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lapse of judgment over a professional junior.
    “Mr. Farnsworth,” Pitt stopped him as he was about to leave.
    “Yes?” Farnsworth was surprised.
    “Naturally I will attend to Lady Warburton’s diamonds if you wish me to, but I would rather put Tellman onto it and leave myself free to go to the Colonial Office, where I have been informed there is a leak of vital information about African affairs.”
    “What?” Farnsworth was appalled. He swung around, staring at Pitt. “I don’t know anything about this! Why did you not report this immediately? I was available all yesterday, and the day before. You could perfectly easily have found me if you tried. You’ve got a telephone here. You should have one installed in your own home. You must keep up with the times, Pitt. Modern inventions are here for our use, not just to entertain those with more money and imagination than sense. What’s the matter with you, man? You are too old-fashioned. Stuck in your ways!”
    “I only heard of it half an hour ago,” Pitt replied with satisfaction. “Immediately before leaving my home. And I don’t think it is a suitable subject to discuss on the telephone, but I do have one.”
    “If it is not a suitable subject to discuss on the telephone, how did you hear about it?” Farnsworth demanded with a flash of humor and equal satisfaction. “If you wish to be discreet about it, you should have gone around to the Colonial Office to ascertain the situation before coming here. Are you really sure it is important information at all? Perhaps in your zeal to be discreet, you have insufficientknowledge to assume it is anything like as grave as you suggest. It is probably merely misplaced.”
    Pitt smiled and put his hands in his pockets. “A member of the Foreign Office visited me in person,” he replied, “on the instructions of Lord Salisbury, and officially requested me to look into the matter. The information which we are speaking of has turned up in the German Embassy, which is how they know of the matter. It is not a few pieces of paper that no one can put his hand on.”
    Farnsworth was aghast, but Pitt did not allow him to speak.
    “The Germans are aware of some of our negotiating positions with reference to possessions in East Africa, Zambezia, and the possibilities of a British corridor from Cairo to the Cape,” he went on. “However, Lady Warburton’s diamonds …”
    “To hell with Lady Warburton and her diamonds,” Farnsworth exploded. “Tellman can deal with that.” A look of spite crossed his well-formed features. “I only said my best man, I did not name him. And that is not necessarily the most senior, by any means. You go to the Colonial Office immediately. Concentrate on it, Pitt. Leave everything else until you have that solved. Do you understand me? And for God’s sake, man, be discreet!”
    Pitt smiled. “Yes, Mr. Farnsworth. That is what I intended, before the matter of Lady Warburton came up.”
    Farnsworth glared at him, but said nothing further.
    Pitt opened the door. Farnsworth went out. Pitt followed him, calling the desk sergeant to send for Inspector Tellman.

2
    P
ITT WALKED DOWN
Bow Street to the Strand, where he found a hansom and gave the driver instructions to take him to the Colonial Office on the corner of Whitehall and Downing Street. The driver looked at him with slight surprise, but after only a moment’s hesitation, urged the horse forward and joined the stream of traffic moving west.
    Pitt spent the journey going over in his mind what Matthew had said, and formulating the way in which he would approach the subject when he reached Whitehall. He had read Matthew’s letter of authority, and the brief instructions and details with it, but it gave him little feeling for the nature or degree of difficulty he would face in obtaining cooperation.
    The cab progressed slowly, stopping for every tangle of coaches, carriages, drays and omnibuses from the Strand and Wellington Street where Pitt