Before Mortimer was up and about, Commander Rich sent for a certain henchman named Goss, and in the privacy of his room spoke to him thus: “When the supreme test of duty comes, the faithful will not fail. Our ruse has been betrayed. Yesterday morning I told the Secretary that Tompkins had been called away by family sickness. The chances were a thousand to one he would never hear that Tompkins was in the Bureau after I said he had gone. By some mischance his suspicions have been aroused; last night he canceled orders issued in the morning. Soon he will come to question me. It is of supreme importance for the cause we serve that I should stay at my post. I shall deny the telephone conversation and tell him some one has played a trick and impersonated me. But that will not suffice. To make my position secure, I must find some one who can mimic my voice well enough to have deceived the Secretary. Your power of mimicry deceived Tompkins. You will be called on to show what you can do, avowedly for another purpose, and you must play your part. I do you the honor to call on you for this sacrifice.”
An agonized look spread over the face of Goss.
“Master, is there no other way?” he said.
“None,” replied Rich. “I must stay, and you must go; the cause demands it. By good fortune you may yet escape the extreme penalty. We must also have evidence of tampering with the wires. Go quickly to the Bureau before any one is about, and, in a well-concealed place, cut the wires from the switch-board to Tompkins’s desk, then splice them together again and put tape around the splices.
“When you are questioned, protest your innocence till the case is proved against you. Own no master nearer than Constantinople. Tompkins will not return; but, remember, you know nothing of that.”
When Mortimer called on Commander Rich at his office that morning, Rich received him with disarming cordiality and equanimity. Indeed, he did not look like a guilty man.
“Do you recall our telephone conversation yesterday morning?” said Mortimer.
“No,” said Rich with a puzzled look. “I had forgotten we had one. What was it about?”
“About Tompkins.”
“Tompkins?” said Rich. “Who is he?”