Left to himself Maynard gazed about the room and then back at the disorderly desk. Moving quietly over to it he scanned several drawings and turned them over. As he did so his eye fell on a small chess problem diagram half buried among the larger prints and he picked it up to examine more closely. With lightning speed his trained eyes studied the diagram and the message beneath it:
White to Play and Mate in Two Moves.
A second more and the diagram was tucked safely in an inner pocket as approaching footsteps heralded the return of Palmer, and when he entered Maynard was indolently reading the evening newspaper.
“There’s no pleasing some people,” fumed the architect, tossing the plans he carried into the open drawer and thrusting the others pell mell on top of them he slammed the drawer shut and locked it securely. “We’ve got to hurry, Maynard, to get to the Treasury Department before closing time. Come on.”
Stopping only long enough to push down the safety lock of the door to his private office and cautioning the boy to take all telephone messages, Palmer hurried the actor into the street.
“Not a car in sight,” he exclaimed looking up the street. “We’ll have to walk; all Washington’s doing it,” he added, laughing, and the two men strode along, unconsciously quickening their pace as they crossed Lafayette Square into Pennsylvania Avenue. Maynard on reaching the north front of the Treasury swerved toward the long row of steps leading to the building but Palmer stopped him.
“Only one entrance used now-a-days,” he explained. “That on Fifteenth Street, this way,” and they hurried along Pennsylvania Avenue and around the corner.
Paying no attention to the sign “No Visitors Allowed” which hung conspicuously near the only open door, Palmer led the way inside the building and was promptly stopped by an attendant, whose peremptory manner thawed somewhat at sight of Palmer’s visiting card.
“I’ll take you to the Captain of the Watch,” he said. “Here, Tom,” and signing to another attendant to take his place, he escorted them into a small room a few steps away. They had to wait until the Captain of the Watch had interviewed the three men and two women who had reached the room ahead of them. At Palmer’s request to see the Chief of the Secret Service the Captain smiled.