On the appointed morning, a jarvey car arrived harnessed to an eager two-year-old straining to be off. At a gallop, Conrad approached Athenry Junction, but saw his train steaming into the distance. It had left early and the station master glibly explained just how the punctuality of the Irish Mail was often at the inconvenience of its passengers. When Conrad arrived a day late in London, he was escorted to a large building in Whitehall and led up to its labyrinthine attic rooms. Met by Cathleen Mann, she took him to a small office where a youngish Colonel dressed in the uniform of the Life Guards came forward to greet him. Colonel Stewart Menzies – "SM" to those who worked for him – told Conrad that he had a job to offer him as Assistant Military Attaché in Stockholm.  "It will be no picnic and carries with it great responsibilities and is, of course, highly secret."  Conrad learned some of what the new post entailed and was asked to think it over and return the following day with his decision. As Conrad was led out, he was in no doubt what his decision might be. He mused what he would look like in disguise.

 

The next day, he met with Menzies, accepted the post, and taken to meet ‘C’ – Mansfield Cummings, a Captain in the Navy. They were not invited to sit. Cummings held Conrad in a steady measuring gaze which said to Conrad, "I'll never let you down – don't you ever dare do so to me!"

 

On a cold crisp morning in January 1919, after a harrowing crossing through a German minefield, Conrad stood on the dockside in Stockholm. He was met by his new boss, Major John Scale, together with his wife and the station secretary, Oonah Stuart. Scale; a handsome debonair man with a contagious good humour. Conrad was dressed in the starchy unfamiliar weeds of the diplomat – dark suit, overcoat, bowler hat and spats. "Come on,” said the Major, “get those ridiculous clothes off and come out with us." They were going skiing and had even brought skis for him. Conrad's clothes were packed, so his first day on His Majesty's secret service was spent skiing in full diplomatic garb. Given that it was also his first time on skis, the hilarity of the day helped to foster an intimacy between them all. But in the morning, the work proper was to begin.