Once more Endor looked at the circle of faces around him. Of the thoughts they concealed he could glean nothing beyond a covert hostility in the eyes of Bandar Ali and a look of deep anxiety in those of George Hierons. The American was seated next to him. At this terrible moment, in which Endor knew that his own death sentence had been pronounced, and even in this most dangerous company, he was not without a friend. As Endor got up from the table he felt upon his arm a slight pressure, soothing yet magnetic. It was as if that gentle touch spoke its own silent message, “For heaven’s sake, my friend,” it seemed to say, “do nothing hastily. Let your slightest action now be the fruit of wisdom.” In spite of this tacit prayer, Endor yielded to the all-powerful desire now in his mind. He would fly at once from this house of ill omen. Before he left the room, however, he was moved to speak again. “One last word!” As Endor reached the door he turned swiftly to face the men who were still seated at the table. “I believe,” he said, in a voice strained and thin, “that Providence itself has given me a means, a lawful means, of breaking this malign power which you would have me unlawfully destroy. You, who at all costs are pledged to conserve the peace of the world, cannot hope to gain your end by secret murder. I beg you to give me a chance to prove that the Divine Will is working for us and for all mankind.” The passion of this last appeal drew no response from the six men at the table. Mutely impassive they watched that rather wild figure withdraw from the room. Endor at once ordered his car. He was bent on going back to London immediately. Not another hour could he endure the fetid air of Busshe Court. XLV Helen, meanwhile, was spending the week-end at Cloudesley. And here, too, in the famous Midland home of a great political magnate, certain strange things happened. To begin with, Mrs. John Endor had to make the best excuses she could for the non-arrival of her distinguished husband. He had “chucked” at the last moment, and it was not easy to forget that fact. The party was large and made up of heterogeneous elements. But more than one of its members had looked forward to spending a certain amount of time in the interesting company of the new Home Secretary. Keen disappointment was expressed by host, hostess and guests alike. Helen’s excuses for the absentee sounded in her own ears rather hollow, but she had tact enough to make them sound convincing in the ear of others.