ad been waiting near the door, locked it. Fenn started.

"What the devil's that for?" he demanded.

"Just a precaution. We don't want to be interrupted."

Julian moved towards a little vacant space at the end of the table and
stood there, his hands upon the back of a chair. The Bishop remained by
his side, his eyes downcast as though in prayer. Catherine had accepted
the seat pushed forward by Cross. The atmosphere of the room, which at
first had been only expectant, became tense.

"My friends," Julian began, "a few hours ago you came to a momentous
decision. You are all at work, prepared to carry that decision into
effect. I have come to see you because I am very much afraid that we
have been the victims of false statements, the victims of a disgraceful
plot."

"Rubbish!" Fenn scoffed. "You're ratting, that's what you are."

"You'd better thank Providence," Julian replied sternly, "that there
is time for you to rat, too--that is, if you have any care for your
country. Now, Mr. Fenn, I am going to ask you a question. You led us to
believe, this evening, that, although all letters had been destroyed,
you were in constant communication with Freistner. When did you hear
from him last--personally, I mean?"

"Last week," Fenn answered boldly, "and the week before that."

"And you have destroyed those letters?"

"Of course I have! Why should I keep stuff about that would hang me?"

"You cannot produce, then, any communication from Freistner, except the
proposals of peace, written within the last--say--month?"

"What the mischief are you getting at?" Fenn demanded hotly. "And what
right have you to stand there and cross-question me?"

"The right of being prepared to call you to your face a liar," Julian
said gravely. "We have very certain information that Freistner is now
imprisoned in a German fortress and will be shot before the week is
out."

There was a little murmur of consternation, even of disbelief. Fenn
himself was speechless. Julian went on eagerly.

"My friends," he said, "on paper, on the facts submitted to us, we took
the right decision, but we ought to have remembered this. Germany's
word, Germany's signature, Germany's honour, are not worth a rap when
opposed to German interests. Germany, notwithstanding all her successes,
is thirsting for peace. This armistice would be her salvation. She set
herself out to get it--not honestly, as we have been led to believe, but
by means of a devilish plot. She