Microbes of Power (Wallace of the Secret Service Series) Read Online Free PDF

when they have families depending on them? He had a good post, with the promise of a pension to follow, and now –’ He shrugged his shoulders, and turned to Sir Leonard. ‘Tell me, Wallace,’ he urged; ‘how in the name of all that’s wonderful did you know there was a microphone behind that painting?’
    ‘It wasn’t very difficult,’ replied Sir Leonard. ‘Sometimes when a microphone is in an enclosed space or there is something in front of it, sound comes back at one. Have you never noticed it?’ Both his companions shook their heads. ‘While I was talking to you it seemed to me that there was a faint echo. It puzzled me at first untilI realised what was causing it. If you listen carefully now, you will hear it. Are you listening, Sir Edwin?’ he went on, speaking with great distinctness, ‘and you, Masterson?’
    Sure enough, a faint echo of his voice reached their ears.
    ‘I would never have noticed it,’ confessed the Secretary of State, ‘if you had not drawn my attention to it.’
    ‘Which goes to prove,’ smiled Wallace, ‘that you are not observant.’ He sank into a chair, and commenced to fill his pipe, using his single hand with almost fascinating celerity and skill. ‘Do you mind telling Shannon to bring in Wright?’ he asked Sir James Masterson.
    The night watchman presently stood, a great, hulking figure, with bent head, before the Secretary of State. Sir Edwin regarded him very sternly, but on the face of Sir James Masterson, who had sunk into a chair on the minister’s left, could be seen a certain amount of pity. Sir Leonard Wallace, lounging in an armchair on the other side of the desk, seemed to be the least interested of the three, but his eyes were keenly studying the man.
    ‘I think,’ remarked the statesman, ‘that your best course, Wright, will be to make a clean breast of everything.’
    There was silence for a few seconds; then the fellow raised his head. He looked abjectly miserable.
    ‘I suppose it ain’t much good saying I’m sorry, sir,’ he muttered huskily, ‘but I am. I – I’d never have done it only – only – Well, you see, it was like this; I’ve always been a – an inquisitive kind of chap, and, when I saw a microphone and headphones in a shop cheap, I bought ’em and set ’em up in various places for fun like. I used to listen in to what other people were saying, not for any bad purpose, as you might say, but out of curiosity. It interested me to use the things and—’
    ‘You are not trying to persuade us into believing that you were operating in the cause of science?’ murmured Sir Edwin sarcastically.
    Wright looked at him for a moment as though not quite certain how to take the remark, lowered his eyes again and, licking his lips as though they were dry, continued:
    ‘No, sir. I don’t know nothing about science, but I’m keen on wireless and loudspeakers and such. I didn’t mean no harm. I found out that there was a ventilating shaft running down from the roof to this room, and one night, when I was on duty, I fixed the microphone in here. I only had to take out a couple of bricks what had been put in to close up the hole in the wall and plastered over. I thought I’d like to hear what you gentlemen talk about. I – I’d often wondered. I wasn’t going to repeat what I heard.’
    ‘Are you quite sure?’ asked Sir James Masterson, who seemed inclined to believe the man.
    Wright looked at him eagerly.
    ‘Take my oath, sir,’ he replied. ‘I would rather have me tongue cut out than give any information to – to unauthorised people about what went on in here.’
    ‘Quite forgetful of the fact,’ drawled the Secretary of State, ‘that you yourself were an unauthorised person and were committing a very serious breach of discipline as well as betraying trust. You were selected for your post here because your record and character were considered good enough to merit reliance being placed on you. You have repaid the confidence of