“Last night, I suppose.”
“Didn’t you know anything of it at the Admiralty?” asked Rodwell.
“I heard nothing before I left this evening,” Trustram replied.
The pair smoked together for an hour in Rodwell’s room in Bruton Street; and during that time the conversation turned upon the arrest of Jack Sainsbury, Trustram expressing surprise that he had not yet been brought to trial.
“I suppose the case against him is not yet complete,” remarked Rodwell, with a careless air. “A most unfortunate affair,” he added. “He was a clerk in the office of a company in which I have some interest.”
“So I hear. But I really can’t think it’s true that he’s been guilty of espionage,” remarked the Admiralty official. “He was a great friend of Jerrold’s, you remember.”
“Well, I fear, if the truth were told, there was a charge of a similar character against Jerrold.”
“What!” cried Trustram, starting forward in great surprise. “This is the first I’ve heard of it!”
“Of course I can’t say quite positively—only that is what’s rumoured,” Rodwell said.
“But what kind of charge was there against Jerrold? I can’t credit it. Why, he did so much to unearth spies, and was of the greatest assistance to the Intelligence Department. That I happen to know.”