ance. Remember, too, Major Thomson, that there may be advantages
to us in this waiting attitude. Since your warning, his letters can
be admitted to censorship. You have the control of a great staff of
military detectives; the resources of Scotland Yard, too, are at your
service. Have him watched day and night, his letters opened, his every
movement followed, but don't provoke him to open enmity. We don't want
him in the Tower. The scandal and the shock of it would do us enormous
harm, apart from the terrible financial panic which would ensue. We
will see to it that he does no further mischief than he may already
have done. We make an appeal to you, all of us here to-night. Be guided
entirely by us in this matter. You have rendered the country great
service by your discovery. Render it a greater one, Major Thomson, by
keeping that discovery secret."

"I will not make conditions with you," Thomson replied gravely. "I will
say at once that I am perfectly willing to yield to your judgement in
this matter. In return I ask something. I have more serious charges
still to bring against Sir Alfred's nephew. Will you leave the matter of
dealing with this young man in my hands?"

"With pleasure," the Premier agreed. "I think, gentlemen," he added,
looking around the table, "that we need not detain Major Thomson any
longer? We others have still a little business to finish."

It was all over in those few minutes and Thomson found himself in the
street again. He guided his way by the railings into Whitehall. The
blackness seemed to him to be now less impenetrable. Looking fixedly
eastward he seemed to be conscious of some faint lightening in the sky.
He heard the rumbling of carts in the road, the horses mostly being led
by their drivers. Here and there, an odd taxicab which had escaped the
police orders came along with one lamp lit, only to be stopped in a few
yards and escorted to the edge of the pavement. All the way up Whitehall
there was one long line of taxicabs, unable to ply for hire or find
their way to the garages until daylight. The unusualness of it all was
almost stimulating. At the top of the broad thoroughfare, Thomson turned
to the left through the Pall Mall Arch and passed into St. James's Park.
He strolled slowly along until he came to the thoroughfare to the
left, leading down to the Admiralty. There he paused for a moment, and,
turning around, listened intently. He was possessed of particularly keen
hearing and