"Yes," Stamfordham said; "peace."
"Then when is this going to be given to the world?" said Rendel.
"Some of it possibly to-morrow," said Stamfordham. "The Cabinet Council will meet this evening, and the King's formal sanction obtained. Of course," he went on, "the broad outlines only will be published—the fact of the understanding at any rate, not necessarily the terms of the partition. But it is important for financial reasons that the country should know as soon as possible that war is averted."
"Of course, of course," said Rendel. "Immeasurably important."
Stamfordham took up his hat and held out his hand with his air of courtly politeness as he turned towards the door.
"I may count upon you to do this for me immediately?"
"This instant," said Rendel, taking up the papers. "Shall I take them to your house as soon as they are done?"
"Please," said Stamfordham. "No, stay—I am going back to the German Embassy now, then probably to the Foreign Office. You had better simply send a messenger you can rely upon, and tell him to wait at my house to give them into my own hand, as I am not sure where I shall be for the next hour. Rendel, I must ask you by all you hold sacred to take care of those papers. If that map were to be caught sight of before the time——"
Rendel involuntarily held it tighter at the thought of such a catastrophe.
"Good Heavens!—yes," he said. "But that shan't happen. Look," and he dropped the paper through the slit in the closed revolving corner of his large writing-table, a cover that was solidly locked with his own key so that, though papers could be put in through the slit, it was impossible to take them out again without unlocking the cover and lifting it up. "This is the only key," he said, showing his bunch. "Now then, they are perfectly safe while I go across the hall with you."