“You don’t know me, Mr. Beenham?” he said.

Old Mole scanned him.

“No. I can’t say I do.”

“Cuthbert Jones. You may remember. . . .”

Carlton Timmis!

“Sit down, sit down,” said Old Mole. “I am glad to see you. I wrote to you, wired to you at a place called Crown Imperial.”

“A dirty hole.”

“You heard about your play?”

“Only six weeks ago. In Shanghai. I picked up an old illustrated paper. There was a portrait of Miss Burn in it. I hear she is a success. . . . I was told there is a company touring the China coast with the play.”

“It is still being performed,” said Old Mole. “It has been translated into German, French, Italian, Russian, Hungarian, Dutch, Japanese. . . .”