'None at present,' Lavendale replied. 'I cannot see Major Elwell for another half-hour. Tell me, have you ever heard your mistress mention any place of which the first syllable is "Hook"?'
'"Ook,"' Anne repeated dubiously. 'No, monsieur!'
'Hookam Court,' Lavendale went on, 'Anthony Silburn—Norfolk—none of that is familiar?'
'But no, monsieur!'
He kept the secret of the telephone message to himself and made his way round once more to Whitehall. Major Elwell was seated in his office and received him at once. There was nothing unusual about the place except a large array of telephones. Lavendale told his story quickly. The Major listened without comment.
'Well?' Lavendale asked eagerly, when he had finished.
Major Elwell was occupied in drawing small diagrams with his pencil on the edge of the blotting-paper.
'We must see what can be done,' he remarked at last. 'Hook'—that is absolutely all you heard?'
'Absolutely,' Lavendale assured him.
'And you have a friend who lives at Hookam Court in Norfolk—Mr. Anthony Silburn?' he said meditatively. 'A very remarkable man, Silburn—likely to be President some day, they tell me.'