Edgar Wallace

“ Maggerson came in at that moment, a worried frown on his face.
“Did you take the summary from my room, Chapelle?” he asked.
“No,” said the prime minister quickly. “Has it gone?”
“I had it under my pillow. I swear I put it there last night, but it's not there now.”
Jimmy, still dazed and almost crushed by the news he had heard, could only wonder that such a minor matter as the disappearance of a summary, whatever that might be, should affect the prime minister so.
“We must get that man,” he said.
“What use would the summary be to him?” ”

“ And then, “Have you any friends or relations with whom you are spending to-morrow?” he asked.
“No, Joe,” said Jimmy quietly, “except my wife and, I hope, my father-in-law. I intend leaving this house to-morrow morning early in my car and taking Delia and you with me. The servants I am sending to their homes. Mr. Ponter is going to his father's house.”
“Where do you intend going, Mr. Blake?”
“To Salisbury Plain,” said Jimmy. “I want the openness of it, and Delia agrees. I want to be away from houses, and the sight of humanity suffering, if it does suffer—please God it will not.” ”

“ Jimmy shook his head.
“It is only necessary that two of those summaries should go to every town. The news would be out in five minutes. And then!”
“He wouldn't do it,” said Ferdie. “No man would be such an unutterable blackguard!”
But he did not know Mr. Tyrhitt Palythorpe. ”

“ It depends entirely on the effect which the impact may have upon the atmosphere. The atmospheric belt may be burned up, leaving the world a cold cinder, in which case, of course, even the lowest form of sea life would perish. ”

“ To them Palythorpe was a political offender of the first magnitude who had been guilty of some mysterious crime against the state, as to the exact character of which they were ignorant.
Jimmy had a short consultation with Ferdinand.
“Suppose he prints the information,” said Ferdie. “I don't see what he can do with it. No trains are running. He couldn't distribute it to-day if he tried.”
“There is a post,” said Jimmy significantly, “'and there is an early-morning delivery. The postmen are the only people who are working to-morrow.” ”