ions, the
trades unions, an article written from the extreme aristocratic
standpoint, an article which, if published to-day and distributed
broadcast amongst the miners and operatives of the north, would result
in a revolution if his name were persisted in."

"I have read everything Tallente has ever written, and I have never come
across any such article," Dartrey declared promptly.

"You have never come across it because it was never published," Miller
continued, "and yet the fact remains that it was written and offered to
the Universal Review. It was actually in type and was only held back at
the earnest request of the Government, because on the very day that it
should have appeared, an armistice was concluded between the railway
men, the miners and the War Council, and the Government was terrified
lest anything should happen to upset that armistice."

"Is this true, Tallente?" Dartrey asked anxiously.

"Perfectly. I admit the existence of the article and I admit that it
was written with all the vigour I could command, on the lines quoted by
Miller. Since, however, it was never published, it can surely be
treated as nonexistent?"

"That is just what it cannot be," Miller declared. "The signed
manuscript of that article is in the hands of those who would rather see
it published than have Tallente Prime Minister."

"Blackmail," the latter remarked quietly.

"You can call it what you please," was the sneering reply. "The facts
are as I have stated them."

"But what in the world could have induced you to write such an article,
Tallente?" Dartrey demanded. "Your attitude towards Labour, even when
you were in the Coalition Cabinet, was perfectly sound."

"It was more than sound, it was sympathetic," Tallente insisted. "That
is why I worked myself into the state of indignation which induced me to
write it. I will not defend it. It is sufficient to remind you both
that when we were hard pressed, when England really had her back to the
wall, when coal was the very blood of life to her, a strike was declared
in South Wales and received the open sympathy of the faction with which
this man Miller here is associated. Miller has spoken plainly about me.
Let him hear what I have to say about him. He went down to South Wales
to visit these miners and he encouraged them in a course of action
which, if other industries had followed suit, would have brought this
country into slavery and disgrace. And furthermore, let me remind