e shocking revelations of inefficiency which came to
light during the recent war. It occurred to the Prime Minister, as I
dare say it did to most of the thinking men in the country, that if our
unreadiness to take the offensive was so obvious, it was possible that
our defensive precautions had also been neglected. A. board was
therefore formed to act independently of all existing institutions, and
composed chiefly of military and naval men. The Commander-in-Chief,
Lord Cheisford, Colonel Ray, and myself are amongst the members. Our
mandate is to keep our attention solely fixed upon the defences of the
country, to elaborate different schemes for repelling different methods
of attack, and in short to make ourselves responsible to the country for
the safety of the Empire. Every harbour on the south and east coast is
supposed to be known to us, every yard of railway feeding the seaports
from London, all the secret fortifications and places, south of London,
capable of being held by inferior forces. The mobilization of troops to
any one point has been gone thoroughly into, and every possible movement
and combination of the fleet. These are only a few of the things which
have become our care, but they are sufficient for the purpose of
illustration. The importance of this Board must be apparent to you;
also the importance of absolute secrecy as regards its doings and
movements."

I was fascinated by the greatness of time subject. However, I answered
him as quickly as possible, and emphatically.

"The Board," the Duke continued, "has been meeting in London. For the
last few months we have had business of the utmost importance on hand.
But on January 10, that is just six weeks ago, we came to a full stop.
The Commander-in-Chief had no alternative but temporarily to dissolve
the assembly. We found ourselves in a terrible and disastrous position.
Lord Ronald Matheson had been acting as secretary for us. We met always
with locked doors, and the names of the twelve members of the Board are
the most honoured in England. Yet twenty-four hours after our meetings
a verbatim report of them, with full particulars of all our schemes, was
in the hands of the French Secret Service."

"Good God!" I exclaimed, startled for the moment out of my respectful
silence.

The Duke himself seemed affected by the revelation which he had made.
He sat forward in his chair with puckered brows and bent head. His
voice, which had been growing lower and l