CHAPTER XXVII.
Mr.Mervin Brown on this occasion did not beat about the bush.

His old air of confident, almost smug self-satisfaction, had vanished.

He received Nigel with a new deference in his manner, without any further sign of that good-natured tolerance accorded by a busy man to a kindly crank.
"Lord Dorminster," he began, "I have sent for you to renew a conversation we had some little time since.

I will be quite frank with you.

Certain circumstances have come to my notice which lead me to believe that there may be more truth in some of the arguments you brought forward than I was willing at the time to believe." "I must confess that I am relieved to hear you say so," Nigel replied.
"All the information which I have points to a crisis very near at hand." The Prime Minister leaned a little across the table.
"The immediate reason for my sending for you," he explained, "is this.
My friend the American Ambassador has just sent me a copy of a wireless dispatch which he has received from China from one of their former agents.