The Secret Adversary

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running riot. Newspapers were getting agitated. Sensational hints of a
Labour coup d'etat were freely reported. The Government said nothing. It
knew and was prepared. There were rumours of dissension among the Labour
leaders. They were not of one mind. The more far-seeing among them
realized that what they proposed might well be a death-blow to the
England that at heart they loved. They shrank from the starvation and
misery a general strike would entail, and were willing to meet the
Government half-way. But behind them were subtle, insistent forces at
work, urging the memories of old wrongs, deprecating the weakness of
half-and-half measures, fomenting misunderstandings.

Tommy felt that, thanks to Mr. Carter, he understood the position fairly
accurately. With the fatal document in the hands of Mr. Brown,
public opinion would swing to the side of the Labour extremists and
revolutionists. Failing that, the battle was an even chance. The
Government with a loyal army and police force behind them might
win--but at a cost of great suffering. But Tommy nourished another and