
In the bustling heart of Geneva, as the League of Nations prepares for another session, a weary newspaper correspondent named Henry drifts through the city's narrow cobbled lanes. Living in a cramped, damp attic of a fifteenth‑century house, he watches the glittering procession of diplomats, aristocrats, and well‑fed travelers glide into grand hotels that seem worlds away from his own squalor. His bitter observations of their luxury and his own precarious existence set the tone for a tale that balances social satire with a genuine mystery.
When a series of inexplicable incidents begin to ripple through the Assembly—missing documents, whispered rumors, and a sudden, unsettling silence in the council chambers—Henry's curiosity turns from professional resentment to reluctant involvement. Armed with a cracked monocle and a notebook full of grudging insight, he follows fragmented clues that lead him from the bustling Quai du Mont Blanc to shadowy back‑streets and secretive diplomatic meetings. The story unfolds as he navigates a labyrinth of intrigue, trying to discern whether the true danger lies in politics, personal ambition, or something far more obscure.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (265K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Sharon Joiner, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2009-12-11
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1881–1958
A sharp, witty English novelist, essayist, and travel writer, she is best remembered for blending satire with real moral and spiritual seriousness. Her final novel, The Towers of Trebizond, helped secure her lasting reputation as one of the most distinctive British writers of the 20th century.
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