Hackworth Lunches in Distinguished Company Summary

John Percival Hackworth sits down at a table with Major Napier and Lord Alexander Chung-Sik Finkle-McGraw. Hackworth worries that his crime is now well known. Finkle-McGraw quizzes the engineer about his understanding of the sin of hypocrisy. The Lord also discusses the origins of the Neo-Victorians. He says that the authorities are well aware of Hackworth's escapades to Shanghai and wonders what the engineer's business was in this place. Hackworth acknowledges his crime. Lord Finkle-McGraw replies that the authorities could be interested in the whereabouts of a certain Mandarin of the Celestial Kingdom, Dr. X. He offers Hackworth a way out of his problems if the latter agrees to act as a double agent for the Victorian authorities, leaving him little choice but to accept this informal deal.

Hackworth Lunches in Distinguished Company Analysis

In...