"Perhaps you had better write it down immediately," he said. "If you visualise it in writing you will be less likely to have forgotten or misplaced a word."
John rose, and bending over the desk wrote the exact words of the message Mrs. Beecher Monmouth had conveyed to him. When he came to the word Imperator, Dacent Smith whistled softly.
"You have done very well, Treves," he said. He suddenly looked into John's face. "You must better your acquaintance with Mrs. Beecher Monmouth."
"I have an appointment with her for to-morrow night," answered John.
Dacent Smith glanced at a little gilt clock on the mantelshelf.
"I think we shall be in time!"
"That is exactly what Cherriton said," John answered.
Dacent Smith was silent for a moment.
"Treves," he said, "if the Imperator sails to-morrow at three o'clock by Route 28, which is their code for the North Ireland route, there will be another disaster for us."
He was silent a moment and John put a question that had troubled him somewhat.