"I have told you all that there is to tell at this stage," Cator replied. "It is most unfortunate that you can give me absolutely no information regarding this man; but I suppose I must seek for it elsewhere. He must be found and questioned, for the allegations are extremely grave, and the situation the most critical I have known in all my diplomatic career." "What are the allegations? I thought I understood you that there were only vague hints?" exclaimed Chisholm in suspicion. "In some letters the hints are vague, but in one there is a distinct and serious charge." "Of what?" "Of a certain matter which, together with the name of the Ministry from which the document was secured, must remain for the present a secret." "If the crisis is so very serious I think I, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary, have a right to know," protested Dudley. "No. I much regret my inability to reply to your questions, Mr. Chisholm," his visitor answered. "It is, moreover, not my habit to make any statement until an inquiry is concluded, and not even then if the chief imposes silence upon me, as he has done in the present case. Remember that I am in the public service, just as you are. All that has passed between us to-night has passed in the strictest confidence. Any communication made by the chief through you in the House will, in the nation's interest, be of a kind to mislead and mystify our enemies." "But the mention of my own name in these copied letters!" observed the Under-Secretary. "What you have told has only whetted my appetite for further information. I really can't understand it." "No, nor can I," replied Archibald Cator frankly. And he certainly spoke the honest truth, even though he knew a good deal more than he had thought it wise to admit. CHAPTER TWENTY. THROWS LIGHT ON THE PAST. Finding that his visitor was determined to travel back to London at once, Dudley gave orders for the dog-cart to be brought round to the servants' entrance, for Cator had expressed the strongest desire that his visit should remain unknown. "Among your guests are several persons who have wintered in Rome, with whom I am on friendly terms. Just now I'm too much occupied to meet them. You'll quite understand," he said. "Perfectly, my dear sir," replied the Under-secretary, mixing another glass of whiskey for each of them. "In this matter I shall be perfectly silent. From me not a soul will know that you have been in England." Dudley's spirits had risen, for he imagined that he had successfully evaded the man's inquiries and by that means had staved off the threatened exposure and ruin. "From what I've explained you will readily recognise how extremely critical is the present situation, and the urgent necessity that exists for a firm and defiant policy on our part. But until I discover the truth the chief is utterly unable to move, lest he should precipitate events and cause the bursting of the war-cloud."