Nora returned to the room as Miller left.
"I don't know whether you wanted me to go," she said to Dartrey, "but I
cannot sit and listen to that man talk. I try to keep myself free from
prejudices, but there are exceptions. Miller is my pet one. Tell me
exactly what he came about? Something disagreeable, I am sure?"
They told her, but she declined to take the matter seriously.
"A position like this is necessarily disagreeable," she argued, "but I
have confidence in Mr. Tallente. Remember, this article was written
nine years ago, Stephen, and though for twenty-four hours it may make
things unpleasant, I feel sure that it won't do nearly the harm you
imagine. And think what a confession to make! That man, who aims at
being a Cabinet Minister, sits here in this room and admits that he
bribed Mr. Tallente's secretary with five thousand pounds to steal the
manuscript out of his safe. How do you think that will go down with the
public?"
"A certain portion of the public, I am afraid," Tallente said gravely,
"will say that I discovered the theft--and killed Palliser."
"Killed Palliser!" Nora repeated incredulously. "I never heard such
rubbish!"
"Palliser certainly disappeared on the evening of the day when he parted
with the manuscript to Miller," Tallente went on, "and has never been
seen or heard of since."
"But there must be some explanation of that," Dartrey observed.
There was a short silence, significant of a curious change in the
atmosphere. Tallente's silence grew to possess a queer significance.
The ghost of rumours to which neither had ever listened suddenly forced
its way back into the minds of the other two. Dartrey was the first to
collect himself.
"Tallente," he said, "as a private person I have no desire to ask you a
single question concerned with your private life, but we have come to
something of a crisis. It is necessary that I should know the worst.
Is there anything else Miller could bring up against you?"
"To the best of my belief, nothing," Tallente replied calmly
"That is not sufficient," Dartrey persisted. "Have you any knowledge,
Tallente, which the world does not share, of the disappearance of this
man Palliser? It is inevitable that if you discovered his treachery
there should have been hard words. Did you have any scene with him? Do
you know more of his disappearance than the world knows?"
"I do," Tallente replied. "You shall share that knowledge with me to a
certain extent. I had another cause for quarrel with Palliser to which
I do not choose to refer, but on my arrival home that night I summoned
him from the house and led him to an open space. I admit that I chose a
primitive method of inflicting punishment upon a traitor. I intended to
thrash Palliser, a course of action in which I ask you, Dartrey, to
believe, as a man of honour, I was justified. I struck too hard and
Palliser went over the cliff."
Neither Nora nor Dartrey seemed capable of speech. Tallente's cool,
precise manner of telling his story seemed to have an almost paralysing
effect upon them.
"Afterwards," Tallente continued, "I discovered the theft of that
document. A faithful servant of mine, and I, searched for Palliser's
body, risking our lives in vain, as it turns out, in the hope of
recovering the manuscript. The body was neither in the bay below nor
hung up anywhere on the cliff. One of two things, then, must have
happened. Either Palliser's body must have been taken out by the tide,
which flows down the Bristol Channel in a curious way, and will never
now be recovered, or he made a remarkable escape and decided, under all
the circumstances, to make a fresh start in life."
Nora came suddenly over to Tallente's side. She took his arm and
somehow or other the strained look seemed to pass from his face.
"Dear friend," she said, "this is very painful for you, I know, but your
other cause of quarrel with Palliser--you will forgive me if I ask--was
it about your wife?"
"It was," Tallente replied. "You are just the one person in the world,
Nora, in whom I am glad to confide to that extent."
She turned to Dartrey.
"Stephen," she said, "either Palliser is dead and his death can be
brought to no one's door, or he is lying hidden and there is no one to
blame. You can wipe that out of your mind, can you not? All that we
shall have to consider now is the real effect upon the members of our
party as a whole, if this article is published."
"Have you a copy of it?" Dartrey asked.
Tallente shook his head.
"I haven't, but if a certain suspicion I have formed is true, I might be
able to get you one. In any case, Dartrey, don't come to any decision
for a day or two. If it is for the good of the party for you to throw
me overboard, you must do it, and I can assure you I'll take the plunge
willingly. On the other hand, if you want me to fight, I'll fight."
Dartrey smiled.
"It is extraordinary," he said, "how one realises more and more, as time
goes on, how inhuman politics really are. The greatest principle in
life, the principle of sticking to one's friends, has to be discarded.
I shall take you at your word, Tallente. I am going to consider only
what I think would be best for the welfare of the Democratic Party and
in the meantime we'll just go on as though nothing had happened."
"If Horlock approaches me," Tallente began--
"He can go out either on a vote of confidence or on an adverse vote on
any of the three Bills next week," Dartrey said. "We don't want to
drive them out like a flock of sheep. They can go out waving banners
and blowing tin horns, if they like, but they're going. It's time the
country was governed, and the country, after all, is the only thing that
counts.--I am sorry to send you back to work, Tallente, in such a state
of uncertainty, but I know it will make no difference to you. Strike
where you can and strike hard. Our day is coming and I tell you
honestly I can't believe--nothing would make me believe--that you won't
be in at the death."
"Don't forget that we meet to-night in Charles Street," Tallente
reminded them, as he shook hands.
"Trust Nora," Dartrey replied. "She has been looking forward to it
every day."
"I now," Tallente said, as he took up his hat and stick, "am going to
confront an editor."
"You are going to try and get me a copy of the article?"
Tallente nodded.
"I am going to try. If my suspicions are correct, you shall have it in
twenty-four hours."
Tallente, however, spent a somewhat profitless morning, and it was only
by chance in the end that he succeeded in his quest. He strolled into
the lounge at the Sheridan Club to find the man he sought the centre of
a little group. Greetings were exchanged, cocktails drunk, and as soon
as an opportunity occurred Tallente drew his quarry on one side.
"Greening," he said, "if you are not in a hurry, could I have a word
with you before lunch?"
"By all means," the other replied. "We'll go into the smoking room."
They strolled off together, followed by more than one pair of curious
eyes. An interview between the editor of the daily journal having the
largest circulation in Great Britain and Tallente, possible dictator of
a new party in politics, was not without its dramatic interest.
Tallente wasted no words as soon as they had entered the smoking room
and found it empty.
"Do you mind talking shop, Greening?" he asked. "I've been down to your
place twice this morning, but couldn't find you."
"Go ahead," the other invited. "I had to go round to Downing Street and
then on to see the chief. Sorry you had a fruitless journey."
"I will be quite frank with you," Tallente went on. "What I am going to
suggest to you is pure guesswork. A political opponent, if I can
dignify the fellow with such a term, has in his possession an article of
mine which I wrote some years ago, during the war. I have been given to
understand that he means to obtain publication of it for the purpose of
undermining my position with the Labour Party. Has he brought it to
you?"
"He has," Greening answered briefly.
"Are you going to use it?"
"We are. The article is in type now. It won't be out for a day or two.
When it does, we look upon it as the biggest political scoop of this
decade."
"I protest to you formally," Tallente said, "against the publication by
a respectable journal of a stolen document."
Greening shook his head.
"Won't do, Tallente," he replied. "We have had a meeting and decided to
publish. The best I can do for you is to promise that we will publish
unabridged any comments you may have to make upon the matter, on the
following day."
"I have always understood that there is such a thing as a journalistic
conscience," Tallente persisted. "Can you tell me what possible
justification you can find for making use of stolen material?"
"The journalistic conscience is permitted some latitude in these
matters," Greening answered drily. "We are not publishing for the sake
of any pecuniary benefit or even for the kudos of a scoop. We are
publishing because we want to do our best to drive you out from amongst
the Democrats."
"Did Horlock send Miller to you?" Tallente enquired.
Greening shook his head once more.
"I cannot answer that sort of question. I will say as much as this in
our justification. We stand for sane politics and your defection from
the ranks of sane politicians has been very seriously felt. We look
upon this opportunity of weakening your present position with the
Democratic Party as a matter of political necessity. Personally, I am
very sorry, Tallente, to do an unfriendly action, but I can only say,
like the school-master before he canes a refractory pupil, that it is
for your own good."
"I should prefer to remain the arbiter of my own destiny," Tallente
observed drily. "I suppose you fully understand that that noxious
person, Miller, paid my defaulting secretary five thousand pounds for
that manuscript?"
"My dear fellow, if your pocket had been picked in the street of that
manuscript and it had been brought to us, we should still have used it,"
was the frank reply.
Tallente stared gloomily out of the window.
"Then I suppose there is nothing more to be said," he wound up.
"Nothing! Sorry, Tallente, but the chief is absolutely firm. He looks
upon you as the monkey pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for the
Labour Party and he has made up his mind to singe your paws."
"The Democrats will rule this country before many years have passed,"
Tallente said earnestly, "whether your chief likes it or not. Isn't it
better to have a reasonable and moderate man like myself of influence in
their councils than to have to deal with Miller and his lot?"
Greening shrugged his shoulders and glanced at the clock.
"Orders are orders," he declared, "and even if I disbelieved in the
policy of the paper, I couldn't afford to disobey. Come and lunch,
Tallente."
"Can I have a proof of the article?"
"By all means," was the prompt reply. "Shall I send it to your rooms or
here?"
"Send it direct to Stephen Dartrey at the House of Commons."
"I see," Greening murmured thoughtfully, "and then a council of war, eh?
Don't forget our promise, Tallente. We'll publish your counterblast,
whatever the consequences."
Tallente sighed.
"It isn't decided yet," he said, as they made their way towards the
luncheon room, "whether there is to be a counterblast."