Herrick, as he entered, was painfully struck with the changed appearance of his chief. His restless movements, lined cheeks, and twitching facial muscles, told a saddening tale. “It’s no good,” said Sir John, after the first few words, “I can’t work, I can’t think; worse than all, I can’t sleep. I ought to resign.” “Father!” exclaimed Aldwyth, appealingly. Herrick was silent. What could he say? It relieved him when, after a few moments of silence, the Solicitor-General drew a long breath and showed a greater self-command. “By the way,” he said suddenly, “I’ve had a threatening letter. I don’t suppose,” he added, “that any one need feel alarmed.” It was obvious that he regretted having said so much before his daughter. “The cowards!” she cried indignantly; “the cowards!” “What did you do with it?” asked the younger man. “Burnt it,” was the terse reply. “Wasn’t it a pity to destroy the evidence of handwriting?” “There was no handwriting; it was typed.” “And no signature?” “Only a sign; the embossed outline of a metal disc.” “Curious,” said Herrick. “But hardly a curiosity,” was Sir John’s comment. “I understand that various members of the Government have been favoured in the same way, besides all the judges of the King’s Bench Division, and every magistrate in London.” “Then there’s no special threat so far as you’re concerned, father?” said Aldwyth, watching him uneasily. “Perhaps not,” said Sir John, speaking slowly, doubtfully. “I see you have some further information,” said Herrick. “Plenty of information, and nothing that would stand a moment’s test according to the laws of evidence.” “And yet there seems to be an attempt at wholesale intimidation. Surely the Government--the Home Secretary----” “The Home Secretary,” retorted Westwood angrily, “is not the man for times like these. England is face to face with an organised conspiracy. This so-called League, which grows in numbers and power every day, is really an army of anarchy recruited from the criminal classes at home and abroad. It seeks to paralyse the penal law of England. If the State does not crush it, it will overthrow the State. This gang of miscreants, with its weapons of terrorism and bribery----” “Bribery!” exclaimed Herrick, astonished. “Yes; bribery on a colossal scale, and expended mainly in corrupting the police, by whom alone the public can be safeguarded; and, mark you this, bribery doesn’t stop so low as that. The wire-pullers know their men--threats for some, and money for others; a ten-pound note for a police sergeant, and so upwards on a sliding scale, until the maximum may reach to thousands.” Herrick and Aldwyth listened with increased amazement. “I know it; I have proofs,” Sir John continued. “At any rate,” interposed Herrick, “the Home Secretary has issued a circular to every local authority offering a hundred pounds’ reward to any person who makes known the illegal manufacture of explosives.”