outside it three or four
motor-cars were drawn up. I slackened speed some yards off and walked
briskly up to the door. If the butler refused me admission, or if he
even delayed to open the door, I was done.

He didn't delay. I had scarcely rung before the door opened.

'I must see Sir Walter,' I panted. 'My business is desperately
important.'

That butler was a great man. Without moving a muscle he held the door
open, and then shut it behind me. 'Sir Walter is engaged, Sir, and I
have orders to admit no one. Perhaps you will wait.'

The house was of the old-fashioned kind, with a wide hall and rooms on
both sides of it. At the far end was an alcove with a telephone and a
couple of chairs, and there the butler offered me a seat.

'See here,' I whispered. 'There's trouble about and I'm in it. But
Sir Walter knows, and I'm working for him. If anyone comes and asks if
I am here, tell him a lie.'

He nodded, and presently there was a noise of voices in the street, and
a furious ringing at the bell. I never admired a man more than that
butler. He opened the door, and with a face like a graven image waited
to be questioned. Then he gave them it. He told them whose house it
was, and what his orders were, and simply froze them off the doorstep.
I could see it all from my alcove, and it was better than any play.

I hadn't waited long till there came another ring at the bell. The
butler made no bones about admitting this new visitor.

While he was taking off his coat I saw who it was. You couldn't open a
newspaper or a magazine without seeing that face--the grey beard cut
like a spade, the firm fighting mouth, the blunt square nose, and the
keen blue eyes. I recognized the First Sea Lord, the man, they say,
that made the new British Navy.

He passed my alcove and was ushered into a room at the back of the
hall. As the door opened I could hear the sound of low voices. It
shut, and I was left alone again.

For twenty minutes I sat there, wondering what I was to do next. I was
still perfectly convinced that I was wanted, but when or how I had no
notion. I kept looking at my watch, and as the time crept on to
half-past ten I began to think that the conference must soon end. In a
quarter of an hour Royer should be speeding along the road to
Portsmouth ...

Then I heard a bell ring, and the butler appeared. The door of the
back room opened, and the First Sea Lord came out. He walked past me,
and i