ood English. But there could be no doubt about him. His
close-cropped head and the cut of his collar and tie never came out of
England.

That did something to reassure me, but as we rowed back to Bradgate my
obstinate doubts would not be dismissed. The thing that worried me was
the reflection that my enemies knew that I had got my knowledge from
Scudder, and it was Scudder who had given me the clue to this place.
If they knew that Scudder had this clue, would they not be certain to
change their plans? Too much depended on their success for them to
take any risks. The whole question was how much they understood about
Scudder's knowledge. I had talked confidently last night about Germans
always sticking to a scheme, but if they had any suspicions that I was
on their track they would be fools not to cover it. I wondered if the
man last night had seen that I recognized him. Somehow I did not think
he had, and to that I had clung. But the whole business had never
seemed so difficult as that afternoon when by all calculations I should
have been rejoicing in assured success.

In the hotel I met the commander of the destroyer, to whom Scaife
introduced me, and with whom I had a few words. Then I thought I would
put in an hour or two watching Trafalgar Lodge.

I found a place farther up the hill, in the garden of an empty house.
From there I had a full view of the court, on which two figures were
having a game of tennis. One was the old man, whom I had already seen;
the other was a younger fellow, wearing some club colours in the scarf
round his middle. They played with tremendous zest, like two city
gents who wanted hard exercise to open their pores. You couldn't
conceive a more innocent spectacle. They shouted and laughed and
stopped for drinks, when a maid brought out two tankards on a salver.
I rubbed my eyes and asked myself if I was not the most immortal fool
on earth. Mystery and darkness had hung about the men who hunted me
over the Scotch moor in aeroplane and motor-car, and notably about that
infernal antiquarian. It was easy enough to connect those folk with
the knife that pinned Scudder to the floor, and with fell designs on
the world's peace. But here were two guileless citizens taking their
innocuous exercise, and soon about to go indoors to a humdrum dinner,
where they would talk of market prices and the last cricket scores and
the gossip of their native Surbiton. I had been making a net to cat