کلاهبرداری بزرگ خیریه

After surviving his fall into the sea (at the end of THE BROTHERHOOD OF TWELVE, Union Jack issue 459), George Marsden Plummer is rescued by some henchmen and transported to France. There he falls ill and is taken to a hospital in Calais. After Sexton Blake pays him the thousand pounds he had promised at the climax of the previous tale, a somewhat recovered Plummer returns to England and attends a charity function where he observes Sir George Tanland and his wife Evelyn cheating money out of the attendees. Confronting them under the name of Comte de Gallois, he promises to keep their secret providing they help him organise another charity drive — one from which he intends to pocket all the proceeds. Suspicious of this plan, Evelyn visits Sexton Blake, explains her and her husband's indiscretion, and asks the detective to serve on the new charity's committee. When Plummer hears of this, he steals government papers from a King's Messenger, knowing that the case will be referred to Blake, thus keeping him too occupied to interfere with the charity swindle. Sure enough, Sir Henry Fairfax and the government call on Blake and they inform him that the stolen documents are vital to the security of the nation. During his subsequent investigation, the detective is knocked unconscious and taken to hospital where he remains insensible while Tinker, unaware of Sexton Blake's condition, helps with the charity auction. He soon realises that the Comte is in fact Plummer and decides to inform Scotland Yard and there meets up with his recovering master. Together, they put Pedro on Plummer's trail and track the criminal to his lair. They find the charity money and the stolen documents but Blake is too weakened from his injury to prevent Plummer from escaping.