interfered with his capacity for work, he felt that a clear head and
steady nerves were called for that night more than any other night in
his life. Following the lead given by his host, therefore, he elected
for the port.

"You are right, too," said Forbes. "You remember Dr. Johnson's dictum:
'Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be
a hero must drink brandy'? Tonight, not aspiring to the heroic, we'll
stick to port."

"It is a curious fact that on my return from Brooklands today I took a
glass of brandy," confessed Theydon. "I seldom, if ever, drink any
intoxicant before dining, but I needed a stimulant of a sort, and some
unknown tissue in me cried aloud for brandy."

He hoped vaguely that the comment would lead to something more
explicit, and thus bring him, without undue emphasis, so to speak, to
the one topic on which he was now resolved to obtain a decisive
statement from the man chiefly concerned before he faced the
representatives of Scotland Yard.

But Forbes, motioning to an easy chair in a well-appointed library,
and flinging himself into another, gave heed only to the one word--
Brooklands.

"Did you fly?" he asked.

"No. I was soaking in theory, not practice."

"Ah, theory. It would, indeed, seem to be true that folded away in