Yorke Norroy was a freelance “Diplomat” (a nice way of saying “spy” at the turn of the 20th century), who worked for the US State Department in a strictly unofficial capacity. He led a team of highly skilled operatives who conducted elaborate and often dangerous operations to secure US interests against enemy nations. Yorke maintained a cover identity as a silly dandy, concerned with fashion above all else. This identity was described as a “brainless popinjay, a butterfly of fashion, a boneless dandy, suave, slim, elegant.” The real Yorke was a true patriot, willing to do most anything in the service of his nation. Because he was hired unofficially for one mission at a time, and because his cover identity was expensive to maintain, he was always concerned about where his money was coming from. In service to his nation, he disregarded his own notions of morality. He believed, “service to the State excuses all actions, removes these actions from the moral and ethical, transplants them to some neutral place where no values exist, save expediency.”
Appearance List Published in The Popular Magazine: “How Norroy Created a New Republic” (April 1905), “A Tilt with the Muscovite” (May 1905), “The Isle of St. Anthony” (June 1905), “The Eagle’s Eyrie” (July 1905), “A Yankee Knight-Errant” (August 1905), “The Honor of the Ambassador” (September 1905), “The Friend of the Chief Executive” (October 1905), “The Editor and the Diplomat” (June 1906), “A Prince for a Pawn” (July 1906, and in The New Magazine UK, March 1911), “On the Night of the Charity Ball” (August 1906), “By Aid of an Anachronism” in The Popular Magazine (September 1906, and The Story-Teller, March 1911), “For the Good of the State” (October 1906), “An Alias from Burke’s” (October 1907), “The Brotherhood of Suppression” (December 1907), “The Return of Norroy” (October 1908, and The Story-Teller, April 1910), “The Code Book” (February 1911, and The New Magazine UK, April 1911), “Further Chronicles of Norroy, Diplomatic Agent” (November 1912), “The Kidnapping of Norroy” (December 1912), “The Curio Collector” (December 1912), “The Green Plates” (January 1913), “The Green Hour” (January 1913), “The Greenhorn” (February 1913), “The Green Finch” (February 1913), “Behind the Green Lamps” (March 15 and April 1), “The Book of the Betrayers” (May 1918), “The Enemy to the Emperor” (June 1918), “The Bureau of Missing Articles” (June 1918), “His Country or His Life” (July 1918), “A Leaf from the Kaiser’s Book” (July 1918). Also “The Witness” in The New Magazine (February 1911). Collected short stories: Norroy Diplomatic Agent (1907), Slaves of the Lamp (1917), The Black Book (1920), The Devil’s Chaplain (1922). Film: Perils of the Secret Service (9 episode serial, silent, 1917), The Further Adventures Of Yorke Norroy a.k.a. One of Three (silent, 1922), The Man From Headquarters (silent, 1928).
Description Yorke Norroy was a freelance “Diplomat” (a nice way of saying “spy” at the turn of the 20th century), who worked for the US State Department in a strictly unofficial capacity. He led a team of highly skilled operatives who conducted elaborate and often dangerous operations to secure US interests against enemy nations. Yorke maintained a cover identity as a silly dandy, concerned with fashion above all else. This identity was described as a “brainless popinjay, a butterfly of fashion, a boneless dandy, suave, slim, elegant.” The real Yorke was a true patriot, willing to do most anything in the service of his nation. Because he was hired unofficially for one mission at a time, and because his cover identity was expensive to maintain, he was always concerned about where his money was coming from. In service to his nation, he disregarded his own notions of morality. He believed, “service to the State excuses all actions, removes these actions from the moral and ethical, transplants them to some neutral place where no values exist, save expediency.”
