“A ruse de guerre , my friend, a ruse de guerre . All is now ready for our grand coup.”

“But you might have told me !”

“No, Hastings, I could not. Never, never, in a thousand years, could you have acted the part at the funeral. As it was, it was perfect. It could not fail to carry conviction to the Big Four.”

“But what I’ve been through⁠—”