dy Jakes dryly; "but unfortunately that's what the
rotten doctors say." He rose to his feet and extended his uninjured
hand, "S'long, Number One! I've got to get back to my old nursing home
or I'll find myself on the mat.... S'long, Pills. Give 'em all my
love, and tell 'em I'm coming back all right when the plumbers have
finished with me." He stopped at the doorway and turned, facing the
group round the fireplace.

"I guess you couldn't do without your Little Ray of Sunshine!" His wry
smile flitted across his solemn countenance and the next moment he was
gone.

CHAPTER XIV

INTO THE WAY OF PEACE

The King's Messenger thrust a bundle of sealed envelopes into his black
leather despatch-case and closed the lock with a snap.

"Any orders?" he asked. "I go North at eleven to-night."

The civilian clerk seated at the desk in the dusty Whitehall office
leaned back in his chair and passed his hand over his face. He looked
tired and pallid with overwork and lack of exercise.

"Yes," he said, and searched among the papers with which the desk was
littered. "There was a telephone message just now----" He found and
consulted some pencilled memoranda. "You are to call at Sir William
Thorogood's house at nine o'clock. There may be a letter or a message
for you to take up to the Commander-in-Chief." The speaker picked up a
paper-knife and examined it with the air of one who saw a paper-knife
for the first time and found it on the whole disappointing. "The Sea
Lords are dining there," he added after a pause.

The King's Messenger was staring through the window into the well of a
dingy courtyard. He received his instructions with a rather absent nod
of the head.

"The house," continued the civilian in his colourless tones, "is in
Queen Anne's Gate, number----"

"I know the house," said the King's Messenger quietly. He turned and
looked at the clock. "Is that all?" he asked. "If so, I'll go along
there now."

"That's all," replied the other, and busied himself with his papers.
"Good night."

Despatch-case in hand, d'Auvergne, the King's Messenger, emerged from
the Admiralty by one of the small doors opening on to the Mall. He
paused on the step for a moment, meditating. The policeman on duty
touched his helmet.

"Taxi, sir?"

"No, thanks," replied d'Auvergne. "I think I'll walk; I've not far to
go."

Dusk was settling down over the city as he turned off into St. James's
Park, but the after