CHAPTER III
THE FIRST NOTE OF WAR
Some weeks after the day on which Alec Brandon and Flora Houghton had visited the theatre together there was a tremendous commotion in London. One night telegrams of an awful and terrible import were flashed across space from Neptune to the earth, for one of the swiftest interstellar vessels had just arrived within the confines of the Solar System bringing news from the other worlds beyond. There was a hurried meeting of ministers, generals, and admirals at the Bureau of War to consider what was best to be done. They consulted together for hours with closed doors, but their deliberations were fre-
