ip of the Three Towns gives me the creeps."

"Then what can we possibly do?" wailed the First Lord, who saw his
prospect of a brilliant coup wilt away like a fair mirage. "The secret
will get out, our plans will fail, and MY Administration, my beautiful
Administration, will have to stand the racket. How shall I defend
myself in the House?"

"That won't matter much to the country," put in Jacquetot bluntly.
"What matters, is that we should do everything possible to keep the
secret in spite of all the inherent difficulties. Sit down, Mr.
Dawson, and do some hard thinking."

"I prefer to stand, my lord. When I want to think I do a bit of
sentry-go."

"So do I!" exclaimed the First Lord. "All my most famous speeches were
composed while I walked up and down my dressing-room before my--" He
broke off hastily, but as neither Jacquetot nor Dawson were listening,
he might have completed the sentence without revealing the secrets of
his looking-glass.

"May I speak my mind, my lords?" asked Dawson.

"It is what you are here for," replied Jacquetot.

"I always work on certain general principles. They apply here. People
will talk; that is certain. If one doesn't want them to talk about
something really important, one puts up something else conspicuous,
harmless, and exciting to occupy their minds. In your politics"
--turning to the First Lord with an air of simplicity--"when
you've made a thorough mess of governing England, and don't want to be
found out, you set the people fighting about Home Rule for Ireland. I
don't mean you, sir, but politicians generally."

"Quite so," said the First Lord, blinking.

"Well, see here. We don't want any talk about the _Intrepid_ and
_Terrific_. So, before they arrive, we must give the people of the
Three Towns a real titbit of excitement. Battle-cruisers come to dock
in Devonport quite often when they are damaged. Two battle-cruisers
which had been mined or submarined, one towing the other, would be a
pretty picture in the Sound. It would set all the folk talking for
days, and no one would think that two damaged cruisers had anything to
do with the South Seas. Everybody would say, 'What cruel luck. If the
_Terrific_ and _Intrepid_ hadn't got blown up they would be just right
and handy to send down south. As it is--' And then the German agents
would somehow get the news to Holland--we would help them all we could
in a quiet way--that the _Intrepid_ and _Terrific_, two fast
battle-crui