THE SECRET AGENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21803, 18 May 1934, Page 16

THE SECRET AGENT

// A THRILLING TALE OF MYSTERY

CHAPTER VII. —(Continued) "tyunky dear, you're rather dense this morning. Didn't I bet you a hundred last night that the Disguiser was in London?" "You have to prove it first, my boy. What's put that bee in your bonnet again?" _ "Only that I was attacked in Tho Mall on tho way home after leaving you. 'i Three brawny ruffians rushed at me from a car which drew up to tho pavement, and if it hadn't been for my little friend Sydney, tho swordstick over there, I might now have been in tho power of my mortal enemy!" The laugh which had started to break from Sir Hubert Heddingly's lips, at the mock-melodramatic tono used-by the younger man faded away. "You're not pulling my leg by any chance?" "I'm telling you tho truth. Heddingly resumed his breakfast with a serious expression. "I don't like this at all. Perhaps, after all, Graham was wrong—" "And I am right," put in Cliipstead. "We shan't bo long in knowing one way 'or the other," summed up tho Intelligence chief. /At twelve minutes to ten o'clock precisely tho two visitors were ushered into the private room of His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Lord Poynder (" No Guts," to hi* comrades at school because, even at that early age, tho middle of his body appeared to be wasting away) uncoiled one long leg from the arm of his chair and rose languidly to meet his caller*. Tho impression Chipstcad had was that this man 'of sixty must have been born tired, and that his sense of lassitude had increased every day since until now he found the burden almost intolerable. Lord Poynder wore striped trousers much too short in the leg, so that his suspenderless socks fell over his broad, old-fashioned shoes, a much-stained waistcoat and a frock-coat of antiquated design. Poynder, a millionaire, did not care much for clothes; hisi main interests were birds' eggs, of which he was said to have " the finest collection in the world, and the production of astonishingly erudite volumes dealing with Erastian philosophy, which ho had to get printed privately because no one hfed ever read or was ever likely to read,' his views on this peculiar subject. If anyone had asked Charles Augustus Poynder ' why he had ' become "His Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs he would probably : have said that neither ho nor. anyone else knew. But, for all his quaintness of personal appearance he was anything but £i fool. In fact, among the discerning students of moclern politics he was considered to be the only really able man -in the present Government.- • • This was early in the morning and he was almost overwhelmingly languid. "Ah, good morning, Heddingly, my dear fellow! And this is your friend—let mo see now: what is his namor

" Chipstead, sir." . "Chipstead. Yes —place in Surrey, isn't it? How do you do, Mr. Chipstead? I —" * . f Ho turned away to look at a slip or paper'on his desk and, as though tho effort was too much, subsided, all the six feefc two inches of him, into the enormous leather chair in which he spent' so many hours of his working Chipstead,'.' he resumed, "I •want, vou to go to Gibraltar." Bunny look at Heddingly, who frowned in warning. But he had to ask the .question: "Why Gibraltar, sir?" Thb blue eyes, which had bom so mild' before, now became a little overcast,; as though Poynder did no'i like being asked questions. But in thin case ho realised that some explanation might be due. This man was not ore of Heddingly's paid agents he was something of an amateur, and therefore had to be considered. It was a beastly bore, but he tried to make the effort. "I. cannot enter into full details, my dear' fellow. It*must be sufficient that it is' necessary to me —and necessary also-to friend Heddingly here —that you, who, I understand, are a most reliable fellow at this sort of thing, should be sent post-haste to Gibraltar. You; could leave from Woolwich today, 'of course, but that would not be advisable —eh Heddingly?" "No sir; it would be better for Chipstead to board the boat at Southampton." The Foreign Secretary seemed ou the point of bending himself almost double. " Yes, Southampton. My dear fellow" —noticing the look on Chipstead face—"please do not trouble to argue with me: it is so fatiguing especially at this time of the morning. Believe me, I mav look a fool, but I know best. Come to that, we are all fools in this world. If we weren't, I don't know that we should continue to be here. You don't know anything, I suppose, about Erastian doctrine? You haven't read my books on the subject—no, of course not: no one has. I believe there is only one other man living who shareis my belief, and he is somewhere on a South Sea island, living all alone . . That is settled, then, my dear fellow: you will go to Gibraltar, and do what you can there. A beastly place, especially when the east wind is blowing, but —" He broke off to conclude the interview with/the words: "And now, my dear Heddingly, if you will take your friend away I shall be greatly obliged. There is some Rumanian chap coming here shortly . . ." The words, alreadly faint, faded away into mere blur of sound, and. looking, Bunny would have taken a fair-sized bet that this distinguished ornament ,of the present Government was on the point of going to sleep. Ho allowed himself to be led away. Had he stayed in that room a few miniates longer and listened to the book-like patter of Lord Poynder, he would have slumbered himself. ' Back in Heddingly's office, after tho Intelligence chief had given orders to his secretary that lie was in {no circumstances to be disturbed -for at. least half an hour, something of Bunny's impatience broke loose. "Well?" he said curtly. " My dear boy, T know. Quaint old bird, isn't he? The only wonder is that, seeing him as often as T do, I haven't been certified myself. But behind that stupid mask of a face and mtasic-hnll dialogue of his, he's got a brain. He never shows any evidence of it to the outside world, I realise, but all tho same, ho will go down to history as one of tho few great men of this generation—make no mistake about that." "About Gibraltar." " ph, yes—about Gibraltar. Well, as far as 1 am able to gauge what is in Povnder's mind, he connects the Bock with tho murder of Marcossan the other night." " Why?" " Goodness only knows, my boy. But he's got pretty good ground for doing 80. And he's basing his theory on some

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By SYDNEY HORLER Author of " 5.0.5.," " The Spider's Web " and " Sporting Chance

information which has como to lum from abroad, but which ho is keeping strictly to himself. That is all I can tell you, I am afraid." Bunny snorted. . " But I don't want to go to Gibraltar —I want to stay in London; that s where the Disguiser is, and that s where I shall find, I hope the man you've asked mo to catch—in othei words, the killer of Marcossan. Heddingly lit a cigarette. " All that you say may bo true, Bunny, my lad, but we can't go against orders. If there is anything in Westlake's theory that a conspiracy of some sort is being hatched against England. with American interests also at stake, then, preposterous as it no doubt seems to you,there may bo something in -this order for you to go to Gibraltar. Dou't forgot that the Rock commands the entrance to the Mediterranean, that it is a most valuable fuelling station for our fleet, that if we lost control of it we should lose control of the entrance to tho Suez canal, that it is a depot for our submarines."

" Go boil, your head!" Sir Robert took tho rebuke in good humour. " I know I'm only telling you the obvious, but it's tho obvious which sometimes escapes notice." He leaned forward to take off the receiver of the telephone, which was buzzing. "Hullo!"

Ho listened for a few moments, and then put his hand over tho mouthpiece. " Poynder," ho whispered. "Ho wants to see us both again." "Return to that lunatic asylum? Not 011 your life!" exclaimed tho indignant Chipstead. " Ho gives me a feeling of having eaten too much gruel.. Besides, ask him to change his waistcoat." " Don't be an ass," shot back his uncle-in-law. " We shall have to go." Lord Poynder appeared to have aged considerably during the half-hour that had elapsed. In any case, it seemed a crying shame to Chipstead that he should ,be kept any longer out of his bed. " I don't know what you will think of me, my dear fellow," he started, and tho words were so faint that Bunny had to listen intently to catch them. " but I entirely omitted to tell you tho real reason that 1 want you to go to Gibraltar. Ah!" as tho door opened, " here is the reason." Ho waited until a woll-set-up man, obviously an officer in mufti, walked forward.

" This is Major Ord Hamilton, sometime of the Loyal Regiment, but now seconded for special duty to tho A\ar Office. Hamilton, my dear, fellow this is Sir Robert Heddingly, of the Intelligence, and this is his nephew, Mr. Chipstead."

Tlio newcomer shook bands cordially with both. He was a typical army officer of the modern type; wellgroomed, well-spoken, with a keenness of air and manner that had made, him popular wherever ne went. His ape was thirty-eight; he wore a small black moustache in the only way that a small black moustache" should be worn; he possessed a good tailor, and altogether, one felt that he was a man it was a privilege to know. Lord Poynder. looked at the door. " All, my dear Heddingly, will you kindly see that there is no one outside? I read an enormous number of detective novels in bed, and in most of them I find that listening at doors —especially at doors in the Foreign Office—-is considered a very reprehensible habit. We must not tolerate it here." When Sir Robert had fulfilled this duty the manner of the Foreign Secretary surprisingly changed: ho drew himself up, holding the lapels of his frock-coat and discarding the pince-nez with which he had been toying before. " Very serious trouble, gentlemen, threatens Gibraltar. The nature of it I cannot go into now, but I ca.n assure you that I am not making absurd statements. I have been in consultation with the War Minister, and avc have decided to send Major Ord Hamilton to consult with the Governor of Gibraltar, who is of course in charge of all the defences. That is so far as you arc concerned, Hamilton." The officer bowed. , " And now, coming to you, Chipstead," the Foreign Secretary continued, " as thero is some risk attached to this visit —again I .wish you to believe I am not speaking without cause —I want you to accompany the major tomorrow, in case —well, in case he requires any help. It is possible that certain people are already in possession of the fact that Major Hamilton will be travelling to Gibraltar, and " he waved a hand so beautifully formed that many a society woman had envied it, and turned to his desk. The second interview was over. (To be continued daily)