Then, even as she turned away, the bell rang sharply, and a white label flashed into sight.—WHITEHALL.
She pressed the corresponding button, and, her hand shaking so much that she could scarcely hold the receiver to her ear, she listened.
"Who is there?"
Her heart leaped at the sound of her husband's voice, tiny and minute across the miles of wire.
"I—Mabel," she said. "Alone here."
"Oh! Mabel. Very well. I am back: all is well. Now listen. Can you hear?"
"Yes, yes."
"The best has happened. It is all over in the East. Felsenburgh has done it. Now listen. I cannot come home to-night. It will be announced in Paul's House in two hours from now. We are communicating with the Press. Come up here to me at once. You must be present…. Can you hear?"
"Oh, yes."
"Come then at once. It will be the greatest thing in history. Tell no one. Come before the rush begins. In half-an-hour the way will be stopped."
"Oliver."
"Yes? Quick."
"Mother is ill. Shall I leave her?"
"How ill?"
"Oh, no immediate danger. The doctor has seen her."
There was silence for a moment.
"Yes; come then. We will go back to-night anyhow, then. Tell her we shall be late."
"Very well."
"… Yes, you must come. Felsenburgh will be there."
Chapter IV
I
On the same afternoon Percy received a visitor.
There was nothing exceptional about him; and Percy, as he came downstairs in his walking-dress and looked at him in the light from the tall parlour-window, came to no conclusion at all as to his business and person, except that he was not a Catholic.
"You wished to see me," said the priest, indicating a chair.
"I fear I must not stop long."
"I shall not keep you long," said the stranger eagerly. "My business is done in five minutes."
Percy waited with his eyes cast down.
"A—a certain person has sent me to you. She was a Catholic once; she wishes to return to the Church."
Percy made a little movement with his head. It was a message he did not very often receive in these days.
"You will come, sir, will you not? You will promise me?"
The man seemed greatly agitated; his sallow face showed a little shining with sweat, and his eyes were piteous.
"Of course I will come," said Percy, smiling.
"Yes, sir; but you do not know who she is. It—it would make a great stir, sir, if it was known. It must not be known, sir; you will promise me that, too?"
"I must not make any promise of that kind," said the priest gently. "I do not know the circumstances yet."
The stranger licked his lips nervously.
"Well, sir," he said hastily, "you will say nothing till you have seen her? You can promise me that."
"Oh! certainly," said the priest.
"Well, sir, you had better not know my name. It—it may make it easier for you and for me. And—and, if you please, sir, the lady is ill; you must come to-day, if you please, but not until the evening. Will twenty-two o'clock be convenient, sir?"
"Where is it?" asked Percy abruptly.
"It—it is near Croydon junction. I will write down the address presently. And you will not come until twenty-two o'clock, sir?"
"Why not now?"
"Because the—the others may be there. They will be away then; I know that."
This was rather suspicious, Percy thought: discreditable plots had been known before. But he could not refuse outright.
"Why does she not send for her parish-priest?" he asked.
"She she does not know who he is, sir; she saw you once in the Cathedral, sir, and asked you for your name. Do you remember, sir?—an old lady?"
Percy did dimly remember something of the kind a month or two before; but he could not be certain, and said so.
"Well, sir, you will come, will you not?"
"I must communicate with Father Dolan," said the priest. "If he gives me permission—-"
"If you please, sir, Father—Father Dolan must not know her name. You will not tell him?"
"I do not know it myself yet," said the priest, smiling.
The stranger sat back abruptly at that, and his face worked.
"Well, sir, let me tell you this first. This old lady's son is my employer, and a very prominent Communist. She lives with him and his wife. The other two will be away to-night. That is why I am asking you all this. And now, you till come, sir?"
Percy looked at him steadily for a moment or two. Certainly, if this was a conspiracy, the conspirators were feeble folk. Then he answered:
"I will come, sir; I promise. Now the name."
The stranger again licked his lips nervously, and glanced timidly from side to side. Then he seemed to gather his resolution; he leaned forward and whispered sharply.
"The old lady's name is Brand, sir—the mother of Mr. Oliver Brand."
For a moment Percy was bewildered. It was too extraordinary to be true. He knew Mr. Oliver Brand's name only too well; it was he who, by God's permission, was doing more in England at this moment against the Catholic cause than any other man alive; and it was he whom the Trafalgar Square incident had raised into such eminent popularity. And now, here was his mother—-
He turned fiercely upon the man.
"I do not know what you are, sir—whether you believe in God or not; but will you swear to me on your religion and your honour that all this is true?"
The timid eyes met his, and wavered; but it was the wavering of weakness, not of treachery.
"I—I swear it, sir; by God Almighty."
"Are you a Catholic?"
The man shook his head.
"But I believe in God," he said. "At least, I think so."
Percy leaned back, trying to realise exactly what it all meant. There was no triumph in his mind—that kind of emotion was not his weakness; there was fear of a kind, excitement, bewilderment, and under all a satisfaction that God's grace was so sovereign. If it could reach this woman, who could be too far removed for it to take effect? Presently he noticed the other looking at him anxiously.
"You are afraid, sir? You are not going back from your promise?"
That dispersed the cloud a little, and Percy smiled.
"Oh! no," he said. "I will be there at twenty-two o'clock. … Is death imminent?"
"No, sir; it is syncope. She is recovered a little this morning."
The