Blunt had been despatched from Headquarters.

Mills got in touch with Blunt at once and put the suggestion before
him. The Captain thought this the very thing. As a matter of
fact, on that evening of Carnival, those two, Mills and Blunt, had
been actually looking everywhere for our man. They had decided
that he should be drawn into the affair if it could be done. Blunt
naturally wanted to see him first. He must have estimated him a
promising person, but, from another point of view, not dangerous.
Thus lightly was the notorious (and at the same time mysterious)
Monsieur George brought into the world; out of the contact of two
minds which did not give a single thought to his flesh and blood.

Their purpose explains the intimate tone given to their first
conversation and the sudden introduction of Dona Rita's history.
Mills, of course, wanted to hear all about it. As to Captain
Blunt--I suspect that, at the time, he was thinking of nothing
else. In addition it was Dona Rita who would have to do the
persuading; for, after all, such an enterprise with its ugly and
desperate risks was not a trifle to put before a man--however
young.

It cannot be denied that Mills seems to have acted somewhat
unscrupulously. He himself appears to have had some doubt about
it, at a given moment, as they were driving to the Prado. But
perhaps Mills, with his penetration, understood very well the
nature he was dealing with. He might even have envied it. But
it's not my business to excuse Mills. As to him whom we may regard
as Mills' victim it is obvious that he has never harboured a single
reproachful thought. For him Mills is not to be criticized. A