“Of course, Captain. What is it?”
“I think I understand what the Commander did and how he did it. What I don’t understand is why. D’you have any idea, my lord?”
“Until just a few hours ago, Captain, that was the main thing that bothered me. His motive was a desire for money. As a matter of fact, a conversation I had with him yesterday at the Admiralty showed that he could only think of betrayal in terms of money. Every motive that he attributed to other possible suspects had a monetary basis.
“But, until the raid at the Manzana de Oro I did not understand the motive behind the motive. I did not know why he needed money so badly.
“Master Ewen MacAlister has made a full confession, and since this is merely a Court of Inquiry I can tell you what it contained without bringing him here as a witness.” He paused and smiled. “At the moment, I am afraid that Master Ewen is in no condition to appear as a witness.”
He placed the tips of his fingers together and looked down at the toes of his boots. “Master Sorcerer Ewen MacAlister, in the pay of the Polish Government, was working with the Sidi al-Nasir of the Manzana de Oro to obtain Commander Lord Ashley’s services as a Polish agent by blackmailing him.
“When the wheel spins — when the card turns — when the dice tumble — a gambler feels a momentary surge of psychic tension. That is why the gambler gambles — because of the thrill. Lord Ashley’s advantage was that when these surges of tension came, he was occasionally able to see what the winning play would be.
“Not often, mind you; the tension was not that great. But it gave the Commander what gamblers call an ‘edge.’ The odds in his favor were increased. The Commander won when he played — not always, and not spectacularly, but regularly.
“The Commander’s rare ability, of course, is not detectable by the sorcerers who work in any gambling club. It cannot even be detected by a Master Sorcerer.” He looked at Sir Thomas Leseaux. “Am I correct, Sir Thomas?”
The theoretical thaumaturgist nodded. “You are correct, my lord. That particular form of the Talent, since it deals with time, and since it is passive rather than active — that is, observational in nature — is undetectable. Unlike the clairvoyant, whose Talent allows him to see through space, and, occasionally, into the past, the precognitive sense, which operates into the future, is almost impossible to predict, train, or control.”
Sir Thomas Leseaux shrugged slightly. “Perhaps one day a greater mathematician than I will solve the problem of the asymmetry of time. Until then…” He shrugged again, and left his sentence hanging.
“Thank you, Sir Thomas,” said Lord Darcy. “However, it is possible for a sorcerer to thwart, under certain circumstances, the precognitive sense. Master Ewen MacAlister proceeded to act upon the gambling devices at the Manzana de Oro when, and only when, Commander Lord Ashley was playing.
“The Commander began to lose. Before he knew it, he was deeply in debt — and because of that he did what he did.”
Lord Darcy smiled. “By the way — and this is something that Master Ewen made a great point of in his confession — I should like all of you to think for a moment of Master Ewen’s position on Somerset Bridge last night, when he suddenly realized he was faced by a man who was predicting his every action. However, that is by the by.
“Actually, My Lord Commander was able to perpetrate his crimes because of fantastic good luck. He did not plot his actions; he merely acted on impulse and managed to commit one of the most baffling crimes it has ever been my good fortune to investigate.
“And then by an equally fantastic stroke of bad luck, he was betrayed. He is an adroit and cool man when faced with danger; he can act or he can lie with equal facility. Excellent attributes in an Intelligence agent, I must admit. But the lie he told in Sidi al-Nasir’s office simply did not hold water. Yesterday afternoon, when we were looking for Paul Nichols, I asked you, Captain, if you had any notion of where he might be hiding, of where the headquarters of this Polish espionage ring might be. And you said you had no notion, none whatever.
“But, in Sidi al-Nasir’s office this evening, Lord Ashley calmly admitted that he owed the Sidi some one hundred and fifty golden sovereigns, a rather large amount of money even for a Commander in His Majesty’s Navy.
“His explanation to me was that Naval Intelligence had long suspected the Sidi and that he, the Commander, had contrived to get himself into debt so that Sidi al-Nasir would propose that the Commander pay the debt off by acting as an agent for His Slavonic Majesty.
“That is why I say that his luck, at that point, had turned from fantastically good to fantastically bad. In actual fact, Commander Lord Ashley had no notion that Sidi al-Nasir was in the pay of the Poles. He had got himself into debt at the Manzana de Oro, and the Sidi had threatened to inform you of that fact. What would you have done, Captain Smollett, if you had been so informed? Would you have cashiered the Commander?”
“Doubt it,” said Smollett. “Would have had him transferred, of course. Can’t have a man who gambles that way in Intelligence work. I don’t object to gambling in itself, my lord; but a man should only gamble what he has — not upon his expectations.”
“Exactly,” said Lord Darcy. “I quite understand. There would, however, have been a black mark upon his record? He would have had little chance to rise above his present rank?”
“Little chance, my lord? I should say none whatever. Couldn’t give a man Captain’s stripes with a mark like that against him.”
Lord Darcy nodded. “Of course not. And Ashley knew that. He had to do something to pay off Sidi al-Nasir. So he concocted this fantastic scheme to pry money out of a man whom he knew to be a Polish agent. As His Grace the Archbishop of York remarked to me yesterday, there is no evil in this man. There is, as you can see, only desperation. I think we can believe his statement that he would not willingly betray King and Country.
“Had Sidi al-Nasir made his proposition to My Lord Commander two weeks ago, or even only a week ago, none of this would have happened. It is my personal opinion that if al-Nasir had asked Lord Ashley to pay off his debt by betraying his country before tonight, his lordship’s facile mind would have come up with the same lie that he told me this evening, except, Captain Smollett, that he would have told it to you.
“What would you have said if — say, a week ago — the Commander had come to you and told you that, by deliberately going into debt, he had trapped the head of the local Polish spy ring into betraying himself? That he, Commander Ashley, had been asked to become a double agent and could now become — if the term is proper — a triple agent? Be honest, Captain, what would you have said?”
Captain Smollett looked at his knees for what seemed a long time. The others in the room seemed to be holding their breaths, waiting. When Captain Smollett raised his eyes it was to look at the Marquis de London rather than at Lord Darcy. “If it please the Court, my lord,” he said slowly. There was pain in his eyes. “I am forced to admit that had things come about the way Lord Darcy has just outlined them, I should have believed Commander Lord Ashley’s story. I should very likely have recommended him for promotion.”
At that moment, the door opened, and Father Patrique came in. He was followed by Commander Lord Ashley, whose face was pale and whose wrists were encased in padded shackles. In the rear came the watchful-eyed Chief Master-at-Arms Hennely Grayme, his pistol holstered, but his hand ready.