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stories which circulated about him, a kindly man. His staff hero-worshipped him. He was benevolence itself. The responsibility for the many big crashes on Wall Street was not his; he had tried to prevent them. He appeared on the American scene as a big, rough, genial man, a New World Croesus, and the word ‘sinister’ seemed remote from him. Yet there were rumours of the kind which often damn a man. They did not damn Bane, but they made many people suspect his good intentions. He had first come into the limelight in Great Britain as a public figure for condemning the original Roosevelt Lease-Lend plans. He became one of the strongest of the pre-war Isolationists, and yet when the United States entered the war he put his millions and his influence on the side of the Administration. Contradictory, even-tempered, good- humoured, he wielded much power. One of his strongest platforms was the unity of the Americas. He opposed the antagonism towards Castilia when Castilia was probably the most unpopular country in the New World. He strove for good neighbourliness, he said, and he wanted to see America, not just the United States of America, so strong and powerful that it could defy all possible attacks from the outside world.
    There was one other thing which Bane and Anderson had in common. It amounted to a phobia, and had earned both of them rebukes from high authority. They were anti-Soviet. On that their public reputations were mainly based. The public would have heard of them only seldom, and quickly forgotten them, but for their anti-Russian tirades.
    Bobby finished his brandy and looked at his watch.
    â€˜I ought to go,’ he said. ‘Not unexpected, you say?’
    â€˜If Dias has planned an expedition it has to be financed,’ said Palfrey, ‘and Bane and Anderson do finance things.’
    â€˜That isn’t what you meant,’ said Bobby.
    â€˜Now, come,’ said Palfrey. ‘Isn’t Dias anti-Russian? Isn’t that a likely meeting-place for them, a mutual ground on which they can plan their actions?’
    â€˜Shortage of radium won’t hurt Russia particularly,’ said Bobby, and then pulled a face at Palfrey’s expression. ‘Now what have I said?’
    â€˜Of course it will hurt Russia particularly,’ said Palfrey. He felt suddenly more hopeful about Stefan. ‘Of the Big Three, only Russia has great numbers of people suffering from years of privation—privation of a genuine kind. Russia will be hit badly by a world shortage of radium. That,’ he added, almost dreamily, ‘is my one reason for hoping that Andromovitch will be released to help us.’
    â€˜The big fellow?’ asked Bobby. ‘I’ve met him, haven’t I? Well, perhaps you’re right. Mine not to give opinions, mine but to state the facts. As I have. Tell a soul and I shall leave you both out of my will.’ He heaved himself out of his chair. ‘Sorry about the empty decanter,’ he said, and took his leave.
    Palfrey saw him to the street door. There was no shadowy figure outside, nothing to indicate that he had been followed. He had said a great deal of great interest, and had given Palfrey much to think about, but in spite of that Palfrey was chiefly concerned with Charles Lumsden’s disappearance.
    He decided to wait until midnight, and then telephone the Old Man again.
    Charles Lumsden was not aware of being followed when he left Palfrey’s flat. He was smiling to himself, amused in a bitter sort of way. It was like the Old Man to work something on these lines. There was no real love lost between them, and he knew that he was regarded as the prodigal son. He felt a sense of injustice.
    Was this new affair of Palfrey’s really a show for him?
    He half wished that he had not given his undertaking. He was playing into the Old Man’s hands. Life in London was not too bad; in fact there was much to be said for it. London still had its