Part 11 (2/2)

”Mr. Hebblethwaite would like to speak to you, sir,” he announced.

Norgate hurried to the telephone. A cheery voice greeted him.

”Hullo! That you, Norgate? This is Hebblethwaite. I'm just back from a few days in the country--found your note here. I want to hear all about this little matter at once. When can I see you?”

”Any time you like,” Norgate replied promptly.

”Let me see,” the voice continued, ”what are you doing to-night?”

”Nothing!”

”Come straight round to the House of Commons and dine. Or no--wait a moment--we'll go somewhere quieter. Say the club in a quarter of an hour--the Reform Club. How will that suit you?”

”I'll be there, with pleasure,” Norgate promised.

”Righto! We'll hear what you've been doing to these peppery Germans. I had a line from Leveson himself this morning. A lady in the case, I hear?

Well, well! Never mind explanations now. See you in a few minutes.”

Norgate laid down the receiver. His manner, as he accepted his well-brushed hat, had lost all its depression. There was no one in the Cabinet with more influence than Hebblethwaite. He would have his chance, at any rate, and his chance at other things.

”Look here, Hardy,” he ordered, as he drew on his gloves, ”spend as much time as you like with that fellow and let me know what sort of questions he asks you. Be careful not to mention the fact that I am dining with Mr.

Hebblethwaite. For the rest, fence with him. I am not quite sure what it all means. If by any chance he mentions a man named Selingman, let me know. Good night!”

”Good night, sir!” the man replied.

Norgate descended into the Strand and walked briskly towards Pall Mall.

The last few minutes seemed to him to be fraught with promise of a new interest in life. Yet it was not of any of these things that he was thinking as he made his way towards his destination. He was occupied most of the time in wondering how long it would be before he could hope to receive a reply from Berlin to his letter.

CHAPTER X

The Right Honourable John Hebblethwaite, M.P., since he had become a Cabinet Minister and had even been mentioned as the possible candidate for supreme office, had lost a great deal of that breezy, almost boisterous effusion of manner which in his younger days had first endeared him to his const.i.tuents. He received Norgate, however, with marked and hearty cordiality, and took his arm as he led him to the little table which he had reserved in a corner of the dining-room. The friends.h.i.+p between the entirely self-made politician and Norgate, who was the nephew of a duke, and whose aristocratic connections were multifarious and far-reaching, was in its way a genuine one. There were times when Hebblethwaite had made use of his younger friend to further his own undoubted social ambitions. On the other hand, since he had become a power in politics, he had always been ready to return in kind such offices. The note which he had received from Norgate that day was, however, the first appeal which had ever been made to him.

”I have been away for a week-end's golf,” Hebblethwaite explained, as they took their places at the table. ”There comes a time when figures pall, and snapping away in debate seems to stick in one's throat. I telephoned directly I got your note. Fortunately, I wasn't doing anything this evening. We won't play about. I know you don't want to see me to talk about the weather, and I know something's up, or Leveson wouldn't have written to me, and you wouldn't be back from Berlin. Let's have the whole story with the soup and fish, and we'll try and hit upon a way to put things right before we reach the liqueurs.”

”I've lots to say to you,” Norgate admitted simply. ”I'll begin with the personal side of it. Here's just a brief narration of exactly what happened to me in the most fas.h.i.+onable restaurant of Berlin last Thursday night.”

Norgate told his story. His friend listened with the absorbed attention of a man who possesses complete powers of concentration.

”Rotten business,” he remarked, when it was finished. ”I suppose you've told old--I mean you've told them the story at the Foreign Office?”

”Had it all out this morning,” Norgate replied.

”I know exactly what our friend told you,” Mr. Hebblethwaite continued, with a gleam of humour in his eyes. ”He reminded you that the first duty of a diplomat--of a young diplomat especially--is to keep on friendly terms with the governing members of the country to which he is accredited. How's that, eh?”

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