"No," said Callaghan. "I think it's a good idea."
She asked quickly: "Why?"
"I don't know," said Callaghan. "But I think it's a good thing sometimes to clear the decks for action, don't you?"
She smiled— a slow sad smile. She said:
"So Mr. Callaghan is proposing to go into action?"
He grinned at her.
"Right," he said. "This Wilbery business is hanging about too much. Somebody's got to start something. I think I'll start it. Good-night."
He closed the door softly behind her.
CALLAGHAN sat looking into his bedroom fire. The ash-tray bore the stubs of innumerable cigarettes. He yawned. He remembered suddenly that he had had no breakfast, no lunch, no dinner. Nothing except tea. He came to the conclusion that the amount of rye he had drunk the day before must be responsible for such en
