Chapter 1 A
NEWSPAPER STORYOn the fourteenth day of August, 19—, a tiny paragraph appeared
at the foot of an unimportant page in London's most sober journal
to the effect that the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs had
been much annoyed by the receipt of a number of threatening
letters, and was prepared to pay a reward of fifty pounds to any
person who would give such information as would lead to the
apprehension and conviction of the person or persons, etc. The few
people who read London's most sober journal thought, in their
ponderous Athenaeum Club way, that it was a remarkable thing that a
Minister of State should be annoyed at anything; more remarkable
that he should advertise his annoyance, and most remarkable of all
that he could imagine for one minute that the offer
