erceive, Mr. Telfer,
that your room is lighted from above, and has no window; while the grate
is a register. There seems to be no opening in that skylight but the
revolving ventilator. Am I right?"

"Quite so. There is no getting in by the skylight without breaking it,
and, as you see, it has not been broken. Certainly there are men on the
roof repairing the leads, but it is plain enough that nobody has come
that way. The thing is wholly inexplicable."

"At present, yes," Hewitt said, musingly. He stood for a few moments in
deep thought.

"Plummer is longer away than I expected," he said presently. "By the
way, what was the external appearance of the missing code?"

"It was nothing but a sort of thin manuscript book, made of a few sheets
of foolscap size, sewn in a cover of thickish grey paper. I left it in
the safe doubled lengthwise, and tied with tape in the middle."

"Its loss is a very serious thing, of course?"

"Oh, terribly, terribly serious, Mr. Hewitt," Telfer replied,
despairingly. "I am responsible, and it will put an end to my career,
of course. But the consequences to the country are more important, and
they may be disastrous--enormously so. A great sum would be paid for
that code on the Continent, I need hardly say."

"But now that you know it is taken, surely the code can be changed?"

"It's not so easy as it seems, Mr. Hewitt," Telfer answered, shaking his
head. "It means time, and I needn't tell you that with affairs in their
present state we can't afford one moment of time. Some expedients are
being attempted, of course, but you will understand that any new code
would have to be arranged with scattered items of the fleet in all parts
of the world, and that probably with the present code in the hands of
the enemy. Moreover, all our messages already sent will be accessible
with very little trouble, and they contain all our strategical coaling
and storing dispositions for a great war, Mr. Hewitt; and they can't,
they _can't_ be altered at a moment's notice! Oh, it is terrible!... But
here is Inspector Plummer. No news, I suppose, Mr. Plummer?"

"Well, no," Plummer answered deliberately. "I can't say I've any news
for _you_, Mr. Telfer, just yet. But I want to talk about a few things
to Mr. Hewitt. Hadn't we better go and see if your telegram is
answered, Mr. Hewitt? Unless you've heard."

"No, I haven't," Hewitt replied. "We'll go on at once. Good-day for the
present, Mr. Telfer. I hope to bri