We all knew that name. The papers had been full of it at the beginning of the war. Kiderlen-Waechter was the chief of the German Submarine Flotillas. It was owing to his ingenuity and resource that ship after ship of our gallant Navy had been torpedoed, even in the Straits of Dover themselves.
"What do you mean?" I gasped.
"What I say, John. For, unless I am much mistaken—of course, I may easily be mistaken—the gentleman who drove away with Doctor Upjelly to London this morning is that very man."
"Mr. Jones?" Marjorie cried. "The man the Doctor swore that I must marry when the war is over?"
Bernard's eyes blazed. "What?" he said quickly, "I heard nothing of that!"
The two were looking at each other very strangely when there was a knock at the door. It opened and Dickson max. came in.
He went up to my brother and put down a little case of red morocco by his side.
"There you are, sir," he said.
I looked up sharply. There was something unusual in the lad's voice. He caught hold of the back of Lockhart's chair and swayed as he stood. Then we saw that beneath the upturned collar of the overcoat one cheek was all red and bleeding. There was a line across it like the cut from a knife.
"What on earth is the matter?" I cried, in great alarm.