An orderly stepped gingerly into the room.
"An usher, Colonel, with a message, begging you to be so good as to step downstairs at once to see the Under-Secretary of State."
Hofferman looked up.
"Are you sure the message is for me?"
"Yes, Colonel."
"Very well. I am coming immediately."
The orderly vanished. Hofferman remained in thought for a minute or so, rose abruptly, half opened the door of the adjoining room, and addressed Commandant Dumoulin:
"The Under-Secretary of State wishes to see me. I am going down now."
The colonel passed rapidly along the interminable corridors separating him from the building in which the Under-Secretary's offices were situated.
"What can he want to see me about?" Colonel Hofferman asked himself as he entered the Under-Secretary's room.