n passing he glanced in my direction, and for a second we looked
each other in the face.

Only for a second, but it was enough to make my heart jump. I had
never seen the great man before, and he had never seen me. But in that
fraction of time something sprang into his eyes, and that something was
recognition. You can't mistake it. It is a flicker, a spark of light,
a minute shade of difference which means one thing and one thing only.
It came involuntarily, for in a moment it died, and he passed on. In a
maze of wild fancies I heard the street door close behind him.

I picked up the telephone book and looked up the number of his house.
We were connected at once, and I heard a servant's voice.

'Is his Lordship at home?' I asked.

'His Lordship returned half an hour ago,' said the voice, 'and has gone
to bed. He is not very well tonight. Will you leave a message, Sir?'

I rang off and almost tumbled into a chair. My part in this business
was not yet ended. It had been a close shave, but I had been in time.

Not a moment could be lost, so I marched boldly to the door of that
back room and entered without knocking.

Five surprised faces looked up from a round table. There was Sir
Walter, and Drew the War Minister, whom I knew from his photographs.
There was a slim elderly man, who was probably Whittaker, the Admiralty
official, and there was General Winstanley, conspicuous from the long
scar on his forehead. Lastly, there was a short stout man with an
iron-grey moustache and bushy eyebrows, who had been arrested in the
middle of a sentence.

Sir Walter's face showed surprise and annoyance.

'This is Mr Hannay, of whom I have spoken to you,' he said
apologetically to the company. 'I'm afraid, Hannay, this visit is
ill-timed.'

I was getting back my coolness. 'That remains to be seen, Sir,' I
said; 'but I think it may be in the nick of time. For God's sake,
gentlemen, tell me who went out a minute ago?'

'Lord Alloa,' Sir Walter said, reddening with anger. 'It was not,' I
cried; 'it was his living image, but it was not Lord Alloa. It was
someone who recognized me, someone I have seen in the last month. He
had scarcely left the doorstep when I rang up Lord Alloa's house and
was told he had come in half an hour before and had gone to bed.'

'Who--who--' someone stammered.

'The Black Stone,' I cried, and I sat down in the chair so recently
vacated and looked round at five badly scared gentlemen