“Impossible!” he agreed.  “Ducaine, do you know why Lord Blenavon left England so suddenly?”

“Colonel Ray knows, sir,” I answered.  “Ask him!”

Lord Chelsford became very thoughtful.

“Ducaine,” he said, “we are in a fix.  So far your plan has worked to perfection.  Paris has plenty of false information, and your real copies have all reached me safely.  But if you leave, how is this to be carried on?  I do not know whom I mistrust, but if the day’s work of the Board is really to be left in ’the safe, either here or at Braster—­”

“You must choose my successor yourself, sir,” I interrupted.

“The Duke has always opposed my selections.  Besides, you have prepared your false copies with rare skill.  Even I was deceived for a moment just now by your summary.  You don’t overdo it.  Everything is just a little wrong.  I am not sure even now whether I should not do better to tell Ray and the Duke the truth.”

“I am in your hands, sir,” I answered.  “You must do as you think best.”

“They will be back in a moment.  It is absurd to doubt either of them, Ducaine.  Yet I shall keep silent.  I have an idea.  Agree to everything I say.”

The Duke and Ray returned together.  Lord Chelsford turned to them.

“Mr. Ducaine,” he said, coldly, “persists in his denial of any knowledge of to-day’s affair.  With regard to the future, I have offered him his choice of an arrest on the charge of espionage, or a twelve months’ cruise on the Ajax, which leaves to-morrow for China.  He has chosen the latter.  I shall take steps of course to see that he is not allowed to land at any calling-place, or dispatch letters.”

Ray smiled a little cruelly.

“The idea is an excellent one, Chelsford,” he said.  “When did you say that the Ajax sailed?”

“To-morrow,” Lord Cheisford answered.  “I propose to take Mr. Ducaine to my house to-night, and to hand him over to the charge of a person on whom I can thoroughly rely.”

The Duke looked at me curiously.

“Mr. Ducaine consents to go?” he asked.

“It is a voyage which I have long desired to take,” I answered coolly, “though I never expected to enjoy it at my country’s expense.”

The Duke rang the bell.

“Will you have Mr. Ducaine’s things packed and sent across—­did you say to your house, Lord Chelsford?”

“To my house,” Lord Chelsford assented.

“To No. 19, Grosvenor Square,” the Duke ordered.  “Mr. Ducaine will not be returning.”

Lord Chelsford rose.  I followed his example.  Neither the Duke nor Ray attempted any form of farewell.  The former, however, laid some notes upon the table.

“I believe, Mr. Ducaine,” he said, “that there is a month’s salary due to you.  I have added something to the amount.  Until to-day I have always considered your duties admirably fulfilled.”

I looked at the notes and at the Duke.