[root of the trouble] part 3 – drawing the threads together

This passage touches on the essence of what is behind the troubles which are currently afflicting the globe and which are about to envelop it.

Glasgow and Oxford educated first Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, otherwise known as John Buchan MP wrote a novel in 1915, specifically about Germany and Russia but the contention that it is equally applicable to the modern day is one supported by the chronology of part 2 and he was a man who was in a position to know. Here is an excerpt in which a little man accosts our hero in the apartments at Portland Place, seeking sanctuary from a perceived enemy:

"Is the door locked?" he asked feverishly, and he fastened the chain with his own hand. "I'm very sorry," he said humbly. "It's a mighty liberty, but you looked the kind of man who would understand. I've had you in my mind all this week when things got troublesome. Say, will you do me a good turn?"

"I'll listen to you," I said. "That's all I'll promise." I was getting worried by the antics of this nervous little chap.

There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which he filled himself a stiff whisky-and-soda. He drank it off in three gulps, and cracked the glass as he set it down.

"Pardon," he said, "I'm a bit rattled to-night. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead."

I sat down in an arm-chair and lit my pipe. "What does it feel like?" I asked. I was pretty certain that I had to deal with a madman.

Buchan concludes here …