of Macgillivray's men, when his comrade had rushed for
the thirty-nine steps that led to the sea ... I saw, too, the
sitting-room of my old flat in Portland Place and heard little
Scudder's quick, anxious voice talking about the three men he feared
most on earth, one of whom lisped in his speech. I had thought that all
three had long ago been laid under the turf ...

He was not looking my way, and I could devour his face in safety. There
was no shadow of doubt. I had always put him down as the most amazing
actor on earth, for had he not played the part of the First Sea Lord
and deluded that officer's daily colleagues? But he could do far more
than any human actor, for he could take on a new personality and with
it a new appearance, and live steadily in the character as if he had
been born in it ... My mind was a blank, and I could only make blind
gropings at conclusions ... How had he escaped the death of a spy and a
murderer, for I had last seen him in the hands of justice? ... Of
course he had known me from the first day in Biggleswick ... I had
thought to play with him, and he had played most cunningly and damnably
with me. In that sweating sardine-tin of refugees I shivered in the
bitterness of my chagrin.

And then I found his face turned to mine, and I knew that he recognized
me. More, I knew that he knew that I had recognized him--not as Ivery,
but as that other man. There came into his eyes a curious look of
comprehension, which for a moment overcame his funk.

I had sense enough to see that that put the final lid on it. There was
still something doing if he believed that I was blind, but if he once
thought that I knew the truth he would be through our meshes and
disappear like a fog.

My first thought was to get at him and collar him and summon everybody
to help me by denouncing him for what he was. Then I saw that that was
impossible. I was a private soldier in a borrowed uniform, and he could
easily turn the story against me. I must use surer weapons. I must get
to Bullivant and Macgillivray and set their big machine to work. Above
all I must get to Blenkiron.

I started to squeeze out of that push, for air raids now seemed far too
trivial to give a thought to. Moreover the guns had stopped, but so
sheeplike is human nature that the crowd still hung together, and it
took me a good fifteen minutes to edge my way to the open air. I found
that the trouble was over, and the street had resumed its usual
appe