The Man Who Knew by Fred M. White

MARY an heiress, Mary, a young and beautiful woman with an independent income and, so far beyond the reach of a mere unit more or less connected with the C.I.D. Mary with a fortune thrown into her lap, so that she could turn her back upon those little rooms in Norfolk street, Strand, and go back again, if she so pleased, to the country life that she loved. There was no doubt whatever that, sooner or later, all that gold in the Martin lane safe would be hers, to do as she liked with. Philip knew quite enough about the ways and methods of the Secret Service to realise that the treasure would never be claimed.

These rather melancholy thoughts occurred to him over and over again as he made his way slowly along Whitehall once more in the direction of Scotland Yard. It seemed to him that, as far as the interviews at the Foreign Office were concerned, he had been more or less wasting his time. Who the individual was he had interviewed last he had not the slightest idea, neither did it matter much. At any rate, the man, though known by number only, was evidently one who spoke with authority, and his word would have to be accepted as final. All this Philip presently confided to Klein, who listened with a sort of smiling sympathy.