Mr. Sabin when alone called Duson to him.
“Have you any report to make, Duson?” he asked.
“None, sir!”
Mr. Sabin dismissed him impatiently.
“After all, I am getting old. He is young and he is strong—a worthy antagonist. Come, let us see what this little volume has to say about him.”
He turned over the pages rapidly and read aloud.
“Reginald Cyril Brott, born 18—, son of John Reginald Brott, Esq., of Manchester. Educated at Harrow and Merton College, Cambridge, M.A., LL.D., and winner of the Rudlock History Prize. Also tenth wrangler. Entered the diplomatic service on leaving college, and served as junior attache at Vienna.”
Mr. Sabin laid down the volume, and made a little calculation. At the end of it he had made a discovery. His face was very white and set.
“I was at Petersburg,” he muttered. “Now I think of it, I heard something of a young English attache. But—”
He touched the bell.