“I know why it sounded so familiar. George Lomax has been over. Tredwell failed for once and let him in. He was on his way up to town. It seems he’s having some political party at the Abbey next week and he got a warning letter.”

“What do you mean by a warning letter?”

“Well, I don’t really know. He didn’t go into details. I gather it said ‘Beware’ and ‘Trouble is at hand,’ and all those sort of things. But anyway it was written from Seven Dials, I distinctly remember his saying so. He was going up to town to consult Scotland Yard about it. You know George?”

Bundle nodded. She was well acquainted with that public-spirited cabinet minister, George Lomax, His Majesty’s permanent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, who was shunned by many because of his inveterate habit of quoting from his public speeches in private. In allusion to his bulging eyeballs, he was known to many⁠—Bill Eversleigh among others⁠—as Codders.