The two men who were supping together in the grillroom at the Cafe Milan were talking with a seriousness which seemed a little out of keeping with the rose-shaded lamps and the swaying music of the band from the distant restaurant.

Their conversation had started some hours before in the club smoking-room and had continued intermittently throughout the evening.

It had received a further stimulus when Richard Hamel, who had bought an Evening Standard on their way from the theatre a few minutes ago, came across a certain paragraph in it which he read aloud.
"Hanged if I understand things over here, nowadays, Reggie!" he declared, laying the paper down.

"Here's another Englishman imprisoned in Germany--this time at a place no one ever heard of before.

I won't try to pronounce it.