“But I don’t see,” went on Winstanley. “Their object was to get these dispositions without our knowing it. Now it only required one of us to mention to Alloa our meeting tonight for the whole fraud to be exposed.”

Sir Walter laughed dryly. “The selection of Alloa shows their acumen. Which of us was likely to speak to him about tonight? Or was he likely to open the subject?”

I remembered the First Sea Lord’s reputation for taciturnity and shortness of temper.

“The one thing that puzzles me,” said the General, “is what good his visit here would do that spy fellow? He could not carry away several pages of figures and strange names in his head.”

“That is not difficult,” the Frenchman replied. “A good spy is trained to have a photographic memory. Like your own Macaulay. You noticed he said nothing, but went through these papers again and again. I think we may assume that he has every detail stamped on his mind. When I was younger I could do the same trick.”