Mr. Hebblethwaite's face cleared.
"I begin to understand now, Norgate," he muttered. "Good fellow!"
Mr. Bullen was summoned in hot haste by one of his supporters and hurried out. Norgate drew his chair a little closer to his friend's.
"Look here, Hebblethwaite," he said, "you wouldn't listen to me, you know—I don't blame you—but I knew the truth of what I was saying. I knew what was coming. The only thing I could do to help was to play the double traitor. I did it. My chief, who reported to Berlin that this civil war was inevitable, will get it in the neck, but there's more to follow. The Baroness von Haase and I were associated in an absolutely confidential mission to ascertain the likely position of Italy in the event of this conflict. I know for a fact that Italy will not come in with her allies."
"Do you mean that?" Mr. Hebblethwaite asked eagerly.
"Absolutely certain," Norgate assured him.
Hebblethwaite half rose from his place with excitement.
"I ought to telephone to the War Office," he declared. "It will alter the whole mobilisation of the French troops."
"France knows," Norgate told him quietly. "My wife has seen to that. She passed the information on to them just in time to contract the whole line of mobilisation."
"You've been doing big things, young fellow!" Mr. Hebblethwaite exclaimed excitedly. "Go on. Tell me at once, what was your report to Germany?"