Part 5 (1/2)

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Co of the Black Stone

I caht hours of blessed drearam in the midst of muffins and ht tarnished

'I had a busy hour on the telephone after you went to bed,' he said 'I got my Chief to speak to the First Lord and the Secretary for War, and they are bringing Royer over a day sooner This wire clinches it He will be in London at five Odd that the code word for a SOUS-CHEF D/ETAT MAJOR-GENERAL should be ”Porker”'

He directed me to the hot dishes and went on

'Not that I think it will do h to find out the first arrangeive my head to knohere the leak is We believed there were only five land who knew about Royer's visit, and you e these things better there'

While I ate he continued to talk,me to my surprise a present of his full confidence

'Can the dispositions not be changed?' I asked

'They could,' he said 'But ant to avoid that if possible They are the result of iood Besides, on one or two points change is si could be done, I suppose, if it were absolutely necessary But you see the difficulty, Hannay Our ene to be such fools as to pick Royer's pocket or any childish game like that They know that would et the details without any one of us knowing, so that Royer will go back to Paris in the belief that the whole business is still deadly secret If they can't do that they fail, for, once we suspect, they know that the whole thing must be altered'

'Then we ain,' I said 'If they thought they could get the information in Paris they would try there It means that they have so to win out'

'Royer dines with my Chief, and then comes to my house where four people will see him - Whittaker from the Admiralty, myself, Sir Arthur Drew, and General Winstanley The First Lord is ill, and has gone to Sheringhaet a certain document from Whittaker, and after that he will be motored to Portsmouth where a destroyer will take him to Havre His journey is too important for the ordinary boat-train He will never be left unattended for a moment till he is safe on French soil The same with Whittaker till he meets Royer That is the best we can do, and it's hard to see how there can be anythat I'm horribly nervous This murder of Karolides will play the deuce in the chancelleries of Europe'

After breakfast he asked me if I could drive a car 'Well, you'll beYou're about his size You have a hand in this business and we are taking no risks There are desperate ainst us, ill not respect the country retreat of an overworked official'

When I first ca about the south of England, so I knew soraphy I took Sir Walter to town by the Bath Road and , with a pro through the little toith their freshly watered streets, and past the suardens of the Thames valley I landed Sir Walter at his house in Queen Anne's Gate punctually by half-past eleven The butler was co he did was to take entleht you the Portland Place murderer,' was Sir Walter's introduction

The reply was a wry smile 'It would have been a welcome present, Bullivant This, I presureatly interested ain He has rave reasons his tale must wait for four hours Then, I can promise you, you will be entertained and possibly edified I want you to assure Mr Hannay that he will suffer no further inconvenience'

This assurance was proiven 'You can take up your life where you left off,' I was told 'Your flat, which probably you no longer wish to occupy, is waiting for you, and your man is still there As you were never publicly accused, we considered that there was no need of a public exculpation But on that, of course, you must please yourself'

'We may want your assistance later on, MacGillivray,' Sir Walter said as we left

Then he turned me loose

'Come and see me tomorrow, Hannay I needn't tell you to keep deadly quiet If I were you I would go to bed, for you must have considerable arrears of sleep to overtake You had better lie low, for if one of your Black Stone friends saw you there ht be trouble'

I felt curiously at a loose end At first it was very pleasant to be a freeI had only been a h for ood luncheon, and then sar the house could provide But I was still feeling nervous When I saw anybody look at rew shy, and wondered if they were thinking about the murder

After that I took a taxi and drove h fields and lines of villas and terraces and then slums and mean streets, and it took me pretty nearly two hours All the while s, tre or about to happen, and I, as the cog-wheel of the whole business, was out of it Royer would be landing at Dover, Sir Walter would be land ere in the secret, and so I felt the sense of danger and i, too, that I alone could avert it, alone could grapple with it But I was out of the game no could it be otherwise? It was not likely that Cabinet Ministers and Admiralty Lords and Generals would adan to wish that I could run up against one of my three enemies That would lead to developar scrap with those gentry, where I could hit out and flatten so into a very bad te back to my flat That had to be faced soht I would put it off till next ht

My irritation lasted through dinner, which I had at a restaurant in Jerry, and let several courses pass untasted I drank the best part of a bottle of Burgundy, but it did nothing to cheer me An abominable restlessness had taken possession of me Here was I, a very ordinary felloith no particular brains, and yet I was convinced that soh - that without o to blazes I told myself it was sheer silly conceit, that four or five of the cleverest people living, with all the ht of the British Empire at their back, had the job in hand Yet I couldn't be convinced It see ain

The upshot was that about half-past nine I o to Queen Anne's Gate Very likely I would not be admitted, but it would ease my conscience to try

I walked down Jerroup of youngso on to a music-hall One of them was Mr Marmaduke jopley

He saw me and stopped short

'By God, the murderer!' he cried 'Here, you fellows, hold him! That's Hannay, the rippedfor any trouble, but my ill-temper made me play the fool A policeman came up, and I should have told him the truth, and, if he didn't believe it, demanded to be taken to Scotland Yard, or for that matter to the nearest police station But a delay at that ht of Marmie's imbecile face was more than I could bear I let out withhian an unholy row They were all on ot in one or two good blows, for I think, with fair play, I could have licked the lot of theot his fingers on e I heard the officer of the law asking as thethat I was Hannay the murderer

'Oh, damn it all,' I cried, 'make the fellow shut up I advise you to leave me alone, constable Scotland Yard knows all aboutif you interfere withentle I seen you Best go quietly or I'll have to fix you up'

Exasperation and an overwhelth of a bull elephant I fairly wrenched the constable off his feet, floored themy collar, and set off atblown, and the rush of men behind ht I had wings In a jiffy I was in Pall Mall and had turned doards St Jaates, dived through a press of carriages at the entrance to the Mall, and was e before my pursuers had crossed the roadway In the open ways of the Park I put on a spurt Happily there were few people about and no one tried to stopto Queen Anne's Gate

When I entered that quiet thoroughfare it seemed deserted Sir Walter's house was in the narrow part, and outside it three or four motor-cars were drawn up I slackened speed some yards off and walked briskly up to the door If the butler refused me admission, or if he even delayed to open the door, I was done

He didn't delay I had scarcely rung before the door opened

'I must see Sir Walter,' I panted 'My business is desperately i a muscle he held the door open, and then shut it behind ed, Sir, and I have orders to admit no one Perhaps you ait'

The house was of the old-fashi+oned kind, with a wide hall and rooms on both sides of it At the far end was an alcove with a telephone and a couple of chairs, and there the butler offered me a seat

'See here,' I whispered 'There's trouble about and I' for him If anyone comes and asks if I am here, tell him a lie'

He nodded, and presently there was a noise of voices in the street, and a furious ringing at the bell I never admired a man more than that butler He opened the door, and with a face like a graven iave them it He told them whose house it was, and what his orders were, and simply froze them off the doorstep I could see it all from my alcove, and it was better than any play

I hadn't waited long till there ca at the bell The butlerthis new visitor

While he was taking off his coat I saho it was You couldn't open a newspaper or a rey beard cut like a spade, the fir nized the First Sea Lord, the man, they say, that made the new British Navy

He passed my alcove and was ushered into a room at the back of the hall As the door opened I could hear the sound of low voices It shut, and I was left alone again

For twentywhat I was to do next I was still perfectly convinced that I anted, but when or how I had no notion I kept looking at an to think that the conference must soon end In a quarter of an hour Royer should be speeding along the road to Ports, and the butler appeared The door of the back room opened, and the First Sea Lord calanced in my direction, and for a second we looked each other in the face