a promise, for he knew that he would have to
tell Barbara the following week. Within three hours of his return to
London he had set half-a-dozen telephone wires humming, and, before
leaving his department, the newly-found freemasonry of the public
service had supplied him with all available information. Officially,
Captain Waring was "missing;" but his name had not been reported from
any German source; unofficially, the War Office had a copy of Major
Britwell's letter to Colonel Waring. Nothing more was known. On the
other hand, a great deal of new information was pouring in since the
convention for the exchange of wounded prisoners. If Captain Waring were
incapacitated and if the official German conscience were not too uneasy,
he might have the luck to be transferred to Switzerland at any moment.

Eric sent a report to Colonel Waring and wrote to Barbara that night for
the first time in three months. "_I want you to know as soon as possible
that Jack was alive last December. That's eleven months ago, and he may
be alive still; the family simply doesn't know. I'll tell you the full
story when we meet._"

In thanking him, she suggested a night for dining together on her
return; and Eric spent three days that were as restless and
insupportable as the three hours before a first night. It would hurt
intolerably if she behaved as a stranger, when they met; almost as
intolerably if she threw herself into his arms--and forced him to
remember what he was threatened with losing.

On the evening before they were to meet, the telephone rang, and
Manders' voice, brisk and cheerful, enquired if Eric was likely to be at
the Thespian Club that night.

"I wanted to talk about this play of yours," he explained. "Well, can
you lunch to-morrow, say, half-past one?"

"Yes. I should like to. What do you think of it, Manders?"

There was a pause.

"It's too long to discuss now."

"You can just say whether you like it or not."

"I'll tell you all about it to-morrow. Cheerio, boy."

Eric was irritated by Manders' uncommunicativeness. The fellow could at
least have said, "First rate!" or "The best thing you've done." "Too
long to discuss now" meant hours of captiousness and months of heroic
surgery. And with his late loss of assurance Eric could not say with
confidence that it _was_ the best thing he had done. . . .

3

When he reached the club next day, Eric found that Manders had arrived
before him and was ordering luncheon f