earth. If he doesn't turn up before
the end of the Conference, we are done."

"Tell me," Hamel asked, after they had walked for some distance in
silence, "exactly why is our fleet demonstrating to such an extent?"

"That Conference I have spoken of," Kinsley replied, "which is being
held at The Hague, is being held, we know, purposely to discuss certain
matters in which we are interested. It is meeting for their discussion
without any invitation having been sent to this country. There is only
one reply possible to such a course. It is there in the North Sea. But
unfortunately--"

Kinsley paused. His tone and his expression had alike become gloomier.

"Go on," Hamel begged.

"Our reply, after all, is a miserable affair," Kinsley concluded. "You
remember the outcry over the withdrawal of our Mediterranean Fleet? Now
you see its sequel. We haven't a ship worth a snap of the fingers from
Gibraltar to Suez. If France deserts us, it's good-by to Malta, good-by
to Egypt, good-by to India. It's the disruption of the British Empire.
And all this," he wound up, as he paused before taking his seat in the
railway carriage, "all this might even now be avoided if only we could
lay our hands upon the message which that man Dunster was bringing from
New York!"

CHAPTER XXVI

Once more Hamel descended from the little train, and, turning away
from St. David's Hall, made his way across the marshes, seawards. The
sunshine of the last few days had departed. The twilight was made gloomy
by a floating veil of white mist, which hung about in wet patches.
Hamel turned up his coat collar as he walked and shivered a little. The
thought of his solitary night and uncomfortable surroundings, after
all the luxury of St. David's Hall, was scarcely inspiring. Yet, on
the whole, he was splendidly cheerful. The glamour of a host of new
sensations was upon him. There was a new love of living in his heart.
He forgot the cold east wind which blew in his face, bringing with it
little puffs of damp grey mist. He forgot the cheerlessness which he was
about to face, the lonely night before him. For the first time in his
life a woman reigned in his thoughts.

It was not until he actually reached the very side of the Tower that he
came back to earth. As he opened the door, he found a surprise in store
for him. A fire was burning in the sitting-room, smoke was ascending
from the kitchen chimney. The little round table was laid with a white
cloth.