Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Who is Jane Finn

The second day passed slowly.There is a need to cut expenses.Forty pounds will last you a long time, if you're on a budget.Fortunately, the weather was fine, and "walk to save money," Tuppence decided.That night, they watched a movie in a movie theater far away from the city center. Wednesday is a day of disillusionment.The Thursday ad ran as scheduled. On Friday, you can count on the letter to be delivered to Jimmy's room on schedule. He had to keep his promise not to open any letters if they arrived, but only to go to the National Gallery, where his partner would meet him at ten o'clock.

Tuppence was first at the appointment.She settled herself in a red velvet seat and stared at the portraits of the Turners without seeing them until she saw familiar figures walking into the gallery. "Hey?" "Hey," replied Mr. Bruceford exasperatedly, "what's your favorite picture?" "Don't be so naughty. Any reply?" Tommy shook his head with deep, somewhat exaggerated sadness. "I don't want to blame and disappoint you right away, old friend. Terrible. Waste of money." He sighed. "But that's the way it is. The ad was out, well, and there were only two replies:" "Tommy, you rascal:" Tuppence almost screamed, "give me the letter. How can you be so annoying?"

"Your luggage, Tuppence, your luggage! They are hard to please in the National Gallery. Government exhibitions, you know. Do remember, as I pointed out to you before, that as a clergyman daughter--" "I should be an actor!" said Tuppence, snapping a torreya with her fingers. "That's not what I'm going to say. If you're sure, though, that you're fully enjoying the feeling of joy after I've kindly offered you despair for free, as the saying goes, let's start talking seriously about answering letters." Tuppence snatched the two precious envelopes from his hands informally, and examined them carefully.

"Thick paper, this one. It looks exquisite and gorgeous. We will keep this envelope until the end of our lives, and then open the other first." "You're so right. One, two, three, open!" Tuppence opened the envelope with her tiny thumb and pulled out the letter. Dear Sir: I may be of use to you in connection with your advertisement in this morning's paper, and perhaps you can call me at the above address at eleven o'clock tomorrow morning and meet me. Your faithful A. Carter "27 Caschelton Street," said Tuppence, looking up the address, "that's Gloucester Road. If we take the Tube, it will take us a lot of time to get there."

"Next," said Tommy, "is the plan of the campaign. It's my turn to plan the attack. Seeing Mr. Carter, he and I both wished to greet each other with the customary good morning. Then he said: 'Please sit down, sir, what's your name? ?' To which I replied quickly, decisively and meaningfully: 'Edward Whittington!' and Mr. Carter turned liver-coloured and gasped: 'How much?' I paid the customary fee of fifty pounds. Put it in your pocket, and meet you on the road outside, we go to the next address, and the old drama repeats itself." "Don't be so silly, Tommy. Now read another letter. Ah, this one from the Ritz."

"One hundred pounds instead of fifty!" "I'll read it." Dear Sir: With regard to your advertisement, I shall be very glad if you come by about lunch time. Your faithful Julius Hersheimmer "Ha!" said Tommy. "Do I smell a German? Or just an American millionaire with unlucky grandparents? Anyway, we're visiting at lunchtime. It's a happy time—often with free food for two. " Tuppence nodded in agreement. "Get Carter now. We gotta hurry." On Caschelton Street was a row of impeccable what Tuppence called "lady-looking houses".They rang the bell at door 27, and a neat maid answered.She looked so presentable that Tuppence's heart sank.At Tommy's request to see Mr. Carter, she led them into a small study on the first floor, left them alone, and went away.Within a minute, however, the door opened, and in came a tall man with a thin, hawk-like face and tired movements.

"Mr. Y.A?" he said, smiling.His smile is especially noticeable. "Please sit down, please, both of you." They sit down.He seated himself in a chair opposite Tuppence, and smiled encouragingly at her.There was something to his smile.This overwhelmed Tuppence. It seemed that he did not intend to speak first, and Tuppence had to speak first. "We want to know—namely, can you tell us anything you know about Jane Finn?" "Jane Finn, ah!" Mr. Carter seemed to be thinking. "Well, the question is, what do you know about her?" Tuppence straightened up with her head held high.

"I don't see how that has anything to do with it?" "No? On the contrary, there is a connection, you know, there is a connection." He smiled again with a weary look, and continued to musing, "So this brings us to the same question again. What do you know about Jane Finn? " As Tuppence said nothing, he went on: "Come on, you must know something to advertise, as you do?" He leaned forward a little, and there was persuasiveness in his weary voice. hint. "If you tell me..." There was something very charming about Mr. Carter's character.Tuppence seemed to struggle to shake it off as she spoke.She said, "We can't do that, can we, Tommy?"

But, to her surprise, her frame didn't back her up.His eyes were fixed on Mr. Carter, and he spoke in an unusual, submissive tone. "I venture to say that our little knowledge does you no good, sir. But, as a matter of fact, you may know." "Tommy," cried Tuppence, startled. Mr. Carter turned sharply in his chair.His eyes were full of doubts. Tommy nodded. "Yes, sir. I recognized you immediately. I met you in France when I was in the Ministry of Intelligence. As soon as you entered the room, I knew—" Mr. Carter raised his hand. "No names, please. People here call me Mr. Carter. It's my cousin's house, by the way. She's willing to lend me the house sometimes, when it comes to doing something totally unofficial. Well, now," His eyes swept over the two of them one after another—"Who is going to tell me the situation?"

"Tell me, Tuppence," ordered Tommy, "it's your anecdote." "Yes, dear lady, speak up." Tuppence opened her mouth obediently, telling the whole story from the formation of the Young Adventurers Co., Ltd. to the end. Mr. Carter still listened quietly with his weary air.From time to time he put his hands over his lips, as if to hide his smile.When Tuppence had finished speaking, he nodded gravely. "Not much, but tempting. Quite tempting. If you'll forgive me for saying that, you're a curious young couple. I don't know - but you can succeed where others fail... I believe in luck , you know—there's always..."

He paused, then went on: "Well, what about this? You guys out there taking risks. How do you feel about working for me? It's all unofficial, you know, all expenses paid, plus fair compensation?" Tuppence stared at him, lips parted, eyes widening. "What should we do?" she gasped. Mr. Carter smiled. "Just carry on with what you're doing. Find Jane Finn." "Well, but—who is Jane Finn?" Mr. Carter nodded gravely. "Yes, you have a right to know about it, I think." He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, pointed his fingertips to his fingertips, and began to say in a low monotone: "Secret diplomacy (almost always a terrible policy, by the way!) has nothing to do with you." A certain document was drafted, so to speak, as early as early 1915. It was a draft of a secret agreement, a treaty—whatever you want to call it. The draft was drawn up for signature by representatives of many parties, and it was drawn up in the United States—a neutral country at the time.The draft papers were sent to England, and a special courier was chosen for the purpose, a young man named Danvers.Hope the whole thing is kept secret and nothing leaks out.Such hopes are usually disappointed. Someone is always talking about: "Danfors went to England on the Luretania. He wrapped his valuable papers in an oilcloth and carried them close to his body. It was on that particular voyage that Luretania The passenger liner was torpedoed and sunk. Danforth was listed as missing. Finally, his body washed up on the seashore, and it was proved to be him beyond doubt. But the tarpaulin bag was missing! "The question is, did someone take the tarpaulin from him, or did he himself give it to someone else to keep? There are a few circumstances that heighten the likelihood of the latter view.After the torpedo hits the ship, during the time it takes to lower the lifeboat, Danvers is seen talking to a young American girl.No one had actually seen him hand her anything, but he probably had.I seemed to feel that this was quite possible, and he entrusted the papers to this girl, trusting her, because it is women who have a better chance of bringing the papers safely ashore. "Even if this is the case, where is the girl and how did she deal with these documents? According to the intelligence from the United States later, it seems possible that Danvers was closely followed from beginning to end. This girl is in collusion with Danvers' enemies Maybe she was also being followed, whether tricked or forced, did she hand over the precious tarpaulin bag? "We set about trying to track her down. It was surprisingly difficult. Her name was Jane Finn, which should officially appear on the list of survivors, but the girl herself seemed to have disappeared without a trace. A search of her resume has been of little help. She is an orphan and worked what we call an elementary school teacher here in an elementary school in the American West. Her passport is signed to go to Paris, where she intends to join a hospital medical She voluntarily offered her services and after some correspondence her request was accepted. Seeing her name on the list of those rescued from the Luretania, the people at the hospital were very sorry that she had not been admitted. She was staying temporarily, and she was naturally surprised to hear no news from her. "Well, in spite of all efforts to track down the girl - it was in vain. We and I traveled all over Ireland, but after she got to England. There was no news. No need to use the draft treaty - it could have been done." Very easy to do - so we come to the conclusion that Danforth has destroyed the papers. The war entered another phase, the diplomatic aspects changed accordingly, and the treaty was never redrafted. Rumors about the existence of the draft treaty were Flatly denied. Jane Finn's disappearance was forgotten, and the whole thing vanished." Mr. Carter paused, and Tuppence interjected impatiently: "But why is this coming up again? The war is over." Mr. Carter seemed a little wary in his demeanor. "It appears that the document was not destroyed after all, and that its reappearance today has a new but deeply pernicious meaning." Tuppence was dumbfounded.Mr. Carter nodded. "Yes, five years ago the draft treaty was a weapon in our hands: today it is a weapon against us. It is a colossal blunder. If the terms of the treaty were known. It would spell disaster... It may very well lead to another war - this time not with Germany! It is very possible, although I personally do not think it is possible, but there is no doubt that many of our statesmen are implicated in that document, and at present we cannot Way to discredit them. That's irresistible as a call to Labour, and in my opinion a Labour-led government would be extremely bad for British trade at this juncture, but it doesn't matter at all when it comes to real danger. " He paused, then said quietly: "Perhaps you have heard or read that there is a Bolshevik influence behind the present labor unrest?" Tuppence nodded. "It is the truth that the gold of the Bolsheviks is being poured into this country. For the specific purpose of making a revolution. There is a certain man, whose real name is not known to us, who is working in the shadows for his own purposes Work. The Bolsheviks were behind the labor unrest—and this man was behind the Bolsheviks: who was he?we do not know.People always use the title of 'Mr. Brown' when talking about him.One thing's for sure though, he's the criminal of this era.He controls an incredible organization.He organized and financed the vast majority of peace advocacy during the war.His spies are everywhere. " "A neutral German?" Tommy asked. "On the contrary, I have every reason to think that he is an Englishman. He is as pro-German as he was pro-Bolshevik. We don't know what he is after—perhaps for his own supremacy, perhaps A power unique in history. We know nothing of his true personality. Reportedly, not even his own followers know about it. Wherever we stumble upon his tracks, he always plays second rate Someone else took the leading role. But then we always found that some insignificant person, a servant or clerk or something, was hiding in the background unnoticed, and the elusive Mr. Brown slipped past us more than once. " "Ah!" jumped up Tuppence. "I wonder—" "Go on." "I remember the clerk in Mr. Whittington's office—Whittington called him Brown. Don't you think—" Carter nodded thoughtfully. "Possibly. Curiously, the name is usually mentioned. A quirk of genius. Can you describe him?" "I didn't really notice. He was just—just like anybody else." Mr. Carter sighed wearily. "That's the invariable description of Mr. Brown: a phone message for a man named Whittington, isn't it? Notice there's a telephone in the outer office? " Tuppence thought about it. "No, I don't think I noticed." "Indeed. That 'message' was Mr. Brown's way of giving orders to his men. Of course he overheard the whole conversation. Was it after that that Whittington handed you the money and told you to come back the next day?" Tuppence nodded. "Yes, no doubt about it, Mr. Brown's black hand," Mr. Carter paused. "Look, that's the way it is, and you see who you're up against?"Possibly bumped into the brightest criminal minds of our time.I don't like that, you know.You two are so young, I don't want anything to happen to you. " "No." Tuppence reassured him, overly confidently. "I'll take care of her," said Tommy. "I'll take care of you," retorted Tuppence, resentful of the man's venomous speech. "Well, take care of each other," said Mr. Carter, smiling. "Now let's get back to business. There are some mysteries of the draft treaty that we haven't figured out yet. We're threatened by it—the unmistakable terms. The revolutionaries declared that the document was in their hands and that they intended to make it public at some point. On the other hand, they were clearly mistaken about many of the terms of the document. The government considered this a mere bluff. Rightly or wrongly, the government insisted Has a policy of flat denial. I'm not sure about that. There are hints and flippant innuendos that suggest the intimidation is real, and the attitude is as if they have a damning document in their hands, but can't see it yet Understand it, because the document is written in cipher—but we know that the document is not written in cipher—of course not—and therefore unreliable. But there is always something. Of course, maybe contrary to what we know, Jane ? Finn might be dead—but I don't think so. The odd thing is they're trying to get information about the girl from us." "what?" "Well, one or two trifles have begun to appear. Your account, my dear lady, confirms my thoughts. They know we're looking for Jane Finn.Listen, they're going to invent a Jane Finn of their own—like a boarding school in Paris. gasped Tuppence, and Mr. Carter smiled. "People have no idea what she looks like, so it's okay. She's full of fantasies, and her real mission is to get as much information from us as possible. Get the idea?" "So you think"--Tuppence paused to get the idea through--"that it is exactly that they want me to go to Paris as Jane Finn?" Mr. Carter laughed more tiredly than ever. "You know, I believe that nothing happens without a coincidence," he said.