rt.

"I am afraid," he said in a voice that sounded to him strangely unlike
his own, "that I have ... nothing."

"What?" said Stamfordham. "Have you not made any inquiries? Haven't you
asked every one in your house?"

"I have made inquiries, yes," said Rendel.

"And do you mean to say that there is nothing that can throw any light
upon it, no possible solution?"

"I can throw no light," said Rendel.

"But...." said Stamfordham. "Is this all you are going to say? Have you
thought of no possibility? Have you no suggestion to offer?"

"I am afraid," said Rendel again, "that I can offer none."

Lord Stamfordham sat silent for a moment, absolutely bewildered. Part of
his exceptional administrative ability was the almost unerring judgment
he displayed in choosing those he employed about him, and it was an
entirely new experience to him to have to suspect one of them, or to
impugn the ordinary code of honourable conduct. He found it extremely
difficult, autocrat as he was, to put it into words. He was sore and
angry at the grave indiscretion, if not something worse, that had been
committed, most of all that it should have been himself, the great
officer of state, in whom it was unpardonable to choose the wrong tool,
who had put that immeasurably important secret into the hands of a man
who had somehow or other let it escape from them; so much could not be
denied. It certainly seemed difficult to conceive that it should be
Rendel himself who had betrayed it, or that if he had betrayed it he
would not admit the fact. And yet--could it be?--there was something in
Rendel's demeanour now that made it more possible than it had been an
hour ago to credit him with the shameful possibility. The pause during
which all this had rushed through Stamfordham's mind seemed to Rendel to
have lasted through untold ages of time, when Stamfordham at last spoke
again.

"Rendel," he said, "I have a right to demand that you should give me
more satisfaction than this. You say you have learnt nothing, and can
tell me nothing, but this I find impossible to believe." Rendel made a
movement. "I am sorry, but I say this advisedly, since this disclosure
_must_ have taken place in your house," and he underlined the words
emphatically. "I can't think it possible that a man of your intelligence
should not have found some clue, some possible suggestion."

"I am very sorry," said Rendel. "I'm afraid I have not."

"Then, of course, it is obvious wha