I thought I did. I thought that Severn had made up his mind to stand aside, an amused and cynical spectator of a drama so rare as to be especially worth the seeing. Severn, I decided, was going to be neutral, being bound to Karelsky no less than to Terry by ties of 'interest'. It was a disappointment, but, in any case, what _could_ he have done? Beyond advice (which he had already given freely enough) there was little that could reasonably be expected from a man unable to move out of his chair without skilled assistance. He had done and was doing his best, and it was perhaps too much to wish that he had shown my own particular brand of indignation. And yet in most of those thoughts I was entirely wrong. That night, as I was working late in my room, one of the End House servants brought me a note that showed me how wrong I was. Written less than an hour before I broke open the envelope, it was as follows: "MY DEAR HILTON,--June arrived about half-an-hour ago, and told me over again most of what I already knew from you. She happened to have some of Terry's papers locked up in her room (she had been copying them out at home), and a glance at them convinced me far more (if you will forgive me for saying so) than the combined oratorical efforts of you and June from now until Domesday. I am sorry to appear so distrustful, but the fact is that temperamentally and from experience, I never _really_ believe extraordinary yarns until I get proof. "Not that anything I've seen so far is _legal_ proof; it isn't that at all, but it shows me pretty clearly that K. has been up to his tricks. I doubt if we shall be able to trap him; indeed, I reckon that he wouldn't do a thing like this unless he had a good many safe cards up his sleeve. But even if we don't _win_ the action, there's no reason why we shouldn't _have_ it, provided we go about it in the right way. "See what I mean? First of all, we'll work up a damned great newspaper campaign; I'll have the _Messenger_ editor to dinner next week and see what I can do with him. It's my belief that an anti-Karelsky campaign is just what the country is _subconsciously_ ready for; the 'great man' stunt has been overdone lately. Then, too, there's the psychological value of Terry himself--he's young, handsome, and English. All that will count.