"My young friend, you may yet find distinction in some other walk of life.

Our secret service, I fancy, will very soon be able to dispense with your energies." "And I with your secret service," Lessingham agreed heartily.

"I dare say there may be some branches of it in which existence is tolerable.
That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I have been engaged." "You have been completely duped," Hayter told him calmly, "and the information you have sent us is valueless.

Sir Henry Cranston, instead of being the type of man whom you have described, is one of the greatest experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the English Admiralty." Lessingham laughed shortly.
"That," he declared, "is perfectly absurd." "It is," Hayter repeated, with emphasis, "the precise truth.

Sir Henry Cranton's fishing excursions are myths.