Thirty-two BUNDLE IS DUMBFOUNDED

“That’s right,” said Battle, as Mosgorovsky leapt up and came round toBundle. “Get a chair for her. It’s been a bit of a shock, I can see.”
Bundle sank down on the chair. She felt limp and faint with surprise.
Battle went on talking in a quiet, comfortable way wholly characteristic ofhim.
“You didn’t expect to see me, Lady Eileen. No, and no more did some ofthe others sitting round the table. Mr. Mosgorovsky’s been my lieutenantin a manner of speaking. He’s been in the know all along. But most of theothers have taken their orders blindly from him.”
Still Bundle said no word. She was—a most unusual state of affairs forher—simply incapable¹ of speech.
Battle nodded at her comprehendingly, seeming to understand the stateof her feelings.
“You’ll have to get rid of one or two preconceived ideas of yours, I’mafraid, Lady Eileen. About this society, for instance—I know it’s commonenough in books—a secret organization of criminals with a mysterious su-percriminal at the head of it whom no one ever sees. That sort of thingmay exist in real life, but I can only say that I’ve never come across any-thing of the sort, and I’ve had a good deal of experience one way or an-other.
“But there’s a lot of romance in the world, Lady Eileen. People, espe-cially young people, like reading about such things, and they like still bet-ter really doing them. I’m going to introduce you now to a very creditableband of amateurs that has done remarkably² fine work for my Department,work that nobody else could have done. If they’ve chosen rather melodra-matic trappings, well, why shouldn’t they? They’ve been willing to facereal danger—danger of the very worst kind—and they’ve done it for thesereasons: love of danger for its own sake—which to my mind is a veryhealthy sign in these Safety First days—and an honest wish to serve theircountry.
“And now, Lady Eileen, I’m going to introduce you. First of all, there’sMr. Mosgorovsky, whom you already know in a manner of speaking. Asyou’re aware, he runs the club and he runs a host of other things too. He’sour most valuable Secret Anti-Bolshevist Agent in England. No 5 is CountAndras of the Hungarian Embassy, a very near and dear friend of the lateGerald Wade³. No 4 is Mr. Hayward Phelps, an American journalist, whoseBritish sympathies are very keen and whose

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