''S' represents science — the new knowledge of chemical and biological warfare — Various young scientists have defected — There is a nucleus of them in the US, we believe, vowed and dedicated to the cause of anarchy.'
'Fighting for anarchy? A contradiction in terms. Can there be such a thing?'
'You believe in anarchy if you are young. You want a new world, and to begin with you must pull down the old one — just as you pull down a house before you build a new one to replace it. But if you don't know where you are going, if you don't know where you are being lured to go, or even pushed to go, what will the new world be like, and where will the believers be when they get it? Some of them slaves, some of them blinded by hate, some by violence and sadism, both preached and practised. Some of them — and God help those — still idealistic, still believing as people did in France at the time of the French Revolution that that revolution would bring prosperity, peace, happiness, contentment to its people.'
'And what are we doing about all this? What are we proposing to do about it?' It was Admiral Blunt who spoke.
'What are we doing about it? All that we can, I assure you, all you who are here, we are doing all that we can. We have people working for us in every country, we have agents, inquirers, those who gather information, and bring it back here –'
'Which is very necessary,' said Colonel Pikeaway. We've got to know — know who's who, who's with and who's against us. And after that we've got to see what, if anything, can be done.'
'Our name for this diagram is The Ring. Here's a list of what we know about the Ring leaders. Those with a query mean that we know only the name they go by — or alternatively we only suspect that they are the ones we want.'
THE RING
F — Big Charlotte — Bavaria
A — Eric Olafsson — Sweden , Industrialist, Armaments
D — Said to go by the name of Demetrios — Smyrna , Drugs
C — Dr Sarolensky — Colorado , USA , Physicist, Chemist — Suspicion only
J — A woman. Goes by Code name of Juanita. Said to be dangerous. No knowledge of her real name.
Chapter 15
AUNT MATILDA TAKES A CURE
'A cure of some kind, I thought?' Lady Matilda hazarded.
'A cure?' said Dr Donaldson. He looked faintly puzzled for a moment, losing his air of medical omniscience, which, of course, so Lady Matilda reflected, was one of the slight disadvantages attached to having a younger doctor attending one rather than the older specimen to whom one has been accustomed for several years.
'That's what we used to call them,' Lady Matilda explained. 'In my young days, you know, you went for the cure. Marienbad, Carlsbad , Baden-Baden , all the rest of it. Just the other day I read about this new place in the paper. Quite new and up to date. Said to be all new ideas and things like that. Not that I'm really sold on new ideas, but I'm not actually afraid of them. I mean, they would probably be all the same things all over again. Water tasting of bad eggs and the latest sort of diet and walking to take the Cure, or the Waters, or whatever they call them now, at a rather inconvenient hour in the morning. And I expect they give you massage or something. It used to be seaweed. But this place is somewhere in the mountains. Bavaria or Austria or somewhere like that. So I don't suppose it would be seaweed. Shaggy moss, perhaps — sounds like a dog. And perhaps quite a nice mineral water as well as the eggy, sulphury one, I mean. Superb buildings, I understand. The only thing one is nervous about nowadays is that they never seem to put banisters in any up-to-date modern buildings. Flights of marble steps and all that, but nothing to hang on to.'
'I think I know the place you mean,' said Dr Donaldson. 'It's been publicized a good deal, in the press.'
'Well, you know what one is at my age,' said Lady Matilda. 'One likes trying new things. Really, I think it is just to amuse one. It doesn't really make one feel one's health would be any better. Still, you don't think it would be a bad idea, do you, Dr Donaldson?'
Dr Donaldson looked at her. He was not so young as Lady Matilda labelled him in her mind. He was just approaching forty and he was a tactful and kindly man and willing to indulge his elderly patients as far as he considered it desirable, without any actual danger of their attempting something obviously unsuitable.
'I'm sure it wouldn't do you any harm at all,' he said. 'Might be quite a good idea. Of course travel's a bit tiring though one flies to places very quickly and easily nowadays.'
'Quickly, yes. Easily, no,' said Lady Matilda. 'Ramps and moving staircases and in and out of buses from the airport to the plane, and the plane to another airport and from the airport to another bus. All that, you know. But I understand one can have wheelchairs in the airports.'
'Of course you can. Excellent idea. If you promise to do that and not think you can walk everywhere…'
'I know, I know,' said his patient, interrupting him 'You do understand. You're really a very understanding man. One has one's pride, you know, and while you can still hobble around with a stick or a little support, you don't really want to look absolutely a crock or bedridden or something. It'd be easier if I was a man,' she mused. 'I mean, one could tie up one's leg with one of those enormous bandages and padded things as though one had the gout. I mean, gout is all right for the male sex. Nobody thinks anything the worse of them. Some of their older friends think they've been tucking in to the port too much because that used to be the old idea, though I believe that is not really true at all. Port wine does not give you gout. Yes, a wheelchair, and I could fly to Munich or somewhere like that. One could arrange for a car or something at the other end.'
'You will take Miss Leatheran with you, of course.'
'Amy? Oh, of course. I couldn't do without her. Anyway, you think no harm would be done?'
'I think it might do you a world of good.'
'You really are a nice man.'
Lady Matilda gave him the twinkle from her eyes with which now he was becoming familiar.
'You think it'll amuse me and cheer me up to go somewhere new and see some new faces, and of course you're quite right. But I like to think that I'm taking a Cure, though really there's nothing for me to be cured of. Not really, is there? I mean, except old age. Unfortunately old age doesn't get cured, it only gets more so, doesn't it?'
'The point is really, will you enjoy yourself? Well, I think you will. When you get tired, by the way, when doing anything, stop doing it.'
'I shall still drink glasses of water if the water tastes of rotten eggs. Not because I like them or because frankly I think they do me any good. But it has a sort of mortifying feeling. It's like old women in our village always used to be. They always wanted a nice, strong medicine either coloured black or purple or deep pink, heavily flavoured with peppermint. They thought that did much more good than a nice little pill or a bottle that only appeared to be full of ordinary water without any exotic colouring.'
'You know too much about human nature,' said Dr Donaldson.
'You're very nice to me,' said Lady Matilda. 'I appreciate that. Amy!'
'Yes, Lady Matilda?'
'Get me an atlas, will you. I've lost track of Bavaria and the countries round it.'
'Let me see now. An atlas. There'll be one in the library, I suppose. There must be some old atlases about, dating back to about 1920 or thereabouts, I suppose.'
'I wondered if we had anything a little more modern.'
'Atlas,' said Amy, deep in reflection.
'If not, you can buy one and bring it along tomorrow morning. It's going to be very difficult because all the names are different, the countries are different, and I shan't know where I am. But you'll have to help me with that. Find a big magnifying glass, will you? I have an idea I was reading in bed with one the other day and it probably slipped down between the bed and the wall.'
