner in this hateful enterprise," she reminded him. "Show me that paper which you have just

There was a brief, intense silence. Each seemed to be measuring the other's strength. Of the two, Catherine

was the more composed. Fenn's face was still white and strained. His lips were twitching, his manner nervous

"Look here, Miss Abbeway," he said, "we don't need to quarrel about this. That paper I came across has a

special interest for me personally. I want to think about it before I say anything to a soul in the world."

"You can consult with me," she persisted. "Our aims are the same. We are here for the same purpose."

"Well, have the truth, then!" he exclaimed. "I brought you here to be alone with you, because I hoped that I

"I have," he answered, with unpleasant meaning in his tone, "but we are not out of here yet."

"You cannot frighten me," she assured him. "Of course, you are a man of a sort and I am a woman, but I

do not fancy that you would find, if it came to force, that you would have much of an advantage. However,

we are wandering from the point. I claim an equal right with you to see anything which you may discover in

"Indeed?" he answered, with an ugly scowl on his face. "Mr. Julian Orden is by way of being a particular

"As a matter of fact," Catherine told him, "we are engaged to be married. It isn't a serious engagement. It was

entered into by him in a most chivalrous manner, to save me from the consequences of a very clumsy attempt

on my part to get back that packet. But there it is. Every one down at his home believes at the present

moment that we are engaged and that I have come up to London to see our Ambassador."

"If you are engaged," Fenn sneered, "why hasn't he told you more of his secrets?"

"Secrets!" she repeated, a little scornfully. "I shouldn't think he has any. I should imagine his daily life could

"But how interesting! You excite my curiosity. And must you continue to hold my wrist?"

With a quick movement he gained a momentary advantage and shut the desk down. The key, however,

disturbed by the jerk, fell on to the carpet, and Catherine possessed herself of it. She sprang lightly back from

"You will see," she replied. "Don't come any nearer, or you may find that I can be unpleasant."'

He shrugged his shoulders and waited. She turned towards the servant who presently appeared.

"Telephone to 1884 Westminster. Say that you are speaking for Miss Abbeway, and ask Mr. Furley, Mr.

"Very well, then," he conceded, "I give in. Give me the key, and I'll show you the letter."

She held out the key. He took it, opened the desk, searched amongst the little pile of papers, drew out the

"There you are," he said, "although if you are really engaged to marry Mr. Julian Orden," he added, with

disagreeable emphasis, "I am surprised that he should have kept such a secret from you."

She ignored him and started to read the letter, glancing first at the address at the top. It was from the British

I think it best to let you know, in case you haven't seen it yourself, that there is a reward of 100 pounds

offered by some busybody for the name of the author of the `Paul Fiske' articles. Your anonymity has been

splendidly preserved up till now, but I feel compelled to warn you that a disclosure is imminent. Take my

advice and accept it with a good grace. You have established yourself so irrevocably now that the value of

your work will not be lessened by the discovery of the fact that you yourself do not belong to the class of

Even after she had concluded the letter, she still stared at it. She read again the one conclusive sentence

"Your anonymity has been splendidly preserved up till now." Then she suddenly broke into a laugh which

"I don't wonder you're surprised," Fenn observed. "Fourteen guineas for a dress suit, and he thinks he

She turned her head slowly and looked at him. There was a strange, repressed fire in her eyes. "You are a

very foolish person," she said. "Your parents, I suppose, were small shopkeepers, or something of the sort,

and you were brought up at a boardschool and Julian Orden at Eton and Oxford, and yet he understands, and

you do not. You see, heart counts, and sympathy, and the flair for understanding. I doubt whether these things

"This is our own fault," he exclaimed angrily, "for having ever permitted an aristocrat to hold any place in our

counsels! Before we move a step further, we'll purge them of such helpers as you and such false friends as

"You very foolish person," she repeated. "Stop, though. Why all this mystery? Why did you try to keep that

"I conceived it to be for the benefit of our cause," he said didactically, "that the anonymity of `Paul Fiske'

"Rubbish!" she scoffed. "You were afraid of him. Why, what fools we are! We will tell him the whole truth.

We will tell him of our great scheme. We will tell him what we have been working for, these many months.

The Bishop shall tell him, and you and I, and Miles Furley, and Cross. He shall hear all about it. He is with

us! He must be with us! You shall put him on the Council. Why, there is your great difficulty solved," she

went on, in growing excitement. "There is not a working man in the country who would not rally under `Paul

Fiske's' banner. There you have your leader. It is he who shall deliver your ultimatum."

"I'm damned if it is!" Fenn declared, suddenly throwing his hat down and coming towards her furiously. "I'm

"The message, madam," he began and then stopped short. She crossed the room towards him.

"Robert," she said, "I think I have found the way to bring your master back to you. Will you take me

"I shall telephone to Westminster in a few minutes, Mr. Fenn," she said. "I hope I shall be in time to stop the

others from coming. Perhaps you had better wait here, in case they have already started."

He made no reply. To Catherine the world had become so wonderful that his existence scarcely counted.

Catherine, notwithstanding her own excitement, found genuine pleasure in the bewildered enthusiasm with

which the Bishop received her astounding news. She found him alone in the great, gloomy house which he

usually inhabited when in London, at work in a dreary library to which she was admitted after a few minutes'

delay. Naturally, he received her tidings at first almost with incredulity. A heartfelt joy, however, followed

"I always liked Julian," he declared. "I always believed that he had capacity. Dear me, though," he went on,

"Do you remember the evening we all talked about the Labour question? Time seems to have moved so

"I remember," the Bishop acknowledged. "And, my dear young lady," he went on warmly, "now indeed I feel

"Don't," she begged. "You would have known very soon, in any case my engagement to Julian Orden was

"I was desperate," she explained. "I felt I must have that packet back at any price. I went to his rooms to try

and steal it. Well, I was found there. He invented our engagement to help me out."

"It was all part of the game," she sighed. "What a fool he must have thought me! However, I am glad. I am

riotously, madly glad. I am glad for the cause, I am glad for all our sakes. We have a great recruit, Bishop, the

greatest we could have. And think! When he knows the truth, there will be no more trouble. He will hand us

over the packet. We shall know just where we stand. We shall know at once whether we dare to strike the

"I was down at Westminster this afternoon," the Bishop told her. "The whole mechanism of the Council of

Labour seems to be complete. Twenty men control industrial England. They have absolute power. They are

waiting only for the missing word. And fancy," he went on, "tomorrow I was to have visited Julian. I was to

"But we must go tonight!" Catherine exclaimed. "There is no reason why we should waste a single second."

"They were going to send some one with me tomorrow," he replied, "but in any case Fenn knows. We can get

"I do not like Mr. Fenn," she said slowly. "I have disagreed with him. But that does not matter. Perhaps we

had better go to the Council rooms. We shall find some of them there, and probably Fenn. I have a taxi

They drove presently to Westminster. The ground floor of the great building, which was wholly occupied

now by the offices of the different Labour men, was mostly in darkness, but on the top floor was a big room

used as a club and restaurant, and also for informal meetings. Six or seven of the twentythree were there, but

not Fenn. Cross, a great brawny Northumbrian, was playing a game of chess with Furley. Others were writing

letters. They all turned around at Catherine's entrance. She held out her hands to them.

"Great news, my friends!" she exclaimed. "Light up the committee room. I want to talk to you."

Those who were entitled to followed her into the room across the passage. One or two secretaries and a

visitor remained outside. Six of them seated themselves at the long table Phineas Cross, the Northumbrian

pitman, Miles Furley, David Sands, representative of a million Yorkshire millhands, Thomas Evans, the

"We got a message from you, Miss Abbeway, a little time ago," Furley remarked. "It was countermanded,

"Yes!" she assented. "I am sorry. I telephoned from Julian Orden's rooms. It was there we made the great

There was a little clamour of voices. The interest was indescribable. Paul Fiske was their cult, their master,

their undeniable prophet. It was he who had set down in letters of fire the truths which had been struggling

for imperfect expression in these men's minds. It was Paul Fiske who had fired them with enthusiasm for the

cause which at first had been very much like a matter of bread and cheese to them. It was Paul Fiske who had

formed their minds, who had put the great arguments into their brains, who had armed them from head to foot

with potent reasonings. Four very ordinary men, of varying types, sincere men, all of plebeian extraction, all

with their faults, yet all united in one purpose, were animated by that same fire of excitement. They hung

over the table towards her. She might have been the croupier and they the gamblers who had thrown upon the

"In Julian Orden's rooms," she said, "I found a letter from the editor of the British Review, warning him that

his anonymity could not be preserved much longer that before many weeks had passed the world would

She passed it around. They studied it, one by one. They were all a little stunned.

"Julian!" Furley exclaimed, in blank amazement. "Why, he's been pulling my leg for more than a year!"

"Never mind about that. He is a democrat and honest to the backbone," Catherine declared. "The Bishop will

tell you so. He has known him all his life. Think! Julian Orden has no purpose to serve, no selfish interest to

further. He has nothing to gain, everything to lose. If he were not sincere, if those words of his, which we all

remember, did not come from his heart, where could be the excuse, the reason, for what he stands for? Think

"He is the man, isn't he," Sands asked mysteriously, "whom they are looking after down yonder?"

"I don't know where 'down yonder' is," Catherine replied, "but you have him in your power somewhere. He

left his rooms last Thursday at about a quarter past six, to take that packet to the Foreign Office, or to make

arrangements for its being received there. He never reached the Foreign Office. He hasn't been heard of since.

Some of you know where he is. The Bishop and I want to go and find him at once."

Cross frowned and puckered up his lips, an odd trick of his when he was displeased.

"Bright represents the workers in chemical factories," he explained. "They say that there isn't a poison in

liquid, solid or gas form, that he doesn't know all about. Chap who gives me kind of shivers whenever he

"If he knows where Mr. Orden is, couldn't we send for him at once?" Catherine suggested.

"Fenn and Bright are both out," he announced, "and their rooms locked up. I rang up Fenn's house, but he

"Doesn't it seem too bad!" she exclaimed. "If we could only get bold of Julian Orden tonight, if the Bishop

and I could talk to him for five minutes, we could have this message for which we have been waiting so

The door was suddenly opened. Fenn entered and received a little chorus of welcome. He was wearing a

rough black overcoat over his evening clothes, and a black bowler hat. He advanced to the table with a little

"Mr. Fenn," the Bishop said, "we have been awaiting your arrival anxiously. Tell us, please, where we can

"If you'd asked me an hour ago," he said, "I should have told you to try Iris Villa, Acacia Road, Hampstead. I

During the brief, spellbound silence which followed his announcement, Fenn advanced slowly into the room.

It chanced that during their informal discussion, the chair at the head of the table had been left unoccupied.

The newcomer hesitated for a single second, then removed his hat, laid it on the floor by his side, and sank

into the vacant seat. He glanced somewhat defiantly towards Catherine. He seemed to know quite well from

"You tell us," Catherine said, mastering her emotion with an effort, "that Julian Orden, whom we now know

"I can scarcely reduce my statement to plainer words," Fenn replied, "but 1 will try. The danger in which we

stood through the miscarriage of that packet was appreciated by every one of the Council. Discretionary

powers were handed to the small secret service branch which is controlled by Bright and myself. Orden was

prevented from reaching the Foreign Office and was rendered for a time incapable. The consideration of our

further action with regard to him was to depend upon his attitude. Owing, no doubt, to some slight error in

Bright's treatment. Orden has escaped from the place of safety in which he had been placed. He is now at

large, and his story, together with the packet, will probably be in the hands of the Foreign Office some time

"Giving them," Cross remarked grimly, "the chance to get in the first blow warrants for high treason, eh,

"I don't fear that," Fenn asserted, "not if we behave like sensible men. My proposal is that we anticipate, that

one of us sees the Prime Minister tomorrow morning and lays the whole position before him."

"I know exactly what they will be," Fenn pointed out. "The trouble, of course, is that the missing packet

contains the signature of the three guarantors. The packet, no doubt, will be in the hands of the Foreign Office

by tomorrow. The Prime Minister can verify our statements. We present our ultimatum a little sooner than

"Forgive me if I intervene for one moment," he begged. "You say that Julian Orden has escaped. Are we to

"Still, it is possible," the Bishop persisted, "that Julian Orden may not be in a position to forward that

document to the Foreign Office for the present? If that is so, I am inclined to think that the Prime Minister

would consider your visit a bluff. Certainly, you would have no argument weighty enough to induce him to

propose the armistice. No man could act upon your word alone. He would want to see these wonderful

proposals in writing, even if he were convinced of the justice of your arguments."

"You drive me to a further disclosure," he declared, after a moment's hesitation, "one, perhaps, which I ought

already to have made. I have arranged for a duplicate of that packet to be prepared and forwarded. I set this

matter on foot the moment we heard from Miss Abbeway here of her mishap. The duplicate may reach us at

"Then I propose," the Bishop said, "that we postpone our decision until those papers be received. Remember

that up to the present moment the Council have not pledged themselves to take action until they have perused

"And supposing," Fenn objected, "that tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, twentythree of us are marched

off to the Tower! Our whole cause may be paralysed, all that we have worked for all these months will be in

vain, and this accursed and bloody war may be dragged on until our politicians see fit to make a peace of

"I know Mr. Stenson well," the Bishop declared, "and I am perfectly convinced that he is too saneminded a

man to dream of taking such a step as you suggest. He, at any rate, if others in his Cabinet are not so

The sense of the meeting was obvious. Fenn's unpleasant looking teeth flashed for a moment, and his mouth

"This is entirely an informal gathering," he said. "I shall summon the Council to come together tomorrow at

"I think that we may sleep in our beds tonight without fear of molestation," the Bishop remarked, "although

if it had been the wish of the meeting, I would have broached the matter to Mr. Stenson,"

"You are an honorary member of the Council," Fenn declared rudely. "We don't wish interference. This is a

"And an honoured member of this Executive Council," Cross intervened. "You're a bit too glib with your

"I think of those whom I represent," was the curt reply. "They are toilers, and they want the toilers to show

their power. They don't want help from the Church. I'll go even so far," he added, "as to say that they don't

want help from literature. It's their own job. They've begun it, and they want to finish it."

"Tomorrow's meeting," Furley observed, "will show how far you are right in your views. I consider my

position, and the Bishop's, as members of the Labour Party, on a par with your own. I will go further and say

that the very soul of our Council is embodied in the teachings and the writings of Paul Fiske, or, as we now

"Adjourned or not it may be, Mr. Fenn," he said, "but it's no place of yours to speak for it. You've thrust

yourself into that chair, but that don't make you chairman, now or at any other time."

Fenn choked down the words which had seemed to tremble on his lips. His enemies he knew, but there were

"If I have assumed more than I should have done, I am sorry," he said. "I brought you news which I was in a

The little company rose to their feet and moved towards the door, exchanging whispered comments

concerning the news which Catherine had brought. She herself crossed the room and confronted Fenn.

"There is not the slightest reason," he declared, "why anything concerning Julian Orden should be concealed

from any member of the Council who desires information. If you will follow me into my private room, Miss

Abbeway, and you, Furley, I shall be glad to tell you our exact position. And if the Bishop will accompany

Furley made no reply, but, whispering something in Catherine's ear, took up his hat and left the room. The

other two, however, took Fenn at his word, followed him into his room, accepted the chairs which he placed

for them, and waited while he spoke through a telephone to the private exchange situated in the building.

"They tell me," he announced, as he laid down the instrument, "that Bright has this moment returned and is

"He is probably the person you mean," Fenn assented. "He takes very little interest in our executive work, but

he is one of the most brilliant scientists of this or any other generation. The Government has already given

him three laboratories for his experiments, and nearly every gas that is being used at the Front has been

There was a knock at the door, a moment or two later, and Bright entered. He was a little over medium

height, with long and lanky figure, a pronounced stoop, and black, curly hair of coarse quality. His head,

which was thrust a little forward, perhaps owing to his shortsightedness, was long, his forehead narrow, his

complexion a sort of olivegreen. He wore huge, disfiguring spectacles, and he had the protuberant lips of a

negro. He greeted Catherine and the Bishop absently and seemed to have a grievance against Fenn.

"What is it you want, Nicholas?" he asked impatiently. "I have some experiments going on in the country and

"The Council has rescinded its instructions with regard to Julian Orden," Fenn announced, "and is anxious to

have him brought before them at once. As you know, we are for the moment powerless in the matter. Will

you please explain to Miss Abbeway and the Bishop here just what has been done?"

"It seems a waste of time," Bright replied illnaturedly, "but here is the story. Julian Orden left his rooms at a

quarter to six on Thursday evening. He walked down to St. James's Street and turned into the Park. Just as he

passed the side door of Marlborough House he was attacked by a sudden faintness."

"I or my deputy," Bright replied. "It doesn't matter which. He was fortunate enough to be able to hail a

passing taxicab and was driven to my house in Hampstead. He has spent the intervening period, until three

"A compulsory stay, arranged for under instructions from the Council," Bright assented, in his hard, rasping

voice. "He has been most of the time under the influence of some new form of anaesthetic gas with which I

have been experimenting. Tonight, however, I must have made a mistake in my calculations. Instead of

remaining in a state of coma until midnight, he recovered during my absence and appears to have walked out

"Not the slightest," Bright assured her. "I only know that he left the place without hat, gloves, or walking

stick. Otherwise, he was fully dressed, and no doubt had plenty of money in his pocket."

"Is he likely to have any return of the indisposition from which, owing to your efforts, he has been

"I should say not," was the curt answer. "He may find his memory somewhat affected temporarily. He ought

to be able to find his way home, though. If not, I suppose you'll hear of him through the police courts or a

hospital. Nothing that we have done," he added, after a moment's pause, "is likely to affect his health

"You now know all that there is to be known, Miss Abbeway," Fenn said. "I agree with you that it is highly

desirable that Mr. Orden should be found at once, and if you can suggest any way in which I might be of

assistance in discovering his present whereabouts, I shall be only too glad to help. For instance, would you

"Thank you, Mr. Fenn," she said, "I don't think that we will trouble you. Mr. Furley is making enquiries both

"You are perfectly satisfied, so far as I am concerned, I trust?" he persisted, as he opened the door for them.

"Perfectly satisfied," Catherine replied, looking him in the face, "that you have told us as much as you choose

Fenn closed the door behind Catherine and the Bishop and turned back into the room. Bright laughed at him

Fenn threw himself into his chair, took a cigarette from a paper packet, and lit it.

"Haven't you heard the news? It seems he's the fellow who has been writing those articles on Socialism and

Labour, signing them `Paul Fiske.' Idealistic rubbish, but of course the Bishop and his lot are raving about

"I've read some of his stuff," Bright admitted, himself lighting a cigarette; "good in its way, but

"Stick to the point," Fenn enjoined morosely. "Now they've found out who Julian Orden is, they want him

produced. They want to elect him on the Council, make him chairman over all our heads, let him reap the

"They'd better have him, I suppose," Bright said, with slow and evil emphasis. "Yes, they'd better have him.

"Too late. I've told Miss Abbeway and the Bishop that he is at large. You backed me up."

Bright thrust his long, unpleasant, knobby fingers into his pocket, and produced a crumpled cigarette, which

"I have come to the conclusion," Fenn decided, "that it is not in the interests of our cause that Orden should

"We've a good deal of power," Bright ruminated, "but it seems to me you're inclined to stretch it. I gather that

Bright came over to the mantelpiece, leaned his elbow upon it, and hung his extraordinarily unattractive face

"Nicholas," he said, "I don't blame you for fencing, but I like plain words. You've done well out of this new

Party. I haven't. You've no hobby except saving your money. I have. My last two experiments,

notwithstanding the Government allowance, have left me drained. I need money as you others need bread. I

can live without food or drink, but I can't be without the means to keep my laboratories going. Do you

"I do," Fenn assented, taking up his hat. "Come, I'll drive towards Bermondsey with you. We'll talk on the

Julian raised himself slightly from his recumbent position at the sound of the opening of the door. He

watched Fenn with dull, incurious eyes as the latter crossed the uncarpeted floor of the bare wooden shed,

"You take this thing very hardly, Mr. Orden," he said. "I think that you had better give up this obstinacy.

Your friends are getting anxious about you. For many reasons it would be better for you to reappear."

"There will be a little anxiety on the part of your friends about you," Julian retorted grimly, "if ever I do get

Julian made no reply. His eyes were fixed upon the door. He turned away with a shudder. Bright had entered.

In his hand he was carrying two gas masks. He came over to the side of the couch, and, looking down at

Julian, lifted his hand, and felt his pulse. Then, with an abrupt movement, he handed one of the masks to

Bright stepped back and adjusted his own gas mask, while Fenn followed suit. Then the former drew from his

pocket what seemed to be a small tube with perforated holes at the top. He leaned over Julian and pressed it.

A little cloud of faint mist rushed through the holes; a queer, aromatic perfume, growing stronger every

moment, seemed to creep into the farthest corners of the room. In less than ten seconds Julian opened his

eyes. In half a minute he was sitting up. His eyes were bright once more, there was colour in his cheeks.

"Mr. Orden," he enjoined, "sit where you are. Remember I have the other tube in my left hand."

"Mr. Bright," Fenn asserted, "is nothing of the sort. Neither am I. We are both honest men faced with a

colossal situation. There is nothing personal in our treatment of you. We have no enmity towards you. You

"What puzzles me," Julian muttered, "is what you expect I am going to do about you, if ever I do escape from

"If you do escape," Fenn said quietly, "you will view the matter differently. You will find, as a matter of fact,

that you are powerless to do anything. You will find a new law and a new order prevailing."

"You misjudge us," Fenn continued. "Both Bright and I are patriotic Englishmen. We are engaged at the

present moment in a desperate effort to save our country. You are the man who stands in the way."

"I never thought," said Julian, "that I should smile in this place, but you are beginning to amuse me. Why not

be more explicit? Why not prove what you say? I might become amenable. I suppose your way of saving the

"I know a little about you, Mr. Fenn," he said. "I know the sort of peace you would establish, the sort of

"Mr. Orden," he said, "we are not going to waste words upon you. You are hopelessly and intolerably

prejudiced. Will you tell us where you have concealed the packet you intercepted?"

"Aren't you almost tired of asking me that question? I'm tired of hearing it," Julian replied. "I will not."

"Will you let me try to prove to you," Fenn begged, "that by the retention of that packet you are doing your

"If you talked till doomsday," Julian assured him, "I should not believe a word you said."

"Well, for heaven's sake finish the thing this time!" Julian interrupted. "I'm sick of playing the laboratory

rabbit for you. If you are out for murder, finish the job and have done with it."

"It is my duty to warn you, Mr. Orden," he said, "that the contents of this little tube of gas, which will reach

you with a touch of my fingers, may possibly be fatal and will certainly incapacitate you for life."

"Why warn me?" Julian scoffed. "You know very well that I haven't the strength of a cat, or I should wring

"We feel ourselves," Bright continued unctuously, "justified in using this tube, because its first results will be

to throw you into a delirium, in the course of which we trust that you will divulge the hiding place of the

stolen packet. We use this means in the interests of the country, and such risk as there may be lies on your

"You're a canting hypocrite!" Julian declared. "Try your delirium. That packet happens to be in the one place

"It is a serious moment, this, Mr. Orden," Fenn reminded him. "You are in the prime of life, and there is a

scandal connected with your present position which your permanent disappearance would certainly not

He stopped short. A whistle in the corner of the room was blowing. Bright moved towards it, but at that

moment there was the sound of flying footsteps on the wooden stairs outside, and the door was flung open.

Catherine, breathless with haste, paused for a moment on the threshold, then came forward with a little cry.

He gazed at her, speechless, but with a sudden light in his eyes. She came across the room and dropped on

her knees by his couch. The two men fell back. Fenn slipped back between her and the door. They both

"Weak as a kitten," he faltered. "They've poisoned me with their beastly gases."

Catherine rose to her feet. She faced the two men, her eyes flashing with anger.

"The Council will require an explanation of this, Mr. Fenn!" she declared passionately. "Barely an hour ago

"Julian Orden," Fenn replied, "has been handed over to our secret service by the unanimous vote of the

"Have you liberty to tell lies as to his whereabouts?" Catherine demanded. "You deliberately told the Council

he had escaped, yet, entirely owing to Mr. Furley, I find you down here at Bermondsey with him. What were

"Rubbish!" Catherine retorted. "You know very well that he is our friend. You have only to tell him the truth,

"Steady!" Julian muttered. "Don't imagine that I have any sympathy with your little nest of conspirators."

"That is only because you do not understand," Catherine assured him. "Listen, and you shall hear the whole

truth. I will tell you what is inside that packet and whose signatures you will find there."

Julian gripped her wrist suddenly. His eyes were filled with a new fear. He was watching the two men, who

"Catherine," he exclaimed warningly, "look out! These men mean mischief. That devil Bright invents a new

poisonous gas every day. Look at Fenn buckling on his mask. Quick! Get out if you can!"

Catherine's hand touched her bosom. Bright sprang towards her, but he was too late. She raised a little gold

whistle to her lips, and its pealing summons rang through the room. Fenn dropped his mask and glanced

"The Bishop and Mr. Furley. Great though my confidence is in you both, I scarcely ventured to come here

The approaching footsteps were plainly audible. Fenn shrugged his shoulders with a desperate attempt at

"I don't know what is in your mind, Miss Abbeway," he said. "You can scarcely believe that you, at any rate,

"I would not trust you a yard," she replied fiercely. "In any case, it is better that the others should come. Mr.

The door was opened. The Bishop and Miles Furley came hastily in. Catherine stepped forward to meet them.

"I was obliged to whistle," she explained, a little hysterically. "I do not trust either of these men. That fiend

Bright has a poisonous gas with him in a pocket cylinder. I am convinced that they meant to murder Julian."

The two newcomers turned towards the couch and exchanged amazed greetings with Julian. Fenn threw his

"Miss Abbeway," he protested, "is inclined to be melodramatic. The gas which Bright has in that cylinder is

simply one which would produce a little temporary unconsciousness. We might have used it we may still

use it but if you others are able to persuade Mr. Orden to restore the packet, our task with him is at an end.

We are not his gaolers or perhaps he would say his torturers for pleasure. The Council has ordered that

we should extort from him the papers you know of and has given us carte blanche as to the means. If you

others can persuade him to restore them peaceably, why, do it. We are prepared to wait."

Julian was still staring from one to the other of his visitors. His expression of blank astonishment had

"Bishop," he said at last, "unless you want to see me go insane before your eyes, please explain. It can't be

"Believe me, I have been no party to your incarceration, Julian,", he declared, "but if you will listen to me, I

will tell you why I think it would be better for you to restore that packet to Miss Abbeway:"

"Tell that blackguard to give me another sniff of his restorative gas," Julian begged. "These shocks are almost

The Bishop turned interrogatively towards Bright, who once more leaned over Julian with the tube in his

hand. Again the little mist, the pungent odour. Julian rose to his feet and sat down again.

"First of all," began the Bishop earnestly, as he seated himself at the end of the couch on which Julian had

been lying, "let me try to remove some of your misconceptions. Miss Abbeway is in no sense of the word a

German spy. She and I, Mr. Furley here, Mr. Fenn and Mr. Bright, all belong to an organisation leagued

"An idle word," the Bishop protested, "because at heart we are all pacifists. There is not one of us who would

wilfully choose war instead of peace. The only question is the price we are prepared to pay."

"The Government," the Bishop replied, "are the agents of the people. The people in this case wish to deal

"Because the Government is composed wholly of politicians, politicians who, in far too many speeches, have

pledged themselves to too many definite things. Still, the Government will have its chance."

"Explain to me," Julian asked, "why, if you are a patriotic society, you are in secret and illegal

"The Germany with whom we are in communication," the Bishop assured his questioner, "is the Germany

"Then you are on a wildgoose chase," Julian declared, "because the Germans who think as you do are in a

"I have you, Julian," he said. "That very belief which you have just expressed is our justification, because it is

the common belief throughout the country. I can prove to you that you are mistaken can prove it, with the

"That packet," the Bishop declared, "contains the peace terms formulated by the Socialist and Labour parties

"And ratified," the Bishop continued emphatically, "by the three great men of Germany, whose signatures are

"Do you seriously mean," he asked, "that those signatures are attached to proposals of peace formulated by

"I do indeed," was the confident reply. "If the terms are not what we have been led to expect, or if the

"You are telling me wonderful things, sir," Julian confessed, after a brief pause.

"I am telling what you will discover yourself to be the truth," the Bishop insisted. "And, Julian, I am

appealing to you not only for the return of that packet, but for your sympathy, your help, your partisanship.

You can guess now what has happened. Your anonymity has come to an end. The newly formed Council of

"The truth was discovered this evening, when your rooms were searched," she explained.

"What is the constitution of this Council of Labour?" Julian enquired, a little dazed by this revelation.

"It is the very body of men which you yourself foreshadowed," the Bishop replied eagerly. "Twenty of the

members are elected by the Trades Unions and represent the great industries of the Empire; and there are

three outsiders Miss Abbeway, Miles Furley and myself. If you, Julian, had not been so successful in

concealing your identity, you would have been the first man to whom the Council would have turned for

help. Now that the truth is known, your duty is clear. The glory of ending this war will belong to the people,

and it is partly owing to you that the people have grown to realise their strength."

"You have no one to blame for that but yourself," Catherine interrupted. "If we had known who you were, do

you suppose that we should have allowed these men to deal with you in such a manner? Do you suppose that

I should not have told you the truth about that packet? However, that is over. You know the truth now. We

five are all members of the Council who are sitting practically night and day, waiting you know what for.

Do not keep us in suspense any longer than you can help. Tell us where to find this letter?"

"I am confused," he admitted. "I must think. After all, you are engaged in a conspiracy. Stenson's Cabinet

may not be the strongest on earth, or the most capable, but Stenson himself has carried the burden of this war

"If the terms offered," the Bishop pointed out, "are anything like what we expect, they are better than any

which the politicians could ever have mooted, even after years more of bloodshed. It is my opinion that

Stenson will welcome them, and that the country, generally speaking, will be entirely in favour of their

"Supposing," Julian asked, "that you think them reasonable, that you make your demand to the Prime

"That," Fenn intervened, with the officious air of one who has been left out of the conversation far too long,

"is where we come in. At our word, every coal pit in England would cease work, every furnace fire would go

out, every factory would stand empty. The trains would remain on their sidings, or wherever they might

chance to be when the edict was pronounced. The same with the 'buses and cabs, the same with the

Underground. Not a ship would leave any port in the United Kingdom, not a ship would be docked.

Fortyeight hours of this would do more harm than a year's civil war. Fortyeight hours must procure from

the Prime Minister absolute submission to our demands. Ours is the greatest power the world has ever

evolved. We shall use it for the greatest cause the world has ever knownthe cause of peace."

"This, in a way, was inevitable," Julian observed. "You remember the conversation, Bishop," he added,

"The country went into slavery," Julian pronounced, "in August, 1915. That slavery may or may not be good

for them. To be frank, I think it depends entirely upon the constitution of your Council. It is so munch to the

"Our Council, such as it is," Fenn remarked acidly, "consists of men elected to their position by the votes of a

"The people may have chosen wisely," was the grave reply, "or they may have made mistakes. Such things

"It is at an end, whichever way you decide," Catherine declared. "Now that you know everything, though,

Julian was standing amongst them now, very drawn and pale in the dim halo of light thrown down from the

"I trust you will understand," Fenn continued, "that Bright and I were simply carrying out orders. To us you

were an enemy. You had betrayed the trust of one of our members. The prompt delivery of that packet meant

the salvation of thousands of lives. It meant a cessation of this ghastly world tragedy. We were harsh,

Julian glanced at the hand which Fenn had half extended but made no movement to take it. He leaned a little

"Help me out of this place, sir, will you?" he begged. "As for Fenn and that other brute, what I have to say

It was a little more than half an hour later when Julian ascended the steps of his club in Pall Mall and asked

the hall porter for letters. Except that he was a little paler than usual and was leaning more heavily upon his

stick, there was nothing about his appearance to denote several days of intense strain. There was a shade of

"There have been a good many enquiries for you the last few days, sir," he observed.

He ran through the little pile of letters and selected a bulky envelope addressed to himself in his own

handwriting. With this he returned to the taxicab in which the Bishop and Catherine were seated. They gazed

with fascinated eyes at the packet which he was carrying and which he at once displayed.

"You see," he remarked, as he leaned back, "there is nothing so impenetrable in the world as a club of good

standing. It beats combination safes hollow. It would have taken all Scotland Yard to have dragged this letter

"It is the packet," he assured her, "which you handed to me for safe keeping at Maltenby."

They drove almost in silence to the Bishop's house, where it had been arranged that Julian should spend the

night. The Bishop left the two together before the fire in his library, while he personally superintended the

arrangement of a guest room. Catherine came over and knelt by the side of Julian's chair.

"Shall I beg forgiveness for the past," she whispered, "or may I not talk of the future, the glorious future?"

"It can be made so," she answered with fervour, "by you more than by anybody else living. I defy you you,

`Paul Fiske to impugn our scheme, our aims, the goal towards which we strive. All that we needed was a

leader who could lift us up above the localness, the narrow visions of these men. They are in deadly earnest,

but they can't see far enough, and each sees along his own groove. It is true that at the end the same sun

shines, but no assembly of people can move together along a dozen different ways and keep the same goal in

"I do," she insisted. "My heart tells me. Besides, I have had many hints. There are people in London whose

"Neutrals, of course, but neutrals of discretion are very useful people. The military party in Germany is

making a brave show still, but it is beaten, notwithstanding its victories. The people are gathering together in

their millions. Their voice is already being heard. Here we have the proof of it."

"But even if these proposed terms are as favourable as you say," Julian objected, "how can you force them

upon the English Cabinet? There is AmericaFrance. Yours is purely a home demand. A government has

"France is warweary to the bone," she declared. "France will follow England, especially when she knows

the contents of that packet. As for America, she came into this after the great sacrifices had been made. She

demands nothing more than is to be yielded up. It is not for the sake of visionary ideas, not for diplomatic

precedence that the humanitarians of the world are going to hesitate about ending this brutal slaughter."

He studied her curiously. In the firelight her face seemed to him almost strangely beautiful. She was uplifted

by the fervour of her thoughts. The depth in her soft brown eyes was immeasurable; the quiver of her lips, so

soft and yet so spiritual, was almost inspiring. Her hand was resting upon his shoulder. She seemed to dwell

upon .his expression, to listen eagerly for his words. Yet he realised that in all this there was no personal note.

"A revolution was established two years ago," she pointed out, "and the people have held their power ever

since. I will tell you what I believe today," she went on passionately. "I believe that the very class who was

standing the firmest, whose fingers grasp most tightly the sword of warfare, will be most grateful to the

people who will wrest the initiative from their and show them the way to an honourable, inevitable peace."

"Tomorrow evening," she replied. "There will be a full meeting of the Council. The terms will be read. Then

"Whether you will accept the post of spokesman whether you will be the ambassador who shall approach

"They will," she replied confidently. "It was you who showed them their power. It is you whose inspiration

has carried them along: It is you who shall be their representative. Don't you realise," she went on, "that it is

the very association of such men as yourself and Miles Furley and the Bishop with this movement which will

endow it with reality in the eyes of the bourgeoisie of the country and Parliament?"

Their host returned, followed by his butler carrying a tray with refreshments, and the burden of serious things

fell away from them. It was only after Catherine had departed, and the two men lingered for a moment near

the fire before retiring, that either of them reverted to the great subject which dominated their thoughts.

"You understand, Julian," the Bishop said, with a shade of anxiety in his tone, "that I am in the same position

as yourself so far as regards the proposals which may lie within that envelope? I have joined this movement

or conspiracy, as I suppose it would be called on the one condition that the terms pronounced there are such

as a Christian and a lawloving country, whose children have already made great sacrifices in the cause of

freedom, may honourably accept. If they are otherwise, all the weight and influence I may have with the

"Entirely," Julian acquiesced. "To be frank with you," he added, "my doubts are not so much concerning the

terms of peace themselves as the power of the German democracy to enforce them."

"We have relied a good deal," the Bishop admitted, "upon reports from neutrals."

"We have wasted a good many epithets criticising German diplomacy," he observed, "but she seems to know

how to hold most of the neutrals in the hollow of her hand. You know what that Frenchman said? 'Scratch a

The Bishop led the way upstairs. Outside the door of Julian's room, he laid his hand affectionately upon the

"My godson," he said, "as yet we have scarcely spoken of this great surprise which you have given us of

Paul Fiske. All that I shall say now is this. I am very proud to know that he is my guest tonight. I am very

Catherine, while she waited for her tea in the Carlton lounge on the following afternoon, gazed through the

drooping palms which sheltered the somewhat secluded table at which she was seated upon a very brilliant

scene. It was just five o'clock, and a packed crowd of fashionable Londoners was listening to the strains of a

The latter, an attache at a neutral Embassy, dropped his eyeglass and polished it with a silk handkerchief, in

"It makes an interesting study," he declared. "Berlin now is madly gay, Paris decorous and sober. It remains

with London to be normal, London because its hide is the thickest, its sensibility the least acute, its

"I think," she said, "that a philosophical history of the war will some day, for those who come after us, be

extraordinarily interesting. I mean the study of the national temperaments as they were before, as they are

now during the war, and as they will be afterwards. There is one thing which will always be noted, and that is

the intense dislike which you, perhaps I, certainly the majority of neutrals, feel towards England."

"Before the war," Catherine went on, "it was Germany who was hated everywhere. She pushed her way into

the best places at hotels, watering places Monte Carlo, for instance and the famous spas. Today, all that

accumulated dislike seems to be turned upon England. I am not myself a great admirer of this country, and

"England is smug," the young man pronounced; "She is callous; she is, without meaning to be, hypocritical.

She works herself into a terrible state of indignation about the misdeeds of her neighbours, and she does not

realise her own faults. The Germans are overbearing, but one realises that and expects it. Englishmen are

irritating. It is certainly true that amongst us remaining neutrals," he added, dropping his voice a little and

looking around to be sure of their isolation, "the sympathy remains with the Central Powers."

"Naturally amongst those of your own order. But then there is very little difference between the

aristocracies of every race in the world. It is the bourgeoisie which tells, which sets its stamp upon a nation's

Their tea had arrived, and for a few moments the conversation travelled in lighter channels. The young man,

who was a person of some consequence in his own country, spoke easily of the theatres, of mutual friends, of

some sport in which he had been engaged. Catherine relapsed into the role which had been her first in life,

the young woman of fashion. As such they attracted no attention save a few admiring glances on the part of

passersby towards Catherine. As the people around them thinned out a little, their conversation became

"I shall always feel," the young man said thoughtfully, "that in these days I have lived very near great things.

I have seen and realised what the historians will relate at secondhand. The greatest events move like straws

in the wind. A month ago, it seemed as though the Central Powers would lose the war."

"I suppose," she observed, "it depends very much upon what you mean by winning it? The terms of peace are

"We happen to know what they are, do we not?" she continued, speaking almost under her breath,"the basic

"You mean," he said slowly, "the terms put forward by the Socialist Party of Germany to ensure the granting

"And acceded to," she reminded him, "by the Kaiser and the two greatest German statesmen."

He toyed with his teacup, drew a gold cigarette case from his pocket, selected a cigarette, and lit it.

"You would try to make me believe," he remarked, smiling at his companion, "that today you are not in

"I imagine," he said, "that you preserve with me something of that very skilfully assumed ignorance which is

"You have seen," he continued, "how Germany, who needs peace sorely, has striven to use the most despised

power in her country for her own advantage I mean the Socialist Party. From being treated with scorn and

ignominy, they were suddenly, at the time of the proposed Stockholm Conference, judged worthy of notice

from the All Highest himself. He suddenly saw how wonderful a use might be made of them. It was a very

clever trap which was baited, and it was not owing to any foresight or any cleverness on the part of this

country that the Allies did not walk straight into it. I say again," he went on, "that it was a mere fluke which

prevented the Allies from being represented at that Conference and the driving in of the thin end of the

"German diplomacy," he proceeded, "may sometimes be obtuse, but it is at least persistent. Their next move

will certainly rank in history as the most astute, the most cunning of any put forward since the war

commenced. Of course," the young man went on, fitting his cigarette into a long, amber holder, "we who are

"Go on, please, dear Baron," she begged. "It is when you talk like this and show me your mind that I seem to

"You flatter me, Countess," the young man said, "but indeed these events are interesting. Trace their course

for yourself after the failure of Stockholm. The Kaiser has established certain relations with the Socialist

Party. Once more he turns towards them. He affects a war weariness he does not feel. He puts it into their

heads that they shall approach without molestation certain men in England who have a great Labour

"Naturally," Catherine assented, "but after all, tell me, where does the wonderful diplomacy come in? The

terms of peace are not the terms of a conqueror. Germany is to engage herself to give up what she has sworn

to hold, even to pay indemnities, to restore all conquered countries, and to retire her armies behind the

"In the idiom of this country, Countess," he said, "I raise my hat to you. You preserve your mask of ignorance

to the end. So much so, indeed, that I find myself asking do you really believe that Germany intends to do

"But you forget," she reminded him. "I was one of those present at the discussion of the preliminaries. The

confirmation of the agreed terms, with the signatures, has arrived, and is to be placed before the Labour

The young man for a moment seemed puzzled. Then he glanced at a little gold watch upon his wrist, knocked

"That is very interesting, Countess," he said. "For the moment I had forgotten your official position amongst

"You had forgotten nothing," she declared eagerly. "There is something in your mind of which you have not

"No," he replied, "I have spoken a great deal of my mind too much, perhaps, considering that we are seated

in this very fashionable lounge, with many people around us. We must talk of these serious matters on

another occasion, Countess. I shall pay my respects to your aunt, if I may, within the next few days."

"Why do you fence with me?" she persisted, drawing on her gloves. "You and I both know, so far as regards

"If we both know," he interrupted, "let us keep each our own knowledge. Words are sometimes very,

dangerous, and great events are looming. So, Countess! You have perhaps a car, or may I have the pleasure of

"In that case," he observed, as they made their way down the room, "perhaps I had better not offer my escort,

although I should very much like to be there in person. You are amongst those today who will make

"Come and see me soon," she begged, dropping her voice a little, "and I will confide in you as much as I

"It is tempting," he admitted, "I should like to know what passes at that meeting."

"You can, if you will, dine with us tomorrow night," she invited, "at halfpast eight. My aunt will be

delighted to see you. I forget whether we have people coming or not, but you will be very welcome."

For a gathering of men upon whose decision hung such momentous issues, the Council which met that

evening at Westminster seemed alike unambitious in tone and uninspired in appearance. Some short time was

spent in one of the anterooms, where Julian was introduced to many of the delegates. The disclosure of his

identity, although it aroused immense interest, was scarcely an unmixed joy to the majority of them. Those

who were in earnest and they mostly were in grim and deadly earnest had hoped to find him a man nearer

their own class. Fenn and Bright had their own reasons for standing apart, and the extreme pacifists took note

of the fact that he had been a soldier. His coming, however, was an event the importance of which nobody

The Bishop was voted into the chair when the little company trooped into the apartment which had been set

aside for their more important meetings. His election had been proposed by Miles Furley, and as it was

announced that under no circumstances would he become a candidate for the permanent leadership of the

party, was agreed to without comment. A few notes for his guidance had been jotted down earlier in the day.

The great subject of discussion was, of course, the recently received communication from an affiliated body

of their friends in Germany, copies of which had been distributed amongst the members.

"I am asked to explain," the Bishop announced, in opening the proceedings, "that this document which we all

recognise as being of surpassing importance, has been copied by Mr. Fenn, himself, and that since, copies

have been distributed amongst the members, the front door of the building has been closed and the telephones

placed under surveillance. It is not, of course, possible that any of you could be mistrusted, but it is of the

highest importance that neither the Press, the Government, nor the people should have any indication of what

is transpiring, until the delegate whom you choose takes the initial step. It is proposed that until after his

interview with the Prime Minister, no delegate shall leave the place. The question now arises, what of the

terms themselves? I will ask each one of you to state his views, commencing with Miss Abbeway."

Every one of the twentythree or twentyfour now, including Julian had a few words to say, and the

tenor of their remarks was identical. For a basis of peace terms, the proposals were entirely reasonable, nor

did they appear in any case to be capable of misconstruction. They were laid down in eight clauses.

1.The complete evacuation of Northern France and Belgium, with full compensation for all damage done.

2.Alsace and Lorraine to determine their position by vote of the entire population.

3.Servia and Roumania to be reestablished as independent kingdoms, with such rectifications and

5.The conquered parts of Mesopotamia to remain under the protection of the British Government.

8.A world committee to be at once elected for the purpose of working out a scheme of international

"We must remember," Miles Furley pointed out, "that the present Government is practically pledged not to

"That, I contend," the Bishop observed, "is a declaration which should never have been made. Whatever may

be our own feelings with regard to the government of Germany, the Kaiser has held the nation together and is

at the present moment its responsible head. If he has had the good sense to yield to the demands of his people,

as is proved by this document, then it is very certain that the declaration must be forgotten. I have reason to

believe, however, that even if the negotiations have been commenced in the name of the Kaiser, an

"Germany's new form of government, I understand," Fenn intervened, "will be modelled upon our own,

which, after the abolition of the House of Lords, and the abnegation of the King's prerogative, will be as near

the ideal democracy as is possible. That change will be in itself our most potent guarantee against all future

wars. No democracy ever encouraged bloodshed. It is, to my mind, a clearly proved fact that all wars are the

result of court intrigue. There will be no more of that. The passing of monarchical rule in Germany will mean

There was a little sympathetic murmur. Julian, to whom Catherine had been whispering, next asked a

"I suppose," he said, "that no doubt can be cast upon the authenticity of the three signatures attached to this

"That's been in my own mind, Mr. Fiske leastwise, Mr. Orden," Phineas Cross, the Northumbrian,

remarked, from the other side of the table. "They're up to any mortal dodge, these Germans. Are we to accept

"How can we do otherwise?" Fenn demanded. "Freistner, who is responsible for it, has been in unofficial

correspondence with us since the commencement of the war. We know his handwriting, we know his

character, we've bad a hundred different occasions to test his earnestness and trustworthiness. This document

is in his own writing and accompanied by remarks and references to previous correspondence which render

"Granted that the proposals themselves are genuine, there still remain the three signatures," Julian observed.

"Why should we doubt them?" Fenn protested. "Freistner guarantees them, and Freistner is our friend, the

friend and champion of Labour throughout the world. To attempt to deceive us would be to cover himself

"Yet these terms," Julian pointed out, "differ fundamentally from anything which Germany has yet allowed to

"There are two factors here which may be considered," Miles Furley intervened. "The first is that the

economic condition of Germany is far worse than she has allowed us to know. The second, which is even

more interesting to us, is the rapid growth in influence, power, and numbers of the Socialist and Labour Party

"Of both these factors," the Bishop reminded them, "we have had very frequent hints from our friends, the

neutrals. Let me tell you all what I think. I think that those terms are as much as we have the right to expect,

even if our armies had reached the Rhine. It is possible that we might obtain some slight modifications, if we

continued the war, but would those modifications be worth the loss of a few more hundred thousands of

human lives, of a few more months of this hideous, pagan slaughter and defilement of God's beautiful

There was a murmur of approval. A lank, rawboned Yorkshireman David Sands a Wesleyan enthusiast, a

"It's true!" he exclaimed. "It's the word of God! It's for us to stop the war. If we stop it tonight instead of

tomorrow, a thousand lives may be saved, human lives, lives of our fellow creatures. Our fellow labourers

in Germany have given us the chance. Don't let us delay five minutes. Let the one of us you may select see

"There is none," Fenn assented heartily. "I propose that we proceed to the election of our representative; that,

having elected him, we send him to the Prime Minister with our message, and that we remain here in the

"You are unanimously resolved, then," the Bishop asked, "to take this last step?"

"Everything is ready," he announced. "Our machinery is perfect. Our agents in every city await the mandate."

"But do you imagine that those last means will be necessary?" the Bishop enquired anxiously.

"Most surely I do," Fenn replied. "Remember that if the people make peace for the country, it is the people

who will expect to govern the country. It will be a notice to the politicians to quit. They know that. It is my

"The Prime Minister," he announced, "will be at Downing Street until nine o'clock. It is now seven o'clock. I

propose that we proceed without any further delay to the election of our representative."

"The voting cards," Fenn pointed out, "are before each person. Every one has two votes, which must be for

two different representatives. The cards should then be folded, and I propose that the Bishop, who is not a

candidate, collect them. As I read the unwritten rules of this Congress, every one here is eligible except the

"Here, what's that?" he exclaimed. "The Bishop, and Miss Abbeway, we all know, are outside the running.

Mr. Furley, too, represents the educated Socialists, and though he is with us in this, he is not really Labour.

"Mr. Orden," Fenn pronounced slowly, "is a literary man. He is a sympathiser with our cause, but he is not of

"If any man has read the message which Paul Fiske has written with a pen of gold for us," Phineas Cross

declared, "and can still say that he is not one of us, why, he must be beside himself. I say that Mr. Orden is

the brains and the soul of our movement. He brought life and encouragement into the north of England with

the first article he ever wrote. Since then there has not been a man whom the Labour Party that I know

"It's true," David Sands broke in, "every word of it. There's no one has written for Labour like him. If he isn't

Labour, then we none of us are. I don't care whether he is the son of an earl, or a plasterer's apprentice, as I

was. He's the right stuff, he has the gift of putting the words together, and his heart's where it should be."

"There is no one," Penn said; his voice trembling a little, "who has a greater admiration for Paul Fiske's

"Sit down, lad," Cross enjoined. "We'll have a vote on that. I'm for saying that Mr. Julian Orden here, who

has written them articles under the name of `Paul Fiske', is a full member of our Council and eligible to act as

our messenger to the Prime Minister. I ask the Bishop to put it to the meeting."

Eighteen were unanimous in agreeing with the motion. Fenn sat down, speechless. His cheeks were pallid.

His hands, which rested upon the table, were twitching. He seemed like a man lost in thought and only

remembered to fill up his card when the Bishop asked him for it. There was a brief silence whilst the latter,

assisted by Cross and Sands, counted the votes. Then the Bishop rose to his feet.

"Mr. Julian Orden," he announced, "better known to you all under the name of `Paul Fiske', has been chosen

by a large majority as your representative to take the people's message to the Prime Minister."

"I protest!" Fenn exclaimed passionately. "This is Mr. Orden's first visit amongst us. He is a stranger. I repeat

that he is not one of us. Where is his power? He has none. Can he do what any one of us can stop the pulse

of the nation? Can he still its furnace fires? Can he empty the shipyards and factories, hold the trains upon

"He can do all these things," Phineas Cross interrupted, "because he speaks for us, our duly elected

representative. Sit thee down, Fenn. If you wanted the job, well, you haven't got it, and that's all there is about

it, and though you're as glib with your tongue as any here, and though you've as many at your back,

perchance, as I have, I tell you I'd never have voted for you if there hadn't been another man here. So put that

"All further discussion," the Bishop ruled, "is out of order. Julian Orden, do you accept this mission?"

Julian rose to his feet. He leaned heavily upon his stick. His expression was strangely disturbed.

"Bishop," he said, "and you, my friends, this has all come very suddenly. I do not agree with Mr. Fenn. I

consider that I am one with you. I think that for the last ten years I have seen the place which Labour should

hold in the political conduct of the world. I have seen the danger of letting the voice of the people remain

unheard too long. Russia today is a practical and terrible example of that danger. England is, in her way, a

free country, and our Government a good one, but in the world's history there arrive sometimes crises with

which no stereotyped form of government can cope, when the one thing that is desired is the plain, honest

mandate of those who count for most in the world, those who, in their simplicity and in their absence from all

political ties and precedents and liaisons, see the truth. That is why I have appealed with my pen to Labour, to

end this war. That is why I shall go willingly as your representative to the Prime Minister tonight."

The Bishop held out his hand. There was a little reverent hush, for his words were in the nature of a

Julian, duly embarked upon his mission, was kept waiting an unexpectedly short time in the large but gloomy

apartment into which Mr. Stenson's butler had somewhat doubtfully ushered him. The Prime Minister entered

"A great deal," Julian replied gravely. "First of all, though, I have an explanation to make."

"I am afraid," Mr. Stenson regretted, "that I am too much engaged this evening to enter into any personal

"I fear that we are at loggerheads. It is an envoy from the Labour Party whom I am expecting."

"I ought to explain a little further, perhaps. I have been writing on Labour questions for some time under the

"You are amazed, of course," he proceeded, "but it is nevertheless the truth. The fact has just come to light,

and I have been invited to join this new emergency Council, composed of one or two Socialists and writers,

amongst them a very distinguished prelate; Labour Members of Parliament, and representatives of the various

Trades Unions, a body of men which you doubtless know all about. I attended a meeting at Westminster an

There was a moment's silence. Mr. Stenson, however, was a man of immense recuperative powers. He

"You have given me the surprise of my life, Orden," he confessed. "That, however, is a personal matter.

Hannaway Wells is in the study. You have no objection, I suppose, to his being present?"

Mr. Stenson rang the bell, and in a few minutes they were joined by his colleague. The former wasted no time

"You will doubtless be as astonished as I was, Wells," he said, "to learn that our friend Julian Orden comes

here as the representative of the new Labour Council. His qualifications, amongst others, are that under the

pseudonym of `Paul Fiske' he is the writer of those wonderful articles which have been the beacon light and

Mr. Hannaway Wells prided himself upon never being surprised. This time the only way he could preserve

"We are now prepared to hear your mission," Mr. Stenson continued, turning to his visitor.

"I imagine," Julian began, "that you know something about this new Labour Council?"

"What little we do know," Mr. Stenson answered, "we have learnt with great difficulty through our secret

service. I gather that a small league of men has been formed within a mile of the Houses of Parliament, who,

whatever their motives may be, have been guilty of treasonable and traitorous communication with the

"Strictly speaking, you are, without doubt, perfectly right," Julian acknowledged.

"Sit down, Orden," he invited. "There is no need for us to stand glaring at one another. There is enough of

The Prime Minister threw himself into an easy chair. Julian, with a little sigh of relief, selected a

highbacked oak chair and rested his foot upon a hassock. Hannaway Wells remained standing upon the

"Straight into the heart of it, please, Orden," Mr. Stenson begged. "Let us know how far this accursed

"It has gone to very great lengths," Julian declared. "Certain members of this newlyformed Council of

Labour have been in communication for some months with the Socialist Party in Germany. >From these

latter they have received a definite and authentic proposal of peace, countersigned by the three most

important men in Germany. That proposal of peace I am here to lay before you, with the request that you act

Julian produced his roll of papers. The two men remained motionless. The great issue had been reached with

"My advice," Mr. Hannaway Wells said bluntly, "is that you, sir," turning to his Chief "refuse to discuss

or consider these proposals, or to examine that document. I submit that you are the head of His Majesty's

Government, and any communication emanating from a foreign country should be addressed to you. If you

ever consider this matter and discuss it with Mr. Orden here, you associate yourself with a traitorous breach

Mr. Stenson made no immediate reply. He looked towards Julian, as though to hear what he had to say.

"Mr. Hannaway Wells's advice is, without doubt, technically correct," Julian admitted, "but the whole subject

is too great, and the issues involved too awful for etiquette or even propriety to count. It is for you, sir, to

decide what is best for the country. You commit yourself to nothing by reading the proposals, and I suggest

Julian passed over the papers. The two men crossed the room and leaned over the Prime Minister's writing

table. Mr. Stenson drew down the electric light, and they remained there in close confabulation for about a

quarter of an hour. Julian sat with his back turned towards them and his ears closed. In this atmosphere of

government, his own position seemed to him weird and fantastic. A sense of unreality cumbered his thoughts.

Even this brief pause in the actual negotiations filled him with doubts. He could scarcely believe that it was

he who was to dictate terms to the man who was responsible for the government of the country; that it was he

who was to force a decision pregnant with farreaching consequences to the entire world. The figures of

Fenn and Bright loomed up ominously before him, however hard he tried to push them into the background.

Presently the two Ministers returned to their places. Julian had heard their voices for the last few minutes

"We have considered the document you have brought, Orden," the Prime Minister said, "and we frankly

admit that we find its contents surprising. The terms of peace suggested form a perfectly possible basis for

negotiations. At the same time, you are probably aware that it has not been in the mind of His Majesty's

Ministers to discuss terms of peace at all with the present administration of Germany."

"These terms," Julian reminded him, "are dictated, not by the Kaiser and his advisers, but by the Socialist and

"It is strange," Mr. Stenson pointed out, "that we have heard so little of that Party. It is even astonishing that

we should find them in a position to be able to dictate terms of peace to the Hohenzollerns."

"I will not go so far as that," Mr. Stenson replied cautiously. "Our secret service informed us some time ago

that Freistner, the head of the German Socialists, was in communication with certain people in this country. I

have no doubt whatever that these are the proposals of the authorised Socialist Party of Germany. What I do

not understand is how they have suddenly acquired the strength to induce proposals of peace such as these."

"It has been suggested," Julian said, "that even the Hohenzollerns, even the military clique of Germany, see

before them now the impossibility of reaping the rewards of their successful campaigns. Peace is becoming a

necessity to them. They would prefer, therefore, to seem to yield to the demands of their own Socialists rather

"That may be so," Mr. Stenson admitted. "Let us proceed. The first part of your duty, Orden, is finished.

"I am instructed," Julian announced, "to appeal to you to sue at once, through the Spanish Ambassador, for an

armistice while these terms are considered and arrangements made for discussing them."

"I will not evade even that question. Of the twentythree members of the new Council of Labour, twenty

represent the Trades Unions of the great industries of the kingdom. Those twenty will unanimously proclaim

"In other words," Mr. Stenson observed drily, "they will scuttle the ship themselves. Do you approve of these

"I decline to answer that question," Julian said, "but I would point out to you that when you acknowledged

yourself defeated by the miners of South Wales, you pointed the way to some such crisis as this."

"That may be true," Mr. Stenson acknowledged. "I have only at this moment, however, to deal with the

present condition of affairs. Do you seriously believe that, if I make the only answer which at present seems

to me possible, the Council of Labour, as they call themselves, will adopt the measures they threaten?"

"I believe that they will," Julian declared gravely. "I believe that the country looks upon any continuation of

this war as a continuation of unnecessary and ghastly slaughter. To appreciably change the military situation

would mean the sacrifice of millions more lives, would mean the continuation of the war for another two

years. I believe that the people of Germany who count are of the same opinion. I believe that the inevitable

change of government in Germany will show us a nation freed from this hideous lust for conquest, a nation

with whom, when she is purged of the poison of these last years, we can exist fraternally and with mutual

"I have never found," Julian replied, "that the pessimist walks with his head turned towards the truth."

"How long have I," the Prime Minister asked, after a brief pause, "for my reply?"

"Twentyfour hours," Julian told him, "during which time it is hoped that you will communicate with our

Allies and pave the way for a further understanding. The Council of Labour asks you for no pledge as to their

safety. We know quite well that all of us are, legally speaking, guilty of treason. On the other hand, a single

step towards the curtailment of our liberties will mean the paralysis of every industry in the United

"I realise the position perfectly," Mr. Stenson observed drily. "I do not exactly know what to say to you

personally, Orden," he added. "Perhaps it is as well for us that the Council should have chosen an ambassador

with whom discussion, at any rate, is possible. Nevertheless, I feel bound to remind you that you have taken

upon your shoulders, considering your birth and education, one of the most perilous loads which any man

"I have weighed the consequences," Julian replied, with a sudden and curious sadness in his tone. "I know

how the name of `pacifist' stinks in the nostrils. I know how far we are committed as a nation to a peace won

by force of arms. I know how our British blood boils at the thought of leaving a foreign country with as many

military advantages as Germany has acquired. But I feel, too, that there is the other side. I have brought you

evidence that it is not the German nation against whom we fight, man against man, human being against

human being. It is my belief that autocracy and the dynasty of the Hohenzollerns will crumble into ruin as a

result of today's negotiations, just as surely as though we sacrificed God knows how many more lives to

"You are an honest man, Julian Orden," he said, "and a decent emissary. You will reply that we take the

twentyfour hours for reflection. That means that we shall meet at nine o'clock tomorrow evening."

He held out his hand in farewell, an action which somehow sent Julian away a happier man.

Julian, on, the morning following his visit to the Prime Minister, was afflicted with a curious and persistent

unrest. He travelled down to the Temple land found Miles Furley in a room hung with tobacco smoke and

"I am in the same fix," Furley admitted. "I sat here till four o'clock. Phineas Cross came around, and

halfadozen of the others. I felt I must talk to them, I must keep on hammering it out. We're right, Julian.

"That's the worst of it," Furley groaned. "They'll have a bird'seye view of the whole affair, those people who

write our requiem or our eulogy. You noticed the Press this morning? They're all hinting at some great move

in the West. It's about in the clubs. Why, I even heard last night that we were in Ostend. It's all a rig, of

"Fenn. He met him at the Geneva Conference, the year before the war. I met him, too, but I didn't see so

much of him. He's a fine fellow, Julian as unlike the typical German as any man you ever met."

"As the day itself," was the confident reply. "He has been in prison twice, you know, for plain speaking. He is

"Miles," he said, "straight from the bottom of your heart, mind you do believe we are justified?"

"You know that we have practically created a revolution that we have established a dictatorship? Stenson

"It is the voice of the people," Furley declared. "I am convinced that we are justified. I am convinced of the

"Don't think I am weakening," he said. "Remember, I am new to this thing in practice, even though I may be

"It is the people who are the soundest directors of a nation's policy," Furley pronounced. "High politics

becomes too much like a game of chess, hedged all around with etiquette and precedent. It's human life we

want to save, Julian. People don't stop to realise the horrible tragedy of even one man's death one man with

his little circle of relatives and friends. In the game of war one forgets. Human beings men from the toiler's

bench, the carpenter's bench, from behind the counter, from the land, from the mine don khaki, become

soldiers, and there seems something different about them. So many human lives gone every day; just soldiers,

just the toll we have to pay for a slight advance or a costly retreat. And, my God, every one of them,

underneath their khaki, is a human being! The politicians don't grasp it, Julian. That's our justification. The

day that armistice is signed, several hundred lives at least perhaps, thousands will be saved; for several

hundred women the sun will continue to shine. Parents, sweethearts, children all of them think what they

"I am a man again," Julian declared. "Come along round to Westminster. There are many things I want to ask

They drove round to the great building which had been taken over by the different members of the Labour

Council. The representative of each Trades Union had his own office, staff of clerks and private telephone.

Fenn, who greeted the two men with a rather excessive cordiality, constituted himself their cicerone. He took

them from room to room and waited while Julian exchanged remarks with some of the delegates whom he

"Every one of our members," Fenn pointed out, "is in direct communication with the local secretary of each

He paused and laid his hand on a little heap of telegraph forms, on which one word was typed.

"These," he continued, "are all ready to be dispatched the second that we hear from Mr. Stenson that is to say

if we should hear unfavourably. They are divided into batches, and each batch will be sent from a different

postoffice, so that there shall be no delay. We calculate that in seven hours, at the most, the industrial pulse

"Exactly three months," David Sands observed, turning around in his swing chair from the desk at which he

had been writing. "The scheme was started a few days after your article in the British. We took your motto as

They found their way into the clubroom, and at luncheon, later on, Julian strove to improve his acquaintance

with the men who were seated around him. Some of them were Members of Parliament with wellknown

names, others were intensely local, but all seemed earnest and clearsighted. Phineas Cross commenced to

talk about war generally. He had just returned from a visit with other Labour Members to the front, although

it is doubtful whether the result had been exactly in accordance with the intentions of the powers who had

"I'll tell you something about war," he said, "which contradicts most every other experience. There's scarcely

a great subject in the world which you don't have to take as a whole, and from the biggest point of view, to

appreciate it thoroughly. It's exactly different with war. If you want to understand more than the platitudes,

you want to just take in one section of the fighting. Say there are fifty Englishmen, decent fellows, been

dragged from their posts as commercial travellers or small tradesmen or labourers or whatnot, and they get

mixed up with a similar number of Germans. Those Germans ain't the fiends we read about. They're not

bubbling over with militarism. They don't want to lord it over all the world. They've exactly the same tastes,

the same outlook upon life as the fifty Englishmen whom an iron hand has been forcing to do their best to

kill. Those English chaps didn't want to kill anybody, any more than the Germans did. They had to do it, too,

simply because it was part of the game. There was a handful of German prisoners I saw, talking with their

guard and exchanging smokes. One was a barber in a country town. The man who had him in tow was an

English barber. Bless you, they were talking like one o'clock! That German barber didn't want anything in life

except plenty to eat and drink, to be a good husband and good father, and to save enough money to buy a

little house of his own. The Englishman was just the same. He'd as soon have had that German for a pal for a

day's fishing or a walk in the country, as any one else. They'd neither of them got anything against the other.

Where the hell is this spirit of hatred? You go down the line, mile after mile, and most little groups of men

facing one another are just the same. Here and there, there's some bitter feeling, through some fighting that's

seemed unfair, but that's nothing. The fact remains that those millions of men don't hate one another, that

they've got nothing to hate one another about, and they're being driven to slaughter one another like savage

beasts. For what? Mr. Stenson might supply an answer. Your great editors might. Your great Generals could

be glib about it. They could spout volumes of words, but there's no substance about them. I say that in this

"You are not only right, but you are splendidly right, Mr. Cross," Julian declared. "It's human talk, that."

"And yet," Fenn complained, in his thin voice, "if I talk like that, they call me a pacifist, a lot of rowdies get

up and sing `Rule Britannia', and try to chivy me out of the hall where I'm speaking."

"You see, there's a difference, lad," Cross pointed out, setting down the tankard of beer from which he had

been drinking. "You talk sometimes that whitelivered stuff' about not hitting a man back if he wants to hit

you, and you drag in your conscience, and prate about all men being brothers, and that sort of twaddle. A

fullblooded Englishman don't like it, because we are all of us out to protect what we've got, any way and

anyhow. But that doesn't alter the fact that there's something wrong in the world when we're driven to do this

protecting business wholesale and being forced into murdering on a scale which only devils could have

thought out and imagined. It's the men at the top that are responsible for this war, and when people come to

reckon up, they'll say that there was blame up at the top in the Government of every Power that's fighting, but

there was a damned sight more blame amongst the Germans than any of the others, and that's why many a

hundred thousand of our young men who've loathed the war and felt about it as I do have gone and done their

"I dunno, lad," Cross replied, winking across the table at Julian. "Seems to me there was a powerful lot of

fighting in the Old Testament, and the Lord was generally on one side or the other. But you and I ain't going

to bicker, Mr. Fenn. The first decision this Council came to, when it embraced more than a dozen of us of

very opposite ways of thinking, was to keep our mouths shut about our own ideas and stick to business. So

give me a fill of baccy from your pipe, and we'll have a cup of coffee together."

Julian's pouch was first upon the table, and the Northumbrian filled his pipe in leisurely fashion.

"Good stuff, sir," he declared approvingly, as he passed it back. "After dinner I am mostly a man of peace

even when Fenn comes yapping around," he added, looking after the disappearing figure of the secretary.

"But I make no secret of this. I tumbled to it from the first that this was a great proposition, this

amalgamation of Labour. It makes a power of us, even though it may, as you, Mr. Orden, said in one of your

articles, bring us to the gates of revolution. But it was all I could do to bring myself to sit down at the same

table with Penn and his friend Bright. You see," he explained, "there may be times when you are forced into

doing a thing that fundamentally you disapprove of and you know is wrong. I disapprove of this war, and I

know it's wrong it's a foul mess that we've been got into by those who should have known better but I

ain't like Fenn about it. We're in it, and we've got to get out of it, not like cowards but like Englishmen, and if

fighting had been the only way through, then I should have been for fighting to the last gasp. Fortunately,

we've got into touch with the sensible folk on the other side. If we hadn't well, I'll say no more but that I've

got two boys fighting and one buried at Ypres, and I've another, though he's over young, doing his drill."

"Mr. Cross," Julian said, "you've done me more good than any one I've talked to since the war began."

"That's right, lad," Cross replied. "You get straight words from one; and not only that, you get the words of

another million behind me, who feel as I do. But," he added, glancing across the room and lowering his voice,

"keep your eye on that artful devil, Fenn. He doesn't bear you any particular good will"

"I'm not speaking of that only," Cross went on. "There wasn't one of us who didn't vote for squeezing that

document out of you one way or the other, and if it had been necessary to screw your neck off for it, I don't

know as one of us would have hesitated, for you were standing between us and the big thing. But he and that

little skunk Bright ain't to be trusted, in my mind, and it seems to me they've got a down on you. Fenn

counted on being heart of this Council, for one thing, and there's a matter of a young woman, eh, for

"The Russian young person Miss Abbeway, she calls herself. Fenn's been her lapdog round here takes

her out to dine and that. It's just a word of warning, that's all. You're new amongst us, Mr. Orden, and you

"Middle stump," Cross acknowledged. "And since we are on the subject, my new friend, let me tell you this.

To feel perfectly happy about this Council, there's just three as I should like to see out of it Fenn, Bright

"You might as well ask me, `Why Fenn and Bright?'" the other replied. "I shouldn't make no answer. We're

superstitious, you know, we north country folk, and we are all for instincts. All I can say to you is that there

"Miss Abbeway is surely above suspicion?" Julian protested. "She has given up a great position and devoted

the greater part of her fortune towards the causes which you and I and all of us are working for."

"No person of noble birth," Julian reminded him, "has the slightest chance of working effectively in Russia

today. Besides, Miss Abbeway is half English. Failing Russia, she would naturally select this as the country

Some retort seemed to fade away upon the other's lips. His shaggy eyebrows were drawn a little closer

together as he glanced towards the door. Julian followed the direction of his gaze. Catherine had entered and

Catherine was more heavily veiled than usual. Her dress and hat were of sombre black, and her manner

nervous and disturbed. She came slowly towards their end of the table, although she was obviously in

"Fenn was here a few minutes ago," he replied, "but he left us abruptly. I fancy that he rather disapproved of

"It isn't private," she said, "but I particularly want Mr. Fenn to tell me something, and as you know, he is

peculiar. Perhaps, if you don't mind, it would be better if you waited for me downstairs."

Julian's response was a little vague. She left him, however, without appearing to notice his reluctance and

knocked at the door of Fenn's room. She found him seated behind a desk, dictating some letters to a

"Delighted to see you, Miss Abbeway," he declared impressively, "delighted! Come and sit down, please, and

talk to me. We have had a tremendous morning. Even though the machine is all ready to start, it needs a

She sank into the chair from which he had swept a pile of papers and raised her veil.

He withdrew a little into himself. His eyes narrowed. His manner became more cautious.

"I want to ask you this: have you heard anything from Freistner during the last day or two?"

Fenn's face was immovable. He still showed no signs of discomposure his voice only was not altogether

"Last day or two?" he repeated reflectively. "No, I can't say that I have, Miss Abbeway. I needn't remind you

"One of our Russian writers," she said, "once wrote that there are a thousand eddies in the winds of chance.

One of those has blown my way today or rather yesterday. Freistner is above all suspicion, is he not?"

"Far above," was the confident reply. "I am not the only one who knows him. Ask the others."

"Do you think it possible that he himself can have been deceived?" she persisted.

"In his own strength the strength of his own Party," she proceeded eagerly. "Do you think it possible that

the Imperialists have pretended to recognise in him a far greater factor in the situation than he really is? Have

pretended to acquiesce in these terms of peace with the intention of repudiating them when we have once

Fenn seemed for a moment to have shrunk in his chair. His eyes had fallen before her passionate gaze. The

penholder which he was grasping snapped in his fingers. Nevertheless, his voice still performed its office.

"My dear Miss Abbeway," he protested, "who or what has been putting these ideas into your head?"

"A veritable chance," she replied, "brought me yesterday afternoon into contact with a man a neutral who

"He told me nothing," she admitted. "I have no more to go on than an uplifted eyebrow. All the same, I came

away feeling uneasy. I have felt wretched ever since. I am wretched now. I beg you to get at once into touch

with Freistner. You can do that now without any risk. Simply ask him for a confirmation of the existing

"That is quite easy," Fenn promised. "I will do it without delay. But in the meantime," he added, moistening

his dry lips, "can't you possibly get to know what this man this neutral is driving at?"

"I fear not," she replied, "but I shall try. I have invited him to dine tonight."

"Why Mr. Orden?" he demanded passionately. "He is the youngest member of the Council. He knows

nothing of our negotiations with Freistner. Surely I am the person with whom you should communicate?"

"It will be very late tonight," she reminded him, "and Mr. Orden is my personal friend outside the

She appeared to find his agitation disconcerting, and she withdrew a little from the yellowstained fingers

"We are all friends," she said evasively. "Perhaps if there is anything important, then I will come, or send

He rose to his feet, less, it seemed, as an act of courtesy in view of her departure, than with the intention of

some further movement. He suddenly reseated himself, however, his fingers grasped at the air, he became

He poured himself out a glass of water with trembling fingers and drank it unsteadily.

"Nerves, I suppose," he said. "I've had to carry the whole burden of these negotiations upon my shoulders,

A momentary impulse of kindness did battle with her invincible dislike of the man.

"You must remember," she urged, "that yours is a glorious work; that our thoughts and gratitude are with

"But are they?" he demanded, with another little burst of passion. "Gratitude, indeed! If the Council feel that,

why was I not selected to approach the Prime Minister instead of Julian Orden? Sympathy! If you, the one

person from whom I desire it, have any to offer, why can you not be kinder? Why can you not respond, ever

She hesitated for a moment, seeking for the words which would hurt him least. Tactless as ever, he

"I may have had one small check in my career," he continued eagerly, "but the game is not finished. Believe

me, I have still great cards up my sleeve. I know that you have been used to wealth and luxury. Miss

Abbeway," he went on, his voice dropping to a hoarse whisper, "I was not boasting the other night. I have

The look in her eyes stifled his eloquence. He broke off in his speech became dumb and voiceless.

"Mr. Fenn," she said, "once and for all this sort of conversation is distasteful to me. A great deal of what you

She left him, with an inscrutable look. He made no effort to open the door for her. He simply stood listening

to her departing footsteps, listened to the shrill summons of the liftbell, listened to the lift itself go clanging

downwards. Then he resumed his seat at his desk. With his hands clasped nervously together, an ink smear

upon his cheek, his mouth slightly open, disclosing his irregular and discoloured teeth, he was not by any

He blew down a tube by his side and gave a muttered order. In a few minutes Bright presented him

"You've got to be busier in a few minutes," was the harsh reply. "There's a screw loose somewhere."

"Get down to your office at once," Fenn directed briefly. "Have Miss Abbeway followed. I want reports of

"Go to Hell, and do as you're told!" was the fierce reply. "Put your best men on the job. I must know, for all

our sakes, the name of the neutral whom Miss Abbeway sees tonight and with whom she is exchanging

Bright left the room with a shrug of the shoulders. Nicholas Fenn turned up the electric light, pulled out a

bank book from the drawer of his desk, and, throwing it on to the fire, watched it until it was consumed.

The Baron Hellman, comfortably seated at the brilliantly decorated round dining table, between Catherine, on

one side, and a lady to whom he had not been introduced, contemplated the menu through his immovable

eyeglass with satisfaction, unfolded his napkin, and continued the conversation with his hostess, a few places

"The position of neutrals, especially in the diplomatic world, becomes, in the case of a war like this, most

difficult and sometimes embarrassing. To preserve a correct attitude is often a severe strain upon one's

"A very charming young man, the Baron," she confided to the General who had taken her in to dinner. "I

knew his father and his uncle quite well, in those happy days before the war, when one used to move from

"Diplomatic type of features," the General remarked, who hated all foreigners. "It's rather bad luck on them,"

he went on, with bland insularity, "that the men of the European neutrals Dutch, Danish, Norwegians or

The Baron turned towards Catherine and ventured upon a whispered compliment. She was wearing a

wonderful prewar dress of black velvet, closefitting yet nowhere cramping her naturally delightful figure.

"It is permitted, Countess, to express one's appreciation of your toilette?" he ventured.

"In England it is not usual," she reminded him, with a smile, "but as you are such an old friend of the family,

we will call it permissible. It is, as a matter of fact, the last gown I had from Paris. Nowadays, one thinks of

"You are one of the few women," he observed, "who mix in the great affairs and yet remain intensely

"Yet they are interesting," he replied. "The atmosphere at the present moment is electric, charged with all

manner of strange possibilities. But we talk too seriously. Will you not let me know the names of some of

"They really don't count for very much," she said, a little carelessly. "This is entirely aunt's Friday night

gathering, and they are all her friends. That is Lady Maltenby opposite you, and her husband on the other side

"Maltenby," he repeated. "Ah, yes! There is one son a Brigadier, is there not? And another one sees

"Am I exceeding the privileges of friendship, Countess," the Baron continued, "if I enquire whether there was

"It is in the air," she admitted, "but at present nothing is settled. Mr. Orden has peculiar habits. He

disappeared from Society altogether, a few days ago, and has only just returned."

"Something of the sort," Catherine assented. "He went out to France, though, and did extremely well. He lost

"I have noticed that he uses a stick," the Baron remarked. "I always find him a young man of pleasant and

"Well," Catherine continued, "that is Mr. Braithwaiter the playwright, a little to the left the man, with the

smooth grey hair and eyeglass. Mrs. Hamilton Beardsmore you know, of course; her husband is commanding

"Lady Grayson. She comes up from the country once a month to buy food. You needn't mind her. She is

"I am relieved," the Baron confessed, with a little sigh. "I addressed her as we sat down, and she made no

"The man next me," she went on, "is Mr. Millson Gray. He is an American millionaire, over here to study our

Y.M.C.A. methods. He can talk of nothing else in the world but Y.M.C.A. huts and American investments,

Catherine smiled up into his imperturbable face. The wine had brought a faint colour to her cheeks, and the

young man sighed regretfully at the idea of her prospective engagement. He had always been one of

"But what are we to talk about?" she asked. "On the really interesting subjects your lips are always closed.

"You," he continued, "are an aristocrat of the aristocrats. I can quite conceive that you found your position in

Russia incompatible with modern ideas. The Russian aristocracy, if you will forgive my saying so, is in for a

bad time which it has done its best to thoroughly deserve. But in England your position is scarcely so

comprehensible. Here you come to a sanely governed country, which is, to all effects and purposes, a country

governed by the people for the people. Yet here, within two years, you have made yourself one of the

champions of democracy. Why? The people are not illtreated. On the contrary, I should call them

"You do not understand," she explained earnestly. "In Russia it was the aristocracy who oppressed the people,

shamefully and malevolently. In England it is the bourgeoisie who rule the country and stand in the light of

Labour. It is the middleman, the profiteer, the new capitalist here who has become an ugly and a dominant

power. Labour has the means by which to assert itself and to claim its rights, but has never possessed the

leaders or the training. That has been the subject of my lectures over here from the beginning. I want to teach

the people how to crush the middleman. I want to show them how to discover and to utilise their strength."

"Is not that a little dangerous?" he enquired. "You might easily produce a state of chaos."

"For a time, perhaps," she admitted, "but never for long. You see, the British have one transcendental quality;

they possess common sense. They are not idealists like the Russians. The men with whom I mix neither walk

with their heads turned to the clouds nor do they grope about amongst the mud. They just look straight ahead

"I see," he murmured. "And now, having reached just this stage in our conversation, let me ask you this. You

"Are you aware of a very curious note of unrest during the last few days hints at a crisis in the war which

nothing in the military situation seems to justify vague but rather gloomy suggestions of an early peace?"

"Every one is talking about it," she agreed. "I think that you and I have some idea as to what it means."

"And somehow," she went on, dropping her voice a little, "I believe that your knowledge goes farther than

He gave no sign, made no answer. Some question from across the table, with reference to the action of one of

his country's Ministers, was referred to him. He replied to it and drifted quite naturally into a general

conversation. Without any evident effort, he seemed to desire to bring his teteatete with Catherine to a

close. She showed no sign of disappointment; indeed she fell into his humour and made vigorous efforts to

attack the subject of Y.M.C.A. huts with her neighbour on the right. The rest of the meal passed in this

manner, and it was not until they met, an hour later, in the Princess' famous reception room, that they

exchanged more than a casual word. The Princess liked to entertain her guests in a fashion of her own. The

long apartment, with its many recesses and deep windows, an apartment which took up the whole of one side

of the large house, had all the dignity and even splendour of a drawingroom, and yet, with its little palm

court, its cosy divans, its bridge tables and roulette board, encouraged an air of freedom which made it

"I wonder, Baron," she asked, "what time you are leaving, and whether I could rely upon your escort to the

Lawsons' dance? Don't hesitate to say if you have an engagement, as it only means my telephoning to some

"I am entirely at your service, Countess," he answered promptly. "As a matter of fact, I have already

"The Princess was kind enough to invite me," he replied, "but I ventured to excuse myself. I saw that the

numbers were even without me, and I hoped for a little more conversation with you."

They seated themselves in an exceedingly comfortable corner. A footman brought them coffee, and a butler

"Every one calls this room of my aunt's the hotel lounge," she remarked. "Personally, I love it."

"To me, also, it is the ideal apartment," he confessed. "Here we are alone, and I may ask you a question

which was on my lips when we had tea together at the Carlton, and which, but for our environment, I should

"You may ask me anything," she assured him, with a little smile. "I am feeling happy and loquacious. Don't

"I will only ask you for one just now," he promised. "Is it true that you have today had some disagreement

with shall I say a small congress of men who have their meetings down at Westminster, and with whom

"These are the days," he said, "when, if one is to succeed in my profession, one must know everything."

She did not speak for a moment. His question had been rather a shock to her. In a moment or two, however,

"Is this not a case, Countess," he ventured, "in which you and I might perhaps come a little closer together?"

"I wonder," he went on, "if I am right in some of my ideas? I shall test them. You have taken up your abode

in England. That was natural, for domestic reasons. You have shown a great interest in a certain section of the

British public. It is my theory that your interest in England is for that section only; that as a country, you are

"Your interest," he proceeded, "is in the men and women toilers of the world, the people who carry on their

shoulders the whole burden of life, and whose position you are continually desiring to ameliorate. I take it

"Therefore," he propounded, "you are working for the betterment of the least considered class, whether it be

"I pursue my theory, then. The issue of this war leaves you indifferent, so long as the people come to their

"My work for the last few weeks amongst those men of whom you have been speaking," she pointed out,

"We are through the wood and in the open, then," he declared, with a little sigh of relief. "Now I am prepared

to trade secrets with you. I am not a friend of this country. Neither my Chief nor my Government have the

"Now I ask you for information," he continued. "Tell me this? Your pseudofriends have presented the

"And what will happen if he refuses?" the Baron asked, leaning a little towards her. "Will they use their

"They will not compromise," she assured him. "The telegrams to the secretaries of the various Trades Unions

are already written out. They will be despatched five minutes after Mr. Stenson's refusal to sue for an

"Your information," he admitted, "is valuable to me. Well though I am served, I cannot penetrate into the

"You shall have them, with pleasure," he replied. "Freistner has been in a German fortress for some weeks

and may be shot at any moment. The supposed strength of the Socialist Party in Germany is an utter sham.

The signatures attached to the document which was handed to your Council some days ago will be

repudiated. The whole scheme of coming into touch with your Labour classes has been fostered and

developed by the German War Cabinet. England will be placed in the most humiliating and ridiculous

"Germany," the Baron pronounced calmly, "will have taken the first great step up the ladder in her climb

There were one or two amongst those present in the Council room at Westminster that evening, who noted

and never forgot a certain indefinable dignity which seemed to come to Stenson's aid and enabled him to face

what must have been an unwelcome and anxious ordeal without discomposure or disquiet. He entered the

room accompanied by Julian and Phineas Cross, and he had very much the air of a man who has come to pay

a business visit, concerning the final issue of which there could be no possible doubt. He shook hands with

the Bishop gravely but courteously, nodded to the others with whom he was acquainted, asked the names of

the few strangers present, and made a careful mental note of what industries and districts they represented. He

then accepted a chair by the side of the Bishop, who immediately opened the proceedings.

"My friends," the latter began, "as I sent word to you a little time ago, Mr. Stenson has preferred to bring you

his answer himself. Our ambassador Mr. Julian Orden waited upon him at Downing Street at the hour

arranged upon, and, in accordance with his wish to meet you all, Mr. Stenson is paying us this visit."

The Bishop hesitated, and the Prime Minister promptly drew his chair a little farther into the circle.

"Gentlemen," he said, "the issue which you have raised is so tremendous, and its results may well be so

catastrophic, that I thought it my duty to beg Mr. Orden to arrange for me to come and speak to you all, to

explain to you face to face why, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, I cannot do your bidding."

"You don't want peace, then?" one of the delegates from the other side of the table asked bluntly.

"So your ambassador has told me," was the calm reply. "In point of numbers you may be said, perhaps, to

represent the nation. In point of intellect, of knowledge of inner knowledge, mind I claim that I represent

it. I tell you that a peace now, even on the terms which your Socialist allies in Germany have suggested,

"Because it is not the peace we promised our dead or our living heroes," Mr. Stenson said slowly. "We set out

to fight for democracy your cause. That fight would be a failure if we allowed the proudest, the most

autocratic, the most conscienceless despot who ever sat upon a throne to remain in his place."

"But that is just what we shall not do," Fenn interrupted. "Freistner has assured us of that. The peace is not

the Kaiser's peace. It is the peace of the Socialist Party in Germany, and the day the terms are proclaimed,

"I find neither in the European Press nor in the reports of our secret service agents the slightest warrant for

"Every word of it," the Prime Minister replied. "I believe that Freistner is an honest man, as honest as any of

you, but I think that he is mistaken. I do not believe that the German people are with him. I am content to

believe that those signatures are genuine. I will even believe that Germany would welcome those terms of

peace, although she would never allow them to proceed from her own Cabinet. But I do not believe that the

clash and turmoil which would follow their publication would lead to the overthrow of the German dynasty.

You give me no proof of it, gentlemen. You have none yourselves. And therefore I say that you propose to

work in the dark, and it seems to me that your work may lead to an evil end. I want you to listen to me for

one moment," he went on, his face lighting up with a flash of terrible earnestness. "I am not going to cast

about in my mind for flowery phrases or epigrams. We are plain men here together, with our country's fate in

the balance. For God's sake, realise your responsibilities. I want peace. I ache for it. But there will be no

peace for Europe while Germany remains an undefeated autocracy. We've promised our dead and our living

to oust that corrupt monster from his throne. We've promised it to France our glorious Allies. We've shaken

hands about it with America, whose ships are already crowding the seas, and whose young manhood has

taken the oath which ours has taken. This isn't the time for peace. I am not speaking in the dark when I tell

you that we have a great movement pending in the West which may completely alter the whole military

situation. Give us a chance. If you carry out your threat, you plunge this country into revolution, you

dishonour us in the face of our Allies; you will go through the rest of your lives, every one of you, with a

guilt upon your souls, a stain upon your consciences, which nothing will ever obliterate. You see, I have kept

my word I haven't said much. I cannot ask for the armistice you suggest. If you take this step you threaten

I do not deny its significance you will probably stop the war. One of you will come in and take my place.

There will be turmoil, confusion, very likely bloodshed. I know what the issue will be, and yet I know my

duty. There is not one member of my Cabinet who is not with me. We refuse your appeal."

Every one at the table seemed to be talking at the same time to every one else. Then Cross's voice rose above

"Bishop," he said, "there is one point in what Mr. Stenson has been saying which I think we might and ought

to consider a little more fully, and that is, what guarantees have we that Freistner really has the people at the

back of him, that he'll be able to cleanse that rat pit at Berlin of the Hohenzollern and his clan of junkers the

most accursed type of politician who ever breathed? We ought to be very sure about this. Fenn's our man.

"Freistner's letters for weeks," Fenn answered, "have spoken of the wonderful wave of socialistic feeling

throughout the country. He is an honest man, and he does not exaggerate. He assures us that half the nation is

"One man," David Sands remarked thoughtfully. "If, there is a weak point about this business, which I am not

prepared wholly to admit, it is that the entire job on that side seems to be run by one man. There's a score of

"It is strange," Mr. Stenson pointed out, "that so little news of this gain of strength on the part of the

Socialists has been allowed to escape from Germany. However rigid their censorship, copies of German

newspapers reach us every day from neutral countries. I cannot believe that Socialism has made the advance

Freistner claims for it, and I agree with our friends, Mr. Cross and Mr. Sands here, that you ought to be very

"I am not convinced that we should be wise to do so," Julian intervened. "I am in favour of our taking a few

"Let me explain where I think we have been a little hasty," Julian continued earnestly. "I gather that the

whole correspondence between this body and the Socialist Party in Germany has been carried on by Mr. Fenn

and Freistner. There are other wellknown Socialists in Germany, but from not one of these have we received

any direct communication. Furthermore and I say this without wishing to impugn in any way the care with

which I am sure our secretary has transcribed these letters at a time lake this I am forced to remember that I

"Do you mean to insinuate that I have altered or forged the letters?" he shouted.

"I have made no insinuations," Julian replied. "At the same time, before we proceed to extremities, I propose

"That's common sense," Cross declared. "There's no one can object to that. I'm none so much in favour of

Fenn turned to whisper to Bright. Mr. Stenson rose to his feet. The glare of the unshaded lamp fell upon his

strained face. He seemed to have grown older and thinner since his entrance into the room.

"I can neither better nor weaken my cause by remaining," he said. "Only let this be my parting word to you.

Upon my soul as an Englishman, I believe that if you send out those telegrams tonight, if you use your

hideous and, deadly weapon against me and the Government, I believe that you will be guilty of this country's

ruin, as you certainly will of her dishonour. You have the example of Russia before you. And I will tell you

this, too, which take into your hearts. There isn't one of those men who are marching, perhaps tonight,

perhaps tomorrow, to a possible death, who would thank you for trying, to save their lives or bodies at the

expense of England's honour. Those about to die would be your sternest critics. I can say no more."

"Mr. Stenson," he declared, "you have said just what could be said from your point of view, and God knows,

even now, who is in the right! You are looking at the future with a very full knowledge of many things of

which we are all ignorant. You have, quite naturally, too, the politician's hatred of the methods these people

"Orden," Mr. Stenson replied sternly, "I did not come to you tonight as a politician. I have spoken as a man

and an Englishman, as I speak to you now. For the love of your country and her honour, use your influence

with these people. Stop those telegrams. Work for delay at any cost. There's something inexplicable, sinister,

about the whole business. Freistner may be an honest man, but I'll swear that he hasn't the influence or the

"It is my belief," the former concluded deliberately, "that thirty seconds in the courtyard of the Tower, with

They parted at the door, and Julian returned to his seat, uneasy and perplexed. Around the Council table

voices were raised in anger. Fenn, who was sitting moodily with folded arms, his chair drawn a little back

from the table, scowled at him as he took his place. Furley, who had been whispering to the Bishop, turned

"It seems," he announced, "that the originals of most of Freistner's communications have been destroyed."

"And why not?" Fenn demanded passionately. "Why should I keep letters which would lay a rope around my

neck any day they were found? You all know as well as I do that we've been expecting the police to raid the

"I am a late comer," Julian observed, "but surely some of you others have seen the original communications

Thomas Evans spoke up from the other end of the table, a small, sturdily built man, a great power in South

"To be frank," he said, "I don't like these insinuations. Fenn's been our secretary from the first. He opened the

negotiations, and he's carried them through. We either trust him, or we don't. I trust him."

"And I'm not saying you're not right, lad." Cross declared. "I'm for being cautious, but it's more with the idea

"I will pledge my word," Fenn pronounced fiercely, "to the truth of all the facts I have laid before you.

Whatever my work may have been, today it is completed. I have brought you a people's peace from

Germany. This very Council was formed for the purpose of imposing that peace upon the Government. Are

you going to back out now, because a dilettante writer, an aristocrat who never did a stroke of work in his

life, casts sneering doubts upon my honesty? I've done the work you gave me to do. It's up to you to finish it,

I represent a million working men. So does David Sands there, Evans and Cross, and you others. What does

Orden represent? Nobody and nothing! Miles Furley? A little band of Socialists who live in their gardens and

keep bees! My lord Bishop? Just his congregation from week to week! Yet it's these outsiders who've come in

and disturbed us. I've had enough of it and them. We've wasted the night, but I propose that the telegrams go

It was a counterattack which swept everything before it. Every hand in the room except the Bishop's,

"We've our work to do, chaps," he said. "We'll leave the others to talk till daylight, if they want to."

Julian and Furley left the place together. They looked for the Bishop but found that he had slipped away.

"To Downing Street, I believe," Furley remarked. "He has some vague idea of suggesting a compromise."

"Compromise!" Julian repeated a little drearily. "How can there be any such thing! There might be delay. I

think we ought to have given Stenson a week time to communicate with America and send a mission to

"We are like all theorists," Furley declared moodily, stopping to relight his pipe. "We create and destroy on

"How can any one help it? Theoretically we are right I am sure of it. If we leave it to the politicians, this

war will go dragging on for God knows how long. It's the people who are paying. It's the people who ought to

make the peace. The only thing that bothers me is whether we are doing it the right way. Is Freistner honest?

Could he be selfdeceived? Is there any chance that he could be playing into the hands of the

"Fenn is the man who has had most to do with him," Julian remarked. "I wouldn't trust Fenn a yard, but I

"So do I," Furley assented, "but is Fenn's report of his promises and the strength of his followers entirely

"That's the part of the whole thing I don't like," Julian acknowledged. "Fenn's practically the corner stone of

this affair. It was he who met Freistner in Amsterdam and started these negotiations, and I'm damned if I like

Fenn, or trust him. Did you see the way he looked at Stenson out of the corners of his eyes, like a little ferret?

"He certainly kept his head," Furley agreed. "His few straight words were to the point, too."

"It wasn't the occasion for eloquence," Julian declared. "That'll come next week. I suppose he'll try and break

the Trades Unions. What a chance for an Edmund Burke! It's all right, I suppose, but I wonder why I'm

"The, fact is," Furley confided, "you and I and the Bishop and Miss Abbeway are all to a certain extent out of

place on that Council. We ought to have contented ourselves with having supplied the ideas. When it comes

to the practical side, our other instincts revolt. After all, if we believed that by continuing the war we could

beat Germany from a military point of view, I suppose we should forget a lot of this admirable reasoning of

"It doesn't seem a fair bargain, though," Julian sighed. "It's the lives of our men today for the freedom of

their descendants, if that isn't frittered away by another race of politicians. It isn't good enough, Miles."

"Then let's be thankful it's going to stop," Furley declared. "We've pinned our colours to the mast, Julian. I

don't like Fenn any more than you do, nor do I trust him, but I can't see, in this instance, that he has anything

to gain by not running straight. Besides, he can't have faked the terms, and that's the only document that

counts. And so good night and to bed," he added, pausing at the street corner, where they parted.

There was something curiously different about the demeanour of Julian's trusted servant, as he took his

master's coat and hat. Even Julian, engrossed as he was in the happenings of the evening, could scarcely fail

The latter, whose manners were usually suave and excellent, answered almost harshly.

"I have enough to make me so, sir more than enough. I wish to give a week's notice."

"I am quite sober, sir," he answered, "but I should be glad to go at once. It would be better for both of us."

"The lives of my two boys," was the fierce reply. "Fred's gone now died in hospital last night. It was you

"You are very foolish to blame anybody, Robert. Your sons did their duty. If they hadn't joined up when they

"Their duty!" Robert repeated, with smothered scorn. "Their duty to a squirming nest of cowardly politicians

begging your pardon, sir. Why, the whole Government isn't worth the blood of one of them!"

"I am sorry about Fred," Julian said sympathetically. "All the same, Robert, you must try and pull yourself

"Pull myself together!" he said angrily. "Mr. Orden, sir, I'm trying to keep respectful, but it's a hard thing. I've

been reading the evening papers. There's an article, signed `Paul Fiske', in the Pall Mall. They tell me that

you're Paul Fiske. You're for peace, it seems for peace with the German Emperor and his bloody crew."

"I am in favour of peace on certain terms, at the earliest possible moment," Julian admitted.

"That's where you've sold us, then sold us all!" Robert declared fiercely. "My boys died believing they were

fighting for men who would keep their word. The war was to go on till victory was won.. They died happily,

believing that those who had spoken for England would keep their word. You're very softhearted in that

article, sir, about the living. Did you think, when you sat down to write it, about the dead? about that

wilderness of white crosses out in France? You're proposing in cold blood to let those devils stay on their

"It is a very large question, Robert," Julian reminded him. "The war is fast reaching a period of mutual

"Claptrap!" was his angry reply. "You wealthy people want your fleshpots again. We've a few more million

"Your own loss, Robert, has made you and quite naturally, too very bitter," his master said gently. "You

must let those who have thought this matter out come to a decision upon it. Beyond a certain point, the

"That sounds just like fine talk to me, sir, and no more; the sort of stuff that's printed in articles and that no

one takes much stock of. Words were plain enough when we started out to fight this war. We were going to

crush the German military spirit and not leave off fighting until we'd done it. There was nothing said then

about conserving millions of men. It was to be fought out to the end, whatever it cost."

"Pacifist!" the man repeated passionately. "Every human being with common sense was a pacifist when the

"No one wishes to, sir. It was forced upon us all right, but who made it necessary? Why, our rotten

government for the last twenty years! Our politicians, Mr. Julian, that are prating now of peace before their

job's done! Do you think that if we'd paid our insurance like men and been prepared, this war would ever

have come? Not it! We asked for trouble, and we got it in the neck. If we make peace now, we'll be a German

colony in twenty years, thanks to Mr. Stenson and you and the rest of them. A man can be a pacifist all right

until his head has been punched. Afterwards, there's another name for him. Is there anything more I can get

Julian, conscious of an intense weariness, undressed and went to bed very soon after the man's departure. He

was already in his first doze when he awoke suddenly with a start. He sat up and listened. The sound which

had disturbed him was repeated, a quiet but insistent ringing of the frontdoor bell. He glanced at his

watch. It was barely midnight, but unusually late for a visitor. Once more the bell rang, and this time he

remembered that Robert slept out, and that he was alone in the flat. He thrust his feet into slippers, wrapped

Julian's only idea had. been that this might be some messenger from the Council. To his amazement he found

She pushed past him and he obeyed, still dumb with surprise and the shock of his sudden awakening.

Catherine herself seemed unaware of his unusual costume, reckless of the hour and the strangeness of her

visit. She wore a long chinchilla coat, covering her from head to foot, and a mantilla veil about her head,

which partially obscured her features. As soon as she raised it, he knew that great things had happened. Her

cheeks were the colour of ivory, and her eyes unnaturally distended. Her tone was steady but full of repressed

"Julian," she cried, "we have been deceived tricked! I have come to you for help. Are the telegrams sent out

"Thank heaven for that!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling. "Julian, the whole thing is an accursed plot. The

German Socialists have never increased their strength except in their own imaginations. They are absolutely

powerless. This is the most cunning scheme of the whole war. Freistner has simply been the tool of the

militarists. They encouraged him to put forward these proposals and to communicate with Nicholas Fenn.

When the armistice has been declared and negotiations begun, the three signatures will be repudiated. The

peace they mean to impose is one of their own dictation, and in the meantime we shall have created a

cataclysm here. The war will never start again. All the Allies will be at a discord."

"From one of Germany's chief friends in England. He is high up in the diplomatic service of of a neutral

country, but he has been working for Germany many ever since the commencement of the war. He has been

helping in this. He has seen me often with Nicholas Fenn, and he believes that I am behind the scenes, too.

He believes that I know the truth, and that I am working for Germany. He is absolutely to be relied upon.

"Nicholas Fenn has had a hundred thousand pounds of German money within the last few months," she

replied. "He is one of the foulest traitors who ever breathed. Freistner's first few letters were genuine enough,

but for the last six weeks he has been imprisoned in a German fortress and Fenn knows it."

"Have you any proof of all this?" Julian asked. "Remember we have the Council to face, and they are all girt

"Yes, I have proof," she answered, "indirect but damning enough. This man has sometimes forwarded and

collected for me letters from connections of mine in Germany. He handed me one tonight from a distant

cousin. You know him by name General Geroldberg. The first two pages are personal. Read what he says

By the bye, dear cousin, if you should receive a shock within the next few days by hearing that our three great

men have agreed to an absurd peace, do not worry. Their signatures have been obtained for some document

which we do not regard seriously, and it is their intention to repudiate them as soon as a certain muchlooked

for event takes place. When the peace comes, believe me, it will be a glorious one for us. What we have won

by the sword we shall hold, and what has been wrested from us by cunning and treachery, we shall regain.

"That man," Catherine declared, "is one of the Kaiser's intimates. He is one of the twelve iron men of

Germany. Now I will tell you the name of the man with whom I, have spent the evening. It is Baron Hellman.

Believe me, he knows, and he has told me the truth. He has had this letter by him for a fortnight, as he told

me frankly that he thought it too compromising to hand over. Tonight he changed his mind."

He found some hock in the sideboard, and after she had drunk it they sat for some few minutes in agitated

silence. The street sounds outside had died away. Julian's was the topmost flat in the block, and their isolation

"Perhaps," he suggested, with an almost ludicrous return to the commonplace, "the first thing to be done is

She looked at him as though she had noticed his dishabille for the first time. For a moment their feet seemed

"I suppose I seem to you crazy to come to you at such an hour," she said. "One doesn't think of those things,

Then suddenly the sense of the silence, of their solitude, of their strange, uncertain relations to one another,

swept in upon them both. For a moment the sense of the great burden she was carrying fell from Catherine's

shoulders. She was back in a simpler world. Julian was no longer a leader of the people, the brilliant

sociologist, the apostle of her creed. He was the man who during the last few weeks had monopolised her

thoughts to an amazing extent, the man for whose aid and protection she had hastened, the man to whom she

was perfectly content to entrust the setting right of this ghastly blunder. Watching him, she suddenly felt that

she was tired of it all, that she would like to creep away from the storm and rest somewhere. The quiet and

his presence seemed to soothe her. Her tense expression relaxed, her eyes became softer. She smiled at him

"Oh, I cannot tell you," she exclaimed, "how glad I am to be with you just now! Everything in the outside

world seems so terrible. Do you mindit is so silly, but after all a woman cannot be as strong as a man, can

she? would you mind very much just holding my hand for a moment and staying here quite quietly. I have

had a horrible evening, and when I came in, my head felt as though it would burst. You do not mind?"

Julian smiled as he leaned towards her. A kind of resentment of which he had been conscious, even though in

some measure ashamed of it, resentment at her unswerving loyalty to the task she had set herself, melted

away. He suddenly knew why he had kissed her, on that sunny morning on the marshes, an ecstatic and

incomprehensible moment which had seemed sometimes, during these days of excitement, as though it had

belonged to another life and another world. He took both her hands in his, and, stooping down, kissed her on

"Dear Catherine," he said, "I am so glad that you came to me. I think that during these last few days we have

forgotten to be human, and it might help us for after all, you know, we are engaged!"

Her little sigh of content, as she stole nearer to him, was purely feminine. The moments ticked on in restful

and wonderful silence. Then, unwillingly, she drew away from his protecting arm.

"My dear," she said, "you look so nice as you are, and it is such happiness to be here, but there is a great task

"You are right," he declared, straightening himself. "Wait for a few minutes, dear. We shall find them all at

Westminster the place will be open all night. Close your eyes and rest while I am away."

"I am rested," she answered softly, "but do not be long. The car is outside, and on the way I have more to tell

If the closely drawn blinds of the many windows of Westminster Buildings could have been raised that night

and early morning, the place would have seemed a very hive of industry. Twenty men were hard at work in

twenty different rooms. Some went about their labours doubtfully, some almost timorously, some with

jubilation, one or two with real regret. Under their fingers grew the more amplified mandates which,

following upon the bombshell of the already prepared telegrams, were within a few hours to paralyse

industrial England, to keep her ships idle in the docks, her trains motionless upon the rails, her mines silent,

her forges cold, her great factories empty. Even the least imaginative felt the thrill, the awe of the thing he

was doing. On paper, in the brain, it seemed so wonderful, so logical, so certain of the desired result. And

now there were other thoughts forcing their way to the front. How would their names live in history? How

would Englishmen throughout the world regard this deed? Was it really the truth they were following, or

some false and ruinous shadow? These were fugitive doubts, perhaps, but to more than one of those midnight

toilers they presented themselves in the guise of a chill and drear presentiment.

They all heard a motorcar stop outside. No one, however, thought it worth while to discontinue his labours

for long enough to look out and see who this nocturnal visitor might be. In a very short time, however, these

labours were disturbed. From room to room, Julian, with Catherine and the Bishop, for whom they had called

on the way, passed with a brief message. No one made any difficulty about coming to the Council room. The

first protest was made when they paid the visit which they had purposely left until last. Nicholas Fenn had

apparently finished or discontinued his efforts. He was seated in front of his desk, his chin almost resting

upon his folded arms, and a cigarette between his lips. Bright was lounging in an easychair within a few feet

of him. Their heads were close together; their conversation, whatever the subject of it may have been, was

conducted in whispers. Apparently they had not heard Julian's knock, for they started apart, when the door

was opened, like conspirators. There was something halffearful, halfmalicious in Fenn's face, as he stared

"A great deal," he replied curtly. "We have been around to every one of the delegates and asked them to

Fenn looked from one to the other of his visitors and remained silent for a few seconds.

Fenn moved abruptly away, out of the shadow of the electric lamp which hung over his desk. His voice was

"We can't consider any more information," he said harshly. "Our decisions have been taken. Nothing can

affect them. That's the worst of having you outsiders on the board. I was certain you wouldn't face it when the

"As you yourself," Julian remarked, "are somewhat concerned in this matter, I think it would be well if you

"I am not going to stir from this room," Fenn declared doggedly. "I have my own work to do. And as to my

being concerned with what you have to say, I'll thank you to mind your own business and leave mine alone."

"Mr. Fenn," the Bishop interposed, "I beg to offer you my advice that you join us at once in the Council

Julian and Catherine had already left the room. Fenn leaned forward, and there was an altered note. in his

"What we have come here to say," the Bishop rejoined, "must be said to every one."

"They've changed their minds," Bright muttered, "that's all. They're theorists. Damn all theorists! They just

blow bubbles to destroy them. As for the girl, she's been at parties all the evening, as we know."

Many of the delegates had the air of being glad to escape for a few minutes from their tasks. One or two of

them entered the room, carrying a cup of coffee or cocoa. Most of them were smoking. Fenn and Bright made

their appearance last of all. The latter made a feeble attempt at a goodhumoured remark.

Julian moved towards a little vacant space at the end of the table and stood there, his hands upon the back of a

chair. The Bishop remained by his side, his eyes downcast as though in prayer. Catherine had accepted the

seat pushed forward by Cross. The atmosphere of the room, which at first had been only expectant, became

"My friends," Julian began, "a few hours ago you came to a momentous decision. You are all at work,

prepared to carry that decision into effect. I have come to see you because I am very much afraid that we

"You'd better thank Providence," Julian replied sternly, "that there is time for you to rat, too that is, if you

have any care for your country. Now, Mr. Fenn, I am going to ask you a question. You led us to believe, this

evening, that, although all letters had been destroyed, you were in constant communication with Freistner.

"You cannot produce, then, any communication from Freistner, except the proposals of peace, written within

"What the mischief are you getting at?" Fenn demanded hotly. "And what right have you to stand there and

"The right of being prepared to call you to your face a liar," Julian said gravely. "We have very certain

information that Freistner is now imprisoned in a German fortress and will be shot before the week is out."

There was a little murmur of consternation, even of disbelief. Fenn himself was speechless. Julian went on

"My friends," he said, "on paper, on the facts submitted to us, we took the right decision, but we ought to

have remembered this. Germany's word, Germany's signature, Germany's honour, are not worth a rap when

opposed to German interests. Germany, notwithstanding all her successes, is thirsting for peace. This

armistice would be her salvation. She set herself out to get it not honestly, as we have been led to believe,

but by means of a devilish plot. She professed to be overawed by the peace desires of the Reichstag. The

PanGermans professed a desire to give in to the Socialists. All lies! They encouraged Freistner to continue

his negotiations here with Fenn. Freistner was honest enough. I am not so sure about Fenn."

Fenn sprang to his feet, a blasphemous exclamation broke from his lips. Julian faced him, unmoved. The

"I am going to finish what I have to say," he went on. "I know that every one will wish me to. We are all here

to look for the truth and nothing else, and, thanks to Miss Abbeway, we have stumbled upon it. These peace

proposals, which look so well on paper, are a decoy. They were made to be broken. Those signatures are

affixed to be repudiated. I say that Freistner has been a prisoner for weeks, and I deny that Fenn has received

a single communication from him during that time. Fenn asserts that he has, but has destroyed them. I repeat

"That's plain speaking," Cross declared. "Now, then, Fenn, lad, what have you to say about it?"

Fenn leaned forward, his face distorted with something which might have been anger, but which seemed

"This is just part of the ratting!" he exclaimed. "I never keep a communication from Freistner. I have told you

so before. The preliminary letters I had you all saw, and we deliberated upon them together. Since then, all

"You see," he said, "Mr. Fenn is not able to clear himself from my first accusation. Now let us hear what he

will do with this one. Mr. Fenn started life, I believe, as a schoolmaster at a parish school, a very laudable and

excellent occupation. He subsequently became manager to a firm of timber merchants in the city and

commenced to interest himself in Labour movements. He rose by industry and merit to his present position

a very excellent career, but not, I should think, a remunerative one. Shall we put his present salary down at

"Of mine and all of us," Julian retorted, "for I come now to a certain question. Will you disclose your bank

Fenn reeled for a moment in his seat. He affected not to have heard the question.

"Your bank book," Julian repeated calmly. "As you only received your last instalment from Germany this

week, you probably have not yet had time to purchase stocks and shares or property wherever your

inclination leads you. I imagine, therefore, that there would be a balance there of something like thirty

Fenn sprang to his feet. He had all the appearance of a man about to make a vigorous and exhaustive defence.

And then suddenly he swayed, his face became horrible to look upon, his lips were twisted.

He collapsed in a heap. They carried him on to a seat set against the wall, and Catherine bent over him. He

lay there, moaning. They loosened his collar and poured restoratives between his teeth. For a time he was

"Believe me," he said earnestly, "this is as much a tragedy to me as to any one present. I believe that every

one of you here except " he glanced towards the sofa "except those whom we will not name have gone

into this matter honestly, as I did. We've got to chuck it. Tear up your telegrams. Let me go to see Stenson

this minute. I see the truth about this thing now as I never saw it before. There is no peace for us with

Germany until she is on her knees, until we have taken away all her power to do further mischief. When that

time comes let us be generous. Let us remember that her working men are of the same flesh and blood as ours

and need to live as you need to live. Let us see that they are left the means to live. Mercy to all of them

mercy, and all the possibilities of a free and generous life. But to Hell with every one of those who are

responsible for the poison which has crept throughout all ranks in Germany, which, starting from the Kaiser

and his friends, has corrupted first the proud aristocracy, then the industrious, hardworking and worthy

middle classes, and has even permeated to some extent the ranks of the people themselves, destined by their

infamous ruler to carry on their shoulders the burden of an unnatural, ungodly, and unholy ambition. There is

much that I ought to say, but I fancy that I have said enough. Germany must be broken, and you can do it. Let

the memory of those undispatched telegrams help you. Spend your time amongst the men you represent.

Make them see the truth. Make them understand that every burden they lift, every time they wield the

pickaxe, every blow they strike in their daily work, helps. I was going to speak about what we owe to the

dead. I won't. We must beat Germany to her knees. We can and we will. Then will come the time for

"Boys," he said, "I feel the sweat in every pore of my body. We've nigh done a horrible thing. We are with

"Through Miss Abbeway," Julian answered. "You have her to thank. I can assure you that every charge I

There was a little murmur of confidence. Everyone seemed to find speech difficult.

"One word more," Julian went on. "Don't disband this Council. Keep it together, just as it is. Keep this

A loud clamour of applause answered him. Once more Cross glanced towards the prostrate form upon the

"Let no one interfere," Julian enjoined. "There is an Act which will deal with him. He will be removed from

this place presently, and he will not be heard of again for a little time. We don't want a soul to know how

nearly we were duped. It rests with every one of you to destroy all the traces of what might have happened.

You can do this if you will. Tomorrow call a meeting of the Council. Appoint a permanent chairman, a new

secretary, draw out a syllabus of action for promoting increased production, for stimulating throughout every

industry a passionate desire for victory. If speaking, writing, or help of mine in any way is wanted, it is yours.

I will willingly be a disciple of the cause. But this morning let me be your ambassador. Let me go to the

Every hand was raised. Bright came back from the couch, blinking underneath his heavy spectacles but

"Let us remember this hour," the Bishop begged, "as something solemn in our lives. The Council of Labour

shall justify itself, shall voice the will or the people, fighting for victory."

The Bishop and Catherine, a few weeks later, walked side by side up the murky length of St. Pancras

platform. The train which they had come to meet was a quarter of an hour late, and they had fallen into a sort

"I left Mr. Stenson only an hour ago," the Bishop observed. "He could talk about nothing but Julian Orden

and his wonderful speeches. They say that at Sheffield and Newcastle the enthusiasm was tremendous, and at

three shipbuilding yards on the Clyde the actual work done for the week after his visit was nearly as much

again. He seems to have that extraordinary gift of talking straight to the hearts of the men. He makes them

"Mr. Stenson wrote me about it," Catherine told her companion, with a little smile. "He said that no dignity

that could be thought of or invented would be an adequate offering to Julian for his services to the country.

For the first time since the war, Labour seems wholly and entirely, passionately almost, in earnest. Every one

of those delegates went back full of enthusiasm, and with every, one of them, Julian, before he has finished,

"And after tomorrow," the Bishop remarked with a smile, "I suppose he will not be alone."

"It is very wonderful to think about," she said quietly. "I am going to try and be Julian's secretary whilst we

"It isn't often," the Bishop reflected, "that I have the chance of a few minutes' quiet conversation, on the day

before her wedding, with the woman whom I am going to marry to the man I think most of on earth."

"You don't need it," he said. "A wife who loves her husband needs very few words of admonition. There are

marriages so often in which one can see the rocks ahead that one opens one's prayerbook, even, with a little

"There is nothing that a woman can do for the man whom she loves," she declared softly, "which I shall not

They paced up and down for a few moments in silence. The Bishop's step was almost buoyant. He seemed to

have lost all that weary load of anxiety which had weighed him down during the last few months. Catherine,

too, in her becoming grey furs, her face flushed with excitement, had the air of one who has thrown all

"Julian's gift of speech must have surprised even himself," the Bishop remarked. "Of course, we always knew

that 'Paul Fiske', when he was found, must be a brilliant person, but I don't think that even Julian himself had

"I don't think he had," she agreed. "In his first letter he told me that it was just like sitting down at his desk to

write, except that all the dull material impedimenta of paper and ink and walls seemed rolled away, and the

men to whom he wished his words to travel were there waiting. Of course, he is wonderful, but Phineas

Cross, David Sands and some of the others have shown a positive genius for organisation. That Council of

Socialism, Trades Unionism, and Labour generally, which was formed to bring us premature peace, seems for

the first time to have brought all Labour into one party, Labour in its very broadest sense, I mean."

"The truth of the matter is," the Bishop pronounced, "that the people have accepted the dictum that whatever

form of republicanism is aimed at, there must be government. A body of men who realise that, however

advanced their ideas, can do but little harm. I am perfectly certain Stenson admits it himself that before

very long we shall have a Labour Ministry. Who cares? It will probably be a good ministry good for the

country and good for the world. There has been too much juggling in international politics. This war is going

to end that, once and for ever. By the bye," he went on, in an altered tone, "there is one question which I have

always had in my mind to ask you. If I do so now, will you please understand that if you think it best you

"There was a young foreigner, some weeks ago," he said "a Baron Hellman quite a distinguished person, I

"If you were to go to the Home Office and were able to persuade them to treat you candidly, I think that you

could discover some wonderful things," she confided. "I wish I could believe that the Baron was the only one

who has been living in this country, unsuspected, and occupying a prominent position, who was really in the

"It was a very subtle conspiracy," the Bishop remarked thoughtfully, "subtle because, in a sense, it appeared

"Good has come out of it, at any rate," she reminded him. "Westminster Buildings is now the centre of

patriotic England. Labour was to have brought the war to an end for Germany. It is Labour which is going

The train rolled into the station and rapidly disgorged its crowd of passengers, amongst whom Julian was one

of the first to alight. Catherine found herself trembling. The shy words of welcome which had formed

themselves in her mind died away on her lips as their glances met. She lifted her face to his.

"I am going to a mission room in the neighbourhood," he explained. "We have war talks every week. I try to

tell them how things are going on, and we have a short service. But before I go, Mr. Stenson has sent you a

little message, Julian. If you go to your club later on tonight, you will see it in the telegrams, or you will

find it in your newspapers in the morning. There has been wonderful fighting in Flanders today. The

German line has been broken at half a dozen points. We have taken nearly twenty thousand prisoners, and

Zeebrugge is threatened. Farther south, the Americans have made their start and have won a complete victory