“What should we have to do?” she breathed.
Mr. Carter smiled.
“Just go on with what you’re doing now. FIND JANE FINN.”
“Yes, but–who IS Jane Finn?”
Mr. Carter nodded gravely.
“Yes, you’re entitled to know that, I think.”
He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, brought the tips of his
fingers together, and began in a low monotone:
“Secret diplomacy (which, by the way, is nearly always bad policy!) does
not concern you. It will be sufficient to say that in the early days of 1915 a
certain document came into being. It was the draft of a secret
agreement–treaty–call it what you like. It was drawn up ready for signature by
the various representatives, and drawn up in America–at that time a neutral
country. It was dispatched to England by a special messenger selected for that
purpose, a young fellow called Danvers. It was hoped that the whole affair had
been kept so secret that nothing would have leaked out. That kind of hope is
usually disappointed. Somebody always talks!
“Danvers sailed for England on the Lusitania. He carried the precious
papers in an oilskin packet which he wore next his skin. It was on that
particular voyage that the Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk. Danvers was among
the list of those missing. Eventually his body was washed ashore, and
identified beyond any possible doubt. But the oilskin packet was missing!
“The question was, had it been taken from him, or had he himself passed it
on into another’s keeping? There were a few incidents that strengthened the
possibility of the latter theory. After the torpedo struck the ship, in the few
moments during the launching of the boats, Danvers was seen speaking to a young
American girl. No one actually saw him pass anything to her, but he might have
done so. It seems to me quite likely that he entrusted the papers to this girl,
believing that she, as a woman, had a greater chance of bringing them safely to
shore.
“But if so, where was the girl, and what had she done with the papers? By
later advice from America it seemed likely that Danvers had been closely
shadowed on the way over. Was this girl in league with his enemies? Or had she,
in her turn, been shadowed and either tricked or forced into handing over the
precious packet?
“We set to work to trace her out. It proved unexpectedly difficult. Her
name was Jane Finn, and it duly appeared among the list of the survivors, but
the girl herself seemed to have vanished completely. Inquiries into her
antecedents did little to help us. She was an orphan, and had been what we
should call over here a pupil teacher in a small school out West. Her passport
had been made out for Paris, where she was going to join the staff of a
hospital. She had offered her services voluntarily, and after some
correspondence they had been accepted. Having seen her name in the list of the
saved from the Lusitania, the staff of the hospital were naturally very
surprised at her not arriving to take up her billet, and at not hearing from her
in any way.
“Well, every effort was made to trace the young lady–but all in vain. We
tracked her across Ireland, but nothing could be heard of her after she set foot
in England. No use was made of the draft treaty–as might very easily have been
done–and we therefore came to the conclusion that Danvers had, after all,
destroyed it. The war entered on another phase, the diplomatic aspect changed
accordingly, and the treaty was never redrafted. Rumours as to its existence
were emphatically denied. The disappearance of Jane Finn was forgotten and the
whole affair was lost in oblivion.”
Mr. Carter paused, and Tuppence broke in impatiently:
“But why has it all cropped up again? The war’s over.”
A hint of alertness came into Mr. Carter’s manner.
“Because it seems that the papers were not destroyed after all, and that
they might be resurrected to-day with a new and deadly significance.”
Tuppence stared. Mr. Carter nodded.
“Yes, five years ago, that draft treaty was a weapon in our hands; to-day