'But he had been dead a week by then.'
'The letter was written and posted on the 23rd. He evidently did not anticipate an immediate decease.His communications usually took a week to reach me,for they were sent under cover to Spain and then to Newcastle. He had a mania, you know, for concealing his tracks.'
'What did he say?' I stammered.
'Nothing. Merely that he was in danger, but had found shelter with a good friend, and that I would hear from him before the 15th of June. He gave me no address, but said he was living near Portland Place. I think his object was to clear you if anything happened.When I got it I went to Scotland Yard, went over the details of the inquest, and concluded that you were the friend. We made inquiries about you, Mr Hannay,and found you were respectable. I thought I knew the motives for your disappearance—not only the police,the other one too—and when I got Harry's scrawl I guessed at the rest. I have been expecting you any time this past week.' You can imagine what a load this took off my mind. I felt a free man once more, for I was now up against my country's enemies only, and not my country's law.
