Dawson entertained Cary at dinner in a private room at the Station Hotel, waited upon by one of his own confidential men. ‘Nobody ever sees me,’ he observed with much satisfaction, ‘though I am everywhere.’ (I suspect that Dawson is not without his little vanities.) ‘Except in my office and with people whom I know well, I am always someone else. The first time I came to your house I wore a beard, and the second time looked like a gas inspector. You saw only the real Dawson. When one has got the passion for the chase in one’s blood, one cannot bide for long in a stuffy office. As I have a jewel of an assistant, I can always escape and follow up my own victims. This man Hagan is a black heartless devil. Don’t waste your sympathy on him, Mr. Cary. He took money from us quite lately to betray the silly asses of Sinn Feiners, and now, thinking us hoodwinked, is after more money from the Kaiser. He is of the type that would sell his own mother and buy a mistress with the money. He’s not worth your pity. We use him and his like for just so long as they can be useful, and then the jaws of the trap close. By letting him take those faked Notes we have done a fine stroke for the Navy, for the Yard, and for Bill Dawson. We have got into close touch with four new German agents here and two more down south. We shan’t seize them yet; just keep them hanging on and use them. That’s the game. I am never anxious about an agent when I know him and can keep him watched. Anxious, bless you; I love him like a cat loves a mouse. I’ve had some spies on my string ever since the war began; I wouldn’t have them touched or worried for the world. Their correspondence tells me everything, and if a letter to Holland which they haven’t written slips in sometimes it’s useful, very useful, as useful almost as your faked Notes.’ Half an hour before the night train was due to leave for the South, Dawson, very simply but effectively changed in appearance--for Hagan knew by sight the real Dawson,--led Cary to the middle sleeping-coach on the train. ‘I have had Hagan put in No. 5,’ he said, ‘and you and I will take Nos. 4 and 6. No. 5 is an observation berth; there is one fixed up for us on this sleeping-coach. Come in here.’ He pulled Cary into No. 4, shut the door, and pointed to a small wooden knob set a few inches below the luggage rack. ‘If one unscrews that knob one can see into the next berth, No. 5. No. 6 is fitted in the same way, so that we can rake No. 5 from both sides. But, mind you, on no account touch those knobs until the train is moving fast and until you have switched out the lights. If No. 5 was dark when you opened the peep-hole, a ray of light from your side would give the show away. And unless there was a good deal of vibration and rattle in the train you might be heard. Now cut away to No. 6, fasten the door, and go to bed. I shall sit up and watch, but there is nothing for you to do.’