Number 70, Berlin: A Story of Britain's PerilLe Queux, William
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Number 70, Berlin: A Story of Britain's Peril
Le Queux, William
War stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
"I expressed the gravest surprise and concern, of course, and suggested
that he, as manager, should take the documents to Scotland Yard and make
a statement as to how they had been discovered. He wanted me to go with
him, but I declined, saying that in my position I had no desire to be
mixed up with any such unpleasant affair, and that he, as
managing-director of the Ochrida Corporation, was the proper person to
lodge information. The old fellow grew quite excited over it. He had
several of the clerks up, and from them ascertained that the ledger in
question had not been used since Sainsbury left. This, in conjunction
with the fact that one of the letters was addressed to `Jack,' and in it
a mention of meeting at Heath Street, proved most conclusively that the
incriminating documents belonged to Sainsbury. Therefore, an hour
later, after I had instructed Charlesworth what to tell them at Scotland
Yard, I had the satisfaction of seeing him enter a taxi with the
documents in his pocket. I continued to do some work in the office
when, later on, as I expected, he returned with a detective who
inspected the book, the desk in which it was kept, and who listened to
the story of young Sainsbury's career."
"And I suppose you gave the young man a very good character--eh?" asked
the woman who had led such an adventurous life.
"Oh, excellent!" was Rodwell's grim reply. "The officer went away quite
convinced that Sainsbury was a spy."
"Though you gave me the letters, I quite forgot to read them," said the
woman. "Of what character were they? Pretty damning, I suppose?"
"Damning--I should rather think they were!" answered the man who posed
as the great British patriot, and hid his real profession beneath the
cloak of finance and platform-speaking. "Two of them were letters which
our friend Wentzel, at Aldershot, had received from the Insurance
Company at Amsterdam--you know the little institution I mean, in the
Kalverstraat. Wentzel is known as `Jack,' and in one of these he is
addressed as such. So it came in very useful. The letter enclosed a
Bank of England note for ten pounds."
"The monthly payment of his little annuity--eh?" laughed the woman. "I
understand. I had a letter only this morning from the same Insurance
Company."
"Well," laughed the man, "we all have dealings with the same office. I
have had many. The organisation there is perfect--not a soul in the
Censor's department suspects. Truly, one must admire such perfect
organisation as that established by `Number Seventy.'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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