“Yes,” declared Frank, “and you have proved yourself quite a hero.”
“Hero!” exclaimed Jack. “I haven’t done anything.”
“You haven’t, eh! Why, anyone who would go through what you did, when you could have prevented it by a few words, is a hero, all right.”
“Oh, that was nothing. I was sure they wouldn’t learn anything through me. Besides, you wouldn’t have had me tell my country’s secrets, would you?”
“There are a good many who would have done so rather than to go through what you did.”
“Would you have told?”
“Well,” said Frank, “I don’t know. I don’t believe I would.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. But now, tell me how you happened to arrive just in the nick of time. I know I owe my life to you.”
“When I came downstairs and went to the street to join you in the taxi,” Frank explained, “there wasn’t any taxi in sight. I was sure you wouldn’t have gone on without me. Recalling the fact that we had been followed that afternoon, I became suspicious. I put two and two together, and events proved that I added them up right.
“I got Hetherington on the telephone. He said he had sent you no letter, and that he was just leaving to meet us. He hurried to the hotel, and after I explained the situation, we rushed to Lord Hastings’.