Synopsis

AS The Megaphone once said, in its most pessimistic and wondering mood, recording rather than condemning the strangeness of the time: "Even The Four Just Men have become a respectable institution. Not more than fifteen years ago we spoke of them as 'a criminal organization'; rewards were offered for their arrest... today you may turn into Curzon Street and find a silver triangle affixed to the sedate door which marks their professional headquarters... The hunted and reviled have become a most exclusive detective agency... We can only hope that their somewhat drastic methods of other times have been considerably modified." It is sometimes a dangerous thing to watch a possible watcher. 'What is Mr. Lewis Lethersohn afraid of?' asked Manfred, as he cracked an egg at breakfast. His handsome, clean-shaven face was tanned a teakbrown, for he was newly back from the sun and snows of Switzerland. Leon Gonsalez sat opposite, absorbed in The Times; at the end of the table was Raymond Poiccart, heavy-featured and saturnine. Other pens than mine have described his qualities and his ion for growing vegetables. He raised his eyes to Gonsalez. 'Is he the gentleman who has ...