THE BOX WITH BROKEN SEALS

BY

E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM

1919

CHAPTER I

James Crawshay, Englishman of the type usually described intransatlantic circles as "some Britisher, " lolled apparently at hisease upon the couch of the too-resplendent sitting room in the HotelMagnificent, Chicago. Hobson, his American fellow traveler, on theother hand, betrayed his anxiety by his nervous pacing up and down theapartment. Both men bore traces in their appearance of the longjourney which they had only just completed. 

"I think, " Crawshay decided, yawning, "that I shall have a bath. Ifeel gritty, and my collar--heavens, what a sight! Your trains, Hobson, may be magnificent, but your coal is filthy. I will have abath while your friend, the policeman, makes up his mind whether tocome and see us or not. "

His companion treated the suggestion with scant courtesy. 

"You will do nothing of the sort, " was his almost fierce objection. "We've got to wait right here until Chief of Police Downs comes along. There's something crooked about this business, something I don'tunderstand, and the sooner we get to the bottom of it, the better. "

The Englishman pacified himself with a whisky and soda which a waiterhad just brought in. He added several lumps of ice and drained thecontents of the tumbler with a little murmur of appreciation. 

"It will be confoundedly annoying, " he admitted quietly, "if we've hadall this journey for nothing. "

Hobson moistened his dry lips with his tongue. The whisky and soda andthe great bucket of ice stood temptingly at his elbow, but he appearedto ignore their existence. He was a man of ample build, with a big, clean-shaven face, a square jaw and deep-set eyes, a man devoted toand wholly engrossed by his work. 

"See here, Crawshay, " he exclaimed, "if that dispatch was a fake, ifwe've been brought here on a fool's errand, they haven't done it fornothing. If they've brought it off against us, you mark my words, we're left--we're bamboozled--we're a couple of lost loons! There'snothing left for us but to sell candy to small boys or find a job ona farm. "

"You're such a pessimist, " the Englishman yawned. 

"Pessimist!" was the angry retort. "I'll just ask you one question, myson. Where's Downs?"

"I certainly think, " Crawshay admitted, "that under the circumstanceshe might have been at the station to meet us. "

"He wouldn't even talk through the 'phone, " Hobson pointed out. "I hadto explain who we were to one of his inspectors. No one seemed to knowa goldarned thing about us. "

"They sent for him right away when you explained who you were, "Crawshay reminded his companion. 

Hobson found no comfort whatever in the reflection. 

"Of course they did, " he replied brusquely. "There's scarcely likelyto be a chief of police of any city in the United States who wouldn'tget a move on when he knew that Sam Hobson was waiting for a word. Ihaven't been in the Secret Service of this country for fifteen yearsfor nothing. He'll come fast enough as soon as he knows I'm waiting, but all the same, what I want to know is, if that dispatch was on thesquare, why he wasn't at the station to meet us, and if it wasn't onthe square, how the hell do we come out of this?"

Their conversation was interrupted by the tinkle of the telephonewhich stood upon the table between them, the instrument which both menhad been watching anxiously. Hobson snatched up the receiver. 

"Police headquarters speaking? Right! Yes, this is Sam Hobson. I'mhere with Crawshay, of the English Secret Service. We got yourdispatch. --What's that?--Well?--Chief Downs is on the way, eh?--Juststarted? Good! We're waiting for him. "

Hobson replaced the receiver upon the instrument. 

"Downs is coming right along, " he announced. "I tell you what it is, Mr. Crawshay, " he went on, recommencing his walk up and down theapartment, "I don't feel happy to be so far away from the coast. That's what scares me. Chicago's just about the place they'd land us, if this is a hanky-panky trick. We're twenty hours from New York, andthe _City of Boston_ sails to-morrow at five o'clock. "

The Englishman shook himself and rose from his recumbent position uponthe sofa. He was a man of youthful middle-age, colourless, withpleasant face, a somewhat discontented mouth, but keen grey eyes. Hehad been sent out from Scotland Yard at the beginning of the war toassist in certain work at the English Embassy. So far hisopportunities had not been many, or marked with any brilliant success, and it seemed to him that the gloom of failure was already settlingdown upon their present expedition. 

"You don't believe, then, any more than I do, that when a certain boxwe know of is opened at the Foreign Office in London, it will containthe papers we are after?"

"No, sir, I do not, " was the vigorous reply. "I think they have beenplaying a huge game of bluff on us. That's why I am so worried aboutthis trip. I wouldn't mind betting you the best dinner you ever ate atDelmonico's or at your English Savoy that that box with the brokenseals they all got so excited about doesn't contain a single one ofthe papers that we're after. Why, those blasted Teutons wanted us tobelieve it! That's why some of the seals were broken, and why the oldman himself hung about like a hen that's lost one of its chickens. They want us to believe that we've got the goods right in that box, and to hold up the search for a time while they get the genuine stuffout of the country. I admit right here, Mr. Crawshay, that it was youwho put this into my head at Halifax. I couldn't swallow it then, butwhen Downs didn't meet us at the depot here, it came over me like aflash that you were right that we were being flimflammed. "

"We ought, perhaps, to have separated, " the Englishman ruminated. "Iought to have gone to New York and you come here. On the other hand, you must remember that all the evidence which we have managed tocollect points to Chicago as having been the headquarters of the wholeorganisation. "

"Sure!" the American admitted. "And there's another point about it, too. If this outsider who has taken on the job for them should reallyturn out to be Jocelyn Thew, I'd have banked on his working the schemefrom Chicago. He knows the back ways of the city, or rather he usedto, like a rat. Gee, it would be a queer thing if after all theseyears one were to get the bracelets on him!"

"I don't quite see, " Crawshay remarked, "how such a person as thisJocelyn Thew, of whom you have spoken several times, could have becomeassociated with an affair of this sort. Both the Germans and theAustrians at Washington had the name of being exceedingly particularwith regard to the status of their agents, and he must be entirely anewcomer in international matters. From the _dossier_ you handed me, Jocelyn Thew reads more like a kind of modern swashbuckler spoilingfor a fight than a person likely to make a success of a secretservice job. "

"Don't you worry, " Hobson replied. "Jocelyn Thew could hold his own atany court in Europe with any of you embassy swaggerers. There'snothing known about his family, but they say that his father was anEnglish aristocrat, and he looks like it, too. "

"It was you yourself who called him a criminal, the first time youspoke of him, " Crawshay reminded his companion. 

"And a criminal he is at heart, without a doubt, " the Americandeclared impressively. 

"Has he ever been in prison?"

"He has had the luck of Old Harry, " Hobson grumbled. "In New York theyall believed that it was he who shot Graves, the Pittsburgmillionaire. The Treasury Department will have it that he was the headof that Fourteenth Street gang of coiners, and I've a pal down atBaltimore who is ready to take his oath that he planned the theft ofthe Vanderloon jewels--and brought it off, too! But I tell you this, sir. When the trouble comes, whoever gets nabbed it's never JocelynThew. He's the slickest thing that ever came down the pike. "

"He is well off, then?"

"They say that he brought half a million from Mexico, " Hobsondeclared. "How he brought money out of that country, neither I noranybody else on the Force can imagine. But he did it. I know thestockbroker down-town who handles his investments. --Here's our manat last!"

The door was opened by the floor waiter, who held it while a thin, dark man, dressed in civilian clothes of most correct cut, passed in. Hobson gripped him at once by the hand. 

"Chief Downs, " he said, "this is my friend Mr. Crawshay, who isconnected with the English Embassy over here. You can shake hands withhim later. We're on a job of business, and the first thing before usis to get an answer from you to a certain question. Did you send thisdispatch or did you not?"

Hobson handed over to the newcomer the crumpled telegraph form whichhe had just produced from his pocket. The latter glanced through itand shook his head. 

"It's a plant, " he announced. "I'm sorry if the use of my name hasmisled you in any way, but it was quite unauthorised. I know nothingwhatever about the matter. "

Hobson remained for a moment silent, silent with sick and angryastonishment. Crawshay had glanced towards the clock and was standingnow with his finger upon the bell. 

"Is it a big thing?" the Chicago man enquired. 

"It's the biggest thing ever known in this country, " Hobson groaned. "It's what is known as the Number Three Berlin plant. "

"You didn't get the stuff at Halifax, then?" Downs asked. 

"We didn't, " Hobson replied bitterly. "We've sent a representativeover to sit on the box with the broken seals till they can open it atthe Foreign Office in London, but I never believed they'd findanything there. I'm damned certain they won't now!"

A waiter had answered the bell. 

"Don't have our luggage brought up, " Crawshay directed. "We areleaving for New York to-night. That's so, isn't it, Hobson?" he added, turning to his companion. 

"You bet!" was the grim reply. "I'd give a thousand dollars to bethere now. "

"The Limited's sold out, " the man told them. "There are two or threepersons who've been disappointed, staying on here till to-morrow. "

"I'll get you on the train, " Downs promised. "I can do as much as thatfor you, anyway. I'll stop and go on to the station with you fromhere. I'm very sorry about this, Hobson, " he continued, fingering thedispatch. "We shall have to get right along to the station, but ifthere's anything I can do after you've left, command me. "

"You might wire New York, " Hobson suggested, as he struggled into hisovercoat. "Tell 'em to look out for the _City of Boston_, and to holdher up for me if they can. I've got it in my bones that Jocelyn Thewis running this show and that he is on that steamer. "

"Those fellows at Washington must have collected some useful stuff, "Chief Downs observed, as the three men left the room and stepped intothe elevator. "They've been working on their job since before the war, and there isn't a harbour on the east or west coast that they haven'tgot sized up. They've spent a million dollars in graft since January, and there's a rumour that the new Navy Department scheme for dealingwith submarines, which was only adopted last month, is there amongthe rest. "

"Anything else?" Crawshay asked indolently. 

The Chief of Police glanced first at his questioner and then atHobson. 

"What else should there be?" he enquired. 

"No idea, " the Englishman replied. "Secret Service papers of the usualdescription, I suppose. By-the-by, I hear that this man Jocelyn Thewhas stated openly that he is going to take all the papers he wantswith him into Germany, and that there isn't a living soul canstop him. "

Hobson's square jaw was set a little tighter, and his narrow eyesflashed. 

"That's some boast to make, " he muttered. "Kind of a challenge, isn'tit? What do you say, Mr. Crawshay?"

Crawshay, who had been gazing out of the window of the taxicab, lookedback again. His tone was almost indifferent. 

"If Chief Downs can get us on the Limited, " he said, "and if we catchthe _City of Boston_, I think perhaps we might have a chance of makingMr. Jocelyn Thew eat his words. "

The Chief smiled. The taxicab had turned in through the entrance gatesof the great station. 

"I have heard men as well-known in their profession as you, Hobson, and you too, Mr. Crawshay, speak like that about Jocelyn Thew, butwhen the game was played out they seem to have lost the odd trick. Either the fellow isn't a criminal at all but loves to haunt shadyplaces and pose as one, or he is just the cleverest of all the crookswho ever worked the States. Some of my best men have thought that theyhad a case against him and have come to grief. "

"They've never caught him with the goods, because they've never beenthe right way about it, " Hobson declared confidently. 

"And you think you are going to break his record?" Downs asked, with adoubtful smile. "If you find him on the _City of Boston_, you know, the stuff you're after won't be in his pocketbook or in the lining ofhis steamer trunk. "

The three men were hurrying out to the platform now, where the greattrain, a blaze of light and luxury, was standing upon the track. Captain Downs made his way to where the Pullman conductor was standingand engaged him in a brief but earnest conversation. A car porter wassummoned, and in a few moments Crawshay and Hobson found themselvesstanding on the steps of one of the cars. They leaned over to maketheir adieux to Chief Downs. Crawshay added a few words tohis farewell. 

"I quite appreciate all your remarks about Jocelyn Thew, " he said. "One is liable to be disappointed, of course, but I still feel that ifwe can catch that steamer it might be an exceedingly interesting voyage. "

"If you're on time you may do it, " was the brief reply. "All thesame--"

The gong had sounded and the train was gliding slowly out of thestation. Crawshay leaned over the iron gate of the car. 

"Go on, please, " he begged. "Don't mind my feelings. "

Chief Downs waved his hand. 

"I'm afraid, " he confessed, "that my money would be on Jocelyn Thew. "

CHAPTER II

At just about the hour when Crawshay and Hobson were receiving thevisit of Chief Downs in the Chicago hotel an English butler acceptedwith due respect the card of a very distinguished-looking andexceedingly well-turned-out caller at the big, brownstone Beverleyhouse in Riverside Drive, New York. 

"Miss Beverley is just back from the hospital, sir, " the formerannounced. "If you will come this way, I will see that your card issent to her at once. "

The caller--Mr. Jocelyn Thew was the name upon the card--followed theservant across the white stone circular hall, with its banked-upprofusion of hothouse flowers and its air of elegant emptiness, into asomewhat austere but very dignified apartment, the walls of which werelined to the ceiling with books. 

"I will let Miss Beverley have your card at once, sir, " the manpromised him again, "if you will be so kind as to take a seat for afew moments. "

The visitor, left to himself, stood upon the hearthrug with his handsbehind his back, waiting for news of the young lady whom he had cometo visit. At first sight he certainly was a most prepossessing-lookingperson. His face, if a little hard, was distinguished by a strengthwhich for the size of his features was somewhat surprising. His chinwas like a piece of iron, and although his mouth had more sensitiveand softer lines, his dark-blue eyes and jet-black eyebrows completeda general impression of vigour and forcefulness. His figure was alittle thin but lithe, and his movements showed all the suppleness ofa man who has continued the pursuit of athletics into earlymiddle-life. His hair, only slightly streaked with grey, was thick andplentiful. His clothes were carefully chosen and well tailored. He hadthe air of a man used to mixing with the best people, to eating anddrinking the best, to living in the best fashion, recognising nothingless as his due in life. Yet as he stood there waiting for hisvisitor, listening intently for the sound of her footsteps outside, hepermitted himself a moment of retrospection, and there was a gleam ofvery different things in his face, a touch almost of the savage in theclenched teeth and sudden tightening of the lips. One might havegathered that this man was living through a period of strain. 

The entrance of the young lady of the house, after a delay of aboutten minutes, was noiseless and unannounced. Her visitor, however, wasprepared for it. She came towards him with an air of pleasant enquiryin her very charming face--a young woman in the early twenties, oflittle more than medium height, with complexion inclined to be pale, deep grey eyes, and a profusion of dark brown, almost copper-colouredhair. She carried herself delightfully and her little smile of welcomewas wonderfully attractive, although her deportment and manner were alittle serious for her years. 

"You wish to see me?" she asked. "I am Miss Beverley--Miss KatharineBeverley. " "Sometimes known as Sister Katharine, " her visitorremarked, with a smile. 

"More often than by my own name, " she assented. "Do you come from thehospital?"

He shook his head and glanced behind her to be sure that the door wasclosed. 

"Please do not think that my coming means any trouble, Miss Beverley, "he said, "but if you look at me more closely you will perhapsrecognise me. You will perhaps remember--a promise. "

He stepped a little forward from his position of obscurity to wherethe strong afternoon sunlight found its subdued way through theHolland blinds. The politely interrogative smile faded from her lips. She seemed to pass through a moment of terror, a moment during whichher thoughts were numbed. She sank into the chair which her visitorgravely held out for her, and by degrees she recovered her powersof speech. 

"Forgive me, " she begged. "The name upon the card should have warnedme--but I had no idea--I was not expecting a visit from you. "

"Naturally, " he acquiesced smoothly, "and I beg you not to discomposeyourself. My visit bodes you no harm--neither you nor any onebelonging to you. "

"I was foolish, " she confessed. "I have been working overtime at thehospital lately--we have sent so many of our nurses to France. Mynerves are not quite what they should be. "

He bowed sympathetically. His tone and demeanour were alikereassuring. 

"I quite understand, " he said. "Still, some day or other I supposeyou expected a visit from me?"

"In a way I certainly did, " she admitted. "You must let me knowpresently, please, exactly what I can do. Don't think because I wasstartled to see you that I wish to repudiate my debt. I have neverceased to be grateful to you for your wonderful behaviour on thatghastly night. "

"Please do not refer to it, " he begged. "Your brother, I hope, iswell?"

"He is well and doing famously, " she replied. "I suppose you know thathe is in France?"

"In France?" he repeated. "No, I had not heard. "

"He joined the Canadian Flying Corps, " she went on, "and he got hiswings almost at once. He finds the life out there wonderful. I neverreceive a letter from him, " she concluded, her eyes growing very soft, "that I do not feel a little thrill of gratitude to you. "

He bowed. 

"That is very pleasant, " he murmured. "And now we come to the objectof my visit. Your surmise was correct. I have come to ask you toredeem your word. "

"And you find me not only ready but anxious to do so, " she told himearnestly. "If it is a matter--pardon me--of money, you have only tosay how much. If there is any other service you require, you have onlyto name it. "

"You make things easy for me, " he acknowledged, "but may I add that itis only what I expected. The service which I have come to claim fromyou is one which is not capable of full explanation but which willcause you little inconvenience and less hardship. You will find it, without doubt, surprising, but I need not add that it will be entirelyinnocent in its character. "

"Then there seems to be very little left, " she declared, smiling up athim from the depths of her chair, "but to name it. I do wish you wouldsit down, and are you quite sure that you won't have some tea orsomething?"

He shook his head gravely and made no movement towards the chair whichshe had indicated. For some reason or other, notwithstanding hermanifest encouragement, he seemed to wish to keep their interview on apurely formal basis. 

"Let me repeat, " he continued, "that I shall offer you nocomprehensive explanations, because they would not be truthful, norare they altogether necessary. In Ward Number Fourteen of yourhospital--you have been so splendid a patroness that every one callsSt. Agnes's your hospital--a serious operation was performed to-dayupon an Englishman named Phillips. "

"I remember hearing about it, " she assented. "The man is, Iunderstand, very ill. "

"He is so ill that he has but one wish left in life, " Jocelyn Thewtold her gravely. "That wish is to die in England. Just as you are atthe present moment in my debt for a certain service rendered, so am Iin his. He has called upon me to pay. He has begged me to make all thearrangements for his immediate transportation to his native country. "She nodded sympathetically. 

"It is a very natural wish, " she observed, "so long as it does notendanger his life. "

"It does not endanger his life, " her visitor replied, "because that isalready forfeit. I come now to the condition which involves you, whichexplains my presence here this afternoon. It is also his earnestdesire that you should attend him so far as London as his nurse. "

The look of vague apprehension which had brought a questioning frowninto Katharine Beverley's face faded away. It was succeeded by anexpression of blank and complete surprise. 

"That I should nurse him--should cross with him to London?" sherepeated. "Why, I do not know this man Phillips. I never saw him in mylife! I have not even been in Ward Fourteen since he wasbrought there. "

"But he, " Jocelyn Thew explained, "has seen you. He has been a visitorat your hospital before he was received there as a patient. He hasreceived from various doctors wonderful accounts of your skill. Besides this, he is a superstitious man, and he has been very muchimpressed by the fact that you have never lost a patient. If you hadbeen one of your own probationers, the question of a fee would havepresented no difficulties, although he personally is, I believe, apoor man. As it is, however, his strange craving for your services hasbecome a charge upon me. "

"It is the most extraordinary request I ever heard in my life, "Katharine murmured. "If I had ever seen or spoken to the man, I couldhave understood it better, but as it is, I find it impossible tounderstand. "

"You must look upon it, " Jocelyn Thew told her, "as one of thosestrange fancies which comes sometimes to men who are living in theshadowland of approaching death. There is one material circumstance, however, which may make the suggestion even more disconcerting foryou. The steamer upon which we hope to sail leaves at four o'clockto-morrow afternoon. "

The idea in this new aspect was so ludicrous that she simply laughedat him. 

"My dear Mr. Jocelyn Thew!" she exclaimed. "You can't possibly be inearnest! You mean that you expect me to leave New York with less thantwenty-four hours' notice, and go all the way to London in attendanceupon a stranger, especially in these awful times? Why, the thing isn'treasonable--or possible! I have just consented to take thechairmanship of a committee to form field hospitals throughout thecountry, and--"

"May I interrupt for one moment?" her visitor begged. 

The stream of words seemed to fall away from her lips. There was atouch of Jocelyn Thew's other manner--perhaps more than a touch. Shelooked at him and she shivered. She had seen him look like thatonce before. 

"Your attitude is perfectly reasonable, " he continued, "but on theother hand I must ask you to carry your thoughts back some littletime. I shall beg you to remember that I have a certain right to askthis or any other service from you. " "I admit it, " she confessedhastily, "but--there is something so outlandish in the wholesuggestion. There are a score of nurses in the hospital to any one ofwhom you are welcome, who are all much cleverer than I. What possibleadvantage to the man can it be, especially if he is seriously ill, tohave a partially-trained nurse with him when he might have the best inthe world?"

"I think, " he said, "I mentioned that this is not a matter forreasoning or argument. It is you who are required, and no one else. Imay remind you, " he went on, "that this service is a very much smallerone than I might have asked you, and, so far as you and I areconcerned, it clears our debt. "

"Clears our debt, " she repeated. 

"For ever!"

She closed her eyes for several moments. For some reason or other, this last reflection seemed to bring her no particular relief. Whenshe opened them again, her decision was written in her face. 

"I consent, of course, " she acquiesced quietly. "Is there anythingmore to tell me?"

"Very little, " he replied, "only this. You should send your baggage onboard the City of Boston as early as possible to-morrow morning. Everyarrangement has been made for transporting Phillips in his bed, as helies, from the hospital to the boat. The doctor who has been inattendance will accompany him to England, but it is important that youshould be at the hospital and should drive in the ambulance from thereto the dock. I shall ask very little of you in the way of duplicity. What is necessary you will not, I think, refuse. You will beconsidered to have had some former interest in Phillips, to accountfor your voyage, and you will reconcile yourself to the fact that Ishall not at any time approach the sick man, or be known as anacquaintance of his on board the ship. "

His words disturbed her. She felt herself being drawn under the shadowof some mystery. 

"There is something in all this, " she said, "which reminds me of thetime when Richard was your protégé, the time when we met before. "

He leaned towards her, understanding very well what was in her mind. 

"There is nothing criminal in this enterprise--even in my share ofit, " he assured her. "What there is in it which necessitates secrecyis political, and that need not concern you. You see, " he went on, alittle bitterly, "I have changed my role. I am no longer the despairof the New York police. I am the quarry of a race of men who, if theycould catch me, would not wait to arrest. That may happen even beforewe reach Liverpool. If it does, it will not affect you. Your duty isto stay with a dying man until he reaches the shelter of his home. Youwill leave him there, and you will be free of him and of me. "

"So far as regards our two selves, " she enquired, "do we meet asstrangers upon the steamer?"

He considered the matter for a few moments before answering. She feltanother poignant thrill of recollection. He had looked at her likethis just before he had bent his back to the task of saving herbrother's life and liberty, looked at her like this the moment beforethe unsuspected revolver had flashed from the pocket of hisdress-coat and had covered the man who had suddenly declared himselftheir foe. She felt her cheeks burn for a moment. There was somethingmagnetic, curiously troublous about his eyes and his faint smile. 

"I cannot deny myself so much, " he said. "Even if our opportunitiesfor meeting upon the steamer are few, I shall still have the pleasureof a New York acquaintance with Miss Beverley. You need not beafraid, " he went on. "In this wonderful country of yours, theimprobable frequently happens. I have before now visited at the housesof some whom you call your friends. "

"Why not?" she asked him. "I should look upon it as the most naturalthing in the world that we were acquainted. But why do you say 'yourcountry'? Are you not an American?"

He looked at her with a very faint smile, a smile which had nothing init of pleasantness or mirth. 

"I have so few secrets, " he said. "The only one which I elect to keepis the secret of my nationality. "

She raised her eyebrows. 

"Then you can no longer, " she observed, "be considered what my brotherand I once thought you--a man of mysteries--for with your voice andaccent it is very certain that you are either English or American. "

"If it affords you any further clue, then, " he replied, "let meconfide in you that if there is one country in this world which Idetest, it is England; one race of people whom I abominate, it isthe English. "

She showed her surprise frankly, but his manner encouraged no furtherconfidence. She touched the bell, and he bowed over her fingers. 

"My friend Phillips, " he said, in formal accents, as the butler stoodupon the threshold, "will never live, I fear, to offer you all thegratitude he feels, but you are doing a very kind and a very wonderfulaction, Miss Beverley, and one which I think will bring itsown reward. "

He passed out of the room, leaving Katharine a prey to a curioustangle of emotions. She watched him almost feverishly until he haddisappeared, listened to his footsteps in the hall and the closing ofthe front door. Then she hurried to the window, watched him descendthe row of steps, pass down the little drive and hail a taxicab. Itwas not until he was out of sight that she became in any way likeherself. Then she broke into a little laugh. 

"Heavens alive!" she exclaimed to herself. "Now I have to find AuntMolly and tell her that I am going to Europe to-morrow with a perfectstranger!"

CHAPTER III

Mr. Jocelyn Thew descended presently from his taxicab outside one ofthe largest and most cosmopolitan hotels in New York--or the world. He made his way with the air of an _habitué_ to the bar, the precinctsof which, at that time in the late afternoon, were crowded by a motleygathering. He ordered a Scotch highball, and gently insinuated himselfinto the proximity of a group of newspaper men with whom he seemed tohave some slight acquaintance. It was curious how, since his arrivalin this democratic meeting-place, his manners and deportment seemed tohave slipped to a lower grade. He seemed as though by an effort ofwill to have lost something of his natural air of distinction, to betreading the earth upon a lower plane. He saluted the barkeeper by hisChristian name, listened with apparent interest to an exceedinglycommonplace story from one of his neighbours, and upon its conclusiondrew a little nearer to the group. 

"Say, " he exclaimed confidentially, "if I felt in the humour for it Icould hand you boys out a great scoop. "

They were on him like a pack of hungry though dubious wolves. Hepushed his glass out of sight, accepted one of the drinks pressed uponhim, and leaned nonchalantly against the counter. 

"What should you say, " he began, "to Miss Katharine Beverley, the NewYork society young lady--"

"Sister Katharine of St. Agnes's?" one of them interrupted. 

"Daughter of old Joe Beverley, the multi-millionaire?" anotherexclaimed. 

"Both right, " Jocelyn Thew acquiesced. "What should you say to thatyoung woman leaving her hospital and her house in Riverside Drive, breaking all her engagements at less than twenty-four hours' notice, to take a sick Englishman whom no one knows anything about, back toLiverpool on the _City of Boston_ to-morrow?"

"The story's good enough, " a ferret-faced little man at his elbowacknowledged, "but is it true?"

Jocelyn Thew regarded his questioner with an air of pained surprise. 

"It's Gospel, " he assured them all, "but you don't need to take myword. You go right along up and enquire at the Beverley houseto-night, and you'll find that she is packing. Made up her mind justan hour ago. I'm about the only one in the know. "

"Who's the man, anyway?" one of the little group asked. 

"Nothing doing, " Jocelyn Thew replied mysteriously. "You've got tofind that out for yourself, boys. All I can tell you is that he's anEnglishman, and she has known him for a long time--kind of love stunt, I imagine. She wasn't having any, but now he's at death's door sheseems to have relented. Anyway, she is breaking every engagement she'sgot, giving up her chairmanship of the War Hospitals Committee, andshe isn't going to leave him while he's alive. There's no other nursegoing, so it'll be a night and day job for her. "

"What's the matter with the chap, anyway?" another questionerdemanded. 

"No one knows for sure, " was the cautious reply. "He's been operatedupon for appendicitis, but I fancy there are complications. Not muchchance for him, from what I have heard. "

The little crowd of men melted away. Jocelyn Thew smiled to himself onhis way out, as he watched four of them climb into a taxicab. 

"That establishes Phillips all right as Miss Beverley's protégé, " hemurmured, as he turned into Fifth Avenue. "And now--"

He stopped short in his reflections. His careful scrutiny of theheterogeneous crowd gathered together around the bar had revealed tohim no unfamiliar type save the little man who at that moment wasambling along on the other side of the way. Jocelyn Thew slackened hispace somewhat and watched him keenly. He was short, he wore a cheapready-made suit of some plain material, and a straw hat tilted on theback of his head. He had round cheeks, he shambled rather than walked, and his vacuous countenance seemed both good-natured andunintelligent. To all appearances a more harmless person neverbreathed, yet Jocelyn Thew, as he studied him earnestly, felt thatslight tightening of the nerves which came to him almost instinctivelyin moments of danger. He changed his purpose and turned down FifthAvenue instead of up. The little man, it appeared, had business in thesame direction. Jocelyn Thew walked the length of several blocks inleisurely fashion and then entered an hotel, studiously avoidinglooking behind him. He made his way into a telephone booth and lookedthrough the glass door. His follower in a few moments was visible, making apparently some aimless enquiry across the counter. JocelynThew turned his back upon him and asked the operator for a number. 

"Number 238 Park waiting, " the latter announced, a few moments later. 

Jocelyn Thew reentered the box and took up the receiver. 

"That you, Rentoul?" he asked. 

"Speaking, " was the guarded reply. "Who is it?"

"Jocelyn Thew. Say, what's wrong with you? Don't go away. "

"What is it? Speak quickly, please. "

"You seem rather nervy up there. I'm off to Europe to-morrow on the_City of Boston_, and I should like to see you before I go. "

There was a moment's silence. 

"Why don't you come up here, then?"

"I'd rather not, " Jocelyn Thew observed laconically. "The fact of itis, I have a friend around who doesn't seem to care about losing sightof me. If you are going to be anywhere around near Jimmy's, aboutseven o'clock--"

"That goes, " was the somewhat agitated reply. "Ring off now. There'ssome one else waiting to speak. "

Jocelyn Thew paid for his telephone call and walked leisurely out ofthe hotel with a smile upon his lips. The stimulus of danger was likewine to him. The little man was choosing a cigar at the stall. As heleaned down to light it, Jocelyn Thew's practiced eye caught the shapeof a revolver in his hip pocket. 

"English, " he murmured softly to himself. "Probably one of Crawshay'slot, preparing a report for him when he returns from Chicago. "

With an anticipatory smile, he entered upon the task of shaking offhis unwelcome follower. He passed with the confident air of a memberinto a big club situated in an adjoining block, left it almost at onceby a side entrance, found a taxicab, drove to a subway stationup-town, and finally caught an express back again to FourteenthStreet. Here he entered without hesitation a small, foreign-lookingrestaurant which intruded upon the pavement only a few yards from theiron staircase by which he descended from the station. There were twofaded evergreen shrubs in cracked pots at the bottom of the steps, soiled muslin curtains drawn across the lower half of the windows, dejected-looking green shutters which, had the appearance of beingpermanently nailed against the walls, and a general air of foreign andtawdry profligacy. Jocelyn Thew stepped into a room on the right-handside of the entrance and, making his way to the window, glancedcautiously out. There was no sign anywhere of the little man. Then heturned towards the bar, around which a motley group of Italians andHungarians were gathered. The linen-clad negro who presided there methis questioning glance with a slight nod, and the visitor passedwithout hesitation through a curtained opening to the rear of theplace, along a passage, up a flight of narrow stairs until he arrivedat a door on the first landing. He knocked and was at once bidden toenter. For a moment he listened as though to the sounds below. Then heslipped into the room and closed the door behind him. 

The apartment was everything which might have been expected, save forthe profusion of flowers. The girl who greeted him, however, wasdifferent. She was of medium height and dark, with dark brown hairplaited close back from an almost ivory-coloured forehead. Her greyeyes were soft and framed in dark lines. Her eyebrows were noticeable, her mouth full but shapely. Her discontented expression changedentirely as she held out both her hands to her visitor. Her welcomewas eager, almost passionate. 

"Mr. Thew!" she exclaimed. 

He held up his hand as though to check further speech, and listenedfor a moment intently. 

"How are things here?" he asked. 

"Quiet, " she assured him. "You couldn't have come at a better time. Every one's away. Is there anything wrong?"

"I am being followed, " he told her, "and I don't like it--just now, atany rate. "

"Any one else coming?" she enquired. 

"Rentoul, " he told her. "He is in a mortal fright at having to come. They found his wireless, and they are watching his house. I must seehim, though, before I go away. "

"Going away?" she echoed. "When? When are you going?"

"To-morrow, " he replied, "I sail for London. "

She seemed for a moment absolutely speechless, consumed by a sort ofsilent passion that found no outlet in words. She gripped a fancy matwhich covered an ornate table by her side, and dragged a begilded vaseon to the floor without even noticing it. She leaned towards him. Thelittle lines at the sides of her eyes were suddenly deep-riven likescars. Her eyes themselves were smouldering with fire. 

"You are going to England!"

"That is what I propose, " he assented. "I am sailing on the _City ofBoston_ to-morrow afternoon. "

"But the risk!" she faltered. "I thought that you dared not set footin England. "

"There is risk, " he admitted. "It is not easy to amuse oneselfanywhere without it. I have been offered a hundred thousand pounds tosuperintend the conveyance of certain documents and a certain letterto Berlin. The adventure appeals to me, and I have undertaken it. Until I found this man following me this afternoon, I really believedthat we had put every one off the track. I know for a fact that mostof the American officials believe that the papers for which they havesearched so long and anxiously are in that trunk with the broken sealswhich they found at Halifax. "

"What about the Englishman, Crawshay, and Sam Hobson?" the girl asked. 

"They are not quite so credulous, " he replied, "but at the presentmoment they are in Chicago, and if we get off at four o'clockpunctually to-morrow afternoon, I scarcely think I shall be troubledwith their presence on the _City of Boston_. " "I have been readingabout the trunk, " the girl said. "Is it really a fake?"

"Entirely, " he assured her. "There is not a single document in itwhich concerns either us or our friends. Everything that is of vitalimportance will be on the _City of Boston_ to-morrow and undermy charge. "

She looked at him wonderingly. 

"But, Mr. Thew, " she exclaimed, "you are clever, I know--evenwonderful--but what possible chance have you of getting those thingsthrough--on an American steamer, too!"

"I have to take my risks, of course, " he admitted coolly, "but thegame is worth it. I can't live without excitement, as you know, andit's getting harder and harder to find on this side of the ocean. Besides, there is the money. I can think of several uses for a hundredthousand pounds. "

She caught his wrist suddenly and leaned across the table. 

"Can I come with you?" she asked breathlessly. 

He shook his head. 

"I shouldn't advise a sea voyage just now, Nora, " he said. "It isn'texactly a picnic, nowadays. Besides, if you come on the _City ofBoston_ there will be more than one danger to be faced. "

"Danger!" she exclaimed contemptuously. "Have I ever shown myselfafraid? Have we any of us--my brother or father or I--hesitated to runany possible risk when it was worth while? This house has been yours, and we in it, to do what you will with. It isn't a matter ofdanger--you know that. I come or go as you bid me. " He met the fierceenquiry of her eyes without flinching. Only his tone was a littlekinder as he answered her. 

"I think, Nora, " he said, "that you had better stay. "

There was a timid but persistent knocking at the door, and, inresponse to Nora's invitation, a fat and bloated man entered the roomhurriedly. He sank into a chair and mopped the perspiration from hisforehead. Jocelyn Thew watched him with an air of contemptuousamusement. 

"You seem distressed, Rentoul, " he remarked. "Has anything gonewrong?"

"But it is terrible, this!" the newcomer declared. "Anything gonewrong, indeed! Listen. The police have made themselves free of myhouse. My beautiful wireless--it was only a hobby--it has gone! Theyopen my letters. They will ruin me. Never did I think that this wouldarrive! There has been some terrible bungling!"

"And you, " Jocelyn Thew retorted, "seem to have been the archbungler. "

"I? But what have I done?" Rentoul demanded, wringing his hands. "Ihave always obeyed orders. Even a hint has been enough. I have spent agreat deal of money--much more than I could afford. What have Idone wrong?"

"You have talked too much, for one thing, " was the cold reply, "butwe haven't time for recriminations now. How did you get here?"

"I came in my car. You will perhaps say that it was not wise, but Icould not have stood the subway. My nerves are all rotten. " JocelynThew's tone and gesture were smoothly disdainful. 

"You are quite right, " he agreed. "You have lost what you call yournerve. You had better send for the newspaper men, give them plenty ofchampagne, and explain what a loyal American citizen you are. Have youburnt everything?"

"Every scrap of paper in the house which concerns a certain matter isburnt, " Rentoul declared. 

"It would be!"

"But I am in the right, " the agitated man protested vigorously. "Forfive years we have worked and with good result. It is finished with usnow for the present. There is no one who would dare to continue. Fivelong years, mind you, Mr. Jocelyn Thew. That is worth something, eh?"

"Whatever it may be worth, " was the somewhat grim reply, "will bedecided within the next fortnight. That doesn't concern you, though. "

"You are not staying over here now that the war has come?"

"Not I! But listen. There is no need for you to know where I am going, and I am not going to tell you. There is no need for you to rememberthat you ever knew me in your life. There is no need for you toremember any of the work in which you have been engaged. Yourpropaganda has developed a few strong men in this country anddiscovered a good deal of pulp. You are part of the pulp. There isonly one other thing. If you should be heard of, Rentoul, shall we saytelephoning, or calling upon the police here, offering to sell--No, byGod, you don't!" The man's furtive tug at his hip pocket was almostpathetic in its futility. Jocelyn Thew had him by the throat, holdinghim with one hand well away from him, a quivering mass of discoloured, terrified flesh. 

"Now you know, " he continued coolly, "why I sent for you, Rentoul. Nowyou know why I rather preferred to see you here to coming to yourFifth Avenue mansion. I don't like traps--I don't like traitors. "

"I give you my word, " the breathless man began, "my word of honour--"

"Neither would interest me, " the other interrupted grimly. "You areto be trusted just as far as you can be seen, just as far as your ownsafety and welfare depend upon your fidelity. You needn't be soterrified, " he went on as, leaning over, he took the revolver fromRentoul's pocket, drew out the cartridges and threw it upon the table. "You've earned any ugly thing that might be coming to you, but Ishould think it very probable that you will be able to go onover-feeding your filthy carcass for a few more years. First of all, though, perhaps you had better tell me exactly why you have anappointment with Mr. Harrison, from Police Headquarters, at eleveno'clock to-morrow morning?"

Rentoul was white to the lips. 

"I wanted to explain about the wireless, " he faltered. 

"That sounds very probable, " was the contemptuous reply. "What else?"

"Nothing!"

Jocelyn Thew shrugged his shoulders. His victim cowered beforehim. For the first time the girl moved. She came a little nearer, andthere was fury in her eyes as she looked down upon the terrified man. 

"We could keep him here, " she whispered. "Ned Grimes and some of theothers will be in soon. There are plenty of ways of getting rid of himfor a time. "

"It wouldn't be worth while, " Thew said simply. "One doesn't commitcrimes for such carrion. "

Rentoul had struggled into a sitting posture. He was dabbing feebly athis forehead with an overperfumed handkerchief. 

"I wanted to make peace at Headquarters, " he whined. "I want to beleft alone. I should not have told them anything. "

"That may or may not be, " Jocelyn Thew replied. "All that I am fairlysure of is that you will keep your mouth shut now. You know, " he wenton, his voice growing a shade more menacing, "that I never threatenwhere I do not perform. I may not be over here myself, but there willbe a few men left in New York, and one word from your lips--even ahint--and your life will pay the forfeit within twenty-four hours. Youwill be watched for a time--you and a few others of yourkidney--watched until the time has gone by when anything you could sayor do would be of account. "

"Have you anything more to say to me?" the man stammered. "I feelfaint. "

His persecutor threw open the door. 

"Nothing! Get into your car and drive home. Keep out of sight andhearing for a time. You are no particular ornament nor any use to anycountry, but remember that everything you have done, you have donewhen the country of your birth was in trouble and the country of youradoption was at peace. The situation is altered. The country of whichyou are a naturalised citizen is now at war. You had better rememberit, and decide for yourself where your duty lies. "

They listened to his heavy footsteps as he descended the stairs. Thenthe girl turned to her companion. 

"Mr. Thew, " she began, "you are not a German or an Austrian, yet youare doing their work, risking your life every day. Is it for money?"

"No, " he replied, "in a general way it is not for money. "

"What is it, then?" she asked curiously. 

He stood looking out across the roofs and at the distant skyscrapers. She watched him without speaking. She knew very well that his eyes sawnothing of the landscape. He was looking back into some world of hisown fancy, back, perhaps, into the shadows of his own life, concerningwhich no word that she or any one else in the city had ever heard hadpassed his lips. 

CHAPTER IV

The two men--Crawshay and Sam Hobson--still a little breathless, stood at the end of the dock, gazing out towards the river. Aroundthem was a slowly dispersing crowd of sightseers, friends andrelations of the passengers on board the great American liner, ploughing her way down the river amidst the shrieks and hoots of herattendant tugs. Out on the horizon, beyond the Statue of Liberty, twolong, grey, sinister shapes were waiting. Hobson glanced atthem gloomily. 

"Guess those are our destroyers going to take the _City of Boston_some of the way across, " he observed. "To think, with all this fussabout, that she must go and start an hour before her time!"

"It's filthy luck, " the Englishman muttered. 

The crowd grew thinner and thinner, yet the two men made no movementtowards departure. It seemed to Crawshay impossible that after allthey had gone through they should have failed. The journey in the fastmotor car, after a breakdown of the Chicago Limited, rushing throughthe night like some live monster, tearing now through a plain of levellights, as they passed through some great city, vomiting fire andflame into the black darkness of the country places. It was like theride of madmen, and more than once they had both hung on to theirseats in something which was almost terror. "How are we going?"Crawshay had asked perpetually. 

"Still that infernal half-hour, " was the continual reply. "We aredoing seventy, but we don't seem to be able to work it down. "

A powerful automobile had taken them through the streets of New York, and lay now a wreck in one of the streets a mile from the dock. Theyhad finished the journey in a taxicab, and the finish had beenthis--half an hour late! Yet they lingered, with their eyes fixed uponthe disappearing ship. 

"I guess there's nothing more we can do, " Hobson said at lastgrudgingly. "We can lay it up for them on the other side, and we cantalk to her all the way to Liverpool on the wireless, but if there isany scoop to be made the others'll get it--not us. "

"If only we could have got on board!" Crawshay muttered. "It's no usethinking of a tug, I suppose?"

The American shook his head. 

"She's too far out, " he replied gloomily. "There's nothing to be hiredthat could catch her. "

Crawshay's hand had suddenly stolen to his chin. There was a queerlight in his eyes. He clutched at his companion's arm. 

"You're wrong, Hobson, " he exclaimed. "There is! Come right along withme. We can talk as we go. "

"Are you crazy?" the American demanded. 

"Not quite, " the other answered. "Hurry up, man. "

"Where to?" "To New Jersey. I've got Government orders, endorsed byyour own Secretary of War. It's a hundred to one they won't listen tome, but we've got to try it. "

He was already dragging his companion down the wooden way. His wholeexpression had changed. His face was alight with the joy of an idea. Already Hobson, upon whom the germ of that idea had dawned, began tobe infected with his enthusiasm. 

"It's a gorgeous stunt, " he acknowledged, as he followed his companioninto a taxicab. "If we bring it off, it's going to knock themovies silly. "

Katharine, weary at last of waving her hand to the indistinct blur offaces upon the dock, picked up the great clusters of roses which latearrivals had thrust into her arms at the last moment, and descended toher stateroom upon the saloon deck. She spent only a few minuteslooking at the arrangement of her things, and then knocked at the doorof the stateroom exactly opposite. A thick-browed, heavy-looking man, sombrely and professionally dressed, opened the door. 

"Are you wanting me, Doctor Gant?" she asked. 

The doctor shook his head. 

"The patient is asleep, " he announced in a whisper. 

Katharine stepped inside and stood looking down upon the pale, almostghastly face of the man stretched at full length upon the bed. 

"Why, I remember him perfectly, " she exclaimed. "He was in NumberThree Ward for some time. Surely he was a clerk at one of thedrygoods stores down-town?"

The doctor nodded. 

"Very likely. "

"I remember the case, " Katharine continued, --"appendicitis, followedby pneumonia, and complicated by angina pectoris. "

"You have it precisely. "

Katharine's eyes were full of perplexity. 

"But the man is in very poor circumstances, " she remarked. "How onearth can he afford a trip like this? He was on the free list at thehospital. "

The doctor frowned. 

"That is not my business, " he said. "My fees are paid, and the steamertickets appear to be in order. He probably has wealthy friends. "

Katharine looked down once more at the sleeping man. His face wasinsignificant, his expression peevish, his features without theanimation of any high purpose. 

"I really cannot understand, " she murmured, "how he became a friend--afriend--"

"A friend of whom?" the doctor enquired. 

Katharine reflected and shook her head. 

"Perhaps I was indiscreet, " she confessed. "I dare say you know asmuch about him as I do. At what time would you like me to come andhelp you change the bandages?"

"I shall change them alone, " the doctor replied. 

"I prefer to. "

Katharine glanced up in surprise. 

"Surely you are not in earnest?" she asked. "What else am I here for?I suppose you realise that I am fully qualified?"

The doctor unbent a little. 

"I am perfectly well aware of that. Miss Beverley, " he said, "and itmay be that there are times when I shall be glad of your help, and inany case, " he went on, "I shall have to ask you to take a share in thenight watching. But the surgical part of the case has been a greatresponsibility, and I couldn't afford to have the slightest thing inthe world happen to one of my bandages. "

Katharine nodded. 

"You are thinking of Nurse Lynn, " she observed. "But really I am verycareful. "

"I am sure of it, " the doctor acknowledged, "but so long as I am here, with nothing else to do and a very heavy fee if by any chance I bringmy man through, I may just as well see to these things myself. At anymoment I might need your help, and I am very happy, Miss Beverley, tothink that I shall have some one like you to fall back upon. My greathope, " he went on, "is that we may get him across without a touch ofthe angina. "

"Will he ever get well?" she asked. 

The doctor shook his head doubtfully. 

"One can never tell, " he said. "It is just one of these cases whichare very close to the borderland. With luck he may pull through, mayeven become a fairly strong man again, but he doesn't look as thoughhe had much of a physique. Sometime or other the day will come whenlife or death for him will depend entirely upon his will. "

She nodded and moved away. "My stateroom is just opposite, if youwant me at any time, doctor, " she said. 

He bowed and closed the door after her. Katharine made her way intoher cabin, sat on her steamer trunk and looked around a littlehelplessly. The confusion of thought in which she had come on boardwas only increased by this introduction to doctor and patient. Apresentiment of strange and imminent happenings kept her seated therelong after the dressing bugle had sounded. 

The _City of Boston_ was four hours out of harbour, with her courseset direct for Liverpool. The passengers, of whom there were only avery moderate number, had taken possession of their staterooms, examined their lifebelts, eaten their first meal, and were now, ateight o'clock on a fine June evening, mostly strolling about the deckor reclining in steamer chairs. There was none of the old-time feelingthat a six-days' holiday was before them, a six-days' freedom from allanxiety and care. Even in these first few hours of their enterprise acertain strain of suppressed excitement was almost universallynoticeable. There was no escaping from grim facts, and the facts werebrought home to them all the time by those two businesslike destroyersflying the Stars and Stripes, and whose decks were swept continuallyby a deluge of green salt water. Amongst the few people who conversedthere was but one subject of conversation, a subject which every oneaffected to treat lightly, and yet which no one managed to discusswithout signs of anxiety. 

"This thing will get on all our nerves before we are over, " Brand, abreezy newspaper man from the West, observed. "What with boat drillthree times a day, and lifebelt parade going on all the time on thedeck, one doesn't get a chance to forget that we are liable to get atorpedo in our side at any moment. "

"Oh, these little gnats of Uncle Sam's will look after us!" a morecheerful _confrère_ observed. "Come into the smoking room and I'll buyyou a drink. "

A good deal of courage seemed to be sought in that direction, andpresently, although the afterglow of the sunset was still brilliant, the decks were almost deserted. On the starboard side, only a man anda woman remained, and gradually, as though with a certainunwillingness, they drifted closer together. The woman, who wore ablack and white check coat over her blue serge steamer dress, and asmall black hat from which she had pushed back the veil, was leaningover the side of the steamer, her head supported by her hand, lookingsteadily into the mass of red and orange clouds. The man, who wassmoking a cigar, with both hands in his ulster pockets, seemed asthough he would have passed her, but without turning her head she heldout her hand and beckoned him to her side. 

"I was beginning to wonder whether you were an absentee, " Katharineremarked. 

"I have been making friends with the captain, " Jocelyn Thew replied. 

"Please arrange my chair, " she begged. "I should like to sit down. "

He did as he was asked, arranging her rugs with the care of an oldtraveler. All his movements were very deliberate, even the searchingway in which his eyes swept the long row of empty chairs on eitherside of them, and the care with which he fastened two open portholesabove their heads. Finally he accepted her invitation and sat byher side. 

"I have seen you once before, " she observed, "just before we started. "

"Yes?" he murmured. 

"You were standing on the upper deck, " she continued, "a little awayfrom the others. You had your glasses glued to your eyes and youwatched the dock. You had the air of one looking for a late arrival. Do you know of any one who has missed the boat?"

"I think so. "

"A friend?"

"No, an enemy, " he answered equably. 

She turned her head a little. It was obvious that he was speaking thetruth. 

"So you have enemies?"

"A great many, " he acknowledged, "one in particular just now. Perhaps, " he went on, "I should say an opponent. "

"If that is so, " she remarked, after a moment's pause, "you should beglad that he missed the boat. "

Jocelyn Thew smiled. 

"I am, " he admitted. "It was part of my plan that he should miss it. "

She moved uneasily in her chair. 

"So you haven't finished with adventures yet?"

"Not just yet. "

There was a brief silence. Then she turned her head a little, leaningit still on the back of the chair but watching him as she spoke. 

"I have seen my patient, " she told him. "I have also had someconversation with the doctor. "

"Well?"

"I am beginning to think, " she continued, "that you must be aphilanthropist. "

"Why?"

"You hinted, " she went on, "that your friend was in poorcircumstances. You did not tell me, though, that you were paying thewhole expenses of this trip, just so that the man should see his homeand his family before he died. "

"I told you that the care of him was a charge upon me, " Jocelyn Thewreminded her. "That amounts to the same thing, doesn't it? I wasclever enough, anyhow, to get a good nurse at a small fee. "

"I am not at all sure, " she replied, "that I shall not charge yousomething outrageous. You are probably a millionaire. "

"Whatever you charge me, " he promised, "I shall try to pay. "

The two journalists, refreshed and encouraged by their libation, strolled past arm in arm. 

"Queer sort of voyage, this, for a man on the point of death, " theWesterner observed. "They brought a chap on here, an hour before wesailed, in an ambulance, with a doctor and a hospital nurse. Had to becarried every foot of the way. "

"What's wrong with him?" the other enquired. 

"He was only operated upon for appendicitis a fortnight ago, and theysay that he has angina pectoris amongst other complications. Theybrought him straight from the hospital. Seems he's crazy to get backto England to die. "

The two men passed out of hearing. Jocelyn flicked the ash from thecigarette which he had lighted. 

"Sounds a queer sort of story, the way they tell it, " he observed, glancing at his companion. 

"Oh, I don't know, " she replied. "Men have done this sort of thingbefore--but it isn't often, " she went on, "that a man has done it forthe sake of another man. "

He smiled. 

"You have the old-fashioned idea of man's devotion to woman. Can't youbelieve that there may be ties between two men stronger even thanbetween a man and the woman he loves?"

"I can believe that, " she assented, "but the men must have somethingin common. I should find it hard to believe, for instance, that theyexisted between you and the man downstairs. "

He shrugged his shoulders very slightly. 

"You forget, " he observed, "that a man does not look at his best aftersuch an illness as Phillips has had. You find him, perhaps, a littleinsignificant. You are probably aware of his vocation and stationin life. "

"I am. "

"And these things, " he went on, "make it difficult for you to believethat there is any great tie between us two. Yet it is the exceptionwhich proves the rule, you know. I will not say that your patient hasever saved my life or performed any immortal action, yet believe mehe has courage and a grit you would scarcely believe in, and I amspeaking seriously when I tell you that not only I but others areunder deep obligations to him. "

He rose to his feet with the air of one who has closed the subject. Katharine also threw off her rugs. 

"You are going to walk?" she asked. "Please take me with you. I don'tknow why, but I feel restless this evening. "

They paced side by side up and down the deck, pausing now and then towatch the destroyers and indulging in a very spasmodic conversation. At their fourth promenade, as they reached the stern extremity oftheir deck, the woman paused, and, holding to the railing with onehand, looked steadily back towards New York. The colour was fadingslowly from the sky now, but it was still marvellously clear. 

"Are you homesick for what lies beneath those clouds?" he enquiredlightly. 

She took no immediate account of his words. Her eyes were fixed uponone spot in that distant curtain of sky. Suddenly she pointed withher finger. 

"What's that?" she asked. "No, the mast's dipping now--you can't see. There--the other side. "

He followed her outstretched finger, and slowly his fine blackeyebrows grew closer and closer together. Far away, at a certain spotin the clear evening sky, was a little speck of black, hidden everynow and then by the mast of the ship as she rolled, but distinctlythere all the time, a little smudge in an amber setting, too small fora cloud, yet a visible and tangible object. Katharine felt hercompanion's arm tighten upon hers, and she saw his face grow like apiece of marble. 

"It's a seaplane, " he muttered, "coming from the New Jersey coast. "

Through that mysterious agency by means of which news travels on boardship as though supernaturally conveyed, the deck was crowded in a veryfew moments by practically every passenger and most of the officers. Every form of telescope and field-glass was directed towards the nowclearly visible seaplane. Speculations were everywhere to be heard. 

"Come to warn us of a submarine, " was the first suggestion. 

"They'd use the wireless, " was the prompt reminder. 

"But seaplanes can spot the submarines under the sea, " one of thejournalists reminded the bystanders. "They're a better escort than anydestroyer. "

"She can't come all the way across the Atlantic, though, " Brandobserved. 

"It's some new device of Uncle Sam's they are testing, perhaps, " hisfriend suggested. "Gee! You can hear her now quite plainly. There aretwo of them in the car--a pilot and an observer. Wonder what thecaptain thinks about it. "

The captain on the bridge was talking to his chief officer. Fragmentsof their conversation were apparently overheard, for it was soonrumoured around that the captain had expressed his opinion that thiswas simply part of some maneuvres they were carrying out from the NewJersey Aviation Station. Jocelyn Thew watched the blue fire aboutthe mast. 

"I wonder whether that's she talking to us, " he observed. "One wouldhave to be pretty nippy with one's fingers to work aboard on one ofthose small things. "

"Do you suppose she is bringing us a message?" Katharine asked. 

He shook his head. 

"They could do that by wireless from the shore, " he replied. "Hullo, we're slowing down!"

The little crowd was now bubbling over with excitement. The speed ofthe steamer had, without a doubt, been slackened, and a boat was beinglowered. Brand and his companion, immensely happy, were alreadydotting down their notes for the wireless. The seaplane was gentlyskimming the water almost alongside, and barely fifty yards away. Thepilot and his companion were clearly visible. The passengers lined thewhole length of the steamer, leaning over to watch the _dénouement_ ofthis strange scene. 

"It's a newspaper scoop, " one man suggested. 

The idea was not favourably entertained. 

"No newspaper would be allowed to make use of a Government seaplane, "Brand pointed out. "Apart from that, they wouldn't dare to stop asteamer out here. "

"There's the boat!" some one else exclaimed, pointing to one of theship's lifeboats which had shot out towards the plane. "She must begoing to pick one of the men up!"

The steamer was merely drifting now, and its strange visitor hadalighted upon the water, rushing along a little way in front andleaving two long, milky paths of white foam behind. Both the pilot andthe passenger were drenched by every wave. They watched the latter ashe was taken off, and their eyes followed the return of the lifeboat. Almost immediately afterwards the plane, increasing its speed, rushedacross the surface of the water and rose again. 

"Prettiest sight I ever saw in my life, " Brand declaredenthusiastically. 

"We live in wonderful times, " his friend agreed, looking longingly atthe wireless office. "I guess we must get a look at this chap, anyway, " he added. "He's the first man who has overtaken an Americanliner so far from land like this before. "

The man who clambered a few minutes later up the ladder of the steamerhad not the appearance of one who has performed a heroic action. Hisclothes had shrunk upon his body, and the sea water was oozing fromhim in all directions. His face was blue with cold and almostunrecognisable. Nevertheless, Jocelyn Thew, who was one of the mosteager of the sightseers, attained a certain measure of conviction ashe shut up his glasses with a snap and turned to his companion. 

"An Englishman, " he observed. 

"Do you know him?" she asked curiously. 

"I can't go so far as that, " he admitted, "but--"

"But he was the man for whom you were looking before the steamerstarted, " she declared confidently. 

"Seems a little rough luck to be caught up like this out in theocean, " he grumbled. "I don't know that the man's likely to do me anyparticular harm, " he added, "but I'd just as soon he wasn'ton board. "

Meanwhile, the captain had hurried his belated passenger into hisroom, and the ship saw no more of him that night. By degrees theexcitement simmered down. Jocelyn escorted his companion to thegangway and bade her good night. 

"I am not at all sure, " she protested, "that I am ready to go downyet. "

"You must show a little interest in your patient, " he insisted. 

"But the doctor has already as good as told me to keep away. "

"Gant is a peculiar fellow, " he told her. "By this time he hasprobably changed his mind and needs your help. Besides, I am anxiousto hear what they say in the smoking room concerning thisextraordinary visitor. "

She looked around. They were absolutely alone. 

"Who is he, " she asked, "and what does his coming mean to you?"

"His name is Crawshay, " Jocelyn replied. "He is an ex-Scotland Yardman who came over here to work for the English Secret Service. "

"What does he want here?" she whispered, a little hoarsely. 

Jocelyn raised his cap as he turned away. 

"Me, " he answered. "He'll probably be disappointed, though. "

CHAPTER V

Crawshay found himself a popular hero when at a few minutes beforeeleven o'clock the next morning he made his appearance on deck. Withlittle regard to the weather, which was fine and warm, he was clad ina thick grey suit and a voluminous overcoat. The fact that hisborrowed hat was several sizes too large for him detracted a littlefrom the dignity of his appearance, a misfortune for which heendeavoured to atone by a distinct aloofness of manner. The newspapermen, however, were not to be denied. 

"Say, Mr. Crawshay, " Brand began, stopping him as soon as he hademerged from the companionway, "I'd like to shake hands with you. Myname's Brand. I'm a newspaper man. "

Crawshay shook hands, although he showed no particular enthusiasmabout the proceeding. 

"And I am Clark, of the Minneapolis _Record_" the small, dark man, whowas generally by Brand's side, added. "Put it there, sir. "

Crawshay put it there with an incipient reluctance which the two menwere not slow to note. 

"Kind of shock to you yesterday, no doubt, " Brand began. "It was afine, plucky thing to do, sir. Ever flown before?"

"Never, " Crawshay confessed. "The sensation was--er--entirely new tome. I found the descent upon the water most uncomfortable. " "Soakedyour shore clothes, eh?" Brand observed. 

"I was not attired for the proceeding, " Crawshay admitted. "I was, infact, very inappropriately dressed. I was wearing a thin flannel suit, which was completely ruined, and I do not think that I shall ever bewarm again. "

Mr. Brand glanced longingly at his wrist watch and sighed. 

"I make it a rule, sir, " he said, "never to drink before twelveo'clock, but there is no rule without an exception. If you think thata double jigger of gin, with a little lemon and--"

"Stop!" Crawshay begged. "I have no sympathy with the weird compoundsproduced by your bartenders. As a matter of fact, I take nothing atall except with my meals. I am going to sit in this sunshine and tryand recover my normal temperature. "

"There are a few of the boys on board, " Brand continued insinuatingly, "who would like to join in our little chat, if you wouldn't mind theirstepping round. "

"I have no desire for a chat with any one, " Crawshay objected. "Icame up on deck to rest. Kindly ask me what you want to know and leaveme alone for a time. "

"Then what in thunder sent you here after an American liner on aseaplane?" Brand demanded. "That's about the long and short of whatwe're aching to know, I think. "

"You've hit it, Ned, as usual, " Mr. Clark, of the Minneapolis_Record_, acquiesced. Crawshay drew his rug about him a littlepeevishly. 

"My name, " he said, "is Charles Reginald Crawshay. "

"We got that from the captain, " Brand replied. "Very nice name, too. "

"I have been attached, " Crawshay went on, "to the British Embassy atWashington. "

"You don't say!" Brand murmured. 

"I am returning home, " Crawshay continued, "because I intend to jointhe British Army, I was unfortunate enough to miss the boat, and beingin company with a person of authority and influence, he suggested, partly in joke, that I should try to persuade one of the pilots ofyour new seaplanes at Jersey to bring me out. He further bet me fivehundred dollars that I would not attempt the flight. I am one of thosesort of people, " Crawshay confessed meditatively, "who rise to a betas to no other thing in life. I suppose it comes from our inheritedsporting instincts. I accepted the bet and here I am. "

"In time to save the British Army, eh?" Brand observed. 

"In time to take my rightful place amongst the defenders of mycountry, " was the dignified rebuke. "Incidentally, I have won ahundred pounds. "

"Would you do it again for the same money?" Clark asked guilefully. 

The Englishman coughed. 

"I must confess, " he said, "that it is not an experience I am anxiousto repeat. "

Brand rose to his feet. 

"Well, sir, " he concluded, "I offer you my congratulations on yourtrip. We shall just dot a few words together concerning it for the NewYork newspapers. Anything you'd like to add?"

Crawshay stroked his upper lip. 

"You can say, " he pronounced with dignity, "that I found the trip mostenjoyable. And by-the-by, you had better put a word in about the skillof the pilot--Lieutenant T. Johnson, I believe his name was. I have noexperience in such matters, and I found him once or twice a littleunsympathetic when I complained of bumps, but the young man did hisbest--of that I am convinced. "

Mr. Brand's tongue slowly crept round the outside of his mouth. He metthe eye of his friend Mr. Clark and indulged in a wink. He had the airof a man who felt relieved by the operation. 

"We are very much obliged to you, Mr. Crawshay, " he declared. "Youhave done something to brighten this trip, anyway. "

"A little later, " Crawshay announced, "either just before yourluncheon or dinner hour, if you and your friends would meet me in thesmoking room, I should be delighted to remember in the customaryfashion that I have won a rather considerable wager. "

"Come, that's bully, " Brand declared, with a little real feeling inhis tone. "I tell you, Clark, " he added, as they made their way alongthe deck to the writing room, "you've got to prick these damnedBritishers pretty hard, but they've generally got a bit of the rightfeeling somewhere tucked away. He'll have a swollen head for the restof this voyage, though. " Crawshay watched the two men disappear, outof the corner of his eye. Then he rose to his feet and commenced alittle promenade about the sunny portion of the deck. After two orthree turns he found himself face to face with Jocelyn Thew, who hadjust issued from the companionway. 

"Good morning, Mr. Late Passenger!" the latter exclaimed. 

Crawshay paused and looked him up and down. 

"Do I know you, sir?" he asked. 

"I am not so sure that you do, " Jocelyn replied, "but after yesterdaythe whole world knows Mr. Reginald Crawshay. "

"Very kind of you, I am sure, " Crawshay murmured. "What I did reallywasn't worth making a fuss about. "

"You had an uncomfortable ride, I fear?" Jocelyn continued. 

"I was most unsuitably attired, " Crawshay hastened to explain. "If, instead of asking me very absurd questions at the aerodrome, they hadprovided me with some garments calculated to exclude the salt water, Ishould be able to look back upon the trip with more pleasurablefeelings. "

"Pity you had to make it, wasn't it?" Jocelyn observed, falling intostep with him. 

"I scarcely follow you, Mr. --Ought I to know your name? I have ashocking memory. "

"My name is Jocelyn Thew. "

"Mr. Jocelyn Thew, " Crawshay concluded. 

"I mean that it was a pity you missed the boat, you and Hobson, wasn'tit? What was the weather like in Chicago?" "Hot, " Crawshay replied. "I was hotter there than I ever expect to be again in this world. "

"A long, tiring journey, too, from Halifax. "

"Not only that, sir, " Crawshay agreed, "but a dirty journey. I like totravel with the windows down--cold water and fresh air, you know, forus English people--but the soft coal you burn in your engines is themost appalling uncleanly stuff I have ever met. "

"Still, you got here, " Jocelyn reminded him. 

"I got here, " Crawshay agreed with an air of satisfaction. 

"And you can take a bath three times a day, if you feel like it, onboard, " Jocelyn continued. "I'm afraid you won't find much elseto do. "

"One can never tell, " Crawshay sighed. "I have started on ocean tripssometimes which promised absolutely nothing in the way ofentertainment, and I have discovered myself, before the end of thejourney, thoroughly interested and amused. "

"Nothing like looking on the bright side of things, " Jocelyn observed. 

Crawshay turned his head and contemplated his companion for a fewmoments. Jocelyn Thew, notwithstanding his fine, slim figure, hiswell-cut clothes and lean, handsome face, carried always with him somenameless, unanalysable air of the man who has played the explorer, whohas peered into strange places, who has handled the reins which guidethe white horse of life as well as the black horse of death. 

"I am quite sure, " he said, in a tone of kindly approval, "that Ishall find you a most interesting companion on this trip. You and Imust have a little further conversation together. I have won aconsiderable sum of money, I may say, by my--er--exploit, and I haveinvited some of these newspaper fellows to take a drink with me beforeluncheon in the smoking room. I hope you will join us?"

"I shall be delighted, " Jocelyn accepted. "A drink with a friend, anda little mutual toast, is always a pleasure. "

Crawshay paused. They were standing outside the entrance to thecaptain's cabin. 

"I quite agree with you, " he said. "Exercise your ingenuity, Mr. Jocelyn Thew, and think out a toast that we can both drink sincerely. You will excuse me? I am going in to talk to the captain for a fewminutes. There are a few matters concerning my personal comfort whichneed his attention. I find the purser, " he added, dropping his voice, "an excellent fellow, no doubt, but just a trifle unsympathetic, eh?"

"I have no doubt you are right, " Jocelyn agreed. "We will meet again, then, just before one o'clock. "

CHAPTER VI

Crawshay knocked at the door of the captain's room, received astentorian invitation to enter, and sank a little plaintively into avacant easy-chair. The purser, who had been in close confabulationwith his chief, hastily took his leave. 

"Good morning, sir, " the visitor said languidly. 

"Good morning, Mr. Crawshay, " the captain replied. "Feeling a littlestronger this morning, I hope?"

Crawshay sighed. 

"The memory of that experience, " he began, settling down in hischair, --

"Well, well, you ought to have got over that by this time, " thecaptain interrupted. "What can I do for you, Mr. Crawshay? I have beenyarning with the purser a little longer than usual, this morning, andI have some rounds to do. "

"I must not stand in the way of your daily avocation, " the newcomersaid gloomily. "I really dropped in chiefly to see if by any chanceyou had had a wireless message about me. "

"Not a word. "

"No message, eh? Now, do you know, that seems to me exceedinglystrange, " Crawshay ruminated. 

"I don't see why it should, " was the somewhat brusque reply. "I haveno doubt that the New York papers have some wonderful headlines--'Howan Englishman catches the steamer!' or 'An English diplomatist, eagerto fight'--and all that sort of thing. But apart from the spectacularside of it, I don't suppose they consider your adventure of nationalinterest. "

"On the contrary, it is the development of a new era, " Crawshayreplied, with dignity. "Just consider what actually happened. I missthe steamer, owing to the breakdown of the Chicago Limited and asubsequent automobile accident. I arrive at the dock whilst you are inthe shadow of the Statue of Liberty. What do I do? What no one elsehas ever done before! I fly after you! Romance has never pictured sucha thing. I am a pioneer, Captain. "

The Captain grinned. 

"You've been pretty sorry for yourself ever since, " he observed. 

"I must confess that I made up my mind to the heroic deed in a rashmoment, " Crawshay acknowledged. "I am a person of strong andunconquerable impulses. You see, that exceedingly disagreeableAmerican policeman who was sent up to Halifax on a fool's errand withme, and who subsequently led me on another to Chicago, bet me fivehundred dollars, as we stood upon the dock, that I couldn't catch thatsteamer. Now if there is one thing, " he went on, crossing his legs, "which excites my interest more than another, it is a bet. "

"That and your accent, " the captain said, smiling, "are two of yourmost prominent British traits, Mr. Crawshay. " The latter took out hiseyeglass and polished it. 

"I have others, " he retorted, "but never mind. I understood you tosay, I think, that you have heard nothing by wireless about me?"

"Not a word. "

The captain glanced at his clock and showed some signs of impatience. His visitor, however, remained blandly imperturbable. 

"I see that you have only one operator in the wireless room, " heremarked. 

"How do you know that?"

"I happened to be walking by last night, and I glanced in. "

"We are short-handed, " the captain explained. 

"Quite naturally, " Crawshay replied. "Now with reference to this youngman, I watched him coming down the steps from his office this morning. You may be surprised to hear, Captain, that I found himunprepossessing--in fact I might almost say that I took a disliketo him. "

"I am sure he would be very much disturbed if he knew your opinion, "was the faintly sarcastic reply. "He happens to be a young man withexceptionally good credentials. "

"Credentials, " Crawshay observed blandly, "in which I have nofaith--no faith whatever. "

The captain turned his head suddenly. There was a new expression inhis face as he looked keenly at his visitor. 

"What do you mean, Mr. Crawshay?"

"Nothing much. I see you have been smoking a pipe, Captain. You willforgive me if I light one of these perfectly damnable cigarettes whichare all I have been able to buy on board. --Thank you. --I talk betterwhen I smoke. "

"It seems to me that you talk a great deal of nonsense, " the captaindeclared bluntly. 

"Intermingled at times, " the other insisted, "with a word or two ofsense. Now I am going to repeat that I have very little faith in thiswireless operator of yours. At three o'clock this morning--I don'twish to tie myself down, Captain, so I will say in the vicinity ofthat hour--he received a message--a long one, I should imagine. I putit to you, sir--was that dispatch for you?"

"No, " the captain admitted, "I had no message at that hour or since. "

"Very-well, then, " Crawshay continued, loosening a little muffler athis throat, "I suppose you can ascertain from the purser if anymessage was delivered to any one of your passengers?"

"I certainly can, " the captain admitted, "but to tell you the truth, sir, I scarcely see how this concerns you. "

"I am endeavouring, " his visitor replied, with a little wave of hishand, "to justify my statement. Enquire of the purser, I beg you. Itwill do no harm. "

The captain shrugged his shoulders, touched the bell and despatchedhis steward for Mr. Dix, the purser, who, happening to be on the deckoutside, made an immediate appearance. 

"Mr. Dix, " the captain asked him, "can you tell me if you havereceived any wireless message intended for any one of the passengersat or since three o'clock this morning?" "Not one, sir. "

Crawshay's smile was beatific and triumphant. He relit his cigarettewhich had gone out, and, crossing his legs, made himself a little morecomfortable. 

"Very well, then, " he said, "what I should like to know is, whatbecame of that message which made very pretty illuminations aroundyour conductor, or whatever you call it, for at least a quarter of anhour this morning?"

"The message may merely have been an intercepted one, " the purserpointed out. "It may not have been fur us at all. "

"I had an idea, " Crawshay persisted, with bland and officiousprecision, "that even intercepted messages, especially in time of war, were referred to some person of authority on board. Apart from that, however, the message I refer to was written down and delivered to oneof your passengers. I happened to see your operator leave his officewith an envelope in his hand. "

"At three o'clock in the morning?" the captain observed incredulously. 

"At about a quarter of an hour past that time, " the other assented. 

"And what on earth were you doing about on deck?"

"I have strange habits, " Crawshay confessed. "On board ship I indulgethem. I like to sleep when I feel like it, and to wander about when Ifeel inclined. After my extraordinary, my remarkable experience ofyesterday, I was not disposed for slumber. " "It appears to me, sir, "the purser intervened, "that on board this ship you seem to do a greatdeal of walking about, considering you have only been with us for alittle more than twelve hours. "

"Liver, " Crawshay explained confidentially. "I suffer intensely frommy liver. Gentle and continual exercise is my greatest help. "

The captain turned towards his junior officer. 

"Mr. Dix, " he suggested, "perhaps it will clear this little matter upif we send for Robins. You might just step out yourself and bringhim round. "

Crawshay extended an eager hand. 

"I beg that you will do nothing of the sort, " he pleaded. 

"But why not?" the captain demanded. "You have made a definite chargeagainst a wireless operator on the ship. He ought to be placed in theposition to be able to refute it if he can. "

"There is no doubt, " Crawshay agreed, "that in course of time he willbe given that opportunity. At present it would be indiscreet. "

"And why?"

"Because there will be other messages, and one is driven to theconclusion that it would be exceedingly interesting to lay hands onone of these messages, no record of which is kept, of which the purseris not informed, and which are delivered secretly to--"

"Well, to whom?" the captain demanded. 

"To a passenger on board this steamer. "

The captain shook his head. His whole expression was one ofdisapproval. 

"Nonsense!" he exclaimed. "If Robins has failed in his duty, which Istill take the liberty of doubting, I must cross-question himat once. "

Crawshay assumed the air of a pained invalid whose wishes have beenthwarted. 

"You must really oblige me by doing nothing of the sort, " he begged. "I am sure that my way is best. Besides, you make me feel like aneavesdropper--a common informer, and that sort of thing, you know. "

"I am afraid that I cannot allow any question of sentiment to standbetween me and the discipline of my ship, " was the somewhatuncompromising reply. 

Crawshay sighed, and with languid fingers unbuttoned his overcoat andcoat. Then, from some mysterious place in the neighbourhood of hisbreast pocket, he produced an envelope containing a singlehalf-sheet of paper. 

"Read that, sir, if you please, " he begged. 

The captain accepted the envelope with some reluctance, straightenedout its contents, read the few words it contained several times, andhanded back the missive. He stood for a moment like a man in a dream. Crawshay returned the envelope to his pocket and rose to his feet. 

"Well, I'll be getting along, " he observed. "We'll have another littlechat, Captain, later on. I must take my matutinal stroll, or I knowhow I shall feel about luncheon time. Besides, there are someexuberant persons on board who are expecting me to offer themrefreshment about one o'clock, out of my winnings, and, attached toyour wonderful country as I am, Captain, I must admit that cocktailsdo not agree with me. " "One has to get used to them, " the captainmurmured absently. 

"I am most unfortunate, too, in the size of my feet, " Crawshaycontinued dolefully, looking down at them. "If there is one thing Ithoroughly dislike, it is being on board ship without rubberovershoes--a product of your country, Captain, which I must confessthat I appreciate more than your cocktails. Good morning, sir. I hopeI haven't kept you from your rounds. Dear me!" he added, in a tone ofvexation, as he passed through the door, "I believe that I have beensitting in a draught all the time. I feel quite shivery. "

He shambled down the deck. The purser lingered behind with anenquiring expression in his eyes, but his chief did not take the hint. 

"Dix, " he said solemnly, as he put on his cap and started out on hisrounds, "I was right. This is going to be a very queer voyage indeed!"

CHAPTER VII

Crawshay walked slowly along the deck until he found a completelysheltered spot. Then he summoned the deck steward and superintendedthe arrangement of his deck chair, which was almost hidden under aheap of rugs. He had just adjusted a pair of spectacles and waspreparing to settle down when Katharine, in her nurse's uniform, issued from the companionway and stood for a moment looking about her. Crawshay at once raised his cap. 

"Good morning, Miss Beverley, " he said. "You do not recognise me, ofcourse, but my name is Crawshay. I had the pleasure of meeting youonce at Washington. "

"I remember you quite well, Mr. Crawshay, " she replied, glancing withsome amusement at his muffled-up state. "Besides, you must rememberthat you are the hero of the ship. I suppose I ought to congratulateyou upon your wonderful descent upon us yesterday. "

"Pray don't mention it, " Crawshay murmured. "The chance just came myway. I--er--" he went on, gazing hard at her uniform, "I was not awarethat you were personally interested in nursing. "

"That shows how little you know about me, Mr. Crawshay. " "I haveheard, " he admitted, "of your wonderful deeds of philanthropy, alsothat you entirely support a large hospital in New York, but I had noidea that you interested yourself personally in the--er--may I saymost feminine and charming avocation of nursing?"

"I have been a probationer, " she told him, "in my own hospital, and Iam at the present moment in attendance upon a patient on boardthis steamer. "

"You amaze me!" he exclaimed. "You--did I understand you to say thatyou were in personal attendance upon a patient?"

"That is so, Mr. Crawshay. "

"Well, well, forgive my astonishment, " he continued. "I had no idea. At any rate I am glad that your patient's state of health permits youto leave him for a time. "

Her expression became a little graver. 

"As a matter of fact, " she sighed, "my patient is very ill indeed, Iam afraid. However, the doctor shares the responsibility with me, andhe is staying with him now for half an hour. "

"May I, in that case, " he begged, "share your promenade?"

"With pleasure, " she acquiesced, without enthusiasm. "You will have totake off some of your coats, though. "

"I am suffering from chill, " he explained. "I sometimes think that Ishall never be warm again, after my experience of yesterday. "

He divested himself, however, of his outside coat, arranged hismuffler carefully, thrust his hands into his pockets, and fell intostep by her side. "I am interested, " he observed, "in illness. Whatexactly is the matter with your charge?"

"He has had a bad operation, " she replied, "and there arecomplications. "

"Dear me! Dear me!" Crawshay exclaimed, in a shocked tone. "And insuch a state he chooses to make a perilous voyage like this?"

"That is rather his affair, is it not?" she said drily. 

"Precisely, " her companion agreed. "Precisely! I should not, perhaps, have made the remark. Sickness, however, interests me very much. Ihave the misfortune not to be strong myself, and my own ailmentsoccupy a good deal of my attention. "

She looked at him curiously. 

"You suffer from nerves, don't you?" she enquired. 

"Hideously, " he assented. 

"And yet, " she continued, still watching him in a puzzled fashion, "you made that extraordinary voyage through the air to catch thissteamer. That doesn't seem to me to be at all the sort of thing anervous person would do. "

"It was for a bet, " he explained confidentially. "The only occasionupon which I forget my nerves is when there is a bet to be lost orwon. At the time, " he went on, "my deportment was, I think, all thatcould have been desired. The sensations of which I was undoubtedlyconscious I contrived to adequately conceal. The after-shock, however, has, I must admit, been considerable. "

"Was it really so terribly important, " she enquired, "that youshould be in London next week?"

"The War Office made a special point of it, " he assured her. "Got tojoin up, you know, directly I arrive. "

"Do you think, " she enquired after a brief pause, "that you will enjoysoldiering better than pseudo-diplomacy? I don't exactly know how torefer to your work. I only remember that when we were introduced I wastold that you had something to do with the Secret Service. "

They were leaning over the side of the steamer, and she glancedcuriously at his long, rather sunken face, at the uncertain mouth, andat the eyes, carefully concealed behind a pair of green spectacles. Heseemed, somehow, to have aged since they had first met, a year ago, inWashington. 

"To tell you the truth, " he confided, "I am a little tired of my job. Neither fish nor fowl, don't you know. I took an observation course atScotland Yard, but I suppose I am too slow-witted for what they callsecret-service work over here. "

"America wouldn't provide you with many opportunities, would it?" sheobserved. 

"You are quite right, " he replied. "I am much more at home upon theContinent. The Secret Service in America, as we understand it, doesnot exist. One finds oneself continually in collaboration with policeinspectors, and people who naturally do not understand one's point ofview. At any rate, " he concluded, with a little sigh, "if I have anytalents, they haven't come to the front in Washington. I don't believethat dear old Sir Richard was at all sorry to see the last of me. ""And you think you will prefer your new profession?"

"Soldiering? Well, I shall have to train up a bit and see. Beastlyugly work they seem to make of it, nowadays. I don't mind roughing itup to the extent of my capacity, but I do think that the advice ofone's medical man should be taken into consideration. "

She laughed at him openly. 

"Do you know, " she said, "I can't picture you campaigning in France!"

"To tell you the truth I can't picture it myself, " he confessedfrankly. "The stories I have heard with reference to the absence ofphysical comforts are something appalling. By-the-by, " he went on, asthough the idea had suddenly occurred to him, "I can't think how yourpatient can rest, anyhow, after an operation, on beds like there areon this steamer. I call it positively disgraceful of the company toimpose such mattresses upon their patrons. My bones positively achethis morning. "

"Mr. Phillips has his own mattress, " she told him, "or rather one ofthe hospital ones. He was carried straight into the ambulance fromthe ward. "

"Mr. --er--Phillips, " Crawshay repeated. "Have I ever met him?"

"I should think not. "

"He is, of course, a very great friend of yours?"

"I don't know why you should suppose that. "

"Come, come, " he remonstrated, "I suppose I am an infernally curious, prying sort of chap, but when one thinks of you, a society belle ofAmerica, you know, and, further, the patroness of that greathospital, crossing the Atlantic yourself in charge of a favouredpatient, one can't help--can one?"

"Can one what?" she asked coolly. 

"Scenting a romance or a mystery, " he replied. "In any case, Mr. Phillips must be a man of some determination, to risk so much just forthe sake of getting home. "

She turned and recommenced their promenade. 

"I wonder whether you realise that it isn't etiquette to question anurse about her patient, " she reminded him. 

"I'm sure I am very sorry, " he assured her. "I didn't imagine that myquestions were in any way offensive. I told you from the first that Iwas always interested in invalids and cases of illness. "

She turned her head and looked at him. Her glance was reproving, hermanner impatient. 

"Really, Mr. Crawshay, " she said, "I think that you are one of themost inquisitive people I ever met. "

"It really isn't inquisitiveness, " he protested. "It's just obstinacy. I hate to leave a problem unexplained. "

"Then to prevent any further misunderstanding, Mr. Crawshay, " sheconcluded, a little coldly, "let me tell you that there are privatereasons which make any further questioning on your part, concerningthis matter, impertinent. "

Crawshay lifted his cap. He had the air of a man who has received arebuff which he takes in ill part. 

"I will not risk your further displeasure, Miss Beverley, " he said, stopping by his steamer chair. "I trust that you will enjoy theremainder of your promenade. Good morning!"

He summoned the deck steward to arrange his rugs, and lay back in hissteamer chair, eating broth which he loathed, and watching JocelynThew and Katharine Beverley through spectacles which somewhat impairedhis vision. The two had strolled together to the side of the ship towatch a shoal of porpoises go by. 

"I see that you are acquainted with our hero of the seaplane, " JocelynThew remarked. 

She nodded. 

"I met him once at Washington and once at the polo games. "

"Tell me what you think of him?"

She smiled. 

"Well, " she confessed, "I scarcely know how to think of him. I mustsay, though, that in a general way I should think any profession wouldsuit him better than diplomacy. "

"You find him stupid?"

"I do, " she admitted, "and in a particularly British way. "

Jocelyn glanced thoughtfully across at Crawshay, who was contemplatinghis empty cup with apparent regret. 

"You will not think that I am taking a liberty, Miss Beverley, if Iask you a question?"

"Why should I? Is it so very personal?"

"As a matter of fact, it isn't personal at all. I was only going toask you if you would mind telling me what our friend Mr. Crawshay wastalking to you about just now?" "Are you really interested?" sheasked, with an air of faint surprise. "Well, if you must know, he wasasking questions about my patient. He appears to be something of ahypochondriac himself, and he is very interested in illnesses. "

"He has the air of one who takes care of himself, " Jocelyn observed, with a faint smile. "However, one mustn't judge. He may be delicate. "

"I think he is an old woman, " she remarked carelessly. 

"He rather gives one that impression, doesn't he?" Jocelyn agreed. "By-the-by, there wasn't much you could tell him about your patient, was there?"

"There really isn't anything at all, " she replied. "I just mentionedhis condition, and as Mr. Crawshay still seemed curious, I remindedhim that it was not etiquette to question a nurse about her patients. "

"Most discreet, " Jocelyn declared. "As a matter of fact, " he went on, "I have scarcely thought it worth while to mention it to you, becauseI knew exactly the sort of answer you would make to any too curiousquestions, but there is a reason, and a very serious reason, why myfriend Phillips wishes to avoid so far as possible all manner ofnotice and questions. "

"You call him your friend Phillips, " she remarked, "yet you don't seemto have been near him since we started. "

"Nor do I intend to, " he replied. "That is the other point concerningwhich I wish to speak to you. You may think it very extraordinary, andI offer no explanation, but I do not wish it known to--say, Mr. Crawshay, or any other casual enquirer, that I have any acquaintancewith or interest in Phillips. "

"The subject is dismissed, " she promised lightly. "I am not in theleast an inquisitive person. I understand perfectly, and my lipsare sealed. "

His little smile of thanks momentarily transformed his expression. Hereyes became softer as they met his. 

"Now please walk with me for a little time, " she begged, "and let usleave off talking of these grizzly subjects. You've really taken verylittle notice of me so far, and I have been rather looking forward tothe voyage. You have traveled so much that I am quite sure you couldbe a most interesting companion if you wished to be. "

He obeyed at once, falling easily into step with her, and talkinglightly enough about the voyage, their fellow passengers, and othertrifling subjects. Her occasional attempts to lead the conversationinto more serious channels, even to the subject of his travels, heavoided, however, with a curious persistency. Once she stopped shortand forced him to look at her. 

"Mr. Jocelyn Thew, " she complained, "tell me why you persist intreating me like a child?"

Then for the first time his tone became graver. 

"I want to treat you and think of you, " he said, "in the only way thatis possible for me. "

"Explain, please, " she begged. 

He led her again to the side of the ship. The sea had freshened, andthe spray flew past them like salt diamonds. 

"Since it has pleased you to refer to the subject, Miss Beverley, " hesaid seriously, "I will explain so far as I am able. I suppose that Ihave committed nearly every one of the crimes which our abbreviateddictionary of modern life enumerates. If the truth were known aboutme, and I were judged by certain prevailing laws, not only myreputation but my life might be in serious danger. But there is onecrime which I have not committed and which I do not intend to commit, one pain which I have avoided all my life myself, and avoidedinflicting upon others. I think you must know what I refer to. "

"I can assure you that I do not, " she told him frankly. "In any case Ihate ambiguity. Do please tell me exactly what you mean. "

"I was referring to my attitude towards your sex, " he replied. 

There was a faint twinkle in her eyes. 

"That sounds so ponderous, " she murmured. "Don't you like us, then?"

"There are circumstances in my life, " he said, "which prevent my evenconsidering the subject. "

She turned and looked him full in the eyes. Her very sweet mouth wassuddenly pathetic, her eyes were full of gentle resentment. 

"I do not believe, " she said firmly, "that you have done a singlething in life of which you ought to be ashamed. I do not believe oneof the hard things you have said about yourself. I am not a child. Iam a woman--twenty-six years old--and I like to choose my own friends. I should like you to be my friend, Mr. Thew. "

He murmured a few words entirely conventional. Nothing in hisexpression responded in the least to the appeal of her words. His facehad grown like granite. He turned to the purser, who was strollingby. As though unconsciously, the finer qualities of his voice had goneas he engaged the latter in some trivial conversation. 

CHAPTER VIII

That night at dinner time a stranger appeared at the captain's table. A dark, thick-browed man, in morning clothes of professional cut, wasshown by one of the saloon stewards to a seat which had hitherto beenvacant. Crawshay, whose place was nearly opposite, leaned across atonce with an air of interest. 

"Good evening, Doctor, " he said. 

"Good evening, sir, " was the somewhat gruff reply. 

"Glad to see that you are able to come in and join us, " Crawshaycontinued, unabashed. "You are, I believe, the physician in attendanceon Mr. Phillips. I am very interested in illnesses. As a matter offact, I am a great invalid myself. "

The doctor contented himself with a muttered monosyllable which wasnot brimful of sympathy. 

"This is a very remarkable expedition of yours, " Crawshay went on. "Iam a man of very little sentiment myself--one place to me is very muchlike another--so I do not understand this wild desire on the part ofan invalid to risk his life by undertaking such a journey. It is agreat feat, however. It shows what can be accomplished by a man ofdetermination, even when he is on the point of death. " "Who said thatmy patient was on the point of death?" the doctor demanded brusquely. 

"It is common report, " Crawshay assured him. "Besides, as you know, the New York press got hold of the story before you started, and thefacts were in all the evening papers. "

"What facts?"

"Didn't you read them? Most interesting!" Crawshay continued. "Theyall took the same line, and agreed that it was an absolutelyunprecedented occurrence for a man to embark upon an ocean voyage onlya few days after an operation for appendicitis, with double pneumoniabehind, and angina pectoris intervening. Almost as unusual, " Crawshayconcluded with a little bow, "as the fact of his being escorted by themost distinguished amateur nurse in the world, and a physician of suchdistinction as Doctor--Doctor--Dear me, how extraordinary! For themoment I must confess that your name has escaped me. "

The heavy-browed man leaned forward a little deliberately towards his_vis-à-vis_. His was not an attractive personality. His features werelarge and of bulldog type. His forehead was low, and his eyes, whichgave one the impression of being clear and penetrating, were concealedby heavy spectacles. His hands only, which were well-shaped and caredfor, might have indicated his profession. 

"My name, " he said, "is Gant--Doctor James H. Gant. You are not, Ipresume, a medical man yourself?"

Crawshay shook his head. 

"A most admirable profession, " he declared, "but one which I shouldnever have the nerve to follow. "

"You do not, therefore, appreciate the fact, " Doctor Gant continued, "that a medical man, especially one connected with a hospital of suchhigh standing as St. Agnes's, does not discuss his patient's ailmentswith strangers. "

"No offence, Doctor--no offence, " Crawshay protested across the table. "Mine is just the natural interest in a fellow sufferer of a man whohas known most of the ailments to which we weak humans are subject. "

"I suppose, as we have the pleasure of your company this evening, " thecaptain intervened, "Miss Beverley will be an absentee?"

"Miss Beverley at the present moment is taking my place, " the doctorreplied. "She insisted upon it. Personally, I am used to eating at alltimes and in all manner of places. "

There was a brief silence, during which Crawshay discussed the subjectof inoculation for colds in the head with his neighbour on the otherside, and the doctor showed a very formidable capacity for making upfor any meals which he might have missed by too rigid an attention tohis patient. The captain presently addressed him again. 

"Have you met our ship's doctor yet?" he enquired. 

"I have had that honour, " Doctor Gant acknowledged. "He was goodenough to call upon me yesterday and offer his assistance should Irequire it. "

"A very clever fellow, I believe, " the captain observed. 

"He impressed me some, " the other confessed. "If any furthercomplications should arise, it will be a relief for me toconsult him. "

The subject of the sick man dropped. Crawshay walked out of the saloonwith the captain and left him at the bottom of the stairs. 

"I'll take the liberty of paying you a short call presently, Captain, if I may, " he said. "I just want to fetch my wraps. And by-the-by, didI tell you that I have been fortunate enough to find a pair of rubbersthat just fit me, at the barber's? One of the greatest blessings onboard ship, Captain, believe me, is the barber's shop. It's like abijou Harrod's or Whiteley's--anything you want, from an elephant to aneedle, you know. In about ten minutes, Captain, if I shan't bedisturbing you. "

The captain found the purser on deck and took him into his cabin. 

"I saw you speaking to Doctor Gant in the gangway, " the formerobserved. "I wonder what he really thinks about his patient?"

"I think I can tell you that, sir, without betraying any confidences, "the purser replied. "Unless a miracle happens, there'll be a burialbefore we get across. Poor fellow, it seems too bad after suchan effort. "

The captain nodded sympathetically. 

"After all, I can understand this hankering of a man to die in his owncountry, " he said. "I had a brother once the same way. They broughthim home from Australia, dying all the way, as they believed, butdirectly he set foot in England he seemed to take on a new lease oflife--lived for years afterwards. " "Is that so?" the purser remarked. "Well, this fellow ought to have a chance. It's a short voyage, and hehas his own doctor and nurse to look after him. "

"Let's hope they'll keep him alive, then. I hate the burial service atsea. "

The captain turned aside and filled his pipe thoughtfully. 

"Dix, " he continued, "as you know, I am not a superstitious man, butthere seems to be something about this trip I can't fathom. "

"Meaning, sir?"

"Well, there's this wireless business, first of all. We shall close itup in about thirty-six hours, you know, and in the meantime I havebeen expecting half a dozen messages, not one of which hascome through. "

"Young fellow of the highest character, Robins, " the purser remarkeddrily. 

"That may be, " the captain agreed, "and yet I can't get rid of mypremonition. I wouldn't mind laying you anything you like, Dix, thatwe don't sight a submarine, and shouldn't, even if we hadn't ourguns trained. "

"That's one comfort, anyway. Being a family man, sir--"

"Yes, I know all about your family, Dix, " the captain interruptedirritably, "but just at the present moment I am more interested inwhat is going on in my ship. I begin to believe that Mr. Crawshay'svoyage through the air wasn't altogether a piece of bravado, after all. "

The purser smiled a little incredulously. "He sent round this eveningto know if I could lend him some flannel pyjamas, " he said, --"says allthe things that have been collected together for him are too thin. That man makes me tired, sir. "

"He makes me wonder. "

"How's that, sir?"

"Because I can't size him up, " the captain declared. "There isn't asoul on board who isn't laughing at him and saying what a sissy he is. They say he has smuggled an extra lifebelt into his cabin, and spendshalf his time being seasick and the other half looking out forsubmarines. "

"That's the sort of fellow he seems to me, anyway, " the purserobserved. 

"I can't say that I've quite made up my mind, " the captain pronounced. "I suppose you know, Dix, that he was connected with the SecretService at the English Embassy?"

"I didn't know it, " Dix replied, "but if he has been, Lord help us! Nowonder the Germans have got ahead of us every time!"

"I don't think he was much of a success, " the other continued, "and asa matter of fact he is on his way back to England now to do his bit ofsoldiering. All the same, Dix, he gave me a turn the other day. "

"How's that, sir?"

"Showed me an order, signed by a person I won't name, " the captainwent on, lowering his voice, "requesting me to practically run theship according to his directions--making him a kind of Almighty boss. "

Mr. Dix opened his lips and closed them again. His eyes were wideopen with astonishment. There was an indecisive knock at the door, which at a gesture from the captain he opened. Wrapped in a hugeovercoat, with a cap buttoned around his ears and a scarf nearly up tohis mouth, Crawshay stood there, seeking admittance. 

 * * * * *

"I am exceedingly fortunate to find you both here, " the newcomerobserved, as he removed his cap. "Captain, may I have a few minutes'conversation with you and Mr. Dix?"

"Delighted, " the captain acquiesced, "so long as you don't keep memore than twenty minutes. I am due on the bridge at nine o'clock. "

"I will endeavour not to be prolix, " Crawshay continued, carefullyremoving his rubbers, unfastening his scarf and loosening hisovercoat. "A damp night! I fear that we may have fog. "

"This all comes off the twenty minutes, " the captain reminded him. 

Crawshay smiled appreciatively. 

"Into the heart of things, then! Let me tell you that I suspect aconspiracy on board this boat. "

"Of what nature?" the captain asked swiftly. 

"It is my opinion, " Crawshay said deliberately, "that the result ofthe whole accumulated work of the German Secret Service, compiledsince the beginning of the war by means of Secret Service agents, criminals, and patriotic Germans and Austrians resident in the States, is upon this ship. "

"Hell!" the purser murmured, without reproof from his chief. 

"It was believed, " Crawshay continued, "that these documents, together with a letter of vital importance, were on the steamer whichconveyed the personnel of the late German Ambassador to Europe. Thesteamer was delayed at Halifax and a more or less complete search wasmade. I was present on behalf of the English Embassy, but I did notjoin personally in the search. You have all heard that the seals of atin chest belonging to a neutral country had been tampered with. Thechiefs of my department, and the head of the American Secret Service, firmly believe that the missing papers are in that chest and will bediscovered when the chest is opened in London. That is not a beliefwhich I share. "

"And your reasons, Mr. Crawshay?" the captain asked. 

"First, because Hobson and I were decoyed to Chicago by a bogustelegram, evidently with the idea that we should find it impossible tocatch or search this steamer. Secondly, because there is on board justthe one man whom I believe capable of conceiving and carrying out atask as difficult as this one would be. "

"Who is he?" the captain demanded. 

"A very inoffensive, well-mannered and exceedingly well-informedindividual who is travelling in this steamer under, I believe, his ownname--Mr. Jocelyn Thew. "

"Jocelyn Thew!" the captain murmured. 

"Thew!" the purser repeated. 

"Now I tell you that I have definite suspicions of this man, " Crawshaycontinued, "because I know that for some reason or other he hatesEngland, although he has the appearance of being an Englishman. Iknow that he has been friendly with enemy agents in New York, and Iknow that he has been in recent communication with enemy headquartersat Washington. Therefore, as I say, I suspect Mr. Jocelyn Thew. I alsosuspect Robins, the wireless operator, because I am convinced that hehas received messages of which he has taken no record. I now pass onto the remainder of my suspicions, for which I frankly admit that Ihave nothing but surmise. I suspect Mr. Phillips, Doctor Gant and MissKatharine Beverley. "

The last shock proved too much for the captain. For the first timethere was distinct incredulity in his face. 

"Look here, Mr. Crawshay, " he protested, "supposing you are right, andthat you are on the track of a conspiracy, how do you account for aphysician from the finest hospital in New York and one of thebest-known young ladies in America being mixed up in it?"

Crawshay acknowledged the difficulties of the supposition. 

"As regards the physician, " he said thoughtfully, "I must confess thatI am without information concerning him, a fact which increases mysuspicion of Robins, for I should have had his _dossier_, and alsothat of the man Phillips, by wireless twenty-four hours ago. "

"What about Miss Beverley then?" the captain enquired. "Her family isnot only one of the oldest in America, but they are real Puritan, Anglo-Saxon stock, white through and through. She has a dozenrelatives in Congress, who have all been working for war with Germanyfor the last two years. She also has, as she told me herself, abrother and four cousins fighting on the French front--the brother inthe Canadian Flying Corps, and the cousins in the English Army. "

"There I must confess that you have me, " Crawshay admitted. "What yousay is perfectly true. That is one of the mysteries. No plot would beworth solving, you know, if it hadn't a few mysteries in it. "

"If you will allow me a word, Mr. Crawshay, " the purser intervened, "Ithink you will have to leave Doctor Gant and his patient and MissBeverley out of your speculations. I have our own ship doctor's wordfor it that Mr. Phillips' condition is exactly as has been stated. Mr. Jocelyn Thew may or may not be a suspicious character. Anything yousuggest in the way of watching him can be done. But as regards theother three, I trust that you will not wish their comfort interferedwith in any respect. "

"Beyond the search to which every one on board will have to besubjected, " Crawshay replied, "I shall not interfere in any respectwith the three people in question. Mr. Jocelyn Thew, however, isdifferent. He is a man who has led a most adventurous life. He seemsto have travelled in every part of the globe, wherever there wastrouble brewing or a little fighting to be done. "

"Why do you connect him with the present enterprise?" the captainasked. 

"Because, " Crawshay answered, "the wireless message of which your manRobins took no record, and concerning which you have kept silence atmy request, was delivered to Mr. Jocelyn Thew. Because, too, " he wenton, "it is my very earnest belief that at somewhere in the small hoursof this morning there will be another message, and Mr. Jocelyn Thewwill be on deck to receive it. "

The captain knocked out the ashes of his pipe a little apprehensively. 

"If half what you suspect is true, Mr. Crawshay, " he said, "you willforgive my saying so, but Jocelyn Thew is not a man you ought totackle without assistance. "

There was a peculiar glitter in Crawshay's deep-set eyes. For a singlemoment a new-born strength seemed to deepen the lines in his face--atransforming change. 

"You needn't worry, Captain, " he remarked coolly. "I am not taking toomany chances, and if our friend Mr. Jocelyn Thew should turn out to bethe man I believe him to be, I would rather tackle him alone. "

"Why, " Mr. Dix demanded, "should anything in the shape of violencetake place? The ship can be searched, every article of baggageransacked, and every passenger made to run the gauntlet. "

Crawshay smiled. 

"The search you speak of is already arranged for, Mr. Dix, " he said;"long cables from my friend Hobson have already reached Liverpool--butthe efficacy of such a proposed search would depend a little, would itnot, upon whether we reach Liverpool?" "But if we were submarined, "the captain pointed out, "the papers would go to the bottom. "

Crawshay leaned forward and whispered one word in the captain's ear. The latter sat for a moment as though paralysed. 

"What's to prevent that fellow Robins bringing her right on to ourtrack?" Crawshay demanded. "That is the reason I spent last nightlistening for the wireless. It's the reason I'm going to do the sameto-night. "

The captain sprang to his feet. 

"We'll run no risks about this, " he declared firmly. "We'll dismantlethe apparatus. I'd never hold up my head again if the _VonBlucher_ got us!"

Crawshay held out his hand. 

"Forgive me, Captain, " he said, "but we want proof. Leave it to me, and if things are as I suspect, we'll have that proof--probably beforeto-morrow morning, " he added, glancing at the chart. 

There was a call down the deck, a knock at the door. The captain tookup his oilskins regretfully. 

"You will remember, " Crawshay enjoined, "that little mandate I showedyou?"

The captain nodded grimly. 

"I am in your hands, " he admitted. "Don't forget that the safety ofthe ship may be in your hands, too!"

"Perhaps, " Crawshay whispered, "even more than the safety of theship. "

CHAPTER IX

Robins, the wireless operator, bent closer over his instrument, andthe blue fires flashed from the masthead of the steamer, cutting theirway through the darkness into the black spaces beyond. The little roomwas lit by a dull oil light, the door was fast-closed and locked. Awayinto the night sped one continual message. 

"Steamship _City of Boston_, lat. .. . Long. .. . Lying four points tonorthward of usual course. Reply. "

A time came when the young man ceased from his labours and sat up witha yawn. He stretched out his hand and lit a cigarette, walked to thelittle round window which commanded the deck, gazed out of itsteadily, and turned back once more to his chair before theinstrument. Then something happened. A greater shock than any that layin the blue lightning which he had been generating was awaiting him. His right hand was suddenly gripped and held on to the table. He foundhimself gazing straight down the black bore of a small but uncommonlyugly-looking revolver. A voice which seemed remarkable for itsconvincing qualities, addressed him. 

"If you speak a word, Robins, move, or show signs of any attempt tostruggle, I shall shoot you. I have the right and the power. " Robins, a young man of nerve, whose name stood high on an official list ofthose who might be relied upon for any desperate enterprise, sat likea numbed thing. Dim visions of the face of this man, only a few feetaway from his own, assailed him under some very different guise. Itwas Crawshay the man, stripped for action, whose lean, strong fingerswere gripping the butt of that revolver, and whose eyes were holdinghim like gimlets. 

"Now, if you are wise, answer me a few questions, " Crawshay began. "I'd have brought the captain with me, but I thought we might dobetter business alone. You've been advertising the ship'swhereabouts. Why?"

"I've only been giving the usual calls, " the young man muttered. 

"Don't lie to me, " was the grim reply. "Your wireless was supposed tobe silent from yesterday midday except for the purpose of receivingcalls. I ask you again, why and to whom were you advertising ourwhereabouts and course?"

Robins looked at the revolver, looked at Crawshay, and was dimlyconscious of a damp feeling about his forehead. Nevertheless, his lipswere screwed together, and he remained silent. 

"Come, " Crawshay went on, "we'll have a common-sense talk. I am anagent of the British Secret Service. I have unlimited powers upon thisship, power to put a bullet through your head if I choose, and not asoul to question it. The game's up so far as you are concerned. Youhave received messages on this steamer of which you have kept norecord, but which you have delivered secretly to a certain passenger. Of that I may or may not speak later on. At present I am moreinterested in your operations of to-night. You are signalling theinformation of our whereabouts for some definite reason. What is it?Were you trying to pick up the _Blucher?_"

"I wasn't trying to pick up anybody, " the young man faltered. 

Crawshay's fingers gripped him by the shoulder. His verydetermined-looking mouth had suddenly become a ring of steel. 

"If you don't give me a different answer in ten seconds, Robins, I'llblow your brains all over the cabin!"

The young man broke. 

"I was trying to pick up the _Blucher_, " he acknowledged. 

"That's exactly what I thought, " Crawshay muttered. "That's the game, without a doubt. What are you? An Englishman?"

"I am not!" was the almost fierce reply. "Blast England!"

Crawshay looked into the black eyes, suddenly lit with an ugly fire, and nodded. 

"I understand, " he said. "Robins, your name, eh? Any relation to theyoung Sinn Feiner who was shot in Dublin a few months ago?"

"Brother. "

"That may save your life later on, " Crawshay observed coolly. "Now youcan do one of three things. You can come with me to the captain, beput in irons and shot as soon as we land--or before, if the _Blucher_finds us; or you can send the message which I shall give you; or youcan end your days where you sit. "

"What message?" the young man demanded. 

"You will send out a general call, as before, repeating the latitudeand longitude with a difference of exactly three points, and you willrepeat the altered course, only you will substitute the word 'south'for the word 'north. '"

The young man's eyes suddenly gleamed as he turned towards theinstrument, but Crawshay smiled with grim understanding. 

"Let me tell you that I understand the wireless, " he saidimpressively. "You will give the message exactly as I have told you orwe finish things up on the spot. I think you had better. It's a matterof compulsion, you know--in fact I'll explain matters to Mr. JocelynThew, if you like. "

The young man's eyes were round with amazement. 

"Jocelyn Thew!" he repeated. 

"Precisely. You needn't look so terrified. It isn't you who have givenaway. Now what are you going to do?"

The young man swung round to his instrument. Crawshay released hishand, stepping a little back. 

"You are going to send the message, then?"

"Yes!" was the sullen reply. 

"Capital!" Crawshay exclaimed, cautiously subsiding into a chair. "Nowyou'll go on every ten minutes until I tell you to stop. "

Robins bent over his task, and again the crackling waves broke awayfrom their prison. Once his finger hesitated. He glancedsurreptitiously at Crawshay. "Four degrees south, " Crawshayrepeated softly. 

The night wore on. Every ten minutes the message was sent. Then therefollowed a brief silence, spent generally by Robins with his headdrooped upon his clasped arms; by Crawshay in unceasing vigil. Just asthe first faint gleam of daylight stole into the little turretchamber, came the long-waited-for reply. The young man wrote down thefew lines and passed them over. Crawshay, who had risen to his feet, glanced at them, nodded, and thrust the paper into his pocket. 

"That seems quite satisfactory, " he said coldly. "Now ask the_Blucher_ her exact course?"

Robins sat for a moment motionless. He felt Crawshay's presencetowering over him, felt again the spell of his softly-spoken command. 

"Don't waste any time, please. Do as I tell you. "

Robins obeyed. In less than a quarter of an hour he handed overanother slip of paper. Crawshay thrust it into his pocket. 

"That concludes our business, " he said. "Now let me see if I rememberenough of this apparatus to put it out of action. "

He bent over the instrument, removed some plugs, turned some screws, and finally placed in his pocket a small concealed part of themechanism. Then he turned towards Robins. 

"You can leave here now, " he directed. "I shall lock the place up. "

Robins had in some measure recovered himself. He was a quiet, hollow-eyed young person, with thick black hair and a thin frame, about which the uniform of the ship hung loosely. "You are the manwho boarded the steamer from a seaplane, aren't you, and pretendedafterwards to be such a ninny?"

"I am, " Crawshay acknowledged. 

"How did you get on to this?"

Crawshay raised his eyebrows. 

"Sorry, " he replied, "that is a matter concerning which I fear thatyou will have to restrain your curiosity. "

"How did you get in here?"

"By means of a duplicate key which I obtained from the purser. I hidin your bunk there and drew the curtains. Quite a comfortablemattress, yours. You'll have to change your sleeping quarters, though. "

"What is going to happen to me?" the young man enquired. 

"Probably nothing extreme. You were philosophical enough to accept thesituation. If, " Crawshay went on more slowly, "you had falsified asingle word of those messages, your end would have been somewhatabrupt and your destination according to your past life. As it is, youcan go where you choose now and report to the captain later on in themorning, after I have had a talk with him. "

"My kit is all in here. "

Crawshay laid his hand upon the operator's shoulder in peremptoryfashion. 

"Then you will have to do without it for the present, " he repliedcoolly. "Outside. "

The young man turned on his heel and disappeared without a word. Crawshay glanced once more at the dismantled instrument, then followedRobins on to the deck, carefully locking the door behind him. A grey, stormy morning was just breaking, with piles of angry clouds creepingup, and showers of spray breaking over the ship on the weather side. He chose a sheltered spot and stood for a few moments breathing in thestrong salt air. Notwithstanding his success, he was unaccountablydepressed. As far as he could see across the grey waste of waters, there was no sign of any passing ship, but the eastern horizon wasblurred by a low-hanging bank of sinister-looking clouds. Suddenly avoice rang out, hailing him. It was the captain descending fromthe bridge. 

"Come and have a cup of coffee with me in my room, Mr. Crawshay, " heinvited. 

Crawshay felt himself suddenly back again in the world of realhappenings. His depression passed as though by magic. After all, hehad won the first trick, and the next move was already forming up inhis mind. 

CHAPTER X

The captain sank into his easy-chair a little wearily. It had been along and rather trying vigil. His steward filled two cups with coffeeand at a sign from his master withdrew. 

"Any news?"

"I have been compelled, " Crawshay announced, stirring his coffee, "todismantle your wireless. "

"The devil you have!"

"Also, to speak words of wisdom to young Robins. I detected himsignalling our location to the _Blucher_. "

The captain set down his coffee cup. 

"Mr. Crawshay, " he said, "this is a very serious accusation. "

"It isn't an accusation at all--it's a fact, " Crawshay replied. "Luckily, he hadn't picked her up when I got there. He signalled ourexact location and our course a dozen times or more, without response. Then I took a hand in the game. "

"Exactly what happened?" the captain enquired. 

"Well, I borrowed a key from Mr. Dix, and whilst the young man wasdown at his supper I concealed myself in his bunk. I listened to himfor a short time, and then I intervened. "

"Did he make any trouble?"

"He had no chance, " Crawshay explained, a little grimly. "I was firstoff the mark. On this piece of paper, " he added, smoothing it out, "you will find Robins' calculations as to our whereabouts, which Itook as being correct. These, you understand, were not picked up. Lower down you will see the message which he sent under mysuperintendence later on--"

"Superintendence?" the captain interrupted. 

"At the point of my revolver, " Crawshay explained. "This message waspicked up by the _Blucher_. "

The captain scanned the calculations eagerly. 

"Wish you'd given us a little more room, " he muttered. "However, itwill be all right unless we get fog. We might blunder into oneanother then. "

"This little incident, " Crawshay continued, crossing his legs, "confirms certain impressions with which I came on board. I think thatthe scheme was to get the documents on board this steamer, and then, in order to avoid the inevitable search at Liverpool, I fancy it wasarranged that the _Blucher_ should be on the lookout for us and takeover the messenger, whoever he may be, and the documents. It's astraightforward, simple little scheme, which we have now to look atfrom our own point of view. In the first place, the _Blucher_ is nowvery much less likely to capture us. In the second place, I wouldsuggest that in case the _Blucher_ should happen to blunder across us, we make the search at once instead of in Liverpool. "

"What, search every one on board?" the captain asked. 

"Suspected persons only. "

"Exactly who are they?" "First and foremost, Mr. Jocelyn Thew. "

"And afterwards?"

Crawshay hesitated. 

"Mr. Phillips and his entourage. "

"What, the man who is supposed to be dying?"

"I will admit, " Crawshay said, "that this is more or less guesswork, but I suspect every one with whom Jocelyn speaks. "

"Great heavens, you are not thinking of Miss Beverley!" the captainexclaimed. 

"I fail utterly to understand her acquaintance with Jocelyn Thew, "Crawshay confided. "I do not propose, however, that you interfere withthese people for the moment. What I do ask is that Jocelyn Thew'seffects are searched, and at once. "

"It's a thing that's never happened before on any steamer I'vecommanded, " the captain said reluctantly, "but if it has to be done, Iwill do it myself. "

"What chance of fog is there?" his companion enquired. 

"We shall get some within twenty-four hours, for certain. It's comingup from the west now. "

"Then the sooner you make a start with Mr. Jocelyn Thew, the better, "Crawshay suggested. "I don't think there's one chance in a hundredthat he'd have those documents in any place where we should be likelyto find them by any ordinary search, but you can never tell. Thecleverest men often adopt the most obvious methods. "

The captain yawned. 

"I'll have two hours' sleep, " he decided, "then Dix and I will tacklethe job. I don't suppose you want to be in it?" "I should prefernot, " Crawshay replied. "I'll follow your example, " he added, risingto his feet. 

The habits of Mr. Jocelyn Thew on shore were doubtless most regular, but on board ship he had developed a proclivity for sleeping untillong after the first breakfast gong. About half-past eight thatmorning, he was awakened from a sound sleep by a tap on his door, andinstead of the steward with his hot water, no less a person enteredthan the captain, followed by the purser. Jocelyn sat up in his bunkand rubbed his eyes. 

"Good morning, gentlemen, " he said. "Anything wrong?"

The captain undid the catch of the door and closed it behind him. 

"Are you sufficiently awake to listen to a few words from me on asubject of importance, Mr. Thew?" he asked. 

"Certainly, " was the prompt reply. 

"Very well, then, " the captain proceeded, "I shall commence by takingyou into my confidence. There is an impression on the part of theBritish and American Secret Services that an attempt is being made toconvey documents of great importance, and containing treasonablematter, to Europe by some one on board this ship. "

Jocelyn Thew, who was attired in silk pyjamas of very excellentquality, swung himself out of the bunk and sat upon the side of it. The captain was an observant man and of somewhat luxuriant tasteshimself, and he fully appreciated the texture and quality of thesuspected man's night apparel. "This sounds remarkably interesting, "Jocelyn said. "Very kind of you, Captain, I am sure, to come and tellme about it. "

"My visit, " the captain continued, a little drily, "had a moredefinite object. It is my duty to explain to you that thecircumstances of this voyage are unprecedented. We are going to takeliberties with our passengers which in normal times would not bedreamed of. "

Jocelyn Thew pushed the knob with his left hand and let some coldwater run into his basin. Then he dabbed his eyes for several momentswith his fingers. 

"Yes, I seem to be awake, " he remarked. "Tell me about theseliberties, Captain?"

"To begin with, I am going to search your stateroom and baggage--orrather they are going to be searched under my supervision. Your trunkfrom the hold has already been brought up and is in the gangway. "

"It seems to me, " Jocelyn said, sitting, as Mr. Dix expressed itafterwards, like a tiger about to spring, "that you've been listeningto that crazy loon, Crawshay. "

"I am not at liberty, " the captain rejoined, "to divulge the sourcefrom which my information came. I am only able to acquaint you with myintentions, and to trust that you will offer no obstruction. "

"The obstruction which I could offer against the captain of a ship andhis crew would be a waste of energy, " Jocelyn observed, with finesarcasm. "At the same time, I protest most bitterly against my thingsbeing touched. Any search you deemed necessary could be undertaken atLiverpool by the Customs officers in the usual way. I consider thatthis entrance into my stateroom on the high seas, and this arbitraryresolve of yours to acquaint yourself with the nature of my belongingsis indefensible and a gross insult. "

"I am sorry that you take it this way, Mr. Thew, " the captainregretted. "Any complaints you feel it right to make can be addressedto the company's agents in Liverpool. At present I must proceed withwhat I conceive to be my duty. Do you care to hand Mr. Dix your keys?"

"I will see Mr. Dix damned first!" Jocelyn assured him. 

The captain shrugged his shoulders, called to the steward, who waswaiting outside, and the search commenced. They opened drawers, theyturned up the carpet. They invited Jocelyn Thew to sit upon the couchwhilst they ripped open the bed, and they invited him to return to thebed whilst they ripped up the couch. His personal belongings, hisdressing-case and his steamer trunk were gone through with painstakingcare. His trunk, which was then dragged in, was ransacked from top tobottom. In due course the search was concluded, and except that hiswearing apparel seemed chosen with extraordinary care and taste, nothing in any way suspicious was discovered. The captain made hasteto acknowledge the fact. 

"Well, Mr. Thew, " he announced, "I have done my duty and you are outof it with a clean sheet. Have you any objection to answering a fewquestions?" "Every objection in the world, " Jocelyn Thew replied. 

The purser ventured to intervene. 

"Come, Mr. Thew, " he said, "you're an Englishman, aren't you?"

A light flashed in Thew's eyes. 

"I shall break the promise I made to the captain just now, " hedeclared, "and answer that one question, at any rate. I thank God Iam not!"

Both men were a little startled. Jocelyn's cold, clear voice, hismanner and bearing, were all so essentially Saxon. The captain, however, recovered himself quickly. 

"If the tone of your voice is any index to your feelings, Mr. Thew, "he said, "you appear to have some grudge against England. In that caseyou can scarcely wonder at the suspicions which have attachedthemselves to you. "

"Suspicions!" Jocelyn repeated sarcastically. "Well, present mycompliments to the wonderful Mr. Crawshay! I presume that I am atliberty now to take my bath?"

"In one moment, Mr. Thew. Even though you do not choose to answerthem, there are certain questions I intend to ask. The first is, areyou prepared to produce the Marconigram which you receivedlast evening?"

"How do you know that I received one?"

"The fact has come to my knowledge, " the captain said drily. 

"You had better ask the operator about it. "

"The operator is at the present moment under arrest, " was the tersereply. If the news were a shock to Thew, he showed it in none of theordinary ways. His face seemed to fall for a moment into harder lines. His mouth tightened and his eyes flashed. 

"Under arrest?" he repeated. "More of Crawshay's tomfoolery, Isuppose?"

"More of Mr. Crawshay's tomfoolery, " the captain acknowledged. "Robinsis accused of having received a Marconigram of which he took no note, and which he handed to a passenger. He is also accused of attemptingto communicate with an enemy raider. "

A peculiar smile parted Jocelyn's lips. 

"You seem to wish to make this steamer of yours the _mise-en-scene_ ofa dime novel, Captain, " he observed. "I accept the part of villainwith resignation--but I should like to have my bath. "

"You don't propose to tell me, then, " his questioner persisted, "thecontents of that message?"

"I have no recollection of having received one, " Jocelyn repliedcoolly. "You are making me very late for breakfast. "

They left him with a brusque word of farewell, to which he did notreply. Jocelyn, in a dark-green silk dressing gown, with a huge spongeand various silver-topped bottles, departed for the bathroom. Thecaptain and the purser strolled up on deck. 

"What do you make of that fellow, Dix?" the former asked. 

The purser coughed. 

"If you ask me, sir, " he replied, "I think that Mr. Crawshay has gothold of the wrong end of the stick. "

CHAPTER XI

Katharine came on deck that morning in a somewhat disturbed frame ofmind. It was beginning to dawn upon her that her position as sicknurse to Mr. Phillips was meant to be a sinecure. She was allowed tosit by the sick man's side sometimes whilst the doctor took apromenade or ate a meal in the saloon, but apart from that, the usualexercise of her duties was not required from her. She was forced toadmit that there was something mysterious about the little stateroom, the suffering man, and the doctor who watched him speechlesslynight and day. 

She was conscious presently that Crawshay, who had been walking up anddown the deck, had stopped before the chair on which she lay extended. She greeted him without enthusiasm. 

"Are you taking one of your health constitutionals, Mr. Crawshay?" sheenquired. 

"Not altogether, " he replied. "May I sit down for a moment?"

"Of course! I don't think any one sits in that chair. "

He took his place by her side, deliberately removed his muffler andunfastened his overcoat. It struck her, from the first moment sheheard his voice, that his manner was somehow altered. She wasaltogether unprepared, however, for the almost stern directness of hisfirst question. "Miss Beverley, " he began, "will you allow me to askyou how long you have known Mr. Jocelyn Thew?"

She turned her head towards him and remained speechless for a moment. It seemed to her that she was looking into the face of a stranger. Thelittle droop of the mouth had gone. The half-vacuous, half-boredexpression had given place to something altogether new. The lines ofhis face had all tightened up, his eyes were hard and bright. Shefound herself quite unable to answer him in the manner shehad intended. 

"Are you asking me that question seriously, Mr. Crawshay?"

"I am, " he assured her. "I have grave reasons for asking it. "

"I am afraid that I do not understand you, " she replied stiffly. 

"You must change your attitude, if you please, Miss Beverley, "Crawshay persisted. "Believe me, I am not trying to be impertinent. Iam asking a question the necessity for which I am in a positionto justify. "

"You bewilder me!" she exclaimed. 

"That is simply because you looked upon me as a different sort ofperson. To tell you the truth, I should very much have preferred thatyou continued to look upon me as a different sort of person duringthis voyage, but I cannot see my way clear to keep silence on this onepoint. I wish to inform you, if you do not know it already, that Mr. Jocelyn Thew is a dangerous person for you to know, or for you to beassociated with in any shape or form. " She would have risen to herfeet but he stopped her. 

"Please look at me, " he begged. 

She obeyed, half against her will. 

"I want you to ask yourself, " he went on, "whether you do not believethat I am your well-wisher. What I am saying to you, I am saying tosave you from a position which later on you might bitterly regret. "

She was conscious of a quality in his tone and manner entirely strangeto her, and she found any form of answer exceedingly difficult. Theanger which she would have preferred to have affected seemed, in theface of his earnestness, out of place. 

"It seems to me, " she said, "that you are assuming something whichdoes not exist. I am not on specially intimate terms with Mr. JocelynThew. I have not talked to him any more than to any other casualpassenger. "

"Is that quite honest?" he asked quietly. "Isn't it true thatJocelyn Thew is interested in your mysterious patient?"

She started. 

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I say, " he replied. "I happen also to have very gravesuspicions concerning the presence on this ship of Mr. Phillips andhis doctor. "

Her fingers gripped the side of her deck chair. She leaned a littletowards him. 

"What concern is all this of yours?" she demanded. 

"Never mind, " he answered. "I am risking more than I should like tosay in telling you as much as I have told you. I cannot believe thatyou would consciously associate yourself with a disgraceful andunpatriotic conspiracy. That is why I have chosen to risk a great dealin speaking to you in this way. Tell me what possible considerationwas brought to bear upon you to induce you to accept your presentsituation?"

Katharine sat quite still. The thoughts were chasing one anotherthrough her brain. Then she was conscious of a strange thing. Hercompanion's whole expression seemed suddenly to have changed. Withouther noticing any movement, his monocle was in his left eye, his liphad fallen a little. He was looking querulously out seaward. 

"I don't believe, " he declared, "that the captain has any idea aboutthe weather prospects. Look at those clouds coming up. I don't knowhow you are feeling, Miss Beverley, but I am conscious of adistinct chill. "

Jocelyn Thew had come to a standstill before them. He was wearing noovercoat and was bare-headed. 

"I guess that chill is somewhere in your imagination, Mr. Crawshay, "he observed. "You are pretty strong in that line, aren't you?"

Crawshay struggled to his feet. 

"I have some ideas, " he confessed modestly. "I spend my idle moments, even here, weaving a little fiction. "

"And recounting it, I dare say, " Jocelyn ventured. 

"I am like all artists, " Crawshay sighed. "I love an audience. I mustexpress myself to something. I will wish you good evening, MissBeverley. I feel inclined to take a little walk, in case it becomestoo rough later on. "

He shuffled away, once more the perfect prototype of the _maladeimaginaire_. Jocelyn Thew watched him in silence until he haddisappeared. Then he turned and seated himself by the girl's side. 

"I find myself, " he remarked ruminatively, "still a little troubled asto the precise amount of intelligence which our friend Mr. Crawshaymight be said to possess. I wonder if I might ask; without yourconsidering it a liberty, what he was talking to you about?"

"About you, " she answered. 

"Ah!"

"Warning me against you. "

"Dear me! Aren't you terrified?"

"I am not terrified, " she replied, "but I think it best to tell youthat he also has suspicions, absurd though it may seem, of Phillipsand the doctor. "

"Why not the purser and captain, while he's about it?" Jocelyn saidcoolly. "Every one on this boat seems to have got the nerves. Theysearched my stateroom this morning. "

"Searched your stateroom?" she repeated. "Do you mean while you wereout?"

"Not a bit of it, " he replied. "They dragged me up at half-past eightthis morning--the captain, purser and a steward--fetched up my trunkand searched all my possessions. "

"What for?" she asked, with a sudden chill. 

He smiled at her reassuringly. "Something they didn't find!Something, " he added, after a slight pause, "which they neverwill find!"

Towards midday, Jocelyn Thew abandoned a game of shuffleboard, and, leaning against the side of the vessel, gazed steadily up at thewireless operating room. The lightnings had been playing around themast for the last ten minutes without effect. He turned towards one ofthe ship's officers who was passing. 

"Anything gone wrong with the wireless?" he enquired. 

"The operator's ill, sir, " was the prompt reply. "We've only one onboard, as it happens, so we are rather in a mess. "

Jocelyn strolled away aft, considering the situation. He foundCrawshay seated in an elaborate deck chair and immersed in a novel. 

"I hear the wireless has gone wrong, " he remarked, stopping in frontof him. 

Crawshay glanced up blandly. 

"What's that?" he demanded. "Wireless? Why, it's been going all themorning. "

"There has been no one there to take the messages, though. If anythinghappens to us, we shall be in a nice pickle. "

Crawshay shivered. 

"I wish you people wouldn't suggest such things, " he said, a littletestily. "I was just trying to get all thought of this most perilousvoyage out of my mind, with the help of a novel here. From which doyou seriously consider we have most to fear, " he went on, "mines, submarines, or predatory vessels of the type of the _Blucher_?"

"The latter, I should think, " Jocelyn replied. "They say thatsubmarines are scarcely venturing so far out just now. "

There was a brief silence. Jocelyn Thew was apparently engaged intrying to fit a cigarette into his holder. 

"Specially hard luck on you, " he remarked presently, "if anythinghappened when you've taken so much trouble to get on board. "

"It would be exceedingly annoying, " Crawshay declared, with vigour, "added to which I am not in a state of health to endure a voyage in asmall boat. I have been this morning to look at our places, in case ofaccident. I find that I am expected to wield an oar long enough tobreak my back. "

Jocelyn Thew smiled. The other man's peevishness seemed too natural tobe assumed. 

"I expect you'll be glad enough to do your bit, if anything doeshappen to us, " he observed. 

"By-the-by, " Crawshay asked, "I wonder what will become of that poorfellow downstairs--the man who is supposed to be dying, I mean--iftrouble comes?"

"I heard them discussing it at breakfast time, " Jocelyn Thew replied. "I understand that he has asked specially to be allowed to remainwhere he is. There would of course be not the slightest chance ofsaving his life. The doctor who is with him--Gant, I think his nameis--told us that anything in the shape of a rough sea, even, wouldmean the end of him. He quite understands this himself. " Crawshayassented gravely. 

"It seems a little brutal but it is common sense, " he declared. "Intimes of great stress, too, one becomes primitive, and the primitiveinstinct is for the strong to save himself. I am not ashamed toconfess, " he concluded, "that I have secured an extra lifebelt. "

Jocelyn glanced, for a moment scornfully down at the man who had nowpicked up his novel again and was busy reading. Crawshay representedso much the things that he despised in life. It was impossible totreat or consider him in any way as a rival to be feared. He passeddown the deck and made his way below to the doctor's room. He foundthe latter in the act of starting off to see a patient. 

"I came around to ask after Robins, the young Marconi man, " Jocelynexplained. "I hear that he was taken ill last night. "

The doctor looked at his questioner keenly. 

"That is so, " he admitted. 

"What's wrong with him?"

"I have not thoroughly diagnosed his complaint as yet, " was thecareful reply. "I can tell you for a certainty, though, that he willnot be able to work for two or three days. "

"It seems very sudden, " Jocelyn Thew persisted. 

"As a matter of fact, I had some slight acquaintance with him, and Ialways thought that he was a remarkably strong young fellow. "

The doctor, who had completed his preparations for departure, pickedup his cap and politely showed his visitor out. "You wouldn't care, "the latter suggested, "to let me go down and have a look at him? Ican't call myself a medical man, but I know something about sicknessand I am quite interested in young Robins. "

"I don't think that I shall need a second opinion at present, thankyou, " the doctor rejoined, a little drily. "If you wish to see himlater on, you must get permission from the captain. Good morning, Mr. Thew. "

Jocelyn Thew strolled thoughtfully away, found a retired spot upon thepromenade deck behind a boat, lit a very black cigar, and, drawing hisfield-glasses from his pocket, searched the horizon carefully. Therewas no sign of any passing steamer, not even the faintest wisp ofblack smoke anywhere upon the horizon. It was Wednesday to-day, andthey had left New York on Saturday. He drew a sheet of paper from hispocket and made a few calculations. It was the day and past the timeupon which things were due to happen. .. . 

The day wore on very much as most days do on an Atlantic voyage inearly summer. The little handful of passengers, who seemed for themoment to have cast all anxieties to the winds, played shuffleboardand quoits, lunched with vigorous appetites, drank tea out on deck, and indulged in strenuous before-dinner promenades. The sun shone allday, the sea remained wonderfully calm. Not a trace of any othersteamer was visible from morning until early nightfall, and JocelynThew walked restlessly about with a grim look upon his face. At dinnertime the captain hinted at fog, and looked doubtfully out of theopen porthole at the oily-looking waste of waters. 

"Another night on the bridge for me, I think, " he remarked. 

Jocelyn Thew leaned forward in his place. 

"By-the-by, Captain, " he asked, "now that the shipping is so reduced, do you alter speed for fog?"

The captain filled his glass from the jug of lemonade which, wasalways before him. 

"Do we alter our speed, eh?" he repeated. "You must remember, " he wenton, "that we have Miss Beverley on board. We couldn't afford to giveMiss Beverley a fright. "

Jocelyn accepted the evasion with a slight bow. Katharine, who hadcome in to dine a little late and seemed graver than usual, smiled atthe captain. 

"Am I the most precious thing on this steamer?" she asked. 

"Gallantry, " the captain replied, "compels me to say yes!"

"Only gallantry? Have we such a wonderful cargo, then?"

"There are times, " was the cautious reply, "when not even the captainknows exactly what he is carrying. "

"You remind me, " Jocelyn Thew observed, "of a voyage I once made fromPort Elizabeth to New York, with half-a-dozen I. D. B's on board, and asmany detectives, watching them day and night. "

The captain nodded. 

"What happened?" he enquired. 

"Oh, the detectives arrested the lot of them, I think, got hold ofthem on the last day. " The captain rose from his place. 

"Queer thing, " he remarked, "but the law generally does come out ontop. "

Jocelyn followed his example a few minutes later, and Katharinepurposely joined him on the way out. She led her companion to thecorner where her steamer chair had been placed, and motioned him tosit by her side. They were on the weather side of the ship, with aslight breeze in their faces and a canopy over their heads whichdeadened sound. She leaned a little forward. 

"Smoke, please. " she begged. "I mean it--see. "

She lit a cigarette and he followed suit. 

"Not a cigar?"

He shook his head. 

"I keep them for my hard thinking times. "

"Then you were thinking very hard this morning?"

"I was, " he admitted. 

"And gazing very earnestly out of those field-glasses of yours. "

"Quite true. "

"Mr. Thew, " she said abruptly, "it is my impression, although for somereason or other I am scarcely allowed to go near him, that Mr. Phillips is dying. "

"One knew, of course, that there was that risk, " Jocelyn Thew remindedher. 

"I do not think that he can possibly live for twenty-four hours, " shecontinued. "I was allowed to sit with him for a short time early thismorning. He is beginning to wander in his mind, to speak of his wifeand a sum of money. " Jocelyn's fine eyebrows came a littlecloser together. 

"Well?"

"Nothing in his appearance or speech indicate the man of wealth oreven of birth. I begin to wonder whether I know the whole truth aboutthis frantic desire of his to reach England before he dies?"

"I think, " Jocelyn Thew said thoughtfully, "that you have been talkingagain to Mr. Crawshay. "

"Yes, " she admitted, "and he has been warning me against you. "

"I suppose, " Jocelyn ruminated, "the man has a certain amount ofpuppy-dog intelligence. "

"I do not understand Mr. Crawshay at all, " she confessed. "Myacquaintance with him before we met on this steamer was of theslightest, but his manner of coming certainly led one to believe thathe was a man of courage and determination. Since then he has crawledabout in an overcoat and rubber shoes, and groaned about his ailmentsuntil one feels inclined to laugh at him. Last night he was differentagain. He was entirely serious, and he spoke to me about you. "

"Do you need to be warned against me?" he asked grimly. "Have I eversailed under false colours?"

"Don't, " she begged, looking at him with a little quiver of the lipsand a wonderfully soft light in her eyes. "You have never deceived mein any way except, if at all, as regards this voyage. I made up mymind this evening that I would ask you, if you cared to tell me, totake me into your confidence about this man who is dying down below, and his strange journey. I need scarcely add that I should respectthat confidence. "

"I am sorry, " he answered. "You ask an impossibility. "

"Then there is some sort of conspiracy going on?" she persisted. "Letme ask you a straightforward question. Is it not true that you havemade me an unknowing participator in an illegal act?"

"It is, " he admitted. "I was very sorry to have to do so but it wasnecessary. Without your assistance, I should never have been allowedto bring Phillips across the Atlantic. "

"What difference do I make?" she asked. 

"You lend an air of respectability and credibility to the wholething, " he told her. "You are a person of repute, of distinguishedsocial position, and the object of a good deal of admiration in yourown country. The doctor who accompanies you comes from your ownhospital. No one would believe it possible that either of you could beconcerned in any sort of conspiracy. If that ass Crawshay had not goton board, I am convinced that there would never have been a breath ofsuspicion. "

She shivered a little. 

"Is it quite kind to bring me into an affair of this sort?" she asked. 

"It is a world, " he declared cruelly, "in which we fight always forour own hand or go under. I am fighting for mine, and if I haveoccasionally to sacrifice a friend as well as an enemy, I do nothesitate. "

"What has the world done to you, " she demanded, "that you should speakso bitterly?" "Better not ask me that. "

"How will the man Phillips' death affect your plans?"

"It will make very little difference either way, " he assured her. "Werather expected him to die. "

"And you won't take me any further into your confidence?"

"No further. Your task will be completed at Liverpool. So long as youleave this steamer in company with the doctor and the ambulance, ifPhillips is still alive, you will be free to return home wheneveryou please. "

"Very well, " she said. "You see, I accept my position. I shall gothrough with what I have promised, whatever Mr. Crawshay may say. Won't you in return treat me, if not as a confederate, as a friend?"

He turned and looked at her, met the appealing glance of her soft eyesfor a moment and looked suddenly away. 

"I do not belong to the ranks of those, Miss Beverley, from whom it iswell for you to choose your friends. "

"But why should I not make my own choice?" she insisted. "I havealways been my own mistress. I have lived with my own ideas, I havedeclined to be subject to any one's authority. I am an independentperson. Can't you treat me as such?"

"There are facts, " he said, "which can never be ignored. You belong tothe world of wealthy, gently born men and women who comprise what iscalled Society. I belong, and have belonged all my life, to a race ofoutcasts. " "Don't!" she begged. 

"It is true, " he repeated doggedly. 

"But what do you mean by outcasts?"

"Criminals, if you like it better. I have broken the law more thanonce. There is an unexecuted warrant out against me at the presentmoment. You may even see me marched off this steamer at Liverpoolbetween two policemen. "

"But why?" she asked passionately. "Why? What is the motive of it all?Is it money?"

"I am not in need of money, " he told her, "but I have a great andsacred use for all I can lay my fingers on. If I succeed in my presententerprise, I shall receive a hundred thousand pounds. "

"I value Jerry's life and future at more than that, " she declared. "Will you make a fresh start, Mr. Jocelyn Thew, with twice that sum ofmoney to your credit?"

He shook his head, but there was a curious change creeping into hisface. For the first time she saw how soft a man's dark-blue eyes maysometimes become. The slight trembling of his parted lips, too, seemedto unlock all the cruel, hard lines of his face. He had suddenly theappearance of a person of temperament--a poet, even a dreamer. 

"I could not take money from you, Miss Beverley, " he said, "or fromany other woman in the world. "

"Upon no conditions?" she whispered softly. 

"Upon no conditions, " he repeated. 

The breeze had dropped, and twilight had followed swiftly upon themisty sunset. There was something a little ghostly about the light inwhich they sat. "I am stifled, " she declared abruptly. "Comeand walk. "

They paced up and down the deck once or twice in silence. Then hepaused as they drew near their chairs. 

"Miss Beverley, " he said, "in case this should be the last time thatwe talk confidentially--so that we may put a seal, in fact, upon thesubject of which we have spoken to-night--I would like to tell youthat you have made me feel, during this last half-hour, an emotionwhich I have not felt for many years. And I want to tell you this. Iam a lawbreaker. When I told you that there was a warrant out againstme at the present moment, I told you the truth. The charge against meis a true one, and the penalty is one I shall never pay. I must go onto the end, and I shall do so because I have a driving impulse behind, a hate which only action can soothe. But all my sins have been againstmen and the doings of men. You will understand me, will you not, whenI say that I can neither take your money, nor accept your friendshipafter this voyage is over? You, on your side, can remember that youhave paid a debt. "

She sank a little wearily into her chair and looked out through thegathering mists. It seemed part of her fancy that they gathered himin, for she heard no sound of retreating footsteps. Yet when she spokehis name, a few moments later, she found that she was alone. 

CHAPTER XII

Throughout the night reigned an almost sepulchral silence, and whenthe morning broke, the _City of Boston_, at a scarcely reduced speed, was ploughing her way through great banks of white fog. The decks, thepromenade rails, every exposed part of the steamer, were glisteningwith wet. Up on the bridge, three officers besides the captain stoodwith eyes fixed in grim concentration upon the dense curtains of mistwhich seemed to shut them off altogether from the outer world. JocelynThew and Crawshay met in the companionway, a few minutes afterbreakfast. 

"I can see no object in the disuse of the hooter, " Crawshay declaredquerulously. "Nothing at sea could be worse than a collision. We aresimply taking our lives in our hands, tearing along like this atsixteen knots an hour. "

"Isn't there supposed to be a German raider out?" the other enquired. 

"I think it is exceedingly doubtful whether there is really one in theAtlantic at all. The English gunboats patrol these seas. Besides, weare armed ourselves, and she wouldn't be likely to tackle us. "

Jocelyn Thew had leaned a little forward. He was listening intently. At the same time, one of the figures upon the bridge, his hand to hisear, turned in the same direction. 

"There's some one who doesn't mind letting their whereabouts beknown, " he whispered, after a moment's pause. "Can't you heara hooter?"

Crawshay listened but shook his head. 

"Can't hear a thing, " he declared laconically. "I've a cold in my headcoming on, and it always affects my hearing. "

Jocelyn Thew stepped on tiptoe across the deck as far as the rail andreturned in a few minutes. 

"There's a steamer calling, away on the starboard bow, " he announced. "She seems to be getting nearer, too. I wonder we don't alterour course. "

"Well, I suppose it's the captain's business whether he chooses toanswer or not, " Crawshay remarked. "I shall go down to my cabin. Thisgazing at nothing gets on my nerves. "

Jocelyn Thew returned to his damp vigil. Leaning over the wet woodenrail, he drew a little diagram on the back of an envelope and workedout some figures. Then he listened once more, the slight frown uponhis forehead deepening. Finally he tore up his sketch and made his wayto the doctor's room. The doctor was seated at his desk and glanced upenquiringly as his visitor entered. 

"I just looked in to see how young Robins was getting on, " Jocelynexplained. 

"I am afraid he is in rather a bad way, " was the grave reply. 

"What is the nature of his illness?"

The doctor shrugged his shoulders. His manner became a little vague. 

"I must remind you, Mr. Thew, " he said, "that a doctor is not alwaysat liberty to discuss the ailments of his patients. On board shipthis custom becomes more, even, than mere etiquette. It is, in fact, against the regulations of the company for us to discuss the maladiesof any passenger upon the steamer. "

"I recognise the truth of all that you say, " Jocelyn Thew agreed, "butit happens that I know the young man and his people. Naturally, therefore, I take an interest in him, and I am sure they would thinkit strange if, travelling upon the same steamer, I did not make thesevery ordinary enquiries. "

"You know his people, do you?" the doctor repeated. "Where does hecome from, Mr. Thew?"

"Somewhere over New Jersey way, " was the glib reply, "but I used tomeet his father often in New York. There can be no mystery about hisillness, can there, doctor--no reason why I should not go andsee him?"

"I have placed the young man in quarantine, " was the briefexplanation, "and until he is released no one can go near him. "

"Something catching, eh?"

"Something that might turn out to be catching. "

Jocelyn Thew shrugged his shoulders and accepted what amounted almostto a little nod of dismissal. He ascended the staircase thoughtfullyand came face to face with Katharine Beverley, issuing from the musicroom. She greeted him with a little exclamation of relief. 

"Mr. Thew, " she exclaimed, "I have been looking for you everywhere. Doctor Gant thinks, " she added, lowering her voice, "that if you wishto see his patient alive, you had better come at once. " "There is achange in his condition, then?"

"Yes, " she told him gravely. 

He stood for a moment thinking rapidly. The girl shivered a little asshe watched the change in his face. Her hospital training had notlessened her awe and sympathy in the face of death, and it was soentirely obvious that Jocelyn Thew was considering only what influenceupon his plans this event might have. Finally he turned and descendedthe stairs by her side. 

"I am not at all sure that it is wise of me to come, " he said. "However, if he is asking for me I suppose I had better. "

They made their way into the commodious stateroom upon the saloondeck, which had been secured for the sick man. He lay upon a smallhospital bed, nothing of him visible save his haggard face, with itsill-grown beard. His eyes were watching the door, and he showed somesigns of gratification at Jocelyn's entrance. Gant, who was standingover the bed, turned apologetically towards the latter. 

"It's the money, " he whispered. "He is worrying about that. I wasobliged to send for you. He called out your name just now, and theship's doctor was hanging around. "

The newcomer drew a stool to the side of the bed, opened a pocketbookand counted out a great wad of notes. The dying man watched him withevery appearance of interest. 

"Five thousand dollars, " the former said at last. "That should bringin about eleven hundred and fifty pounds. Now watch me, Phillips. "

He took an envelope from his pocket, thrust the notes inside, gummeddown the flap, and, drawing a fountain pen from his pocket, wrote anaddress. The dying man watched him and nodded feebly. 

"These, " Jocelyn continued, "are for your wife. The packet shall bedelivered to her within twelve hours of our landing in Liverpool. Youcan keep it under your pillow and hand it over to Miss Beverley here. You trust her?"

The man on the bed nodded feebly and turned slightly towardsKatharine. She bent over him. 

"I shall see myself, " she promised, "that the money is properlydelivered. "

Phillips smiled and closed his eyes. It was obvious that he had nomore to say. Jocelyn Thew stole softly out, followed, a moment later, by Katharine. 

"The doctor thinks I am better away, " she whispered. "He won't speakagain. Poor fellow!"

Jocelyn stepped softly up the stairs and drew a little breath ofrelief as they reached the promenade deck without meeting any one. Both seemed to feel the desire for fresh air, and they stepped outsidefor a moment. There were tears in Katharine's eyes. 

"Of course, " she said, a little timidly, "I don't understand this atall, but it is terribly tragic. Do you think that he would have livedif he had not undertaken the journey?"

"It was absolutely impossible, " her companion assured her. "He was adying man from the moment the operation was finished. "

"Will he be buried at sea?"

"I think not. He was exceedingly anxious to be buried at his home nearChester. It isn't a pleasant thing to talk about, " Jocelyn went on, "but they brought his coffin on board with him. It's lying in thecompanionway now, covered over with a rug. "

She shivered. 

"It's a horrible day altogether, " she declared, looking out into theseemingly endless banks of mist. 

"Entirely my opinion, Miss Beverley, " a voice said in her ear. "I findit most depressing--and unhealthy. And listen. --Do you hear that?"

They all listened intently. Again they could hear the hooting of asteamer in the distance. 

"Between ourselves, " Crawshay went on confidentially, "the captainseems to me rather worried. That steamer has been following us forhours. She is evidently waiting for the fog to lift, to see whowe are. "

"How does she know about us?" Katharine asked. "We haven't blown ourhooter once. "

"We don't need to, " was the fractious reply. "That's where we arebeing over-careful. She can hear our engines distinctly. "

"Who does the captain think she is, then?"

Crawshay's voice was dropped to a mysterious pitch, but though heleaned towards the girl, his eyes were fixed upon her companion. 

"He doesn't go as far as to express a definite opinion, but he thinksthat it might be that German raider--the _Blucher_, isn't it? She cansteal about quite safely in the fog, and she can tell by the beat ofthe engines whether she is near a man-of-war or not. "

Not a muscle of Jocelyn's face twitched, but there was a momentarygleam in his eyes of which Crawshay took swift note. He glanced aft towhere the two seamen were standing by the side of their guns. 

"If it really is the German raider, " he remarked, "they might as wellfire off a popgun as that thing. She is supposed to be armed with foursix-inch guns and two torpedo tubes. "

Crawshay nodded. 

"So I told the captain. We might have a go at a submarine, but theraider would sink us in two minutes if we tried to tackle her. What abeastly voyage this is!" he went on, in a depressed tone. "I can't getover the fact that I risked my life to get on board, too. "

Jocelyn Thew, with a little word of excuse, had swung around anddisappeared. Katharine looked at her companion curiously. 

"Do you believe that it really is the raider, Mr. Crawshay?" sheenquired. 

He hesitated. In Jocelyn's absence his manner seemed to undergo somesubtle change, his tone to become crisper and less querulous. 

"We had some reason to hope, " he said cautiously, "that she was on adifferent course. It is just possible, however, that in changing itshe might have struck this bank of fog and preferred to hang aboutfor a time. "

"What will happen if she finds us?"

"That depends entirely upon circumstances. "

"I have an idea, " Katharine continued, "that you know more about thismatter than you feel inclined to divulge. "

"Perhaps, " he admitted. "Nowadays, every one has to learn discretion. "

"Is it necessary with me?" "It is necessary with any friend of Mr. Jocelyn Thew, " he told her didactically. 

"What a suspicious person you are!" she exclaimed, a littlescornfully. "You are just like all your countrymen. You get hold of anidea and nothing can shake it. Mr. Jocelyn Thew, I dare say, possessesa past. I know for a fact that he has been engaged in all sorts ofadventures during his life. But--at your instigation, I suppose--theyhave already searched his person, his stateroom, and every article ofluggage he has. After that, why not leave him alone?"

"Because he is an extremely clever person. "

"Then you are not satisfied yet?"

"Not yet. "

"Am I, may I ask, under suspicion?" she enquired, with faint sarcasm. 

"I should not like to say, " he replied glibly, "that you werealtogether free from it. "

She laughed heartily. 

"I should not worry about the army if I were you, " she advised. "I amquite sure that secret-service work is the natural outlet foryour talents. "

"I shouldn't be surprised, " he confided, "if headquarters didn'tinsist upon my taking it up permanently. It will depend a little, ofcourse, upon what success I have during this voyage. "

She laughed in his face and turned away. 

"I will tell you what I find so interesting about you, Mr. Crawshay, "she said. "You must be either very much cleverer than you seem, orvery much more foolish. You keep me continually guessing as towhich it is. "

CHAPTER XIII

Towards six o'clock that evening, without any apparent change in thesituation, Captain Jones descended from the bridge and signalled toCrawshay, whom he passed on the deck, to follow him into his room. Thegreat ship was still going at full speed through a sea which was assmooth as glass. 

"Getting out of it, aren't we?" Crawshay enquired. 

The captain nodded. His hair and beard were soaked with moisture, andthere were beads of wet all over his face. Otherwise he seemed littlethe worse for his long vigil. In his eyes, however, was a new anxiety. 

"Another five miles, " he confided, "should see us in clear weather. "

"Steamer's still following us, isn't she?"

"Sticking to us like a leech, " was the terse reply. "She is not out ofany American port. She must have just picked us up. She isn't anyordinary cargo steamer, either, or she couldn't make the speed. "

"I've worked it out by your chart, " Crawshay declared, "and it mightvery well be the Blucher. I don't think I made the altered course wideenough, and she might very well have been hanging about a bit when shestruck the fog and heard our engines. "

The captain lit a pipe. "I am not in the habit, as you may imagine, of discussing the conduct of my ship with any one, Mr. Crawshay, " hesaid, "but you come to me with very absolute credentials, and it'srather a comfort to have some one standing by with whom one can sharethe responsibility. You see my couple of guns? They are about asuseful as catapults against the _Blucher_, whereas, on the other hand, she could sink us easily with a couple of volleys. "

"Just so, " Crawshay agreed. "What about speed, Captain?"

"If our reports are trustworthy, we might be able to squeeze out onemore knot than she can do, " was the doubtful reply, "but, you see, she'll follow us out of this last bank of fog practically within riflerange. I've altered my course three or four times so as to get astart, but she hangs on like grim death. That's what makes me so surethat it's the _Blucher_. "

"Want my advice?" Crawshay asked. 

"That's the idea, " the captain acquiesced. 

"Stoke her up, then, and drive full speed ahead. Take no notice of anysignals. Make for home with the last ounce you can squeeze outof her. "

"That's all very well, " Captain Jones observed, "but there will be atleast half an hour during which we shall be within effective range. She might sink us a dozen times over. "

"Yes, but I don't think she will. "

"Why not?"

"If the theory upon which I started this wild-goose chase is correct, "Crawshay explained, "there is something on board this ship infinitelymore valuable than the ship itself to Germany. That is why Ithink that she will strain every nerve to try and capture you, ofcourse, but she will never sink you, because if she did she would loseeverything her Secret Service have worked for in Germany ever since, and even before the commencement of the war. "

"It's an idea, " the captain admitted, with a gleam in his eyes. 

"It's common sense, " Crawshay urged. "When I left Halifax, I was readyto take twenty-five to one that we'd been sold. I wouldn't mind layingtwenty-five to one now that what we are in search of is somewhere onboard this steamer. If that is so, the _Blucher_ will never dare tosink you, because there will still remain the chance of the person onboard who is in charge of the documents getting away with them at theother end, whereas down at the bottom of the Atlantic they would be ofno use to any one. "

"I see your point of view, " the other agreed. 

"Then you'd better take my tip, " Crawshay continued. "There isn't apassenger on board who didn't know the risk they were running whenthey started, and I'm sure no one will blame you for not surrenderingyour ship like a dummy directly you're asked. They're a prettysporting lot in the saloon, you know. All those newspaper men are realgood fellows. "

The captain's face brightened. 

"Next to fighting her, " he soliloquised, stroking his beard, --

"The idea of fighting her is ridiculous, " Crawshay interrupted. "Lookhere, you haven't any time to lose. Send to the engineer and let himgive it to them straight down below. I'll give a tenner apiece to thestokers, if we get clear, and if my advice turns out wrong, I'll seeyou through it, anyway. "

"We can leg it at a trifle over nineteen knots, " Captain Jonesdeclared, as he picked up his cap, "and, anyway, anything's betterthan having one of those short-haired, smooth-tongued, blusteringGermans on board. "

He hurried off, and Crawshay followed him on deck to watchdevelopments. Already, through what seemed to be an opening in thewalls of fog, there was a vision in front of clear blue sea on which astill concealed sun was shining. Soon they passed out into a newtemperature of pleasant warmth, with a skyline ahead, hard and clear. The passengers came crowding on deck. Every one leaned over thestarboard rail, looking towards the place whence the sound of thehooting was still proceeding. Suddenly a steamer crept out of the fogmountain and drew clear, barely half a mile away. The first glimpse ather was final. She had cast off all disguise. Her false forecastle wasthrown back, and the sun glittered upon three exceedinglyformidable-looking guns, trained upon the _City of Boston_. A row ofsignals, already hoisted, were fluttering from her mast. 

"It's the _Blucher_, by God!" Sam West muttered. 

"We're nabbed!" his little friend groaned. 

"Wonder what they'll do with us. "

Every eye was upturned now to the mast for the answering signals. Tothe universal surprise, none were hoisted. The captain stood upon thebridge with his glass focussed upon the raider. He gave no orders, only the black smoke was beginning to belch now from the funnels, andlittle pieces of smut and burning coal blew down the deck. JocelynThew, who was standing a little apart, frowned to himself. He had seenCrawshay and the captain come out of the latter's cabin together. 

The blue lightnings were playing now unchecked about the top of theMarconi room. Another more imperative signal flew from the pirateship. A minute later there was a puff of white smoke, a loud report, and a shell burst in the sea, fifty yards ahead. Crawshay edged up towhere Jocelyn Thew was standing. 

"This is a damned unpleasant affair, " he said. 

"It is, " was the grim reply. 

"You know it's the _Blucher_?"

"No doubt about that. "

"What on earth are we up to?" Crawshay continued, in a dissatisfiedtone. "We haven't even replied to her signals. "

"It appears to me, " Jocelyn Thew pronounced irritably, "that we aregoing to try and get away. I never heard of such lunacy. They can blowus to pieces if they want to. "

Crawshay shivered. 

"I think, " he protested, "that some one ought to remonstrate with thecaptain. Look, there's another shell coming! Damned ugly things!"

There was another puff of white smoke, and this time the projectilefell within a steamer's length of them, sending a great fountain ofwater into the air. "They are giving us plenty of warning, " JocelynThew observed coolly. "I suppose we shall get the next one amidships. "

"I find it most upsetting, " his companion declared. "I am going downto the cabin to get my lifebelt. "

He turned away. Presently there was another line of signals, moreshots, some across the bows of the steamer, some right over her, a fewaft. Nevertheless, the _City of Boston_ stood on her course, and thedistance between the two steamers gradually widened. Katharine, whohad come up on deck, stood by Jocelyn Thew's side. 

"Is this really the way that they shoot, " she asked, "or aren't theytrying to hit us?"

"They are not trying, " he told her. "If they were, every shot theyfired at this range would be sufficient to send us to the bottom. "

"Why aren't they trying?" she persisted. 

"There's a reason for that, which I can't at the moment explain, " wasthe gloomy reply. "They want to capture us, not sink us! What I can'tunderstand, though, is how the captain here found that out. "

"How is it that you are so well-informed?" Katharine asked curiously. 

"You had better not enquire, Miss Beverley. It's just as well not toknow too much of these things. Here's Mr. Crawshay, " he added. "Perhaps he'll tell you. "

Crawshay appeared, hugging his lifebelt, on which he seated himselfgingerly. 

"Can't imagine what the captain's up to, " he complained. "A chap whounderstands those little flags has just told me that they'vethreatened to blow us to pieces if we go on. --Here comes anothershell!" he groaned. "Two to one they've got us this time!--Ugh!"

They all ducked to avoid a shower of spray. When they stood uprightagain, Katharine studied the newcomer for a minute critically. Therewas a certain air of strain about most of the passengers. Even JocelynThew's firm hand had trembled, a moment ago, as he had lowered hisglasses. Crawshay, seated upon his lifebelt, with a mackintoshbuttoned around him, his eyeglass firmly adjusted, his mouthquerulous, was not exactly an impressive-looking object. Yetshe wondered. 

"Give me your hand, " she asked suddenly. 

He obeyed at once. The fingers were cool and firm. 

"Why do you pretend to be afraid?" she demanded. "You aren't in theleast. "

"Amateur theatricals, " he replied tersely, "coupled with a certainamount of self-control. I am a cool-tempered fellow at mosttimes. --Jove, this one's meant for us, I believe!"

They all ducked instinctively. The shell, however, fell short. Crawshay measured the distance between the two steamers with his eyes. 

"Dashed if I don't believe we're giving them the slip!" he exclaimed. "I wonder why in thunder they're letting us off like this! The captainmust have known something. "

Jocelyn Thew turned around and looked reflectively at the speaker. Fora single moment Crawshay's muscles tingled with the apprehensionof danger. There was a smouldering light in the other's eyes, such alight as might gleam in the tiger's eyes before his spring. Crawshay'shand slipped to his hip pocket. So for a moment they remained. ThenJocelyn Thew shrugged his shoulders, and the tense moment was past. 

"There seems to be some one on this ship, " he said quietly, "who knowsmore than is good for him. "

CHAPTER XIV

The _City of Boston_ passed through the danger zone in safety, anddropped anchor in the Mersey only a few hours later than the time ofher expected arrival. Towards the close of a somewhat uproariousdinner, during which many bottles of champagne were emptied to varioustoasts, Captain Jones quite unexpectedly entered the saloon, and, waving his hand in response to the cheers which greeted him, made hisway to his usual table, from which he addressed the little company. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, " he said, "I have an announcement to make towhich I beg you will listen with patience. Both the English and theAmerican police, whether with reason or not, as we may presentlydetermine, have come to the conclusion that a large number of veryimportant documents, collected in America by the agents of a foreignpower, have been smuggled across the Atlantic upon this ship, in thehope that they may eventually reach Germany. In a quarter of an hour'stime, a number of plainclothes policemen will be on board. I am goingto ask you, as loyal British and American subjects, to subjectyourselves, without resistance or complaint, to any search which theymay choose to make. I may add that my own person, luggage and cabinwill be the first object of their attention. " The captain, havingdelivered his address, left the saloon again amidst a little buzz ofvoices. There had probably never been a voyage across the Atlantic inwhich a matter of forty passengers had been treated to so many rumoursand whispers of strange happenings. Sam West got up and spoke a fewwords, counselling the ready assent of every one there to submit toanything that was thought necessary. He briefly commented upon theirunexplained but fortuitous escape from the raider, and heapedcongratulations upon their captain. Very soon after he had resumed hisseat, the shrill whistle of a tug alongside indicated the arrival ofvisitors. A steward passed back and forth amongst the passengers witha universal request--all were asked to repair to their staterooms. Twenty-seven exceedingly alert-looking men thereupon commencedtheir task. 

Seated upon the couch in her room, with a cup of coffee by her sideand a cigarette between her lips, Katharine listened to theconversation which passed in the opposite room, the one which had beentenanted by Phillips. For some reason, the end of the voyage, insteadof bringing her the relief which she had expected, had only increasedher nervous excitement. She was filled with an extraordinaryprescience of some coming crisis. She found herself trembling as shelistened to Doctor Gant's harsh voice and the smooth accents of hisinterlocutor. 

"Well, that completes our search of your belongings, Doctor Gant, " thelatter's voice observed. "Now I want to ask a few questions withreference to the Mr. Phillips who I understand died the day beforeyesterday under your charge. " "That is so, " Doctor Gant agreed. "Hehad no luggage, as we only made up our minds to undertake the journeywith him at the last moment. The few oddments he used on the voyage, we burned. "

"And the body, I understand, --"

"You can examine it at once, if you will, " the doctor interrupted. "Wehave purposely left the coffin lid only partly screwed down. I shouldlike to say, however, that before arranging the deceased for burial, Iasked the ship's doctor to make an examination with me of the coffinand the garments which I used. He signed the certificate, and he willbe ready to answer any questions. "

"That seems entirely satisfactory, " the detective confessed. "I willjust have the coffin lid off for a few moments, and will see thedoctor before I leave the ship. "

The men left the room together and were absent some ten minutes. Presently the detective returned to Katharine's room, and with himcame Crawshay. Katharine had discarded the nurse's costume which shehad usually worn on board ship, and was wearing the black tailor-madesuit in which she had expected to land. In the dim light, her pallorand nervous condition almost startled Crawshay. 

"You will forgive my intrusion, " he said. "I have just been explainingyour presence here to Mr. Brightman, the detective, and I don't thinkhe will trouble you for more than a few minutes. "

"Please treat me exactly as the others, " she begged. 

The search proceeded for a few moments in silence. Then the detectivelooked up from the dressing case which he was examining. In his handhe held the envelope addressed to Mrs. Phillips. 

"Do you mind telling me what this is, Miss Beverley?" he asked. 

"It is a roll of bills, " she replied, "that belonged to Mr. Phillips. I promised to see them handed over to his wife. "

Brightman glanced at the address and balanced the envelope on the palmof his hand. 

"It is against the law, " he told her, "for a passenger to be thebearer of any sealed letter. "

Katharine shrugged her shoulders. 

"I am very sorry, " she said, "but the packet which you have did notcome from America at all. It was sealed up on board this ship at thetime when I accepted the charge of its delivery. There is no letter orcommunication of any sort inside. "

"You will not object, " the detective enquired, "to my opening it?"

She frowned impatiently. 

"I can assure you, " she repeated, "that I saw the notes put inside anempty envelope. Mr. Crawshay will tell you that my word is to berelied upon. "

"Implicitly, Miss Beverley, " Crawshay pronounced emphatically, "butunder the circumstances I think no harm would be done if you allowedour friend just to glance inside. The notes can easily be sealed up inanother envelope. "

"Just as you like, " she acquiesced coolly. "You will find nothing butbills there. "

Brightman tore open the envelope and glanced inside as though he didnot intend further to disturb it. Suddenly his face changed. He shookout the contents upon the little table. They all three looked at thepile of papers with varying expressions. In Katharine's face there wasnothing but blank bewilderment, in Crawshay's something of horror, inthe detective's a faint gleam of triumph. He pressed his finger downon the heading of the first sheet of paper. 

"I am not much of a German scholar, " he observed. "How do youtranslate that, Mr. Crawshay?"

Crawshay was silent for several moments. Then in a perfectlymechanical tone he read out the heading:

"'List of our agents in New York and district who may be absolutelytrusted for any enterprise. '"

There was another dead silence, a silence, on Katharine's part, ofcomplete mental paralysis. Crawshay's face had lost all its smoothpetulance. He was like a man who had received a blow. 

"But I don't understand, " Katharine faltered at last. "That packet hasnot been out of my possession, and I saw the notes put into it. "

"By whom?" Crawshay demanded. 

"By Mr. Phillips, " she declared steadfastly, "by Mr. Phillips andDoctor Gant together. "

The detective turned the envelope over in his hand. 

"The bills seem to have disappeared, " he observed. 

"They were in that envelope, " Katharine persisted. "I have never seenthose papers before in my life. "

Brightman's face remained immovable. One by one he slipped the papersback into the envelope, thrust them into his breast pocket, and, turning round, locked the door. 

"You must forgive me if the rest of our investigations may seemunnecessarily severe, Miss Beverley, " he said. 

Katharine sank back upon the sofa. She was utterly bewildered by theevents of the last few minutes. The search of her belongings was nowbeing conducted with ruthless persistence. Her head was buried in herhands. She did not even glance at the contents of her trunk, whichwere now overflowing the room. Suddenly she was conscious of anotherpause in the proceedings, a half-spoken exclamation from thedetective. She looked up. From within the folds of an evening gown hehad withdrawn a small, official-looking dispatch box of black tin, tied with red tape, and with great seals hanging from either end. 

"What is this?" he asked. 

Katharine stared at it with wide-open eyes. 

"I have never seen it before, " she declared. 

There was another painful, significant silence. Crawshay bent forwardand examined the seals through his glass. 

"This, " he announced presently, "is the official seal of a neutralEmbassy. You see how the packet is addressed?"

"I see, " the detective admitted, "but, considering the way in which wehave found it, you are not suggesting, I hope, that we should notopen it?"

"Opened it certainly must be, " Crawshay admitted, "but not by us inthis manner. When you have finished your search, I should be glad ifyou will bring both packets with you to the captain's room. "

Brightman silently resumed his labours. Nothing further, however, wasfound. The two men stood up together. 

"Miss Beverley, " Brightman began gravely, --

Crawshay laid his hand upon the man's arm. 

"Wait for a moment, " he begged. "I wish to have a few words with yououtside. We shall be back before long, Miss Beverley. "

The two men disappeared. Katharine, with a sinking of the heart, heardthe key turn on the outside of her stateroom. She watched the lockslip into its place with an indescribable sense of humiliation. Shehad been guilty--of what?

She lost count of time, but it was certain that only a few minutescould have passed before a strange thing happened. The sight of thatlock, which seemed somehow to shut her off from the world ofreasonable, honest men and women, had fascinated her. She was sittingwatching it, her chin resting upon her hands, something of the horrorstill in her eyes, when without sound, or any visible explanation, shesaw it glide back to its place. The door was opened and closed. Jocelyn Thew was standing in her stateroom. 

"You?" she exclaimed. 

"I am not disappointed in you, I am sure, " he said softly. "You willkeep still. You will not say a word. I have risked the whole successof a great enterprise to come and say these few words to you. I amashamed and sorry for what you are suffering, but I want to tell youthis. Nothing serious will happen--nothing serious can happen to you. Everything is not as it seems. Will you believe that? Look at me. Willyou believe that?"

She raised her eyes. Once more there was that change in his face whichhad seemed so wonderful to her. The blue of his eyes was soft, hismouth almost tremulous. She answered him almost as though mesmerised. 

"I will believe it, " she promised. 

As silently and mysteriously as he had come, he turned and left her. She watched the latch. She saw the lock creep silently once more intoits place. She heard no movement outside, but Jocelyn Thew had gone. 

During the few remaining minutes of her solitude, Katharine felt acurious change in the atmosphere of the little disordered stateroom, in her own dazed and bruised feelings. She seemed somehow to beplaying a part in a little drama which had nothing to do with reallife. All her fears had vanished. She rose from her place, smoothedher disordered hair carefully, bathed her temples with eau-de-cologne, adjusted her hat and veil, and, turning on the reading lamp, opened anovel. She actually managed to read a couple of pages before there wasa knock at the door and the two men reappeared. She laid down her bookand greeted them quite coolly. 

"Well, have you come to pronounce sentence upon me?" she asked. 

"Our authority scarcely goes so far, " Brightman replied. "I am goingon shore now, Miss Beverley, to fetch the consul of the country towhich this packet is addressed. It will be opened in his presence. Inthe meantime, Mr. Crawshay has given his parole for you. You willtherefore be free of the ship, but it will be, I am afraid, my duty toask you to come with me to the police station for a furtherexamination, on my return. "

"I am sure I shall like to come very much, " she said sweetly, "but ifyou go on asking me questions forever, I am afraid you won't come anynearer solving the problem of how that box got into my trunk, or howthose bills got changed into those queer-looking little slips ofpapers. However, that of course is your affair. "

The detective departed with a stiff bow. Crawshay, however, lingered. 

"Aren't you going with your friend?" she asked him. 

He ignored the question. 

"Miss Beverley, " he said, "you will forgive me saying that I find thepresent position exceedingly painful. "

"Why?" she demanded. "I don't see how you are suffering by it. "

"It was at my instigation, " he went on, "that suspicion was firstdirected against your travelling companions. I am convinced that thefirst idea was to get these documents off the ship upon the person ofPhillips, if alive, or in his coffin if dead. The instigators of thisabominable conspiracy have taken fright and have made you theirvictim. Certainly, " he went on, "it was a shrewd idea. I myselfsuggested to Brightman that your things might remain undisturbed. Butfor the finding of that envelope, your trunk would certainly not havebeen opened. You see the position I have placed myself in. I am drivento ask you a question. Did you know of the presence of those papersand dispatch box amongst your belongings?"

"I had no idea of it, " she answered fervently. 

He drew a little breath of relief. 

"You realise, of course, " he went on, "that there is only one man whocould have placed them there?"

"And who is that?" she enquired. 

"Jocelyn Thew. "

"And why do you single him out?"

"Because, " Crawshay told her patiently, "we had evidence in America toshow that he was working with our enemies. It is true that he has notbeen associated to any extent with the German espionage system inAmerica, but he has been well-known always as a reckless adventurer, ready to sell his life in any doubtful cause, so long as it promisedexcitement and profit. It was known to us that he had come into touchwith a certain man in Washington who has been looking after theinterests of his country in America. It was to shadow Jocelyn Thewthat I came on this steamer. His friends cleverly fooled Hobson andme, and landed us in Chicago too late, as they thought, to catch theboat. That is why I made that somewhat melodramatic journey after youon the seaplane. Do please consider this matter reasonably, MissBeverley. It was perfectly easy for him to slip across and place thesethings in your luggage as soon as he found that his original schemewas likely to go wrong. You were the one person on the steamer whomhe reckoned would be safe from suspicion. You were part of his plotfrom the very first, and no more than that. "

"I cannot believe this, " she said slowly. 

Crawshay's face darkened. 

"It is no business of mine, Miss Beverley, " he declared, "but if youwill forgive my saying so, you must be infatuated by this man. Theevidence is perfectly clear. You are a prominent citizeness of a greatcountry, and you have been made an accessory to an act of treasonagainst that country. Yet, with plain facts in my hands, it seemsimpossible for me to shake your faith in this person. What is thereason of it? What hold had he upon you that he should have inducedyou to leave your work and your home and betray your country?"

"He has no hold upon me at all, " she replied indignantly. "Since youare so persistent, I will tell you the truth. I once saw him do asplendid thing, a deed which saved me from great unhappiness. "

"There we have it then at last!" Crawshay exclaimed eagerly. "You areunder obligations to him. "

"I certainly am, " she acknowledged. 

"And he has taken advantage of it, " Crawshay continued, "to make youhis tool. "

"Whatever he has done, " she replied, "rests between Jocelyn Thew andme. I am not in the least disposed to excuse myself or to beg formercy from you. If you represent the law, directly or indirectly, I donot ask for any favours. I shall be perfectly ready to go to yourpolice station whenever I am sent for. " There was a knock at thedoor. They both turned around. In reply to Katharine's mechanical"Come in, " Jocelyn Thew entered. 

"I beg your pardon, " he said, "was I mistaken or did I hear my name?"

"We were speaking of you, " Crawshay admitted, turning towards him, "but I do not think that either Miss Beverley or I have anything tosay to you at the moment. "

"That's rather a pity, " was the cool reply, "because you may not seeme again. I was looking for Miss Beverley, in fact, to say good-by. Weare docking in half an hour, and those who have been searched can goon shore, if they like to leave their hold luggage. As I have beensearched twice in the most thorough and effective fashion, I have mypass out. "

"You mean that you are going away altogether to-night?" Katharineexclaimed. 

"Only so far as the Adelphi, " he told her. "I have some friends to seewho live near Liverpool, so I shall probably stay there for two orthree days. "

"I was coming to look for you on deck presently, " Crawshay intervened, "but if your departure is so imminent, I will say what I have to sayto you here. "

"That would seem advisable, " Jocelyn Thew agreed. 

"I think it is only right that you should know, sir, " Crawshaycontinued, "that a very serious position has arisen here in which MissBeverley is unfortunately involved. Incriminating documents have beenfound in her luggage, placed there obviously by some unscrupulousperson, who was in search of a safe hiding-place. "

"Is this true?" Jocelyn Thew asked, looking past Crawshay toKatharine. 

"I am afraid that it is, " she assented. 

"The person who placed them there, " Crawshay proceeded, the angergathering in his tone, "may believe for the present that he has beenable to escape from his dangerous position by this dastardly attemptto incriminate a woman. He may, on the other hand, find that hisimmunity will last but a very short time. "

Jocelyn Thew nodded in calm acquiescence. 

"I am at a loss, " he said, "to account for your somewhat melodramatictone, but I really do not think that Miss Beverley has very muchto fear. "

"There I agree with you, " Crawshay declared. "She has not so much tofear as the criminal who is responsible for what has happened. He maythink that he has escaped by saddling his crime upon a woman'sshoulders. On the other hand, he may discover that this attempt, whichonly aggravates his position, will turn out to be futile. "

Jocelyn Thew held out his hand towards Katharine. 

"Really, " he said, "the tone of this conversation takes one back tothe atmosphere of the dear old Drury Lane melodrama. I feel, somehowor other, " he went on, looking into Katharine's eyes, "that our friendhere has cast me for the part of the villain and you for the injuredheroine. I am wondering whether I dare ask you for a farewellgreeting?"

Katharine did not hesitate for a moment. Her shapely, ringless handwas grasped firmly by his brown, lean fingers. She felt the pressureof a signet ring, the slight tightening of his grip as he leaned alittle towards her. Again she was conscious of that feeling ofexuberant life and complete confidence which had transformed her wholeand humiliating situation so short a time ago. 

"The injured heroine is always forgiving, " she declared, --"even thoughshe may have nothing to forgive. Good-by, Mr. Thew, and goodfortune to you!"

CHAPTER XV

The morning--grey, slightly wet--broke upon Liverpool docks, the ugliestplace in the ugliest city of Europe. A thin stream of people descended atirregular intervals down the gangway from the _City of Boston_ to the dock, and disappeared in various directions. Amongst the first came a melancholylittle procession--a coffin carried by two ship's stewards, with DoctorGant in solitary attendance behind. After the passengers came a sprinklingof the ship's officers, all very smart and in a great hurry. Then there wasa pause of several hours. About midday, two men--Brightman and astranger--came down the covered way into the dock and boarded the steamer. They were shown at once into the captain's room, where Crawshay and CaptainJones were awaiting them. 

"This, " Brightman said, introducing his companion, "is Mr. Andelsen. I wasfortunate enough to find him on the point of leaving for London. "

Mr. Andelsen shook hands and accepted a chair. Upon the table in front ofthe captain was the sealed dispatch box. Crawshay had a suggestion to make. 

"I think, " he said, "that Miss Beverley should be here herself when this isopened. "

"I have no objection, " Brightman assented. 

The captain rang for his steward and sent down a message. Mr. Andelsen--atall, thin man, dressed in a sombre grey suit--handled the seals for amoment, looked at the address of the box, and shook his head. 

"I could not take upon myself the responsibility of opening this, " hedeclared. "It is certainly the seal of the Embassy of my country, but thebox is addressed specifically to our Foreign Secretary at the Capital. "

"We quite appreciate that, " Crawshay admitted. "The captain, I believe, isnot asking you to break it. We simply wish you to be present while we doso, in order to prove that no disrespect is intended to your country, andin order that you yourself may have an opportunity of taking a note of thecontents. "

"So long as it is understood that I am only here as a witness, " the consulacquiesced, a little doubtfully, "I am quite willing to remain. "

Katharine was presently ushered in. She was dressed for landing in a smarttailor-made suit, and her appearance was entirely cheerful. Crawshaystepped forward and handed her a chair. 

"Dear me, " she said, "this all seems very formidable! Am I under arrest oranything?"

"The captain is about to open the dispatch box found in your trunk, MissBeverley, " Crawshay explained, "in the presence of Mr. Andelsen here, whorepresents the country whose seals are attached. I have already expressedmy opinion that this box has been surreptitiously placed amongst yourbelongings, and although, of course, our chief object was to gainpossession of it, I regret very much the position in which you are placed. "

"You are very kind, Mr. Crawshay, " she rejoined, without much feeling. "Itis certainly a fact that I never saw the box before it was dragged out ofmy trunk yesterday. "

The captain broke the seals, untied the tape, and with a chisel and hammerknocked the top off the box. They all, with the exception of Katharine, gathered around him breathlessly as he shook out the contents on to thetable. They were all sharers in the same shock of surprise as the neatlyfolded packets of ordinary writing paper were one by one disclosed. Crawshay seized one and dragged it to the light. The captain kept onpicking them up and throwing them down again. Brightman mechanicallyfollowed his example. 

"The whole thing's a bluff!" Crawshay exclaimed. "These sheets of paper areall blank! There isn't any trace even of invisible ink. "

The consul rose to his feet with a heavy frown. 

"This is a very obvious practical joke, " he said angrily. "It seems a pitythat I should have been compelled to miss my train to town. "

"A practical joke!" the captain repeated. "If it is I'm damned if Iunderstand the point of it!"

"Give me the envelope which held the notes, " Crawshay demanded. 

The captain unlocked his safe and produced it. Crawshay glanced throughsome of the documents hastily. 

"These are all bogus, too!" he exclaimed. "There are no such streets asthis in New York--no such names. The whole thing's a sell!"

"But what the--what in thunder does it all mean?" the captain demanded, pulling himself up as he glanced towards Katharine. 

Brightman, who had scarcely spoken a word, leaned across the table. 

"Probably, " he said drily, "it means that some one a little cleverer thanus has got away with the real stuff whilst we played around with thisrubbish. "

"But how?" Crawshay expostulated. "Not a soul has left this ship who hasn'tbeen searched to the skin. The luggage in the hold is going out trunk bytrunk, after every cubic foot has been ransacked. We have had a guard atevery gangway since we were docked. "

There was a knock at the door. The ship's doctor entered. He glanced at thelittle company and hesitated. 

"I beg your pardon, Captain, " he said, "could I have a word with you?"

The captain moved towards the threshold. 

"Ship's business, Doctor?"

"It's just a queer idea of mine about these papers, " the doctor confessed. "It's perhaps scarcely worth mentioning--"

"You'd better come in and tell us about it, " the captain insisted. "That'swhat we're all talking about at the present moment. "

Crawshay closed the door behind the newcomer, whose manner was still tosome extent apologetic. 

"It's really rather a mad idea, " the latter began, "and I understand youfound a part of what you were searching for, at any rate. But you know theman Phillips, who'd been operated upon for appendicitis--your patient, MissBeverley, who died during the voyage?"

"What about him?" the captain demanded. 

"Just one thing, " the Doctor continued. "There was no doubt whatever thathe had been operated upon for appendicitis, there was no doubt about thecomplications, there was no doubt about his death. I helped DoctorGant--who seemed a very reasonable person, and who is known to me as one ofthe physicians at Miss Beverley's hospital--in various small details, andat his request I went over the clothing of the dead man and even knockedthe coffin to see that it hadn't a double bottom. Doctor Gant appeared towelcome investigation in every shape and form, and yet, now that it's allover, there is one curious thing which rather bothers me. "

"Get on with it, man, " the captain admonished. "Can't you see that we'reall in a fever about this business?"

The doctor produced from his pocket a small strip of very fine qualitybandaging. 

"It's just this, " he explained. "They left this fragment of bandaging inthe stateroom. Phillips was bound up with it around the wound, as was quitenatural, but it isn't ordinary stuff, you see. It's made double like atube, with silk inside. He must have had a dozen yards of this around hisleg and side, which of course was not disturbed. It's a horrible idea to alayman, I know, " he went on, turning apologetically to Katharine, --

"Captain, will you send at once for the steward, " Crawshay interrupted, "who carried the coffin out?"

The captain sent a message to the lower deck. Katharine was leaning alittle forward, intensely interested. 

"Perhaps, Miss Beverley, you can throw some light upon this?" the formerenquired--"in your capacity as nurse, I mean. "

She shook her head. 

"I am sorry that I cannot, " she replied. "As a matter of fact, I was neverallowed to touch the bandages. Doctor Gant did all that himself. "

"Have you ever seen any bandaging of this sort?" Brightman asked, showingher the fragment which he had taken from the doctor's fingers. 

"Never. "

Crawshay drew a little breath between his teeth. He was on the point ofspeech when a steward knocked at the door. The captain called him in. 

"Harrison, " he asked, "were you one of the stewards who was looking afterDoctor Gant?"

"Yes, sir, " the man replied. 

"You helped to carry the coffin out, didn't you?"

"That's so, sir. We were off at six o'clock this morning. "

"Was there a hearse waiting?"

The steward shook his head. 

"There was a big motor car outside, sir. We put the coffin in that and thedoctor drove off with it--said he was to take it down to the place wherethe man had lived, for burial. "

"Do you know where that was?"

"No idea, sir. "

The captain glanced towards Brightman. 

"Do you want to ask the man any questions?"

"Questions? No, sir!" the detective replied bitterly. "We've beendone--that's all there is about it. Never mind, they've only got six hours'start. We'll have that car traced, and--"

"Does any one know what time Mr. Jocelyn Thew left the steamer?" Crawshayinterrupted. 

"He got away last night, " the steward replied. "There were three or four ofthem went up to the Adelphi to sleep. Some of them came back for theirbaggage this morning, but I haven't seen Mr. Jocelyn Thew. "

Katharine rose to her feet. Her tone and expression were impenetrable. 

"Am I still suspect?" she asked. 

Crawshay glanced at Brightman, who shook his head. 

"There is no charge against you. Miss Beverley, " he admitted stiffly. "Sofar as I am concerned, you are at liberty to leave the ship whenever youplease. "

She held out her hand to the captain. 

"I can't make up my mind, Captain, " she said, smiling at him delightfully, "as to what sort of a voyage I have had on this steamer, but I docongratulate you on that escape from the raider. Good-by!"

Crawshay walked with her along the deserted deck as far as the gangway. 

"I am afraid I cannot offer my escort any further, Miss Beverley, " heregretted. "I must have a little conversation with Brightman here. "

"Of course, " she answered. "I quite understand. Perhaps we may meet inLondon. It seems a pity, doesn't it, " she went on sympathetically, "thatthat wonderful voyage of yours was taken for nothing? Some one on this shiphas been very clever indeed. "

"Some one has, " Crawshay replied bitterly, "and you and I both know who itis, Miss Beverley. But, " he went on, holding the gangway railing as sheturned to descend, "it's only the first part of the game that's over. Ourfriend has won on the sea, but I have an idea that we shall have him onland. We shall have him yet, and we'll catch him red-handed if I haveanything to do with it. Will you wish us luck?"

She turned and looked at him. Her lips parted as though she were about tospeak. Instead she broke into a little laugh, and, turning away, descendedthe gangway. From the dock she looked up again at Crawshay. 

"Do come and look me up if you are in town, " she begged. "I shall stay atClaridge's, and I shall be interested to hear how you get on. "

CHAPTER XVI

The _City of Boston_ docked in Liverpool on Sunday night. On Tuesday, atfive o'clock in the afternoon, Crawshay, who had been waiting at EustonStation for a quarter of an hour or so, almost dragged Brightman out of thelong train which drew slowly into the station. 

"We'll take a taxi somewhere, " the former said. "It's the safest place totalk in. Any other luggage?"

"Only the bag I'm carrying, " the detective replied. "I have got some morestuff coming up, if you want me to keep on this job. "

"I think I shall, " Crawshay told him. "I want to hear how you got on. Igathered from your first telegram that you were on the track. Where did youmean to stay?"

"I've no choice. "

"The Savoy, then, " Crawshay decided. "Jocelyn Thew is staying there, andyou may be able to keep an eye on him. Here we are. Taxi?--Savoy!--Now, Brightman. "

"You don't want me to make a long story of it, sir, " Brightman observed, asthey drove off. 

"Just the things that count, that's all. "

"Well, we got on the track of the car all right, " the detective began, "andtraced it to a small village called Frisby, the other side of Chester, andto the house of a Mrs. Phillips, a woman in poor circumstances who had justremoved from Liverpool. She was the widow, all right. She showed usletters, and plenty of them, from her husband in New York. It appears thatGant alone had brought the coffin, which was left at the cemetery, and thefuneral will have taken place t his afternoon. Mrs. Phillips was full ofhis praises, and it seems that he had paid her over the whole of the moneyyou spoke about--five thousand dollars. "

"There was no chicanery so far, then, " Crawshay observed. "The man wasdead, of course?"

"Absolutely, " Brightman declared, "and his death seems to have taken placeexactly according to the certificate. Here comes the point, however. Withthe aid of the local police and the doctor whom we called in, the bandagearound the wound was removed. We found in its place a perfectly fresh one, bought in Liverpool, not in the least resembling the silk-lined fragmentwhich the ship's doctor brought into the cabin. "

Crawshay looked gloomily out of the window. 

"Well, I imagine that that settles the question of how the papers got intoEngland, " he sighed. 

"Our job, I suppose, " the detective reminded him, "is to see that theydon't get out again. "

"Precisely!"

"In a sense, " Brightman continued, "that is a toughish job, isn't it, because whoever has them now can make as many copies as he chooses, and oneset would be certain to get through. "

"As against that, " Crawshay explained, "some of the most valuable documentsare signed letters, of which only the originals would be worth anything. There are also some exceedingly complicated diagrams of New York harbours, a plan of all the battleships in existence and projected, a wonderfulsubmarine destroyer, and a new heavy gun. These things are verycomplicated, and to carry conviction must be in the original. Besidesthat, " he added, dropping his voice, "there is the one most important thingof all, but of which as yet no one has spoken, and of which I dare scarcelyspeak even to you. "

"Is it in the shape of a drawing?" Brightman asked. 

"It is not, " was the whispered reply. "It is a letter, written by thegreatest man in one of the greatest countries in the world, to the greatestpersonage in Europe. There is a secret reward offered of half a milliondollars for the return of that letter alone. "

"The affair seems worth looking into, " Brightman remarked, stroking hislittle black moustache. 

"I can promise you that the governments on both sides will pay handsomely, "Crawshay assured him. "I have had my chance but let it slip. You know I hadmy training at Scotland Yard, but out in the States I found that I simplyhad to forget all that I knew. Their methods are entirely different fromours, and you see what a failure I have made of it. I have let them getaway with the papers under my very nose. "

"I can't see that you were very much to blame, Mr. Crawshay, " the detectiveobserved. "It was a unique trick, and very cleverly worked out. "

They had turned off the main thoroughfare and were now brought to astandstill in the courtyard leading to the Savoy. Suddenly Crawshay grippedhis companion by the arm and directed his attention to a man who was buyingsome roses in the florist's shop. 

"You see that man?" he said. "Watch him carefully. I'll tell you why whenwe get inside. "

The eyes of Mr. Brightman and Jocelyn Thew met over the gorgeous cluster ofred roses which the girl was in the act of removing from the window, andfrom that moment the struggle which was to come assumed a differentcharacter. Brightman's thin mouth seemed to have tightened until the lineof red had almost disappeared. There was a flush upon his sallow cheeks. The hand which was gripping his walking stick went white about theknickles. But in Jocelyn Thew there was no change save a little addedglitter in the eyes. There was nothing else to indicate that therecognition was mutual. 

"Well, what about him?" Brightman asked, as their taxicab moved on. "Whatdoes he call himself?"

"Mr. Jocelyn Thew is his name, " Crawshay replied. "He was on the steamer. It is he, and not Gant, whom we have to make for. The plot which we have tounravel, which Gant and Phillips, and, unwittingly, Miss Beverley carriedthrough, was of his scheming. "

"Mr. Jocelyn Thew, " the detective repeated as they passed through the swingdoors. "So that is how he calls himself now!"

"You know him?"

"Know him!" Brightman repeated bitterly. "The last time I saw him I couldhave sworn that I had him booked for Sing Sing prison. He got out of it, ashe always has done. Some one else paid. It was the greatest failure I hadwhen I was in the States. So he is in this thing, is he?"

"He is not only very much in it, " Crawshay replied, "but he is the brainsof the whole expedition. He is the man to whom Gant delivered thosedocuments some time last night. "

They found two easy-chairs in the smoking room and ordered cocktails. Mr. Brightman sat forward in his chair. He was one of those men whoseindividuality seems to rise to any call made upon it. He was indifferentlydressed, by no means good-looking, and he had started life as a policeman. Just now, however, he seemed to sink quite naturally into his surroundings. Nothing about his appearance seemed worthy of note except the determinationof his very dogged mouth. 

"I accepted your commission a short time ago, Mr. Crawshay, " he said, "withthe interest which one always feels in Government business of aremunerative character. I tell you now that I would have taken it oneagerly if there had not been a penny hanging to it. I can't tell youexactly why I feel so bitterly about him, but if I can really get my handson to the man who calls himself Jocelyn Thew, it will be one of thehappiest days of my life. "

"You really know something about him, then? He really is a bad lot?"Crawshay asked eagerly. 

"The worst that ever breathed, " Brightman declared, "the bravest, coolest, best-bred scoundrel who ever mocked the guardians of the law. Mind you, Iam not saying that he hasn't done other things. He has travelled and foughtin many countries, but when he comes back to civilisation he can't rest. The world has to hear of him. Things move in New York underground. Themoment he takes rooms at the Carlton-Ritz, things happen in a way that theyhave never happened before, and we know that there's genius at the back ofit all, and Jocelyn Thew smiles in our faces. I tell you that if anythingcould have kept me in America, although I very much prefer Liverpool, thechance of laying my hands on this man would have done it. "

Through the swing doors, almost as Brightman had concluded his speech, cameJocelyn Thew. He was dressed in light tweeds, carefully fashioned by anEnglish tailor. His tie and collar, his grey Homburg hat with its blackband, his beautifully polished and not too new brown shoes, were exactlyaccording to the decrees of Bond Street. He seemed to be making his way tothe bar, but at the sight of them he paused and strolled across the roomtowards them. 

"Getting your land legs, Mr. Crawshay?" he enquired. 

"Pretty well, thank you. You finished your business in Liverpool quickly, Isee. "

"More urgent business brought me to London. I dined and spent last evening, by-the-by, with Doctor Gant--the doctor who was in attendance upon thatpoor fellow who died on the way over. "

"A very ingenious gentleman, " Crawshay observed drily. 

"Ah! you appreciate that, do you?" Jocelyn Thew replied, with a faintsmile. "You should go and cultivate his acquaintance. He is staying over atthe Regent Palace Hotel. "

"One doesn't always attach oneself to the wrong person, Mr. Thew. "

"Even the stupidest people in the world, " Jocelyn Thew agreed, "canscarcely make mistakes all the time, can they? By the way, " he went on, turning towards the detective, "is it my fancy or have I not had thepleasure of meeting Mr. Brightman in America? I fancied so when I saw himboard the steamer in the Mersey on Sunday, but it did not fall to my lot toreceive the benefit of his offices. "

"I was just telling Mr. Crawshay that I had had the pleasure ofprofessional dealings with you, " Brightman said drily. "I was alsolamenting the fact that they had not ended according to my desires. "

"Mr. Brightman was always ambitious, " the newcomer observed, with gentlesatire. "He is, I am sure, a most persevering and intelligent member of hisprofession, but he flies high. "

"I am much obliged for your commendation, " Brightman said bluntly. "Asregards professions, I was just explaining to Mr. Crawshay that you werealmost at the top of the tree in yours. "

"If you have discovered my profession, " Jocelyn Thew replied, "you havesucceeded where my dearest friends have failed. Pray do not make a secretof it, Mr. Brightman. "

"I have heard you called an adventurer, " was the prompt reply. 

"It is a term with which I will not quarrel, " Jocelyn declared. "Icertainly am one of those who appreciate adventures, who have no pleasurein sitting down in these grey-walled, fog-hung cities, and crawling aboutwith one's nose on the pavements like a dog following an unclean smell. No, that has not been my life. I have sought fortune in most quarters of theglobe, sometimes found it and sometimes lost it, sometimes with one weaponin my hand and sometimes with another. So perhaps you are right, Mr. Brightman, when you call me an adventurer. "

"These very uncomfortable times, " Crawshay remarked, "rather limit thesphere in which one may look for stirring events. "

"You are wrong, believe me, " Jocelyn Thew replied earnestly. "The storiesof the Arabian Nights would seem tame, if one had the power of seeing whatgoes on around us in the most unsuspected places. But we are digressing. Mr. Brightman and I were speaking together. It occurred to me, from what hesaid, that he has not quite the right idea as to my aspirations, as to theplace I desire to fill in life. I shall try to give him an opportunity toform a saner judgment. "

"It will give me the utmost pleasure to accept it, " the detectiveconfessed, with ill-concealed acerbity. 

Jocelyn Thew sighed lightly. He had seated himself upon the arm of aneighbouring easy-chair and was resting his hand upon the head of a cane hewas carrying. 

"If our friend Brightman here has a fault, " he said, "in the execution ofhis daily duties, it is that he brings to bear into his task a certainamount of prejudice, from which the mind of the ideal detector of crimeshould be free. Now you would scarcely believe it, Mr. Crawshay, I am sure, to judge from his amiable exterior, but Mr. Brightman is capable of verystrong dislikes, of one of which, alas! I am the object. Now this is not asit should be. You see what might happen, supposing Mr. Brightman wereengaged to watch a little coterie, or, in plainer parlance, a little gangof supposed misdemeanants. If by any possible stretch of his imagination hecould connect me with them, I should be the one he would go for all thetime, and although I perhaps carry my fair burden of those peccadilloes towhich the law, rightly or wrongly, takes exception, still, in thisparticular instance I might be the innocent one, and in Mr. Brightman's toogreat eagerness to fasten evil things upon me, the real culprit mightescape. --Thank you, Mr. Crawshay, " he added, accepting the cocktail whichthe waiter had presented. "Let us drink a little toast together. Shall wesay 'Success to Mr. Brightman's latest enterprise, whatever it may be!'"

Crawshay glanced at his companion. 

"I think we can humour our friend by drinking that toast, Brightman, " hesaid. 

"I shall drink it with great pleasure, " the detective agreed. 

They set down their empty glasses. Jocelyn Thew rose regretfully to hisfeet. 

"I fear, " he said, "that I must tear myself away. We shall meet again, Itrust. And, Mr. Brightman, a word with you. If you are in town for aholiday, if you have no business to worry you just at present, why notpractise on me for a time? Watch me. Find out the daily incidents of mylife. See what company I keep, where I spend my spare time--you know--andall the rest of it. I can assure you that although I am not the greatcriminal you fancy me, I am a most interesting person to study. Take myadvice, Mr. Brightman. Keep your eye upon me. "

They watched him on the way to the door--a little languid but exceedinglypleasant to look upon, exceedingly distinguished and prepossessing. A lookof half unwilling admiration crept into Brightman's face. 

"Whatever that man really may be, " he declared, "he is a great artist. "

The swing door leading from the room into the café was pushed open, and awoman entered. She stood for a moment looking around until her eyes fellupon Jocelyn Thew. Crawshay suddenly gripped the detective's arm. 

"Is there anything for us in this, my friend?" he whispered. "Watch JocelynThew's face!"

CHAPTER XVII

For a few seconds Jocelyn Thew was certainly taken aback. His little start, his look of blank astonishment, were coupled with a certain loss of poisewhich Crawshay had been quick to note. But, after all, the interlude wasbrief enough. 

"Exactly what does this mean, Nora?" he demanded. 

Her vivid brown eyes were fastened upon his face, eager to understand hisattitude, a little defiant, a little appealing. There was nothing to begathered from his expression, however. After that first moment he wasentirely himself--well-mannered, unemotional, cold. 

"I came over on the _Baltic_, " she explained, "I guessed I'd find you here. Fourteenth Street was getting a little sultry. The old man hopped it to SanFrancisco the day you left. "

"Sit down, " he invited. 

They found places on a lounge and were served with cocktails. The girlsipped hers disapprovingly. 

"Rum stuff, this, " she declared. "I guess I'll have to get my shaker out. "

"You are staying here, then?" he enquired. 

"Why not?" she replied, with a faint note of truculence in her tone. "Youknow I'm not short of money, and I guessed it was where I should find you. "

He raised his eyebrows. 

"That is very nice and companionable of you, " he said, "and naturally Ishall be very glad to be of any assistance possible whilst you are overhere, but I hope you will remember, Nora, that I did not encourage you tocome. "

"I'm wise enough about that, " she admitted. "I never expected you to caretwo pins whether you ever saw me again or not, and I know quite well, " shewent on hastily, "that I haven't any right to follow you, or anything ofthat sort. But honestly, Mr. Thew, we were being watched down there, andNew York wasn't exactly healthy. "

He nodded. 

"Yes, " he assented, "no doubt you are right. They have awkward methods ofcross-examination there, although I don't think they'd get much out of you, Nora. "

"I'd no fancy to have them try, " she admitted. "Besides, I've never hadthat trip to Europe that uncle and I were always talking about, and itseemed to me that if I wanted to see the old country whole, now or neverwas the time. You may all be a German colony over here by next year. "

"I have no right or any desire, " he told her quietly, "to interfere in anyway with your plans, but I must warn you that just at present I am livingin the utmost jeopardy. I have no friends to whom I can introduce you, norany of my own time or attentions to offer. Unless you choose to exercisetact, I might find your presence here not only embarrassing but a positivehindrance to my plans. "

"I guess I can lie close, " she replied, looking at him through half-closedeyes. "Just how am I to size that up, though?"

He looked at her appraisingly, a little cruelly. The effect of herbeautiful figure was almost ruined by the cheap and unbecoming clothes inwhich she was attired. Her hat, with its huge hatpins and ultra-fashionableheight, was hideous. She exuded perfumes. Her silk stockings and suedeshoes were the only reasonable things about her. The former she wasdisplaying with some recklessness as she leaned back upon the settee. 

"I once told you, " he said calmly, "that there was no woman in the worldfor whom I felt the slightest affection. "

"Well?"

"That is no longer the case. "

Her eyes glittered. 

"Who is she?"

"It is not necessary for you to know, " he answered coldly. "She happens, however, to be concerned in the business which I have on hand. She has beenof great assistance to me, and she may yet be the means of helping me tofinal success. I cannot afford to have her upset by any false impressions. "

She looked at him almost wonderingly. 

"If you're not the limit!" she exclaimed. "Nothing matters to you except tosucceed. You tell me in one breath that you care for a woman for the firsttime in your life, and in the next you speak of using her as your tool!"

"You perhaps find that incomprehensible, " he observed. "I do not blame you. At present, however, I have only one object in life, and that is to succeedin the business I have on hand. Whatever I may find it necessary to do toattain my ends, I shall do. "

She had gone a little pale, and her white teeth were holding down her fullunder lip. 

"Buy me another cocktail, " she demanded. 

He obeyed, and she drank it at a gulp. 

"So you are not going to be nice to me?" she asked in a low tone. 

"That depends upon what you call nice, " he answered. "I am rather upagainst a blank wall. Even if I succeed, I remain in this country at veryconsiderable personal danger. I am not sure that even for your sake, Nora, it is well for you to associate with me. Why not go home? You'll find someof your people still there--and an old sweetheart or two, very likely. "

"It isn't a very warm welcome, " she remarked, a little wistfully. 

"You have taken me by surprise, " he reminded her. "I had not the slightestidea of your coming. "

"I know that, " she sighed. "I suppose I ought not to have hoped foranything more. You've never been any different to me than to any of theothers. You treat us all, men and women, just alike. You are gracious orcold, just according to how much we can help. I sometimes wonder, Mr. Jocelyn Thew, whether you have a heart at all. "

For a single moment he looked at her kindly. His hand even patted hers. Itwas a curious revelation. He was a kindly ordinary human being. 

"Ah, Nora, " he said, "I am not quite so bad as that! But for many years Ihave had a great, driving impulse inside me, and at the back of it the mostwonderful incentive in all the world. You know what that is, Nora--orperhaps you don't. To a woman it would be love, I suppose. To a man it ishate. "

She drew a little further away from him, as though something which hadflamed in his eyes for a moment had frightened her. 

"Yes, " she murmured, "you are like that. "

Jocelyn Thew was himself again almost at once. 

"Since we understand one another, Nora, " he said, a little more kindly, "let me tell you that I am really very glad to see you, although you didgive me rather a shock just now. I want you, if you will, to turn your headto the left. You see those two men--one seated in the easy-chair and theother on its arm?"

"I see them. "

"They are the two men, " he continued, "who are out to spoil my show if theycan. You may see them again under very different circumstances. "

"I shan't forget, " she murmured. "The dark one looks like Brightman, thedetective you were up against in that Fall River business--the man whobelieved that you were the High Priest of crime in New York. "

"You have a good memory, " he remarked. "It is the same man. "

"And the other, " she continued, with a sudden added interest in hertone--"Why, that's the Englishman who had me turned off from the hotel inWashington. Don't you remember, I went there for a month on trial astelephone operator, just before the election? You remember why. ThatEnglishman was always dropping in. Used to bring me flowers now and then, but I felt certain from the first he was suspicious. He got me turned offjust as things were getting interesting. "

"Right again, " Jocelyn Thew told her. "His name is Crawshay. He is the manwho was sent out from Scotland Yard to the English Embassy. He crossed withme on the steamer. We had our first little bout there. "

"Who won?"

"The first trick fell to me, " he acknowledged grimly. 

"And so will the second and the third, " she murmured. "He may be brainy, though he doesn't look it with that monacle and the peering way he has, butyou're too clever for them all, Jocelyn Thew. You'll win. "

He smiled very faintly. 

"Well, " he said, "this time I have to win or throw in my chips. Now if youlike we'll have some lunch, and afterwards, if you'll forgive my taking theliberty of mentioning it, you had better buy some clothes. "

"You don't like this black silk?" she asked wistfully. "I got it at a storeup-town, and they told me these sort of skirts were all the rage overhere. "

"Well, you can see for yourself they aren't, " he remarked, a little drily. "London is a queer place in many ways, especially about clothes. You'reeither right or you're wrong, and you've got to be right, Nora. We'll seeabout it presently. "

They left the room together. Crawshay looked after them with interest. 

"This affair, " he told his companion, "grows hourly more and moreinteresting. You've been up against Jocelyn Thew, you tell me. Well, I amperfectly certain that that girl, whose coming gave him such a start, was ayoung woman I had turned away from an hotel in Washington. She was in thegame then--more locally, perhaps, but still in the same game. I used to sitand talk to her in the afternoons sometimes. Finest brown eyes I ever sawin my life. I wonder if there is anything between her and Jocelyn Thew, " headded, looking through the door with a faintly disapproving note in histone, --a note which a woman would have recognised at once as jealousy. 

"If you ask me, I should say no, " the other answered. "I've kept tabs onJocelyn Thew for a bit, and I've had his _dossier_. There's never been awoman's name mentioned in connection with him--don't seem as though he'dever moved round or taken a meal with one all the time he was in New York. To tell you the truth, Mr. Crawshay, that's just what makes it so difficultto get your hands on a man you want. Nine times out of ten it's through thewomen we get home. The man who stands clear of them has an extra chance ortwo--Say, what time this evening?"

"Come to my rooms at 178, St. James's Street, at seven o'clock, " Crawshaydirected. "I've a little investigation to make before then. "

CHAPTER XVIII

Crawshay took a taxicab from the Savoy to Claridge's Hotel, sent up hiscard and was conducted to Katharine Beverley's sitting room on the firstfloor. She kept him waiting for a few moments, and he felt a suddeninstinct of curiosity as he noticed the great pile of red roses which amaid had only just finished arranging. When she came in, he looked towardsher in surprise. She appeared to have grown thinner, and there were darkrims under her eyes. Her words of greeting were colourless. She seemedalmost afraid to meet his steady gaze. 

"I ought to apologise for calling in the morning, " he said, "but I venturedto do so, hoping that you would come out and have some lunch with me. "

"I really don't feel well enough, " she replied. "London is not agreeingwith me at all. "

"You are ill?" he exclaimed, with some concern. 

She looked at the closed door through which the maid had issued. 

"Not exactly ill. I have some anxieties, " she answered. "It is kind of youto keep your promise and come. Please tell me exactly what happened? Youknow how interested I am. "

"I have unfortunately nothing to report but failure, " he replied. "Everything seems to have happened exactly as the doctor on the shipsuggested. The detectives at Liverpool were quite smart. We were able totrace the car without much difficulty, and the body of your patientPhillips was found at his home, the other side of Chester. We obtainedpermission to make an examination, and we found that, just as we expected, fresh bandages had been put on only a few hours previously. "

"And Doctor Gant?"

"He is at an hotel in London. He is watched night and day, but he seems todivide his time between genuine sight-seeing and trying to arrange for hispassage home. Naturally, the whole of his effects have been searched, butwithout the slightest result. "

"And--and Mr. Jocelyn Thew?"

"His business in Liverpool seems to have detained him a very short time. Heis staying now at the Savoy Hotel. Needless to say, his effects too havebeen thoroughly searched, without result. "

"You know that he sent me these?" she asked, glancing towards the roses. 

"I saw him buying them. "

Her fingers had strayed over one of the blossoms, and he noticed that whilethey talked she was convulsively crushing it into pulp. 

"Were these detectives from Liverpool, " she asked, "able to keep any watchupon Doctor Gant and Mr. Jocelyn Thew after--Chester?"

"To some extent. There is no doubt that Jocelyn Thew spent the first nightin Liverpool. After that he travelled to London and took up his residenceat the Savoy. Here Doctor Gant, who had travelled up from Chester, calledupon him, late in the afternoon of the day of his arrival. They spent sometime together, and subsequently the doctor took a room at the Regent PalaceHotel. The two men dined together at the Savoy grill, and took a box at theAlhambra music-hall, where they spent the evening. They appear to havereturned to Jocelyn Thew's rooms, had a whisky and soda each and separated. There is no record of their having spoken to any other person or visitedany other place. "

"And their rooms have been searched?"

"By the most skilled men we have. "

She pulled another of the roses to pieces. 

"So it comes to this, " she said. "All these documents, of whose existenceboth you and the American police knew, have been brought from America toEngland, and even now you cannot locate them. "

"At present we cannot, " he confessed drily, "but I am not prepared to admitfor a single moment that they are ever likely to reach their destination. "

"Jocelyn Thew is very clever, " she reminded him calmly. 

"I am tired of being told so, " he replied, with a touch of irritation inhis tone. 

She smiled. 

"You probably need your luncheon! If you care to come downstairs with me, "she invited, "we can finish our conversation. "

"I shall be only too pleased. "

Katharine Beverley's table was in a quiet corner, and she sat with her backto the window, but even under such circumstances the change in her duringthe last few days was noticeable. There was a frightened light in her eyes, her cheeks were entirely colourless, her hands seemed almost transparent. Such a change in so short a time seemed almost incredible. Crawshay foundhimself unable to ignore it. 

"I am very sorry to see you looking so unwell, " he observedsympathetically. "I am afraid the shock of your voyage across the Atlantichas been too much for you. "

"I am terribly disturbed, " she confessed. "I am disappointed, too, in Mr. Jocelyn Thew. One hates to be made use of so flagrantly. "

"You really knew nothing, then, until those things were discovered in yourstateroom?"

"That question, " she replied, "I am not going to answer. "

"But the main part of the plot?" he persisted, "the bandages?"

"Doctor Gant never allowed me to touch them. That is what I found soinexplicable, --what first set me wondering. "

"The whole scheme was very cleverly thought out, " Crawshay pronounced, "butif you will forgive my repeating a previous speculation, Miss Beverley, thegreatest mystery about it all, to me, is how you, Miss Katharine Beverley, whose name and reputation in New York stands so high, were induced to leaveyour work, your social engagements and your home, at a time like this, whenyour country really has claims upon you, to act as ordinary sick nurse to aNew York clerk of humble means who turns out to have been nothing but thetool of Jocelyn Thew. "

"I am still unable to explain that, " she told him. 

He realised the state of tension in which she was and suddenly abandonedthe whole subject. He spoke of the theatres, asked of her friends in town, discussed the news of the day, and made no further allusion of any sort tothe mystery which surrounded them. It was not until after they had beenserved with their coffee in the lounge that he reverted to more seriousmatters. 

"Miss Beverley, " he said, "for your own sake I am exceedingly unwilling toleave you like this. I may seem to you to be an inquisitor, but believe meI am a friendly one. I cannot see that you have anything to lose in beingfrank with me. I wish to help you. I wish to relieve the anxiety from whichI know that you are suffering. Give me your confidence. "

"You ask a very difficult thing, " she sighed. 

"Difficult but not impossible, " he insisted. "I can quite understand thatyour discovery of the fact that you had been made use of to assist in thebringing to England of treasonable documents is of itself likely to be asevere shock to you, but, if you will permit me to say so, it is notsufficient to account for your present state of nerves. "

"You don't know all that is happening, " she replied, in some agitation. "There is a very astute lady detective who has a room near mine, and a manwho shadows me every time I come in or go out. I am expecting every momentthat the manager will ask me to leave the hotel. "

"That is all very annoying, of course, " he acknowledged sympathetically, "and yet I believe that at the back of your head there is still somethingelse troubling you. "

"You are very observant, " she murmured. 

"In your case, " he replied, "close observation is scarcely necessary. Why, it is only four days since we left the steamer, and you look simply thewreck of yourself. "

"A great deal has happened since then, " she confessed. 

He seized upon the admission. 

"You see, I was right. --There is something else! Miss Beverley, I am yourfriend. You must confide in me. "

"It would be useless, " she assured him sadly. 

"You cannot be sure of that, " he insisted. "If this espionage gets on yournerves, I believe that I have influence enough to have it removed, providedthat you will let me bring a friend of mine to see you here and ask you afew questions. "

She shook her head. 

"It is not the espionage alone, " she declared. "I am confronted withsomething altogether different, something about which I cannot speak. "

"Is this man Jocelyn Thew connected with it in any way?" he demanded. 

She winced. 

"Why should you ask that question?"

"Because it is perfectly clear, " he continued, "that Jocelyn Thew exercisessome sort of unholy influence over you, an influence, I may add, which itis my intention to destroy. "

She smiled bitterly. 

"If you can destroy anything that Jocelyn Thew means to keep alive, " shebegan--

"Oh, please don't believe that Jocelyn Thew is infallible, " he interrupted. "I have had a long experience of diplomatists and plotters and evencriminals, and I can assure you that no man breathing is possessed of morethan ordinary human powers. Jocelyn Thew has brought it off against us thistime, but then, you see, one must lose a trick now and then. It is the nextstep which counts. "

"Oh, the next step will be all right!" she replied, with a hard littlelaugh. "He has brought his spoils to England, although there must have beentwenty or thirty detectives on board, and you won't be able to stop hisdisposing of them exactly as he likes. "

"I don't agree with you, " he assured her confidently. "That, however, isnot what I want to talk about. You are in a false position. In the strugglewhich is going on now, your heart and soul should be with us and againstJocelyn Thew. "

Her eyes were lit with a momentary terror. 

"You don't suppose for a moment, " she said, "that my sympathies are notwith my own country and our joint cause?"

"I don't, " he replied. "On the other hand, your actions should follow uponyour sympathies. There is something sinister in your present state. I wantyou to tell me just what the terror is that is sitting in your heart, thathas changed you like this. Jocelyn Thew has some hold upon you. If so, youneed a man to stand by your side. Can't you treat me as a friend?"

She softened at his words. For a moment she sat quite silent. 

"I can only repeat to you what I told you once before, " she said. "If youare picturing Jocelyn Thew to yourself as a blackmailer, or anything ofthat sort, you are wrong. I am under the very deepest obligations to him. "

"But surely, " he protested, "you have paid your debt, whatever it was?"

"He admits it. "

"And yet the terror remains?"

"It remains, " she repeated sadly. 

Crawshay meditated for a moment. 

"Look here, Miss Beverley, " he said, "I have a friend who is chief in thiscountry of a department which I will not name. Will you dine with meto-night and let me invite him to meet you?"

She shook her head. 

"It is a very kind thought, " she declared, "but I am engaged. Mr. JocelynThew is dining here. "

Crawshay's face for a moment was very black indeed. He rose slowly to hisfeet. 

"I know that you mean to be kind, " she continued, "and I fear that I mustseem very ungrateful. Believe me, I am not. I am simply faced with one ofthose terrible problems which must be solved, and yet which admit of nohelp from any living person. "

Crawshay's attitude had grown perceptibly stiffer. 

"I am very sorry indeed, Miss Beverley, " he said, "that you cannot give meyour confidence. I am very sorry for my own sake, and I am sorry foryours. "

"Is that a threat?" she asked. 

"You know the old proverb, " he answered, as he bowed over her fingers. "'Those who are not on my side are against me. '"

"You are going to treat me as an enemy?"

"Until you prove yourself to be a friend. "

CHAPTER XIX

At a quarter to eight that evening, a young man who had made fitfulappearances in the lounge of Claridge's Restaurant during the lasthalf-hour went to the telephone and rang up a certain West End number. 

"Are these Mr. Crawshay's rooms?" he asked. 

"Mr. Crawshay speaking, " was the reply. 

"Brightman there?"

Crawshay turned away from the telephone and handed the receiver to thedetective. 

"What news, Henshaw?" the latter enquired. 

"Miss Beverley dines at her usual table, sir, at eight o'clock, " was thereply. "The table is set for three. "

"For three?" Brightman exclaimed. 

"For three?" Crawshay echoed, turning from the sideboard, where he had beenin the act of mixing some cocktails. 

"You are quite sure the third place isn't a mistake?" Brightman asked. 

"Quite sure, sir, " was the prompt reply. "I am acquainted with one of thehead waiters here, and I understand that two gentlemen are expected. "

"Anything else?"

"Nothing, sir. Miss Beverley sent away two parcels this afternoon, whichwere searched downstairs. They were quite unimportant. "

"I shall expect to hear from you again, " Brightman directed, "within halfan hour. If the third person is a stranger, try and find out his name. "

"I'll manage that all right, Mr. Brightman. The young lady has just comedown. I'll be getting back into the lounge. "

Brightman turned around to Crawshay, who was in the act of shaking thecocktails. 

"A third party, " he observed. 

"Interesting, " Crawshay declared, "very interesting! Perhaps theintermediary. It might possibly be Doctor Gant, though. "

The detective shook his head. 

"Three quarters of an hour ago, " he said, "Doctor Gant went into Gatti'sfor a chop. He was quite alone and in morning clothes. "

Crawshay poured the amber-coloured liquid which he had been shaking into afrosted glass, handed it to his companion and filled one for himself. 

"Here's hell to Jocelyn Thew, anyway!" he exclaimed, with a note of realfeeling in his tone. 

"If I thought, " Brightman declared, "that drinking that toast would bringhim any nearer to it, I should become a confirmed drunkard. As it is, sir--my congratulations! A very excellent mixture!"

He set down his glass empty and Crawshay turned away to light a cigarette. 

"No, " he decided, "I don't think that it would be Doctor Gant. Jocelyn Thewhas finished with him all right. He did his job well and faithfully, but hewas only a hired tool. Speculation, however, is useless. We must wait forHenshaw's news. Perhaps this third guest, whoever he may be, may give us aclue as to Jocelyn Thew's influence over Miss Beverley. "

The telephone rang a few minutes later. Crawshay this time took up thereceiver, and Brightman the spare one which hung by the side. It wasHenshaw speaking. 

"Miss Beverley has just gone in to dinner, " he announced. "She isaccompanied by Mr. Jocelyn Thew and a young officer in the uniform of aFlight Commander. "

"What is his name?" Crawshay asked. 

"I have had no opportunity of finding out yet, " was the reply. "I believethat he is staying in the hotel, and he seems to be on very intimate termswith Miss Beverley. "

"On no account lose sight of the party, " Crawshay directed, "and try andfind out the young soldier's name. Wasn't he introduced to Jocelyn Thew?"

"Not a bit of it, " was the prompt reply. "They shook hands very much likeold friends. "

"Go back and watch, " Crawshay directed. "I must know his name. The sooneryou can find out, the better. I want to get away within a few minutes, if Ican. "

They left the instrument. Crawshay, who seemed a little nervous, took acigarette from an open box which he passed across to his companion, andstrolled up and down the room for a few moments with his hands in hispockets. 

"A young officer, " he remarked, "presumably English, known to both MissBeverley and Jocelyn Thew, seems rather a puzzle. He may be the connectinglink. I hope to goodness your man won't be long, Brightman. "

"Are you in a hurry?" the detective asked. 

Crawshay nodded. 

"I want to get round to the Savoy, " he announced. 

Brightman smiled slightly. 

"Were you thinking about the young lady, sir?" he asked. 

"I thought it might be useful to renew my acquaintance with her, " Crawshayexplained, a little laboriously. "I shouldn't think she'd go out alone. "

"She has probably made some friends by this time, " Brightman observed. 

Crawshay dropped his eyeglass and polished it. 

"From my experience of the young lady, " he said, a little stiffly, "Ishould think it improbable. I happened to meet her twice in New York, andshe struck me as being an extraordinarily well-behaved and, in her naturalway, very attractive person. "

"Do you suppose that she came to Europe after Jocelyn Thew?" Brightmanasked. 

"Oh, damn Jocelyn Thew!" Crawshay replied. "I should think it mostunlikely. You and I have both seen the man's _dossier_. Most cold-bloodedperson alive. "

The telephone broke in once more upon their conversation. Crawshay took upthe receiver. It was Henshaw speaking. 

"I made a mistake about the uniform, sir, " he announced. "The young man isin the Canadian Flying Corps and he is the young lady's brother. He iscalled Captain Beverley. "

"Her brother!" Crawshay exclaimed. 

"The connecting link!" Brightman murmured. 

Meanwhile, the little dinner at Claridge's, of which sketchy tidings werebeing conveyed to the two occupants of Crawshay's flat by Henshaw, wassettling down, so far as the two men were concerned, into a cheery enoughmeal. There had been a little strangeness at first, but Jocelyn Thew'shearty welcome of his young friend, and his genuine pleasure at seeing him, had quickly broken the ice. Katharine, however, although she had a shademore colour than earlier in the day, had sometimes the air of a Banquo atthe feast. She listened almost feverishly to Jocelyn Thew, whenever heseemed inclined to turn the conversation into a certain channel, and shewatched her brother a little anxiously as the waiter filled up his glass, unchecked, every few minutes. The likeness between the two was apparentenough, although marked by certain differences. Beverley was tall, ofexceedingly powerful build, and with a fresh, strong face which would havebeen remarkably attractive but for the weak mouth and the slightly puffycheeks. 

"I can't conceive anything more fortunate than this meeting, " Jocelyn Thewdeclared, as he inspected the cigars which had been brought round to him, with the air of a connoisseur. "Quite an extraordinary coincidence, too, that you should turn up in London on five days' leave, the very day thatyour sister arrives from the States. Tell me, are you right up at thefront?"

"Right beyond it, most days, " was the cheerful reply. "We spend most of ourtime over the German lines. "

"Lucky fellow!" Jocelyn Thew sighed. "You are getting now what a few yearsago one had to defy the law for--real, thrilling sensations. It's a lifefor men, yours. "

The young man's hand shook a little as he raised his glass. He lookedtowards Jocelyn Thew almost appealingly. 

"It's a splendid life, " he assented, talking rapidly and with the air ofone who wishes to stifle conversation. "I had hard work to get my wings, but I guess I'm all right now. The engine part of it never gave me anytrouble, but I suffered from a kind of sickness the first few times I wentup. It's a gorgeous sensation, flying. The worst of it is we never knowwhen those cunning Germans aren't coming out with something fresh. Theystung us up last week with a dozen planes of an entirely new pattern, twohundred and fifty horse-power engines on a small frame. Gee, they gave someof our elderly machines a touching up, I can tell you!"

"So you fly over the German lines most days, eh?" Jocelyn Thew ruminated. 

"We dropped a few thousand copies of the President's speech last Monday, "the young man told them. "That ought to give them something to think about. They only know just what they are told. The last batch of prisoners thatwere brought in firmly believed that one of their armies had landed inEngland and that London was on the point of falling. "

"All war, " Jocelyn Thew said didactically, "is carried on under a cloud ofmisconception. "

The young man stretched himself out. He had dined well and his courage wasreturning. He asked a question which up till then he had felt inclined toshirk. 

"What licks me, " he declared suddenly, "is finding you two over here. Whatever brought you across, Katharine?"

There was a brief silence. Katharine seemed uncertain how to answer. It wasJocelyn Thew who took up the challenge. 

"A little over a fortnight ago, " he explained, "I called upon your sisterin New York. I begged her to perform a certain service for me. Sheconsented. The execution of that service brought her across from New Yorkon board the _City of Boston_. "

"But have you two been seeing anything of one another, then? You nevermentioned Thew in any of your letters, Katharine?"

"Your sister and I have not met since a certain memorable occasion, "Jocelyn Thew replied. 

The young man shivered and drained his glass. 

"What was this service?" he enquired. 

"Your sister played sick nurse upon the steamer to a person in whom I wasinterested, and who was operated upon in her hospital, " Jocelyn Thewexplained. "He was an Englishman, and very anxious to reach his own countrybefore he died. "

"I can't quite catch on to it, " Beverley admitted. 

Jocelyn Thew glanced carelessly around. His manner was the reverse ofsuspicious, but he only resumed his speech when he was sure that not even awaiter was within hearing. 

"It happened to form part of an important plan of mine, " he said, "that aman who was dangerously ill should be brought over to England withoutraising any suspicion as to his _bona fides_. I made use of your sister'sname and social position to ensure this. There has been, as I think youhave often acknowledged, Beverley, a debt owing from you to me. Half ofthat debt your sister has paid. "

"You haven't been getting Katharine mixed up in any crooked business?" herbrother demanded excitedly. 

"Your sister ran no risk whatever, " Jocelyn Thew assured him. "Sheperformed her share of the bargain excellently. It is just possible, " hecontinued, with a glint of fire in his eyes and a peculiar, cold emphasiscreeping into his words, "that it may fall to your lot to wipe out theremainder of the debt. "

Beverley moved in his chair uneasily. 

"You will remember, " he said, "that things have changed. I am not a freeagent now. I entered upon this fighting business as an adventure, but, myGod, Thew, it's got into my blood! I've seen things, felt things. I don'twant anything to come between me and the glorious life I live day by day. "

Jocelyn Thew nodded approvingly. 

"That's the proper spirit, Beverley, " he declared. "I always knew you hadpluck. Quite the proper spirit! Your sister showed the same courage whenthe necessity came. "

"Oh, don't bring me into this, please!" she interrupted. 

"You seem to have been brought into it, " her brother observed grimly, "andI'm not sure that I am satisfied. I can pay my own debts. "

There was a note of rising anger in his tone. Katharine laid her fingersupon his hand. 

"Don't imagine things, please, Dick, " she begged. "It is my own foolishnessif I am disturbed. I really had nothing to do. Mr. Thew has been mostconsiderate. "

"In any case, " Jocelyn Thew went on, "I think that the matter had better bediscussed another time, when we are alone. We might have to make referenceto things which are best not mentioned in a public place. "

For a moment the young man's eyes challenged his. Then they fell. Heshivered a little. 

"Why ever speak of them?" he demanded. 

"Ah, well, we'll see, " Jocelyn Thew observed. "Now what about an hour ortwo at a music-hall? I have a box at the Alhambra. "

Katharine rose at once to her feet. They all made their way into thelounge. Whilst they waited for her to fetch her cloak, Beverley swung roundto his companion. 

"Look here, " he said, "for myself it doesn't matter--you know that--butwhat game are you playing? I don't know much about your life, of course, before those few days, but on your own showing you were out for big things. Are you known here? Is it anything--anything against the law, this businessyou're on? I don't care for myself--you know that. It's Katharine I'mthinking of. "

Jocelyn Thew knocked the ash from his cigar. He smiled deprecatingly at hiscompanion. Certainly there was no man in that very fashionable restaurantwho looked less like a criminal. 

"My dear Beverley, " he expostulated, "you must remember that I am anexceedingly clever person. I am suspected of any number of misdemeanours. Iwill not say that there are not one or two of which I have not been guilty, but I have never left behind me any proof. I dare say the English policeover here look on me sometimes just as hungrily as the New York ones. Theyfeel in their hearts that I am an adventurer. They feel that I have beenconnected with some curious enterprises, both in the States and variousother countries of the globe. They know very well that where there has beenfighting and loot and danger, I have generally followed under my own flag. They know all this, but they can prove nothing against me. They can onlywatch me, and that they do wherever I am. They are watching me now, everyhour of the day. "

"It isn't, " the young man commenced, with a sudden break in his tone--

Jocelyn shook his head. 

"No, my young friend, " he said, "the curtain fell upon that little episode. I doubt whether there is even a police record of it. It isn't the lives ofindividuals I am juggling with to-day. It's the life of a nation. "

"Are you a spy?" Beverley asked him hoarsely. 

"Your sister, " Jocelyn Thew pointed out, "is waiting for us. "

CHAPTER XX

Crawshay, having the good fortune to find, as he issued from his rooms, ataxicab whose driver's ideas of speed were in accordance with his ownimpatience, managed to reach the Savoy at a few minutes before eight. Heentered the hotel by the Court entrance. An insignificant-looking young manwith a fair moustache and watery eyes touched him on the shoulder as hepassed through the Court lobby. Crawshay glanced lazily around and assuredhimself that they were unobserved. 

"Anything fresh?" he asked laconically. 

"Nothing. We have searched Miss Sharey's rooms thoroughly, and two of ourmen have been over Thew's apartments again. "

"Miss Sharey up-stairs?"

The young man shook his head. 

"Hasn't been up for some hours, " he reported. 

Crawshay nodded and strolled on. He left his coat and hat in charge of theattendant, and entered the grill room. Here, however, he met withdisappointment. The place was crowded but his search was methodical. Therewas no sign there of Nora Sharey. He climbed the few stairs and entered thesmoking room. Seated in an armchair, reading a novel, he discovered theyoung lady of whom he was in search. 

He crossed the room at a slow saunter, as though on his way to the bar, andpaused before the girl's chair. She laid down her book and looked up athim. Her smile at once assured him of a welcome. 

"I am glad that I am not altogether forgotten, Miss Sharey, " he said, holding out his hand which she promptly accepted. "I suppose it still isMiss Sharey, is it? I hope so. "

"I guess the name's all right, " she replied. "Glad to see you don't bearany ill-will against me, Mr. Crawshay. You Englishmen sometimes get sopeevish when things don't go quite your way, and you weren't saying nicethings to me last time we met. "

Crawshay smiled and glanced at the seat by her side. She made room for him, and he subsided into the vacant space with a little sigh of content. 

"A man's profession, " he confided, "sometimes makes large and repugnantdemands upon him. "

"If that means you are sorry you were rude to me last time we met down inFourteenth Street, " she said, "I guess I may as well accept your apology. You were a trifle disappointed then, weren't you?"

"We acted, " Crawshay explained, with studied laboriousness, --"my friendsand I acted, that is to say--upon inconclusive information. America at thattime, you see, was a neutral Power, and the facilities granted us by theNew York police were limited in their character. My department wasthoroughly convinced that the--er--restaurant of which your father was theproprietor was something more than the ordinary meeting place of thatsection of your country-people who carried their enmity towards my countryto an unreasonable extent. "

She looked at him admiringly. 

"Say, you know how to talk!" she observed. "What about getting an innocentgirl turned out of a job at Washington, though?"

Crawshay stroked his long chin reflectively. 

"You don't suppose, " he began--

"Oh, don't yarn!" she interrupted. "I'm not squealing. You knew very wellthat I'd no need to take a post as telephone operator, and you did yourduty when you got me turned off. It was very clever of you, " she went on, "to tumble to me. "

Crawshay accepted the compliment with a smile. 

"If you will permit me to say so, Miss Sharey, " he declared, "you are whatwe call in this country a good sportsman. "

"Oh, I can keep on the tracks all right, " she assented. "I guess I am alittle easier to deal with, for instance, than your friend Mr. JocelynThew. "

Crawshay frowned. His expression became gloomier. 

"I am bound to confess, Miss Sharey, " he sighed, "that your friend Mr. Jocelyn Thew has been the disappointment of my life. "

"Some brains, eh?"

"He has brains, courage and luck, " Crawshay pronounced. "Against thesethree things it is very hard work to bring off--shall I say a _coup_?"

"The man who gets the better of Jocelyn Thew, " she declared, with a littlelaugh, "deserves all the nuts. He is a sure winner every time. You're upagainst him now, aren't you?"

"More or less, " Crawshay confessed. "I crossed on the steamer with him. "

"I bet that didn't do you much good!"

"I lost the first game, " Crawshay confessed candidly. "I see that you knowall about it. "

"No need to put me wiser than I am, " the girl observed carelessly. "JocelynThew's no talker. "

"Not unless it serves his purpose. It is astonishing, " Crawshay went onreflectively, "how the science of detection has changed during the last tenyears. When I was an apprentice at it--and though you may not think it. Miss Sharey, I am a professional, not an amateur, although I am generallyemployed on Government business--secrecy was our watchword. We hid incorners, we were stealthy, we always posed as being something we weren't. We should have denied emphatically having the slightest interest in theperson under surveillance. In these days, however, everything is changed. We play the game with the cards upon the table--all except the last two orthree, perhaps--and curiously enough, I am not at all sure that it doesn'tadd finesse to the game. "

Her eyes flashed appreciatively. 

"You're dead right, " she acknowledged. "Take us two, for instance. You knowvery well that Jocelyn Thew is a pal of mine. You know very well that Ishall see him within the next twenty-four hours. You know very well thatyou're out to hunt him to the death, and you know that I know it. Everyquestion you ask me has a purpose, yet we talk here just as chanceacquaintances might--I, a girl whom you rather like the look of--you dolike the look of me, don't you, Mr. Crawshay?"

Crawshay had no need to be subtle. His eyes and tone betrayed hisadmiration. 

"I have thoroughly disliked you ever since you were too clever for me inNew York, " he confessed, "and I have been in love with you all the time. "

"And you, " she continued, with a little gleam of appreciation in her eyes, "are a very pleasant-looking, smart, agreeable Englishman, who looks asthough he knew almost enough to ask a poor girl out to dinner. "

Crawshay glanced at his wrist watch. 

"It is you who have the science of detection, " he declared. "You have readmy thoughts. Do you wish to change your clothes first, or shall we turn inat a grill room?"

She rose promptly to her feet. 

"I'm all for the glad rags, " she insisted. "I bought a heap of clothes inBond Street this afternoon, and I don't know how many chances I shall haveof wearing them. I am a quick dresser, and I shan't keep you more than aquarter of an hour. But just one moment first. "

Crawshay stood attentively by her side. 

"I am at your service, " he murmured. 

"It's all in the game, " she went on, "for you to take me out to dinner, ofcourse, but I guess I needn't tell you that there's nothing doing in theinformation way. You've fixed it up in your mind, I dare say, that I am madwith Jocelyn Thew. I may be or I may not, but that doesn't make me any themore likely to come in on your side of the game. "

Mr. Crawshay's gesture was entirely convincing. 

"My dear Miss Sharey, " he said softly, "I am going to take a holiday. Business is one thing and pleasure is another. For this evening I am goingto put business out of my mind. The sentiment at which I hinted a fewmoments ago, has, I can assure you, a very real existence. "

"Hinted?" she laughed. "Guess there wasn't much hint about it. You said youwere in love with me. "

"I am, " Crawshay sighed. 

Her eyes danced joyously. 

"You shall tell me all about it over dinner, " she declared. "I've got apeach of a black gown--you won't mind if I am twenty minutes?"

"I shall mind every moment that you are away, " Crawshay replied, "but I canpass the time. I will telephone and have a cocktail. "

She leaned towards him. 

"I can guess whom you are going to telephone to. "

"Perhaps--but not what I am going to say. "

"You are going to telephone to that chap with the darkmoustache--Brightman, isn't it? I can hear you on the wire. 'Say, boys, 'you'll begin, 'I'm on to a good thing! Everything's looking lovely. I'mtaking little Nora Sharey, of Fourteenth Street, out to dine--girl who cameover to Europe after Jocelyn Thew, you know. Good business, eh?'"

Crawshay laughed tolerantly. The girl's humour pleased him. 

"You are wrong, " he declared. "If I told them that, they'd expect somethingfrom me which I know I shan't get. You are right about the person, though. I am going to telephone to Brightman. "

"What are you going to say?" she challenged him. 

"I am just going to tell him, " Crawshay confided, "that Jocelyn Thew isdining with Miss Beverley and her brother, more red roses and a cornertable in the restaurant, and--"

"Well, what else?"

Crawshay hesitated. 

"Perhaps, " he said, "if I went on I might put just one card too many on thetable, eh?"

"We'll let it go at that, then, " she decided. "After all, you know, I amnot coming exactly like a lamb to the slaughter. There are a few thingsyou'd like to get to know from me about Jocelyn Thew, but there are also afew things I should like to worm out of you. We'll see which wins. And, Mr. Crawshay. "

"Miss Sharey?" he murmured, bending down to her as he held the door open. 

"I don't mind confessing that it depends a great deal upon what brand ofchampagne you fancy. "

"_Mum cordon rouge_?" he suggested. 

She made a little grimace as she turned away. 

"I am rather beginning to fancy your chance, " she declared. 

CHAPTER XXI

Crawshay, about half an hour later, piloted his companion to the tablewhich he had engaged in the restaurant with all the _savoir faire_ of aredoubtable man about town. She was, in her way, an exceedingly strikingfigure in a black satin gown on which was enscrolled one immense cluster offlowers. Her neck and arms, very fully visible, were irreproachable. Herblue-black hair, simply arranged but magnificent, triumphed over thefashions of the coiffeur. The transition from Fourteenth Street to herpresent surroundings seemed to have been accomplished without the slightesthitch. She leaned forward to smell the great cluster of white roses whichhe had ordered in from the adjoining florist's. 

"The one flower I love, " she sighed. "I always fall for white roses. "

Crawshay's eyes twinkled as he took his place. 

"Do you remember your English history?" he asked. "This is perhaps destinedto become a battle of red and white roses--red roses at Claridge's andwhite roses here. "

"Which won--in history?" she asked indifferently. 

"That I won't tell you, " he said, "in case you should be superstitious. Atthe same time, I am bound to confess that if we could both of us hearexactly what Jocelyn Thew is saying to-night across those red roses, Ithink perhaps that I should back the House of York. "

"So that's the stunt, is it?" she remarked coolly. "You want to make mejealous of Katharine Beverley?"

"The cleverest and hardest men in the world, " Crawshay observed, "generallymeet with their Waterloo at the hands of your sex. So far as I amconcerned, I am myself in distress. I am jealous of Jocelyn Thew. "

"You're bearing up!"

"I am bearing up, " Crawshay rejoined, "because I am hoping that withkindness and consideration, and with opportunity to prove to you what adomestic and faithful person I am, you will perceive that of the two men Iam the more worthy. "

"Think something of yourself, don't you?" she observed. 

"I have cultivated this confidence, " he told her. "In my younger days I wasover-diffident. "

"Guess you're older than I thought you, then. "

"I am thirty-seven years old, " he declared, "and I was well brought up. "

"Jocelyn Thew, " she said reflectively, "is forty. "

"I did not bring you here, " he declared, "to discuss the age of my unworthyrival. I brought you to tell me whether you consider that this _LobsterAmericaine_ reminds you at all of Delmonico's, and to prove to you that wecan, if we put our minds to it and speak plain and simple words to the_sommelier_, serve our champagne as iced even as you like it. "

Nora was not wanting in appreciation. 

"It's the best thing I've had to eat since I left New York, and for sometime before that, " she assured him. "There hasn't been much Delmonico's forme during the last few months. Too many of your lot poking about FourteenthStreet. "

He nodded. 

"After all, " he said, "that was bound to come to an end when Americadeclared war. You people did the only wise thing--brother to San Francisco, eh, your father to Chicago, and you over here?"

"You do know things, " she laughed. 

"I am a perfect dictionary as to your movements, " he assured her. 

"Have you anything to do with the fact that my rooms have been searched bythe police?" she asked abruptly. 

"Indirectly I fear so, " he confessed. "You see, up to the present wehaven't the least idea as to what has become of all those documents andplans which Mr. Jocelyn Thew so very cleverly brought over to thiscountry. "

"Don't know where he's tucked them away, eh?" she enquired. 

"That's a fact, " Crawshay confessed. "We discovered, a trifle too late, howthey were brought over, but what has become of them since Jocelyn Thew'sarrival in London we do not know. Every one concerned has been searched, nodeposit has been made at any hotel or in any of the ordinary places whereone might conceal securities. They have momentarily vanished. "

The girl's eyes twinkled. 

"Well, " she exclaimed, "he does put it over you, doesn't he? I wonderwhether you think that I am going to be any use to you--that you'll trapJocelyn Thew through me?"

"Not now, " he answered. "I used to think so once. "

"Why have you changed your mind?"

"Because, " he told her bluntly, "I used once to think that you and he caredfor one another. "

"And now?"

"I have changed my mind, " he admitted. "You know him so well that I neednot remind you that where women are concerned he seems to have shown fewsigns of weakness. Personally, I have a theory that the time has come whenhe is likely to go the way of all other men. "

She leaned across the table. Those wonderful brown eyes of hers were litwith an indescribable interest. Crawshay for a moment lost the thread ofhis thoughts. They were certainly the most beautiful eyes he had everlooked into. 

"You think there is anything between those two--Katharine Beverley andhim?"

"The consideration of that point, " Crawshay continued, resuming his usualmanner, "although it lies off the track of my present investigation, presents some points of interest. She can be of no further use to him inhis present scheme. She certainly would not aid him in the concealment ofany of his spoils, nor could she become an intermediary in forwarding themto their destination. Yet he has sent her roses every day she has been inEngland, and dined with her two nights following. You, who know him betterthan I do, will agree that such a course is unusual with him. "

"But Dick Beverley is with them to-night, you told me, " she reminded him. 

"That scarcely alters the situation, " Crawshay pointed out, "because hiscoming was quite unexpected. If anything, it rather strengthens my point ofview. Beverley is very much a young man of the world, and he probably knowsJocelyn Thew's reputation. He certainly would not consent to meet him inthis friendly fashion, in company with his sister, unless the latterinsisted. "

"She doesn't need to insist, " Nora said, watching the champagne poured intoher glass. "Unless you're kidding me, you don't seem to be able to see muchfurther than your nose. Katharine Beverley didn't come across the Atlanticfor her health, and Dick Beverley didn't join that little dinner party fornothing to-night. They both of them did as they were told, and they had todo it. "

"This, I must confess, " Crawshay murmured, smoothly and mendaciously, "puzzles me. Your idea is, then, that Jocelyn Thew has some hold overthem?"

She laughed at him a little contemptuously. 

"You are not going to make me believe, " she said, "that you are not wiseabout that. It isn't clever, you know, to treat me as a simpleton. "

"I am afraid, " he confessed humbly, "that it is I who am the simpleton. Youthink, then, that the red roses are more emblematic of warfare than oflove?"

Nora shrugged her shoulders and was silent for several moments. Hercompanion changed the subject abruptly, pointed out to her severaltheatrical celebrities, told her an entertaining story, and talked nonsenseuntil the smile came back to her lips. It was Nora herself who returned tothe subject of the Beverleys, reopening it with a certain abruptness whichshowed that it had never been far from her thoughts. 

"See here, Mr. Crawshay, " she said, "you seem to me to be wasting a lot oftime worrying round a subject, when I don't know whether a straightforwardquestion wouldn't clear it up for you. If you want to know what there isbetween those three, Jocelyn Thew and the two Beverleys, I don't know thatI mind telling you. It's probably what you asked me to dine with you for, anyway. "

"My dear Miss Sharey!" Crawshay protested, with genuine earnestness. "I canassure you that I had only one object in asking you to spend the eveningwith me. "

She smiled at him over the glass which she had just raised to her lips. 

"And that?"

"The pleasure of talking to you--of being with you. "

"You're easily satisfied. "

"Perhaps not so easily as I seem, " he whispered, leaning a little forwardin his place. "If only I were sure that you were not in love with JocelynThew!"

"If you think that I am, " she observed, "why are you always slinging thatBeverley girl at me?"

"Perhaps, " he said coolly, "to make you jealous. All's fair in love andwar, you know. "

"I see. Then what you really want is to make love to me yourself? I'msitting here and taking notice. Go right ahead. "

Crawshay let himself go for a few moments, and his companion listened tohim approvingly. 

"It sounds quite like the real thing, " she sighed, "but I never trust youEnglishmen. You seem to acquire the habit of talking love to us girls justas easily as you drink a cocktail. You know that if I were to put my littlehand in yours this moment across the table, you wouldn't know what to dowith it. "

"Try me, " Crawshay begged. 

She held it out--a long, rather thin, capable woman's hand, manicured a fewhours ago in the latest fashion, but ringless. Crawshay promptly raised itto his lips. She snatched it away, half amused, half vexed, and glancedfurtively around. 

"If you did that in an American restaurant, " she told him, "you'd standsome chance of getting yourself laughed at. "

"It's quite the custom over here and on the Continent, " he assured herequably. "It means--well, just as much as you want it to mean. "

She sighed and looked at her fingers reflectively. 

"What you'd like me to tell you, then, " she suggested, raising her eyes andlooking at him thoughtfully, "is that I've never wasted a thought onJocelyn Thew, but that Mr. Reginald Crawshay is it with a capital 'I'?"

"It would make me very happy, " he assured her with much conviction. 

She laughed at him very softly. Little sparks seemed to flash from hereyes, and her teeth were wonderful. 

"You're very nice, anyway, " she declared, "although I am not sure that Ibelieve in you as much as I'd like to. I'll just tell you as much as Iknow. It really doesn't amount to anything. It was just after Jocelyn Thewhad come back from Nicaragua and Dick Beverley was having a flare-up of hisown in New York. They came together, those two, when Dick was in a tightcorner. I don't know the story, but I know that Jocelyn Thew played thewhite man. Dick Beverley owes him perhaps his life, perhaps only hisliberty, and his sister knows it. That's how those three stand to oneanother. "

"I ought to have puzzled that out myself, " Crawshay said humbly. 

"I am not so sure, " she retorted drily, "that you didn't, long ago. "

"Surmises are of very little interest by the side of facts, " he remindedher. "I like to have something solid to build upon. "

She smiled at him appreciatively. 

"If I were a sentimental sort of girl, " she declared, "I could take a fancyto you, Mr. Crawshay. "

"Now you're laughing at me, " he protested. "However, I'm going right onwith it and then we will dismiss all serious subjects. Miss Beverley hascertainly quit herself of any obligation to Jocelyn Thew. Richard Beverleyis no longer free. Besides, he has only a couple of days in England, sothere's very little chance of his being of use. Yet, " he continuedimpressively, "I happen to know that every hour just now is of the greatestimportance to Jocelyn Thew. Why does he spend another entire evening withthese two?"

"Say, which of us is the detective--you or me?" she demanded. 

"Professionally, I suppose I am, " he admitted. "Just now, however, Iconsider myself as indulging in the relaxation of private life. "

She leaned across the table towards him, her chin supported by her clenchedhands. 

"Then relax all you want to, " she begged, with a smile of invitation. "We'll drop the other stunt, if you don't mind. And please remember, thoughI've never enjoyed a dinner more in my life, that we don't want to be toolate for the Empire. "

Crawshay returned to his rooms about one o'clock the next morning, with hishat a little on the back of his head, and wearing, very much against hisprejudice, a white rose in his buttonhole. Brightman, who was awaiting himthere, looked up eagerly at his entrance. 

"Any luck, Mr. Crawshay?"

Crawshay laid his hat and coat upon the table and mixed himself a whiskyand soda. 

"I am not sure, " he replied thoughtfully. "Are you any good at Englishhistory, Brightman?"

"I won an exhibition in my younger days, " the detective replied. "I used toconsider myself rather great on history. "

"Who won the Wars of the Roses?"

"The Lancastrians, of course. "

Crawshay nodded. 

"They were the chaps with the red roses, weren't they?" he observed. "Brightman, I fancy we are going to reverse that. I am laying five to onethat I've found out how Jocelyn Thew counts on getting his spoils intoGermany. "

CHAPTER XXII

The dinner of the red roses, as though in emulation of its rivalentertainment, seemed on its way to complete success. Jocelyn Thew, fromwhose manner there seemed to have departed much of the austerity of theprevious evening, had never been a more brilliant companion. He, who spokeso seldom of his own doings, told story after story of his wanderings indistant countries, until even Katharine lost her fears of the situation andabandoned herself to the enjoyment of the moment. His tone was kindlier andhis manner more natural. He spoke with regret of Richard Beverley'sdeparture in a couple of days, and only once did he hint at anything in theleast disturbing. 

"Wonderful feat, that of you flying men, " he remarked, "dropping tenthousand copies of Wilson's speech over the German lines. I am not surethat it isn't rather a dangerous precedent, though. "

"Why dangerous?" Katharine enquired. 

"Because, " he answered coolly, "it might suggest a possible means ofcommunication with Germany to a person, say, like myself. "

"But you are not a flying man, " Katharine reminded him. 

He smiled. 

"It would not be necessary, " he observed, "for me to be my own messenger. "

There was a brief and rather a blank silence. The shadow of a new fear hadarisen in Katharine's heart. The brother and sister exchanged quickglances. 

"I believe I am right, " their host went on, a few minutes later, "inpresuming that you have told Richard here the details of our littleadventure upon the _City of Boston_?"

"I have told him everything, " Katharine acknowledged. "You don't mind that, do you? I felt that I had to. "

"You were quite right, " Jocelyn Thew assented. "There is no reason for youto keep anything secret from Richard. "

The young man was conscious of a sudden recrudescence of anger, the flamingup again of his first resentment. 

"The whole thing was a rotten business, Thew, " he declared. "I should neverhave resented your making use of me in any way you wished, but to make atool of Katharine--"

"My dear fellow, " Jocelyn Thew interrupted, smoothly but with a dangerousglitter in his eyes, "please don't go on. I have an idea that you weregoing to say something offensive. Better not. Your sister came to no realharm. She never ran any real risk. "

"It depends upon the way you look at these things, " the young man repliedgloomily. "Katharine tells me that she is watched at her hotel day andnight, and that she has come under the suspicion of the Government forbeing concerned in this affair. "

"That really isn't of much account, " the other assured him. "You yourself, "he went on, "came very nearly under suspicion once for something infinitelymore serious. "

It was a chill note in the warmth of their festivities. Katharine glancedreproachfully at her host, and he seemed to realise at once his lapse. 

"Forgive me, both of you, " he begged. "I fear that I am a little irritableto-night. This constant espionage gets on one's nerves. Look at them allaround us, --Crawshay in the corner, trying his best to get somethingincriminating out of Nora Sharey; Brightman smoking a cigar out there, withhis eyes wandering all the time through the glass screen towards thistable; and the young man who seemed to haunt your hotel, MissBeverley--Henshaw I believe his name is--you see him dining there with hisback turned ostentatiously towards us and a little pocket mirror by hisside. There are three pairs of eyes that scarcely ever leave us. I don'tknow whether they expect me to produce my spoils from my pocket and laythem upon the table, or whether one of them is a student of the liplanguage and hopes to learn the secrets of our conversation. Bah! They arevery stupid, this professional potpourri of secret-service agents anddetectives. Can't you hear them, how they will whisper in the lobby afterwe have left? 'Jocelyn Thew is entertaining a young Flying Corps man onleave from the front, the brother of Miss Beverley, who has already helpedhim. What does that mean?' Then they will put their fingers to their nosesand you, too, will probably be watched, Dick. They will congratulatethemselves upon possessing the subtlety of the Devil. They will see throughmy scheme. They will say--'This young man is to drop the documents behindthe German lines!' Don't be alarmed, Richard, if you find a secret serviceman in your bedroom when you get home to-night. "

Katharine laughed almost joyously. 

"Then you're not going to ask Dick to do anything of that sort?" shedemanded, her tone indicating an immense relief. 

He smiled. 

"I am not going to ask your brother to do anything which is so palpablyobvious, " he replied. "His help I am certainly going to engage, but in amanner which is very unlikely to bring trouble upon him. I promise youthat. "

She suddenly leaned across the table. The cloud had passed from herfeatures, the dull weight from her heart. Her eyes were more eloquent eventhan her tremulous lips. 

"Mr. Thew, " she said, "do you know that I have always had one convictionabout you, and that is that all these strange adventures in which you havetaken part--some of them, as you yourself have acknowledged, morecreditable than others--you have entered into chiefly from that spirit ofadventure, just the spirit in which Dick here, " she added with a littleshiver, "made his mistake. Why can't you satisfy that part of your natureas Dick is doing? This war, upon which we Americans looked so coldly atfirst, has become almost a holy war, a twentieth-century crusade. Why don'tyou join one of these irregular forces and fight?"

Then they both witnessed what they had never before seen in Jocelyn Thew. They saw his eyes blaze with a sudden concentrated fury. They saw his lipspart and something that was almost a snarl transform and disfigure hismouth. 

"Fight for England?" he exclaimed bitterly. "I would sooner cut off myright hand!"

His words left them at first speechless. He, too, after his little outburstseemed shaken, lacking in his usual _sangfroid_. It was Katharine who firstrecovered herself. 

"But you are English?" she protested wonderingly. 

"Am I?" he replied. "Will you forgive me if I beg you to change thesubject?"

The subject was effectually changed for them by the advent of some ofRichard Beverley's brothers in arms. It was some time before they passedon. Then a little note almost of tragedy concluded the feast. A tall andelderly man, gaunt, with sunken cheeks, silver-white hair, complexioncuriously waxen, and big, dark eyes, left the table where he had beensitting with a few Americans and came over towards them. His advance wasmeasured, almost abnormally slow. His manner would have been melodramaticbut for its intense earnestness. He stood at their table for a few secondsbefore speaking, his eyes fixed upon Jocelyn Thew's in a curious, almostunnatural stare. 

"You will forgive me, " he said. "I must be speaking to Sir Denis Cathley?"

Neither of the two young people, who were filled with wonder at the strangeappearance of the newcomer, noticed Jocelyn Thew's sudden grip of thetablecloth, the tightening of his frame, the ominous contraction of hiseyebrows as for a moment he sat there speechless. Then he was himselfagain. He shook his head courteously. 

"I am afraid, " he replied, "that you must be making some mistake. My nameis Jocelyn Thew. "

"And mine, " the stranger announced, "is Michael Dilwyn. Is that name knownto you?"

"Perfectly well, " Jocelyn Thew acknowledged. "I was present at theproduction of your last play in New York. I have since read with muchregret, " he went on courteously, "of the losses you have sustained. "

The old man's wonderful eyes flashed for a moment. 

"They are losses I am proud to endure, sir, " he said. "But I did not cometo speak of myself. I came to speak to Sir Denis Cathley. "

Jocelyn Thew shook his head. 

"It is a likeness which deceives you, " he declared. 

"A likeness!" the other repeated. "Nine weeks ago I stood in a ruinedmansion--so dilapidated, in fact, that one corner of it is open to theskies. I listened to the roar of the Atlantic as I heard it in the sameplace fifty years ago. A herdsman and his wife, perhaps a girl or two, livesomewhere in the back quarters. The only apartment in any sort ofpreservation is the one sometimes called the picture gallery and sometimesthe banqueting hall. You should visit this ruined mansion, sir. You shouldvisit it before you give me the lie when I call you Sir Denis Cathley. "

Jocelyn Thew's hand for a moment shielded part of his face, as though hefound the electric light a little strong. From behind the shelter of hispalm his eyes met the eyes of his visitor. The latter suddenly turned andbowed to Katharine. 

"You will forgive an old man, " he begged courteously, "who has seen muchtrouble lately, for his ill manners. Perhaps your friend here, your friendwhose name is not Sir Denis Cathley, can explain to you why I felt someemotion at the sight of so wonderful a likeness. "

He bowed, murmured some broken words in reply to Katharine's kindly littlespeech, and moved away. Jocelyn Thew's eyes watched him with a curioussoftness. 

"Yes, " he acknowledged, "I can tell you why, if he really saw a likeness inme to the person he spoke of, it might remind him of strange things. Youknow him by name, of course--Michael Dilwyn?"

"He wrote the wonderful Sinn Fein play, 'The New Green, ' didn't he?"Katharine asked eagerly. "I heard you mention it to him. My aunt and I werethere at the first night. "

"He wrote that and some more wonderful poetry. He has spent more than halfhis life working for the cause of Ireland. He was the father and patriarchof the last rising. One of his sons was shot at Dublin. "

"And who is Sir Denis Cathley?"

"The Cathleys are another so-called revolutionary family, " Jocelyn Thewexplained. "The late Sir Denis, the father of the man whom he supposed meto be, was Michael Dilwyn's closest friend. They, too, have paid a heavyprice for their patriotism or their rebellious instincts, whichever way youchoose to look at the matter. "

"I think, " Katharine declared, "that Mr. Dilwyn is the mostpicturesque-looking man I ever saw. I don't believe that even now he isaltogether convinced as to your identity. "

"He has probably reached an age, " was the cool reply, "when his memorybegins to suffer. --Ah! I see our friend Crawshay is taking counsel withHenshaw. They are looking in this direction. Richard, my young friend, youare in a bad way. Suspicion is beginning to fasten upon you. Believe me, one of my parasites will be on your track to-night. I can almost convincemyself as to their present subject of conversation. They are preeningthemselves upon having seen through my subtle scheme. I am very sure theyare asking themselves--'When is the transfer of documents to take place?'"

"It may all seem very humorous to you, " the young man remarked, a littlesullenly, "but it leaves a sort of nasty flavour in one's mouth, all thesame. If they were to suspect me of trying to drop documents over theGerman lines except under instructions, it would mean a court-martial, eventhough they were unable to prove anything, and a firing party in fiveminutes if they were. "

"Take heart, my young friend, " Jocelyn Thew advised him, "and do not refusethe Courvoisier brandy which our saintly friend with the chain isproffering. If it is not indeed a relic of the Napoleonic era, it is atleast drinkable. And listen--this may help you to drink it with zest--I amnot going to ask you to drop any documents over the German lines. "

The thankfulness in Katharine's face was reflected in her brother's. 

"Thank God for that!" he exclaimed, helping himself liberally to thebrandy. "You know I'd find it hard to refuse you anything, Thew, but thereare limits. Besides, you are never really out of sight there. We go out insquadrons, and from the height we fly at nothing I could drop would be verylikely to reach its destination. "

Jocelyn Thew smiled coldly. 

"My dear Richard, " he said, "I am not going to make you an unwillingpartner in any foolhardy scheme such as you are thinking of, because thatis just the Obvious thing that our friends who take so much interest in uswould expect and prepare for. All the same, there is just a triflingcommission which I will ask you to undertake for me, and which I willexplain to you later. When do you leave?"

"Ten o'clock train from Charing Cross on Monday night, " the young manreplied. "I have to fly on Tuesday morning. "

"Then if it pleases you we will all dine here that night, " Jocelyn Thewsuggested, "and I will take you on to the Alhambra for an hour. Doctor Gantand I were there our first night in town, and we found the performanceexcellent. You will honour me, Miss Beverley?"

"I shall be delighted, " she answered, "but I am not at all sure that youwill be able to get seats at the Alhambra. "

"Why not?" he asked. 

"There is a great benefit performance there on Monday night, " she told him. "The house is closed now for rehearsals. All the stalls have gone already, and the boxes are to be sold by auction at the Theatrical Fête. "

Jocelyn Thew was for a moment grave. 

"I am very glad that you told me this, " he said, "but I think that I cannevertheless promise you the stage box for Monday night. I have a call onit. We must all meet once more. It is just possible that I may have apleasant surprise for both of you. "

"Do give us an idea what it is, " she begged. 

He shook his head. Somehow, since the coming of Michael Dilwyn, a tiredlook had crept into his eyes. He seemed to have lost all his old vivacity. He had paid the bill some time before and they strolled together now intothe lounge. Katharine was carrying half a dozen of the roses, which thewaiter had pressed into her hand. 

"To-night, " she said, looking up into his face and dropping her voice alittle, "I am feeling so much happier--happier than I have felt for a longtime. Why do you keep us both, Mr. Thew, in such a state of uneasiness? Yougive us so little of your real confidence, so little of your real self. Sometimes it seems as though you deliberately try to make yourself out aharder, crueller person than you really are. Why do you do that?"

For a moment she fancied that the impossible had happened, that she hadpenetrated the armour of that steadfast and studied indifference. 

"We are all just a little the fools of circumstance, " he sighed. "A will tosucceed sometimes, if it is strong enough, crushes out things we would liketo keep alive. "

She thrust one of the blossoms which she was carrying through hisbuttonhole. 

"I know you will hate that, " she whispered, "but you can take it out themoment you have gotten rid of us. Dick and I are going on now, you know, tothe Esholt House dance. Shall I thank you for your dinner?"

"Or I you for your company?" he murmured, bowing over her fingers. 

They took their leave, and Jocelyn Thew, almost as though against his will, walked back into the foyer, after a few minutes of hesitation, and satthere twirling the rose between his fingers, with his eyes fixed upon theinterior of the restaurant. He had the air of one waiting. 

CHAPTER XXIII

Crawshay was awakened the next morning a little before the customary hourby his servant, who held out a card. 

"Gentleman would like a word with you at once, sir, " the latter announced. 

Crawshay glanced at the card, slipped out of bed, and, attired in hisdressing gown and slippers, made an apologetic entrance into the sittingroom. The young man who was waiting there received him kindly, butobviously disapproved of the pattern of his dressing gown. 

"Chief wants a word with you, sir, " he announced. "He is keeping from tento ten-thirty. "

"I will be there, " Crawshay promised, "on the stroke of ten. "

"Then I need not detain you further, " his visitor remarked, making agraceful exit. 

Crawshay bathed, shaved and breakfasted, and at five minutes before tenentered an imposing-looking building and sent up his card to a very greatman, who had a fancy for being spoken of in his department as Mr. Brown. After a very brief delay, he was admitted to the august presence. Mr. Brownwaved his secretaries from the room, shook hands kindly with Crawshay andmotioned him to a chair close to his own. 

"Mr. Crawshay, " he said, "this is the first time I have had the pleasure ofmeeting you, but we have received at various times excellent reports as toyour work at Washington. "

"I am very pleased to hear it, sir. "

"From what I gather as to the present situation, however, " the great mancontinued, "I imagine that you were more successful in the conventionalsecret service work than you have been in the very grave business I havesent for you to discuss. "

"I should like to point out, sir, " Crawshay begged, "that that foolishjourney to Halifax was undertaken entirely against my convictions. Iprotested at the time! Neither had I any confidence in the summons toChicago. "

Mr. Brown took the circumstance into gracious consideration. 

"I am glad to hear that, " he said, "and I must admit that your recovery wasalmost brilliant. A sense of humour, " he went on, "sometimes obtrudesitself into the most serious incidents, and the idea of your boarding thatsteamer from a seaplane and then getting to work upon your investigationswill always remain to me one of the priceless unrecorded incidents of thewar. But to put the matter into plain words, our enemies got the better ofyou. "

"Absolutely, " was the honest confession. 

"There is no doubt, " the right honourable gentleman continued, "that theperson who took charge of this affair is exceedingly clever. He appears tohave resource and daring. Personally, I, like you, never believed for amoment that the whole of the records of German espionage in America for thelast three years, would be found upon the same steamer as that by which thedeparting ambassadorial staff travelled. However, I can quite see thatunder the circumstances you had to yield to the convictions of those whowere already in charge of the affair. "

"You have had full reports, sir, I suppose?" Crawshay asked. "You know themanner in which the documents were brought into this country?"

"A ghastly business, " Mr. Brown acknowledged, "ingenious but ghastly. Yes, Mr. Crawshay, " he went on, "I think I have been kept pretty well posted uptill now. I have sent for you because I am not sure whether one point hasbeen sufficiently impressed upon you. As you are of course aware, there aremany documents and details connected with this propaganda which are ofimmense value to the police of New York, but there is just one--a letterwritten in a moment of impulse by one great personage to another, andstolen--which might do the cause of the Allies incalculable harm if it wereto fall into the wrong hands. "

"I had a hint of this, sir. Mason knew of it, too. His idea was that theywould be quite willing to destroy all the rest of the treasonable stuffthey have, if they could be sure of getting this one letter through. "

"The documents have been in England now, " Mr. Brown observed, "for somedays. Have you formed any theory at all as to where they may be concealed?"

"To be perfectly frank, " Crawshay confessed, "I have not. Doctor Gant, Jocelyn Thew, a young woman called Nora Sharey, and Miss Beverley are thefour people possibly implicated in their disappearance, although of thesetwo I consider Miss Sharey and Miss Beverley out of the question. Nevertheless, their rooms and every scrap of property they possess havebeen searched thoroughly, and their movements since they arrived in Londonare absolutely tabulated. Not one of them has written a letter ordispatched a parcel which has not been investigated, nor have they made acall or even entered a shop without being watched. It seems absolutelyimpossible that they can have taken any steps towards the disposal of thedocuments since Jocelyn Thew arrived in London. "

"Have they given any indication of their future plans?"

"Doctor Gant, " Crawshay replied, "has booked a passage back in the Americanboat which sails for Liverpool early to-morrow morning. We shall escort himthere, and his effects will be searched once more in Liverpool. Otherwise, we have no intention of detaining him. He and Miss Beverley were simply thetools of the other man. "

"And the other man?"

"He has shown no signs of making any move whatsoever. He lives, to allappearance, the perfectly normal life of a man of leisure. I understandthat he is entirely a newcomer to this sort of business, but he is, withouta doubt, the most modern thing in secret service. He lives quite openly ata small suite in the Savoy Court. He never makes the slightest concealmentabout any of his movements. We know how he has spent every second of histime since we first took up the search, and I can assure you that there isnot a single suspicious incident recorded against him. "

"You are satisfied, " Mr. Brown asked, "with the aid which you are gettingfrom Scotland Yard?"

"Absolutely, " Crawshay declared. "Brightman, too--the man who came downwith me from Liverpool--has done excellent work. "

"And notwithstanding all this, " was the somewhat grave criticism, "you havenot the slightest idea where these documents are to be found?"

"Not the slightest, " Crawshay confessed. "All that I do feel convinced ofis that they have not left the country. "

The great man leaned back a little wearily in his chair. There were somedecoded cables, lying under a paper weight by his side, imploring him inthe strongest possible terms to make use of every means within his power tosolve this mystery, --a personal appeal from a man whose good will mightsway the balance of the future. He was used to wonderful service in everydepartment he controlled. His present sense of impotence was galling. 

"Tell me, Mr. Crawshay, " he asked, "how long was the gap of time betweenyour losing sight of Jocelyn Thew and when you picked him up in London?"

"Very short indeed, " was the emphatic reply. "Jocelyn Thew must have leftthe _City of Boston_ at about eight o'clock on Monday morning. He met Gantat five o'clock that evening at Crewe station. Gant had come direct fromFrisby, the little village near Chester where he had left the body ofPhillips. It is obvious, therefore, that Gant had the papers with him whenhe joined Jocelyn Thew. They travelled to London together but parted atEuston, Gant going to a cheap hotel in the vicinity of Regent Street, whilst Thew drove to the Savoy. Gant called at the Savoy Hotel at nineo'clock that evening, and the two men dined together in the grill room andtook a box at a music hall--the Alhambra. Up to this time neither of themhad received a visitor or dispatched a message--Thew, in fact, had spentmore than an hour in the barber's shop. They returned from the Alhambratogether, went up to Thew's rooms, had a drink and separated half an hourlater. This, of course, is in a sense posthumous information, but ScotlandYard have it tabulated down to the slightest detail, and we are unable tofind a single suspicious circumstance in connection with the movements ofeither man. At four o'clock the following morning, when both men wereasleep in their rooms, the cordon was drawn around them. Since then theyhaven't had a chance. "

"The fact that the papers are not in the possession of either of them, " Mr. Brown said reflectively, "proves that they made some move of which you haveno record. "

"Precisely, " Crawshay agreed, "but it must have been a move of so slight acharacter that chance may reveal it to us at any moment. "

"Describe Jocelyn Thew to me, " Mr. Brown begged. 

"He has every appearance, " Crawshay declared, "of being a man of breeding. He is scarcely middle-aged--tall and of athletic build. He dresses well, speaks well, and I should take him anywhere for an English public schooland college man. "

"Did New York give you his record?"

"In a cloudy sort of way. He seems to have had a most interesting career, ranching out West, fighting in Mexico, fighting in several of the CentralAmerican states, and fighting, I shrewdly suspect, against England in SouthAfrica. He seems to have been a sort of stormy petrel, and to have turnedup in any place where there was trouble. In New York the police alwayssuspected him of being connected with some great criminal movements, butthey were never able to lay even a finger upon him. He lived at one of thebest hotels in the city, disappeared sometimes for days, sometimes forweeks, sometimes for a year, but always returned quite quietly, withapparently any amount of money to spend, and that queer look which comes toa man who has been up against big things. "

"He is an Englishman, I suppose?"

"He must be. His accent and manners and appearance are all unmistakable. "

"How long was he suspected of being in the pay of our enemies before thisthing transpired?"

"Only a very short time. There was a little gang in New York--Rentoul, theman who had the wireless in Fifth Avenue, was in it--and they used to meetat a place in Fourteenth Street, belonging to an old man named Sharey. That's where Miss Sharey comes into the business. There were some queerthings done there, but they don't concern this business, and New York hasthe records of them. "

"Jocelyn Thew, " Mr. Brown repeated slowly to himself. "Where did you say hewas staying?"

"At the Savoy Court. "

Mr. Brown looked fixedly at the cables, fluttering a little in the breezewhich blew in through the half-open window. 

"All this isn't very encouraging, Mr. Crawshay, " he sighed. 

"Up to the present no, " the former admitted. "Yet I can promise you onething, sir. Those papers shall not leave the country. "

"I am glad to hear you speak with so much confidence, " Mr. Brown observeddrily. "Mr. Jocelyn Thew seems at any rate to have managed to secrete themwithout difficulty. "

"That may be so, " Crawshay acknowledged, "and yet I am convinced of onething. They are disposed of in some perfectly obvious way, and within thenext forty-eight hours he will make some effort to repossess himself ofthem. If he does, he will fail. "

Mr. Brown glanced at his watch. 

"I am very much obliged to you for coming to see me, " he said. "You aredoing your best, I know, and I beg you, Mr. Crawshay, never for a moment tolet your efforts relax. The mechanical side of the watch that is being keptupon these people I know we can rely upon, but you must remember that youare the brains of this enterprise. Your little band of watchers will bequiet enough to see the things that happen and the things that exist. It isyou who must watch for the things which don't happen. "

Crawshay smiled slightly as he rose to take his leave. 

"I do not as a rule suffer from over-confidence, sir, " he said, "but Ithink I can promise you that by Wednesday night not only will the papers bein our hands, but Mr. Jocelyn Thew will be so disposed of that he will beno longer an object of anxiety to us. "

"Get on with the good work, then, " was Mr. Brown's laconic farewell. 

Late on the following afternoon, Jocelyn Thew and Gant paced the longplatform at Euston, by the side of which the special for the American boatwas already drawn up. Curiously enough, in their immediate vicinity Mr. Brightman was also seeing a friend off, and on the outskirts of the littlethrong Mr. Henshaw was taking an intelligent interest in the scene. 

"Perhaps, after all, " Jocelyn Thew declared, "you are right to go. You havebeen very useful, and you have, without a doubt, earned your thousandpounds. "

"It was easy money, " the other admitted, "but even now I am nervous. Ishall be glad to be back once more in my own country. "

"You are certainly right to go, " the other repeated. "If you had beendifferent, if you had been one of those men after my own heart, " JocelynThew went on, resting his hand for a moment upon Gant's shoulder, "one ofthose who, apart from thought of gain or hope of profit, love adventure forits own sake, I should have begged you to stay with me. I would have sentyou on bogus errands to mysterious places. I would have twisted the brainsof those who have fastened upon us in a hundred different fashions. Butalas, my friend, you are not like that!"

"I am not, " Gant admitted, gruffly but heartily. "I have done a job foryou, and you have paid me very well. I am glad to have done it, because Ilove Germany and I do not love England. Apart from that my work isfinished. I like to go home. I am happiest with my wife and family. "

"Quite so, " his companion agreed. "I know your type, Gant, --in fact, Ichose you because of it. You like, as you say, to do your job and finishwith it, --and you have finished. "

The doctor turned for a moment deliberately round and looked at hiscompanion. He was a heavy-browed, unimaginative, quiet-living man. Thethings which passed before his eyes counted with him, and little else. Thethousand pounds which he was taking home was more than he had been able tosave throughout his life. To him it represented immense things. He wouldprobably not spend a dollar more, or indulge in a single luxury, yet themoney was there in the background, a warm, comforting thing. 

"You have still, " he said, "a desperate part to play. Can you tell mehonestly that you enjoy it, that you have no fear?"

Jocelyn Thew repeated the word almost wonderingly. 

"Fear! Do you really know me so little, my friend of few perceptions?Listen and I will confess something. I have fought for my life at least adozen times, fought against odds which seemed almost hopeless. I have seendeath with hungry, outstretched arms, within a few seconds' reach of me, but I have never felt fear. I do not know what it is. The length of one'slife is purely a relative thing. It will come in ten or twenty years, ifnot to-morrow. Why not to-morrow?"

"If you put it like that, " Gant grunted, "why not to-day?"

"Or at any moment, if you will. I am quite ready, as ready as I ever shallbe. If I fail to bring off what I desire within the next few days, therewill be an end of me. Do I look as though I were worrying about that?"

"You don't indeed, " the doctor agreed. "You ought to have been in myprofession. You might have become the greatest surgeon in the world. "

Jocelyn Thew shrugged his shoulders. 

"Even that is possible, " he admitted. "Unfortunately, there was a cloudover my early days, a cloud heavy enough even to prevent my offering myservices to the world through the medium of any of the recognizedprofessions. So you see, Gant, I had to invent one of my own. What wouldyou call it, I wonder?--Buccaneer? Adventurer? Explorer? Perhaps my enemieswould find a more unkind word. --Now you had better step in and take yourseat. Behold the creatures of our friend Brightman and the satellites ofthe aristocratic Crawshay close in upon us! They listen for farewell words. Is this your carriage? Very well. Here comes your porter, hungry forremuneration. Shall I give them a hint, Gant?"

There flashed in the hunted man's eyes for a moment a gleam of almostdemoniacal humour. 

Gant glowered at him. "You are mad!" he exclaimed. 

"Not I, my dear friend, " Jocelyn Thew assured him, as he gripped his handin a farewell salute. "Believe me, it is not I who am mad. It is thesestupid people who search for what they can never find. They lift up theStars and Stripes and find nothing. They lift up the Union Jack; againnothing. They try the Tricolour; _rien de tout_. But if they have the senseto try the Crescent--eh, Gant?--Well, a safe voyage to you, man. Sleep inyour waistcoat, and remember me to every one in New York. I can't promisewhen I shall be back. I have taken a fancy to England. Still, one neverknows. --Good-by. "

Thew watched the long train crawl out of the station, waved his hand infarewell, forced a greeting upon the reluctant Brightman, whom he passedexamining the magazines upon a bookstall, and, summoning a taxi, was dulydeposited at the Alhambra Theatre. He made his way to the box office. 

"I have called, " he explained to the young man, "to see you about Box A onMonday night. I understand that there is a benefit performance. "

"Quite so, sir, " the young man replied, "and I ought to have explained thematter to you at the time, when you engaged the box. If you will remember, although you took it for a week, you only paid for five nights. I omittedto tell you that for Monday night the box is not ours to dispose of. "

"It isn't yet sold, I hope?"

"Not yet, sir. The boxes will be disposed of by auction to-morrow afternoonat the Theatrical Garden Party. Mr. Bobby is going to act as auctioneer. "

"I see, " Jocelyn Thew said thoughtfully. "The performance is, I believe, onbehalf of the Red Cross?"

"That is so. "

"In that case, supposing I offer you now one hundred guineas for the box?"

"Very generous indeed, sir, " the young man admitted, "but we are pledged toallow all the boxes to be sold by Mr. Bobby. I think that if you areprepared to go to that sum, you will have no difficulty in securing it. "

Jocelyn Thew frowned slightly. 

"I wasn't thinking of going to the Theatrical Garden Party, " he remarked. 

"You could perhaps get a friend to bid for you, sir, " the young mansuggested. "We hope to get fifty guineas for the large boxes, but I shouldthink an offer such as yours would secure any one of them. "

"I rather dislike the publicity of an auction, " Jocelyn Thew observed, ashe turned to take his leave. "However, if charity demands it, I suppose onemust waive one's prejudices. "

He strolled out and hesitated for a moment on the pavement. A curiouschange had taken place in what a few hours ago had seemed to be a perfectsummer day. The clouds were thick in the sky, a few drops of rain werealready falling, and a cold wind, like the presage of a storm, was bendingthe trees in the square. For a single moment he was conscious of anunsuspected weakness. A wave of depression swept in upon him. Anunreasoning premonition of failure laid a cold hand upon his heart. He metthe careless gaze of an apparent loiterer who was studying the placardswithout derision, almost with apprehension. Then he ground his heel intothe pavement and re-entered his taxicab. 

"Savoy, " he directed. 

CHAPTER XXIV

Captain Richard Beverley, on his way through the hotel smoking room to theSavoy bar, stopped short. He looked at the girl who had half risen from herseat on the couch with a sudden impulse of half startled recognition. Herlittle smile of welcome was entirely convincing. 

"Why, it's Nora Sharey!" he exclaimed. "Nora!"

"Well, I am glad you've recognised me at last, " she said, laughing. "Itried to make you see me last night in the restaurant, but you wouldn'tlook. "

He seemed a little dazed, even after he had saluted mechanically, held herhand for a moment and sank into the place by her side. 

"Nora Sharey!" he repeated. "Why, it was really you, then, dining lastnight with that fellow Crawshay?"

"Of course it was, " she replied, "and I recognised you at once, even inyour uniform. "

"You know that Jocelyn Thew is here? You saw him with us last night?"

"Yes, I know. "

"Stop a moment, " Richard Beverley went on. "Let me think, Nora. JocelynThew must have seen you dining with Crawshay. How does that work out?"

"He doesn't mind, " she replied. "Let that stuff alone for a time. I want tolook at you. You're fine, Dick, but what does it all mean?"

"I couldn't stick the ranch after the war broke out, " he confessed. "Imoved up into Canada and took on flying. "

"You are fighting out there in France?"

"Have been for six months. Some sport, I can tell you, Nora. I've got alittle machine gun that's a perfect daisy. Gee! I've got to pull up. Thehardest work we fellows have sometimes is to remember that we mustn't talkabout our job. They used to call me undisciplined. I'm getting it into mybones now, though. --Why, Nora, this is queer! I guess we're going to have acocktail together, aren't we?"

She nodded. He called to a waiter and gave an order. Then he turned andlooked at her appreciatively. 

"You're looking fine, " he declared. 

She smiled with pleasure at the undoubted admiration in his tone. In thenew and fashionable clothes which she had purchased during the last fewdays, the artistically coiffured hair, the smart hat andcarefully-thought-out details of her toilette, she was a transformed being, in no way different from the half a dozen other young ladies who weregathered with their escorts at the further end of the room. 

"I am glad you think so, " she replied. "Seems to me I've had nothing elseto do since I got here but buy frocks and things. "

He looked at her in a puzzled fashion. 

"You didn't come over with Jocelyn Thew, did you, Nora?" "Of course Ididn't, " she answered indignantly. "If you want to know the truth, itlooked as though there was going to be trouble at Fourteenth Street. Dadmade a move out West, and I had a fancy for making a little trip this way. "

"Kind of lonesome, isn't it?" he asked. 

"In a way, " she sighed. "Still, I am going on presently to where I fancy Ishall meet a few friends. "

"And meanwhile, " he remarked, "you are still friendly with Jocelyn Thew, and you dined last night, didn't you, with the man who has sworn to hunthim down?"

She shrugged her shoulders. 

"You know what I think of Jocelyn Thew, " she said. "I'm crazy about him, and always shall be, but I've never seen him look twice at a woman yet inhis life, and never expect to. Dick!"

"Yes, Nora?"

"May I ask you a question--straight?"

"Of course!"

"Don't think I mean to say a word against Jocelyn Thew. He's a white manthrough and through, and I think if there was any woman in the world hecared for, she would be his slave. But he's a desperate man. Even now thepolice are trying to draw their net around him. It was all very well foryou, when you were painting New York red, to choose your friends where itpleased you, but your sister--she's different, isn't she?--what they callover on our side a society belle. I am not saying that there is a singleperson in the world too good for Jocelyn Thew to sit down with, but at thepresent moment--well, he's hard up against it. Things might happen to him, you know, Dick. "

For a moment the young man was silent. His eyes seemed to look through thewalls of the room, seemed to conjure up some spectre from which a momentlater he shrank. 

"You see, Nora, " he explained, dropping his voice a little, "there was justone time when Jocelyn Thew stood by me like a brick. I was hard up againstit and he saved me. "

She leaned a little closer to him. 

"I have often wondered, " she murmured. "That was the affair down at theMurchison country house, wasn't it?"

Richard Beverley assented silently. 

"Guess we'll drink these cocktails, " he said, watching the waiter approach. "Flying takes something out of you all the time, you know, Nora, andalthough when I am up my nerves are like a rock, I sometimes feel a littleshaky at leave time. "

"Drink?" she asked tersely. 

"I've quit that more or less, " he assured her. "Still, I have been takingsome these last few days. Finding Katharine over here with Jocelyn Thewhanging around gave me kind of a shock. "

"You weren't best pleased to see them together, I should think, were you?"

"No, " he admitted, a little sullenly. 

"You're angry with him, aren't you?"

"Kind of, " he confessed. "I wouldn't have complained at anything he'd askedme to do, but it was a low-down trick to get Katharine into this trouble. "His eyes shone out with a dull anger. She watched him curiously. 

"Dick, you're not the boy you were, " she sighed. "Guess you're sorry youever came to that supper party at the Knickerbocker, aren't you?"

He turned and looked at her. He was only twenty-two years old, but therewere things in his face from which a man might have shrunk. 

"Yes, I am sorry, " he confessed. "I am not blaming anybody but I shall besorry all my life. "

"Jocelyn Thew treated you very much as he did me, " she went on. "He carriedyou off your feet. You thought him the most wonderful thing that everlived. It was the same with me. He has never given as much of himself ashis little finger, never even looked at me as though I were a human being, but I'd have scrubbed floors for him a month after we first met. It wasjust the same with you, only you were a man. You'd have committed murderfor his sake, a week after that party. "

"Murder!"

He gave a sudden start, a start that amazed her. His hand was upon hershoulder. His eyes, red with fury, were blazing into hers. 

"What's that you're saying, Nora? What's that?"

She was speechless, paralysed by that little staccato cry. A group ofpeople near looked around. She laughed shrilly to cover the intensity ofthe moment. 

"No need to get excited!" she exclaimed. "Pull yourself together, " she wenton, under her breath. "Waiter, two more cocktails. " He recovered himselfalmost at once, but the strained look was there about his mouth. 

"Nerves, you see, " he muttered. "I shall be all right again when I get backto France. "

She laid her hand gently upon his arm. 

"Dick, " she said, "you are often upon my conscience. You were such a niceboy, back in those days. Everything that's happened to you seems to havehappened since you met Jocelyn Thew that night. He has got some sort of ahold, hasn't he? What is it?"

The young man moistened his dry lips. The waiter brought their cocktailsand he drank his greedily. 

"I'll tell you, Nora, " he promised. "Perhaps it'll do me good to listen howthe story sounds as I tell it. First of all, let us have the thingstraight. Jocelyn Thew never helped me into trouble. I was in it, right upto the neck, when I met him. "

"You kept it to yourself, " she murmured curiously. 

"Because I was a fool, " he answered, "and because I believed I could pullthings straight. But anyway, I was owing Dan Murchison seventy thousand I'dlost at poker. He was kind of shepherding me. He was a rough sort, Dan, andhe had an ambitious wife, and I had a name he liked. Well, he was giving aweek-end party down at that place of his on the Hudson. He asked me, orrather he ordered me down. I was only too glad to go. Then Mrs. Murchisonchipped in--wanted my sister, wanted to put it in the paper. Katharinekicked, of course. So did I. Murchison for the first time showed histeeth--and we both went. Jocelyn Thew was another of the guests. "

"Tough, wasn't it?"

"Hell! On the way down--I don't know why, but I was feeling prettydesperate--I told Jocelyn Thew how I stood with Murchison. He listened buthe didn't say much. He never does. It was a rotten party--common people, one or two professional gamblers, a lot of florid, noisy, overdressed, giggling women. After the women were supposed to have gone to bed, we satdown to what Dan Murchison called a friendly game--a hundred dollars ante, and a thousand rise. Jocelyn Thew played, three other men, and Murchison. After about an hour of it, I'd lost over twenty thousand dollars. Theothers had it between them, except Jocelyn, and about his play there was avery curious thing. He put in his ante regularly when it came to him, buthe never made a single bet. Murchison turned to him once. 

"'Say, you must be having rotten cards, Mr. Thew, ' he said. 

"Jocelyn shook his head very deliberately. I can hear his reply even now. Kind of quiet it was and deliberate. 

"'I don't fancy my chances of winning at this game. '

"I knew what he meant later. I didn't tumble to it at the time. We playedtill two o'clock. God knows how much I'd lost! Then Murchison called thegame off. He locked up his winnings in a little safe let into the wall. Iwas standing by him, drinking, and I saw the combination. Jocelyn Thew wassitting quite by himself, as though deep in thought. --We all got up to bedsomehow. I sat for some hours at the open window. Pretty soon I got sober, and I began to realise what had happened. And all the time I thought ofthat safe, chock full of money, and the combination ready set. I heardKatharine moving about in her room, and I knew that she was waiting for meto go and say good night. I wouldn't. I put on a short jacket instead of mydress coat, and I took an electric torch out of my dressing case and I wentdown-stairs. I'd made up my mind, Nora. I meant to rob that safe. "

She was carried away by his narrative. He had let himself go now, speakingin short, quick sentences. Yet his plain words seemed to paint with amarvellous vividness the story he told. It seemed to her that she could seeit all, could realise what he went through. 

"Go on, Dick, " she whispered. "I understand. "

"Well, I got down into the room all right, and I got the safe open, andthere was the money, and, right facing me, my letters and bonds, and prettywell a hundred thousand dollars in cash. And then I saw the lights flareup, and Murchison was there in his shirt and trousers. 

"'So that's your game, is it, Richard Beverley?' he said. 

"There were two of the others with him who'd been playing cards. There theywere, three strong men, and I was a thief! I felt limp. I hadn't an ounceof resistance in me. Murchison stood there, showing his ugly teeth, hissmall eyes full of anger. 

"'So you're a thief, are you, Richard Beverley?' he went on. 

"I couldn't speak. At that moment they could have done just what they likedwith me. And then the door opened very quietly and closed again. JocelynThew came in. I saw Murchison's face. I tell you, Nora, it was somethingyou wouldn't forget in a hurry. 

"'Is anything wrong?' Jocelyn Thew asked calmly. 

"One of the guests pointed to Murchison and me. 

"'We heard footsteps, ' he explained. 'Dan called me and I followed himdown. Young Beverley there was at the safe. '

"'Probably helping himself, ' Jocelyn said, in that same smooth, dangeroustone, 'to his own money. '

"'To what?' Murchison cried. 

"'To his own money, ' Jocelyn repeated, coming a little nearer. 'You know, Murchison, well enough what I mean--you and your two confederates here. You're nothing more nor less than common card sharpers. I took a pack ofyour cards up-stairs. I needn't say anything more. I think you'd bettergive the boy back his money. I meant to wait until to-morrow. Fate seems tohave anticipated me. How much did you lose, Richard?'

"Dan Murchison strode up to him and I saw one of the other men go for hiship pocket. 

"'Will you take that back?' Murchison demanded. 

"'Not on your life!' Thew replied. 

"Murchison went for him, but he hadn't a dog's chance. I never saw such ablow in my life. Jocelyn hit him on the point of the chin and he went overlike a log--cut his head against the fender. He lay there groaning, andI--I swear to you, Nora, that I'm not a coward, but I couldn't move--myknees were shaking. The two of them went for Jocelyn, and before they couldget there the door opened and a third man came in--Jake Hannaway, the mostdangerous of the lot. Jocelyn kept the other two off and half turned hishead towards me, where I was standing like a gibbering, nerveless lunatic. 

"'I think you'd better take a hand, Richard, ' he said. "

Nora gasped a little and laid her hand upon his sleeve. 

"Don't, Dick, " she begged, --"not for a moment. I can't bear it. Just amoment. "

She clutched at the side of the settee. Richard Beverley simply sat still, looking through the walls of the room. There was not the slightest changein his face. He just waited until Nora whispered to him. Then he went on. 

"I won't tell you about the fight, " he said. "I wasn't much use at first. Jocelyn was there, taking two of them on, and butting in sometimes againstHannaway, who'd tackled me. Then I began to get my strength back, and Ithink I should have settled Hannaway, but the door opened softly and I sawKatharine's face. She gave a little shriek, and Jake Hannaway got me justat the back of the head. I was pretty well done in, but Thew suddenly swunground and caught Jake Hannaway very nearly where he had hit Murchison. Downhe went like a log. I stood there swaying. I can see the room now--a tableoverthrown, glasses and flower vases all over the floor, and those two menlooking as though they meant to murder Thew. They rushed at him together. He dodged one, but his strength was going. Then for the first time hesprang clear of them, got his back to the wall. --I won't spin it out--heshot one of them through the shoulder. The other one had had enough andtried to bolt. Jocelyn Thew was just too quick for him. He flung a heavycandlestick and got him somewhere on the neck. There they all werenow--Murchison sitting up and dabbing his face, half conscious, one of theothers groaning and streaming with blood, the other lying--just as thoughhe were dead. Jocelyn turned and spoke to Katharine--I can hear his voicenow--I swear, Nora, there wasn't a quaver in it--

"'I am afraid, Miss Beverley, ' he said, 'that your brother has unwittinglybrought you into a den of thieves. I had my suspicions, and my car, insteadof being at the garage, is under the shrubs there. One moment. '

"He stepped out into the hall, brought a coat and threw it around her. Thenhe turned to me. 

"'Empty the safe, Richard, ' he ordered. 

"I obeyed him. There was all the money I owed Murchison there, and a lot ofother stuff. We stepped out of the French windows. Jocelyn moved the leg ofone of those men on one side and held the window open for Katharine to passthrough. I tell you he set the switch and started his car without a tremor. Katharine was nearly fainting. I was still fogged. He drove us into NewYork with scarcely a word. It was daylight when we reached our house inRiverside Drive. He drove up to the front door. 

"'Perhaps if you don't mind, Richard, ' he said, 'you could lend me anovercoat. People are quite content to accept us as night joy-riders, but Iam scarcely respectable for anything in the shape of a close examination. '

"Then I saw that he was all over blood on one side. Katharine took him awayand sponged him, although he laughed at it. Then he had me in the study andtogether we went through the stuff we'd brought away. He made me keep whatMurchison had done me out of, and the rest he made into a packet, addressedready for posting and left it on the table. 

"'For anything else that may happen, Dick, ' he said, 'we must take ourchance. I have had my suspicions of that man Murchison for a long time. Myown opinion is that we shall hear nothing more about the matter. '"

Nora turned and looked at her companion with big, startled eyes. 

"But it was Jake Hannaway, " she exclaimed, "whom they accused of making arow!"

He stopped her, without impatience but firmly. 

"Jake Hannaway died the next day, " he said. "I must have hit him harderthan I thought--or Jocelyn did! He had no relatives, no friends. Murchisonput the whole trouble down to him, admitted that there was a row over agame of cards, and a free fight. The other two swore to exactly the samestory. Our names--mine and Jocelyn's, were never brought in. Murchisonnever came near me again. I have never seen him since. That's the wholestory. "

"What about the police examination?" she asked curiously. "I know no morethan you do, " he replied. "I expect Murchison had a pull, and he wasterrified of Jocelyn Thew. I--I went to Jake Hannaway's funeral, " the youngman went on, with a slight quiver in his tone. "I've seen his face, Nora, up in the clouds. I've seen it when I've been flying ten thousand feet up. Suddenly a little piece of black sky would open and I'd see him lookingdown at me!"

There was a brief silence. From somewhere through the repeatedly openedswing doors came the rise and fall of music, played from a distantorchestra. There were peals of laughter from a cheerful party at the otherend of the little room. Nora patted her companion's arm gently, and hiseyes and manner became more natural. 

"It's done me good to tell you this, " he said, half apologetically. "Katharine's the only other living creature I've dared to speak to aboutit, and she was there--she saw! Nora, that man can fight like a tiger!"

"Hush!" she whispered. "Here he comes. "

The swing door was opened and Jocelyn Thew, back from his visit to the boxoffice at the Alhambra, entered the room. He raised his eye brows a littleas he saw the pair. Then he advanced towards them. 

"Do you know, for the moment I had quite forgotten, " he confided, as hesank into an easy-chair by their side. "Of course, you two are oldacquaintances. "

Nora murmured something. Richard Beverley rose to his feet. 

"Well, I'd better be getting along, " he said. "It's been fine to see youagain, Nora, " he added, taking her hand in his. "See you later, Thew. "

He nodded with something of his old jauntiness and swung out of the room. They both watched him in silence. 

"Not quite the young man he was, " Jocelyn Thew observed thoughtfully. "Isit my fancy, I wonder, or does he drink a few too many cocktails when he ison leave?"

"Richard Beverley's all right, " Nora answered. "He is more sensitive thanhe seems, and there's an ugly little corner in his life to live down. He isdoing the best he can to atone. Jocelyn, " she went on, with a suddenearnestness in her tone, "you're going to leave him alone, aren't you? Youhaven't any scheme in your head for making use of him?"

"One never knows, " was the cool reply. 

She looked at him curiously. 

"Jocelyn, " she said, "you're a hard man. You set your hand to a task andyou don't care whom in the world you sacrifice to gain your end. You were afine friend to Richard Beverley once, but surely his sister has done herbest to pay his debt? Don't do anything that will make him ashamed of theuniform he wears. "

"Very pretty, " he murmured approvingly, "but I must take you back to yourown words--they were true enough. When I have a task to perform, when Ipledge myself to a certain thing, I do it, and I must make use of thosewhom fate puts in my way. Richard Beverley and his sister are a veryattractive couple, but if circumstances decree that they are the pawns bymeans of which I can win the game, then I must make use of them. --Dear me, "he added, "my friend Crawshay! I fear that I shall be _de trop_. "

Nora turned to greet the newcomer, and Thew sauntered away with a littlebow of farewell, quite courteous, even gracious. With the handle of thedoor in his hand, however, he paused and came back. 

"My friend Crawshay, " he said, "one word with you. "

Crawshay turned around. 

"With pleasure!"

"Those henchmen of yours--they are so stupid, so flagrantly obvious. I am agood-tempered person, but they irritated me this afternoon at Euston. "

"What can I do?" Crawshay asked. "However, you must not let them get onyour nerves. They follow you about only as a matter of form. We must keepup the old legends, you know. When, " he added, dropping his eyeglass andpolishing it slowly, "when we really come to the end of this mostfascinating little episode, I do not fancy that you will have cause tocomplain of our methods. "

Jocelyn Thew smiled. 

"Your cryptic words have struck the right note, " he confessed. "The thrillof fear is in my veins. One more word, though. Miss Nora Sharey is an oldfriend of mine. There is a tie between us at which you could not guess. Lavish your attentions on her in the hope of hearing something which willprove to your advantage, but do not trifle with her affections. If you do, I shall constitute myself her guardian and there will be trouble, Crawshay--trouble. "

Once more he turned away, with a smile at Nora and a little nod toCrawshay. He passed through the door and disappeared, erect, lithe andgraceful. Nora looked after him, and her eyes were filled with admiration. 

"I think, " she sighed, "although I am getting fonder of you every moment, Mr. Crawshay, " she added, as she saw from underneath the tissue paper thehuge bunch of white roses he was carrying, "that my money will go onJocelyn Thew. "

CHAPTER XXV

About three-thirty on the following afternoon, in the grounds devoted tothe much advertised Red Cross Sale, that eminent comedian, Mr. JosephBobby, mounted to the temporary rostrum which had been erected for him atthe rear of one of the largest tents, amidst a little storm of halffacetious applause. He repaid the general expectation by gazing steadfastlyat a few friends amongst the audience in his usual inimitable fashion, andby indulging in a few minutes of gagging chaff before he proceeded tobusiness. A little way off, a military band was playing popular selections. The broad avenues between the marquees were crowded with streams of prettywomen in fancy dresses, and mankind with a little money in his pocket washaving a particularly uneasy time. There was nothing to distinguish thisfrom any other of the Red Cross fêtes of the season, except, perhaps, itsadded magnificence. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, " the comedian began, "I am here to sell by auctionthe boxes at the Alhambra Theatre for to-night, when, as you know, therewill be the greatest performance ever given by the largest number of starartistes--myself included. Owing to a slight difference of opinion with themanagement, who, as you are probably aware, ladies and gentlemen, are thethickest-headed set of blighters in existence--" Loud cries of "No!" fromthe managing director in the front row. 

"--I have only the four large boxes to dispose of. I shall start with BoxB. Who will make me an offer for Box B? Who will offer me, say, twenty-fiveguineas to start the bidding?"

Half-a-dozen offers were immediately made, and Box B was disposed of forthirty-five guineas. Boxes C and D fetched a little more. 

"We now come, " the auctioneer concluded impressively, "to the _pièce derésistance_, if I may so call it. Box A is--well, you all know Box A, ladies and gentlemen, so I will simply say that it is the best box in thehouse. It will hold all the friends any man breathing has any use for. Itwould hold the largest family who ever received the Queen's bounty. Box Ais one of those elastic boxes, ladies and gentlemen, which have no limit. You can fill it chock full, and if the right person knocks at the doorthere will still be room for another. Who will start the bidding at fortyguineas?"

"I will give you fifty, " Jocelyn Thew said, promptly raising his hand. 

The auctioneer leaned forward, expecting to see a familiar face. He sawinstead a very distinguished-looking and remarkably well-turned-outstranger, smiling pleasantly at him from the front row of the audience. 

"You are a man, sir, " the former declared warmly. "You are giving me a goodpush off. Fifty guineas is bidden, ladies and gentlemen, for Box A. "

"I'll go to fifty-five, " a well-known racing man called out from the rear. "Not a penny more, Joe, so don't get faking the bidding. "

The comedian assumed an air of grieved surprise. 

"That from you I did not expect, Mr. Mason, " he said. "However, that youmay have no cause for complaint, I am prepared to knock Box A down to youfor fifty-five guineas, barring any advance. "

"Sixty, " Jocelyn Thew bid. 

The auctioneer noted the advance with thanks. Then he looked towards thebetting man, who shook his head. The auctioneer, who was rather wanting toget away, raised his hammer with an air of finality. 

"Going at sixty guineas, then. "

"Sixty-five, " a new bidder intervened. 

The comedian, with his hammer already poised in the air, paused in somesurprise. A clean-shaven man in dark grey clothes and a bowler hat, a manwho had somehow the air of being a little out of his element in this galaxyof pleasure seekers, caught his eye. 

"Sixty-five you said, sir. Very good. Going at sixty-five. "

"Seventy, " Jocelyn Thew bid. 

"Seventy-five. "

"Eighty. "

"Eighty-five. "

"Ninety. "

"Ninety-five. "

"One hundred guineas, " Jocelyn Thew bid, turning with a good-natured smileto glance at his opponent. 

The auctioneer drew himself up. The contest had begun to interest him. Every one in the room was standing on tiptoe to watch. 

"One hundred guineas is bid by my friend in the front, " he declared. "Avery princely offer. Shall I knock it down at that?"

One hundred and twenty was promptly bidden by the newcomer. Jocelyn Thewsmiled up at the auctioneer. 

"Well, " he said, "I've invited my party so I suppose I'll have to stick toit. I'll make it a hundred and fifty. "

"A hundred and sixty. "

"A hundred and seventy-five. "

"Two hundred. "

"Two hundred and fifty. "

The comedian's flow of badinage had ceased. An intense silence reigned inthe marquee. He, in common with many of the others, was beginning torecognise a note of something unusual in this duel. 

"Two hundred and fifty guineas is a very handsome sum for the box, " hesaid, leaning forward. "Perhaps some arrangement could be made, Mr. ----"

"My name is Jocelyn Thew. The two hundred and fifty guineas bid is mine. Ihave the notes here ready. "

The auctioneer turned towards the other bidder appealingly. 

"I am acting under instructions, " the latter said, "and I am not at libertyto make any arrangements to share the box. "

"In that case, the bid against you at the present moment is two hundred andfifty guineas, " the auctioneer told him. "Of course, the more money we get, the better--the Red Cross can do with it--but it seems to me that thepresent bid is adequate. If no arrangement is possible, however, I mustcontinue the auction. "

"Two hundred and seventy-five guineas. "

"Three hundred, " Jocelyn Thew replied coolly. "One moment, Mr. Bobby. "

He leaned forward and whispered in the comedian's ear. The latter noddedand turned to the rival bidder. 

"Do you understand, sir, " he enquired, "that this is strictly a cashaffair? I must have notes for the amount at the conclusion of the sale. "

"You will have to wait until I get them, then, " was the anxious reply. "Ionly brought two hundred and fifty with me. "

The comedian shook his head. 

"There can be no question of waiting, " he decided. "If two hundred andfifty guineas is all that you have with you, then the box must go to theother gentleman for three hundred guineas. "

"If we'd only thought of mentioning the matter of cash before, " JocelynThew said pleasantly, "it seems to me that I might have saved a littlemoney. However, I don't grudge it to the cause. "

There was a little murmur of applause, and before any further word could besaid, the auctioneer's hammer dropped. Jocelyn Thew stepped up to his sideand counted out three hundred guineas in notes, receiving in return theadmission ticket for the box. The comedian shook hands with him. 

"A very generous contribution, sir, " he declared. "I shall do myself thepleasure of remembering it to-night. "

Jocelyn Thew made some suitable reply and strolled leisurely off, his eyessearching everywhere for his unsuccessful rival. He found him at last inthe main avenue, on his way to the principal exit, and touched him on theshoulder. 

"One moment, sir, " he begged. 

The young man paused. When he saw who his interlocutor was, however, heattempted to hurry on. 

"You will excuse me, " he began, "I am pressed for time. "

"I will walk with you as far as the gate, " Jocelyn Thew said. "I am verycurious concerning your bidding for Box A. Can't you let me know for whomyou were trying to buy it? It is possible that I might feel inclined toresell. "

"My instructions were to buy the box by auction, and to go up to fivehundred pounds for it, " was the somewhat hesitating reply. "I amunfortunately not in a position to divulge the name of my client. "

"You can at least tell me your own name, or the name of the firm whom yourepresent?"

The young man quickened his pace. 

"I can tell you nothing, " he said firmly. "Good afternoon!"

Jocelyn Thew strolled thoughtfully back, made a few purchases wherever hewas accosted, but had always the air of a man who is seeking to solve someproblem. Issuing from one of the tents, he came suddenly face to face withKatharine and her brother. 

"You are too late for the auction, " the latter declared, as they shookhands, "and you wouldn't have got your box, anyhow. Do you know what itfetched?"

"Three hundred guineas, " Jocelyn Thew replied with a smile. "I bought it atthat. "

They both stared at him. 

"For three hundred guineas?" Richard repeated. 

"I was rather lucky to get it at that. There was an anonymous bidder whofortunately hadn't got the cash with him, or I gathered that he was willingto go to a great deal more. "

They stood for a moment in silence. Katharine laughed a little nervously. 

"What does it mean?" she asked. 

"A little obstinacy on the part of a millionaire, I suppose, " Jocelyn Thewreplied carelessly. "By-the-by, if it suits you we will meet at the theatrethis evening, instead of dining. I know that you will like to have a littletime alone with your brother, as he is off to-night, Miss Beverley, and Ihave a business friend coming in to see me about dinner time. I shall be inthe box, awaiting you, say at half-past eight. You'll be close to CharingCross, won't you, Richard, and you won't have to leave until ten o'clock?"

"That's all right, " the young man agreed. "It's a jolly good send-off forme. "

Jocelyn Thew made his farewells and strolled down one of the narrow avenueswhich led to the exit. About half-way down, he came suddenly face to facewith Nora and Crawshay. They all three stood together, talking, for a fewmoments. Suddenly Crawshay, who appeared to see some one in the crowd, turned away. "Will you excuse me for one moment, Miss Sharey?" he said. "Perhaps Mr. Thew will take care of you. "

"Perhaps, " Jocelyn Thew observed, as he watched Crawshay disappear, "youneed some taking care of, eh, Nora?"

She shrugged her shoulders. Her eyes sought his. She looked at himdefiantly. 

"Well, " she exclaimed, "London's a dull place all alone. So's life. "

"I am not interfering in your choice of residence or companionship, " hereplied, "although it seems strange that you, whom I think I may call myfriend, should choose to amuse yourself with the one person in life who ismy open enemy, the one man who has sworn to bring about my downfall. "

"There isn't any man in the world will ever do that, " she declared, "andyou know it. You are afraid of no one. You've no cause to be. "

"That may be true, " he agreed, "but since we have the opportunity of thesefew moments' conversation, Nora, there is one thing I wish to say to you. Iplace no embargo upon your friendship with Mr. Crawshay. I do not presumeto dictate to you even as to the subjects of your conversation with him. Tell him what pleases you. Talk to him about me, if you will--you will findhim always interested. But there is one thing. If your lips should everbreathe a word of that other name of mine, or of those other thingsconnected with my personal history of which you know, I warn you, Nora, that it will be a very bad day for you. It will be the one unforgivablething, and I never forgive. " Nora shivered, although the afternoon sun wasstreaming down upon them. Her cheeks were a little paler. 

"No, " she murmured, "I know that. You would never forgive. You are as hardas the rocks. All the time since I have known you, I have tried to softenyou ever so little, just because I was fool enough to like you, fool enoughto believe that it was just suffering which had made you what you are. Thatbelongs to the past. When I think of you now, my heart is like a stone, because I know that there is no love in you, nor any of those other thingsfor which a woman craves. I should be very sorry indeed, Jocelyn Thew, forany woman who ever cared for you, and for her own sake I pray very muchthat there is no one at the present moment who does. "

A light breeze was blowing over the place. They were standing a littleapart, in the shadow of a tree, and the hum of conversation and laughter, the noisy appeals of the vendors of flowers and other trifles, the stridentvoices from a distant stage, the far-off strains of swaying music, seemedblended together in an insistent and not inharmonious chorus. Jocelyn Thewstood as though listening to them for a moment. His eyes were following atall figure in white, walking, a little listlessly by her brother's side. When he spoke, his tone was unusually soft. 

"I always told you what you seem to have discovered, Nora, " he said. "Ialways told you that behind the driving force of my life was much hate butno love, nor any capacity for love. That may not have been my fault. If wewere in another place, " he went on, "I somehow feel that I might tell youwhat I have never told anybody else--the real story that lay behind thethings you know of, things the memory of which was brought back to me onlylast night. Even now that may come, but for the present, Nora, remember. What you know of me that lies behind that curtain, must never pass yourlips. "

"I promise, " she murmured. "Here comes Mr. Crawshay. "

Jocelyn Thew raised his hat, smiled at Nora and strolled away. He smiledalso a little to himself, but not so pleasantly. The man from whom Crawshayhad just parted, and with whom he had been in close conversation, was theman who had been bidding against him for Box A at the Alhambra that night. 

CHAPTER XXVI

From six o'clock until half an hour before the time fixed for thecommencement of the performance, a steady crowd of people elbowed andpushed their way that night into the cheaper parts of the AlhambraMusic-hall. Soon afterwards, the earliest arrivals presented themselves atthe front of the house. Brightman and Crawshay arrived together, and madetheir way at once to the manager's office, the former noticing, with alittle glint of recognition which amounted to scarcely more than a droop ofthe eyes, two or three sturdy looking men who had the appearance of being alittle unused to their evening clothes, and who were loitering about in thevestibule. 

The manager greeted his two visitors without enthusiasm. He was a small, worried-looking man, with pale face, hooked nose and shiny black hair. Hehad recently changed his name from Jonas to Joyce, without materiallyaffecting the impression which he made upon the stranger. 

"This is Mr. Crawshay, " Brightman began, "who has charge from theGovernment point of view, of the little matter you and I know about. "

The manager shook hands limply. 

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Crawshay, " he said, "but a little disturbed at thecause. I must say that I hope you will find your impressions ill-founded. Idon't like things of this sort happening in my house. "

"Might happen anywhere, " Mr. Brightman declared, with an attempt atcheerfulness. "By-the-by, Mr. Joyce, I hope you got my note?"

The manager nodded. 

"Yes, " he assented, "I've made all the arrangements you wished, and the boxhas not been entered except by the cleaner. "

"Mr. Thew himself, then, has made no attempt to visit it?" Crawshayenquired. 

"Not to my knowledge, " was the brusque reply. 

The two men took their leave, strolled along the vestibule, glanced at theclosed door of the box and made their way down into the stalls. 

"Our friend must be exceedingly confident, " Brightman remarked musingly. 

"Or else we are on the wrong tack, " Crawshay put in. 

"As to that we shall see! I don't like to seem over-sanguine, " Brightmanwent on, "but my impression is that he is rather up against it. "

"All I can say is that he is taking it very coolly, then!"

"To all appearance, yes. But whereas it is quite true that he has made noattempt to get at the box, Joyce didn't tell us--as a matter of fact, Idon't suppose he knows--that three times Jocelyn Thew has visited thetheatre under some pretext or other, and spotted my men about. Fromhalf-an-hour after his bid at the fete, that box has been as inaccessibleto him as though it had been walled up. "

They took their seats in the stalls, which were now rapidly filling. Aboutfive minutes later, Jocelyn Thew arrived alone. The box opener brought himfrom the vestibule, and an amateur programme seller accepted hissovereign--both, in view of the many rumours floating about the place, regarding him with much curiosity. Without any appearance of hurry heentered the much-discussed box, divested himself of his coat and hat, andstood for a moment in full view, looking around the house. His eyes restedfor a moment upon the figures of the two men below, and a very grim smileparted his lips. He stepped a little into the background and remained forsome time out of sight. Brightman's interest became intense. 

"From this moment he is our man, " he whispered. "All the same, I shouldhave liked to have seen where he has hidden the papers. I went round thebox myself without finding a thing. "

Jocelyn Thew had hung up his coat and hat upon one of the pegs, and for afew seconds remained as though listening. Then he turned the key of thedoor, and, taking the heavy curtain up in his hand, searched it for a fewmoments until he arrived at a certain spot in one of the bottom folds. Witha penknife which he drew from his pocket, he cut through some improvisedstitches, thrust his hand into the opening and drew out a small packet, which he buttoned up in his pocket. In less than a minute he had let thecurtain fall again and unlocked the door. Almost immediately afterwardsthere was a knock. 

"Come in, " he invited. 

Katharine and her brother entered, the former in a gown of black netdesigned by the greatest of French modistes, and Richard in active serviceuniform. 

"We are abominably early, of course, " Katharine declared, as they shookhands, "but I love to see the people arrive, and as it is Dick's lastevening he couldn't bear the thought of losing a minute of it. "

Jocelyn Thew busied himself in establishing his guests comfortably. Hehimself remained standing behind Katharine's chair, a little in thebackground. 

"We are going to have a great performance to-night, " he observed. "Exactlywhat time does your train go, Richard?"

"Ten o'clock from Charing Cross. "

Jocelyn Thew thrust his hand into his pocket, and Richard, rising to hisfeet, stepped back into the shadows of the box. Something passed betweenthem. Katharine turned her head and clutched nervously at the programmewhich lay before her. She was looking towards them, and her face was aspale as death. Her host stepped forward at once and smiled pleasantly downat her. 

"You will not forget, " he whispered, "that we are likely be the centre ofobservation to-night. I see that our friends Brightman and Crawshay arealready amongst the audience. "

Katharine picked up her program and affected to examine it. "If onlyto-night were over!" she murmured. 

"It is strange that you should feel like that, " he observed, drawing hischair up to the front of the box and leaning towards her in conversationalfashion. "Now to me half the evils of life lie in anticipation. When thetime of danger actually arrives, those evils seem to take to themselveswings and fly away. Take the case of a great actress on her first night, anemotional and temperamental woman, besieged by fears until the curtainrises, and then carried away by her genius even unto the heights. Ourcurtain has risen, Miss Beverley. All we can do is to pray that the godsmay look our way. "

She studied him thoughtfully for a moment. It was obvious that he was notexaggerating. His granite-like face had never seemed more immovable. Histone was perfectly steady, his manner the manner of one looking forward toa pleasant evening. Yet he knew quite well what she, too, guessed--that hisenemies were closing in around him, that the box itself was surrounded, that notwithstanding all his ingenuity and all his resource, a crisis hadcome which seemed insuperable. She was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense ofthe pity of it. All the admiration she had ever felt for his strangeinsouciance, his almost bravado-like coolness, his mastery over events, seemed suddenly to resolve itself into more definite and moreclearly-comprehended emotion. It was the great pity of it all whichsuddenly appealed to her. She leaned a little forward. 

"You have called this our last evening, " she whispered. "Tell me one thing, won't you? Tell me why it must be?"

The softness in her eyes was unmistakable, and his own face for a momentrelaxed wonderfully. Again there was that gleam almost of tenderness in hisdeep-blue eyes. Nevertheless, he shook his head. 

"Whether I succeed or whether I fail, " he said simply, "to-night ends ourassociations. Don't you understand, " he went on, "that if I pass from theshadow of this danger, there is another more imminent, more certain?"

He hesitated for a single moment, and his voice, which had grown softer, became suddenly almost musical. Katharine, who was listening intently, realised like a flash that for the first moment the mask had fallen away. 

"I have lived for many years with that other danger, " he went on. "It haslain like a shadow always in front of my path. Perhaps that is why I havebecome what I am, why I have never dared to hope for the other things whichare dear to every one. "

Her hand suddenly gripped his. They sat there for a moment in a strange, disturbing silence. Then the orchestra ceased, the curtain was rung up, theperformance, which was in the nature of a music-hall show, with frequentturns and changes, commenced. Popular favourites from every department ofthe theatrical world, each in turn claimed attention and applause. Katharine watched it all with an interest always strained, a gaietysomewhat hysterical; Jocelyn Thew with the measured pleasure of a critic;Richard with uproarious, if sometimes a little unreal merriment. The timeslipped by apparently unnoticed. Suddenly Richard glanced at hiswrist-watch and stood up. 

"I must go, " he declared. "I had no idea that it was so late. " Katharine'sfingers clutched the program which lay crumpled up in her hand. She lookedat her brother with almost frightened eyes. Their host, too, had risen tohis feet, and down-stairs in the stalls two men had slipped out of theirplaces. Jocelyn Thew threw back his head with a little familiar gesture. The light of battle was in his eyes. 

"Richard is right, " he observed. "It is twenty minutes to ten. "

"My servant will meet me down there with my kit and get me a seat, " theyoung man said. "I shall have plenty of time, but I think I had better makea start. "

Katharine came into the back of the box and threw her arms around herbrother's neck. He stooped and kissed her on the lips and forehead. 

"Cheer up, Katharine, " he begged. "There is nothing to worry about. "

"Nothing whatever, " Jocelyn Thew echoed. "The most serious contingency thatI can see at present is that you may have to find your way home alone. "

"The number of the car is twenty, " Beverley said, handing a ticket to hissister. "I'll send you a wire from Folkestone. "

Jocelyn Thew suddenly held out his hand. His eyes were still flashing withthe light of anticipated battle, but there was something else in his facereminiscent of that momentary softening. 

"Mine, I fear, " he murmured, "may be but a wireless message, but I hopethat you will get it. "

They departed, and Katharine, drawing her chair into the back of the box, faced many anxious moments of solitude. The two men made their way inleisurely fashion along the vestibule and turned upstairs towards therefreshment room. Half-way up, however, Jocelyn Thew laid his hand upon hiscompanion's arm. 

"Dick, " he said, "I think if I were you I wouldn't have another. You'veonly just time to catch your train, as it is. "

"Must have a farewell glass, old fellow, " the young man protested. 

His companion was firm, however, and Beverley turned reluctantly away. Theywalked arm in arm down the broad entrance lounge towards the glass doors. It seemed to have become suddenly evident that Jocelyn Thew's words werenot without point. Richard stumbled once and walked with markedunsteadiness. Just before they reached the doors, Brightman, with a tall, stalwart-looking friend, slipped past them on the right. Another man fellalmost into line upon the left, and jostled the young officer as he did so. The latter glanced at both of them a little truculently. 

"Say, don't push me!" he exclaimed threateningly. "You keep clear. "

Neither of the men took any notice. The nearer one, in fact, closed in andalmost prevented Beverley's further progress. Brightman leaned across. 

"I am sorry, Captain Beverley, " he said, "but we wish to ask you aquestion. Will you step into the box office with us?"

"I'm damned if I will!" the young man answered. "I have a matter of tenminutes to catch my train at Charing Cross, and I'm not going to break myleave for you blighters. "

Crawshay, who had been lingering in the background, drew a little nearer. 

"Forgive my intervention, Captain Beverley, " he said, "but the matter willbe explained to the military authorities if by chance you should miss yourtrain. I am afraid that we must insist upon your acceding to our request. "

Then followed a few seconds' most wonderful pandemonium. Jocelyn Thew'sefforts seemed of the slightest, yet Mr. Brightman lay on his back upon thefloor, and his stalwart companion, although he himself was not ignorant ofOriental arts, lay on his side for a moment, helpless. Richard, if not sosubtle, was equally successful. His great fist shot out, and the man whosehand would have gripped his arm went staggering back, caught his foot inthe edge of the carpet, and fell over upon the tesselated pavement. Therewere two swing doors, and Richard, with a spring, went for the right-handone. The commissionaire guarding the other rushed to help his companion barthe exit. The two plainclothes policemen, whose recovery was instantaneous, scrambled to their feet and dashed after him, followed by Crawshay. JocelynThew, scarcely accelerating his walk, strolled through the left-hand door, crossed the pavement of the Strand and vanished. 

Fortune was both kind and unkind to Richard in those next few breathlessminutes. An old football player, his bent head and iron shoulder weresufficient for the commissionaires, and, plunging directly Across thepavement and the street, he leapt into a taxi which was crawling along inthe direction of Charing Cross. 

"Give you a sovereign to get to Charing Cross in three minutes, " he criedout, and the man, accepting the spirit of the thing, thrust in his clutch, eagerly. For a moment it seemed as though temporarily, at any rate, Richardwould get clear away. In about fifty yards, however, there was a slightblock. The door of the taxicab was wrenched open, and one of the men whowere chasing him essayed to enter. Richard sent him without difficultycrashing back into the street, only to find that simultaneously the otherdoor had been opened, and that his hands were held from behind in a grip ofiron. At the same time he looked into the muzzle of Crawshay's revolver. 

"Sit down, " the latter commanded. 

Brightman, too, was in the taxicab, and one of the other men had his footupon the step. With a shrug of the shoulders, the young man accepted theinevitable and obeyed. Brightman leaned out of the window, gave a directionto the driver, and the taxicab was driven slowly in through the assemblingcrowd. Richard leaned back in his corner and glared at his two companions. 

"Say, this is nice behaviour to an officer!" he exclaimed truculently. "Iam on my way to catch the leave train. How dare you interfere with me!"

"Perhaps, " Crawshay remarked, "we may consider that the time has arrivedfor explanations. "

"Then you'd better out with them quick, " Richard continued angrily. "I aman officer in His Britannic Majesty's Service, come over to fight for youbecause you can't do your own job. Do you get that, Crawshay?"

"I am listening. "

"I am on my way to catch the ten o'clock train from Charing Cross, " Richardwent on. "If I don't catch it, my leave will be broken. "

"I feel sure, " Crawshay remarked drily, "that the authorities willrecognise the fact that you made every effort to do so. As a matter offact, there will be a supplementary train leaving at ten-forty-five, whichit is possible that you may be able to catch. Explanations such as I haveto offer are not to be given in a taxicab. I have therefore directed theman to drive to my rooms, I trust that you will come quietly. If the resultof our conversation is satisfactory, as I remarked before, you can stillcatch your train. "

Richard glanced at the man seated opposite to him--a great strong fellowwho was obviously now prepared for any surprise; at Brightman, who, litheand tense, seemed watching his every movement; at the little revolver whichCrawshay, although he kept it out of sight, was still holding. 

"Seems to me I'm up against it, " he muttered. "You'll have to pay for itafterwards, you fellows, I can tell you that. "

They accepted his decision in silence, and a few minutes later theydescended outside the little block of flats in which Crawshay's rooms weresituated. Richard made no further attempt to escape, stepped into the liftof his own accord, and threw himself into an easy-chair as soon as thelittle party entered Crawshay's sitting room. There was a gloomy frown uponhis forehead, but the sight of a whisky decanter and a soda-water syphonupon the sideboard, appeared to cheer him up. 

"I think, " he suggested tentatively, "that after the excitement of the lasthalf-hour--"

"You will allow me to offer you a whisky and soda, " Crawshay begged, mixingit and bringing it himself. "When you have drunk it, I have to tell youthat it is our intention to search you. "

"What the devil for?" the young man demanded, with the tumbler still in hishand. 

"We suspect you of having in your possession certain documents of atreasonous nature. "

"Documents?" Richard jeered. "Don't talk nonsense! And treasonous to whom?I am an American citizen. "

"That, " Crawshay reminded him, "is entirely contrary to your declarationwhen a commission in His Majesty's Flying Corps was granted to you. Theimmediate question, however, is are you going to submit to search or not?"

Richard glanced at that ominous glitter in Crawshay's right hand, glancedat Brightman, and at the giant who was standing barely a yard away, andshrugged his shoulders. 

"I suppose you must do what you want to, " he acquiesced sullenly, "butyou'll have to answer for it--I can tell you that. It's a damnableliberty!"

He drank up his whisky and soda and set down the empty glass. The searchwhich proceeded took a very few moments. Soon upon the table was gatheredthe usual collection of such articles as a man in Richard's position mightbe expected to possess, and last of all, from the inside of his vest, nextto his skin, was drawn a long blue envelope, fastened at either end with apeculiar green seal. Crawshay's heart beat fast as he watched it placedupon the table. Richard seemed to have lost much of his truculence ofmanner. 

"That packet, " he declared, "is my personal property. It contains nothingof any moment whatever, nothing which would be of the least interest toyou. "

"In that case, " Brightman promised, "it will be returned to you. Mr. Crawshay, " he added, turning towards him, "I must ask you, as you representthe Government in this matter, to break these seals and acquaint yourselfwith the nature of the contents of this envelope, which I have reason tosuppose was handed to Captain Beverley by Jocelyn Thew, a few minutes ago. "

Crawshay took the envelope into his hands. 

"I am sorry, Captain Beverley, " he declared, "but I must do as Mr. Brightman has suggested. This man Jocelyn Thew, with whom you have been inconstant association, is under very grave suspicion of having brought toEngland documents of a treasonable nature. "

"I suppose, " Richard said defiantly, "you must do as you d----d wellplease. My time will come afterwards. "

Crawshay broke the seal, thrust his hand into the envelope and drew out apile of closely folded papers. One by one he laid them upon the table andsmoothed them out. Even before he had glanced at the first one, a queerpresentiment seemed suddenly to chill the blood in his veins. His eyesbecame a trifle distended. They were all there now, a score or more ofsheets of thin foreign note paper, covered with hand-writing of adistinctly feminine type. The two men read--Richard Beverley watched themscowling!

"What the mischief little May Boswell's letters have to do with youfellows, I can't imagine!" he muttered. "Go on reading, you bounders! Muchgood may they do you!"

There were minutes of breathless silence. Then Crawshay, as the last sheetslipped through his fingers, glanced stealthily into Brightman's face, sawhim bite through his lips till the blood came and strike the table with hisclenched fist. 

"My God!" he exclaimed, snatching up the telephone receiver. "Jocelyn Thewhas done us again!"

"And you let him walk out!" Crawshay groaned. 

"We'll find him, " Brightman shouted. "Here, Central! Give me Scotland Yard. Scotland Yard, quick! Johnson, you take a taxi to the Savoy. "

Unnoticed, Richard Beverley had risen to his feet and helped himself toanother whisky and soda. 

"If you are now convinced, " he said, turning towards them, "that I amcarrying nothing more treasonable than the love letters of my best girl, Ishould be glad to know what you have to say to me on the subject of mydetention?"

Crawshay for once forgot his manners. 

"Damn your detention!" he replied. "Get off and catch your train. "

CHAPTER XXVII

On the extreme edge of a stony and wide-spreading moor, Jocelyn Thewsuddenly brought the ancient motor-car which he was driving to a somewhatabrupt and perilous standstill. He stood up in his seat, unrecognisable, transformed. From his face had passed the repression of many years. Hislips were gentle and quivering as a woman's, his eyes seemed to have grownlarger and softer as they swept with a greedy, passionate gaze the view athis feet. All that was hard and cruel seemed to have passed suddenly fromhis face. He was like a poet or a prophet, gazing down upon the land of hisdesires. 

Behind him lay the rolling moor, cloven by that one ribbonlike stretch ofuneven road, broken here and there with great masses of lichen-covered greyrock, by huge clumps of purple heather, long, glittering streaks of yellowgorse. The morning was young, and little shrouds of white mist were stillhanging around. His own clothes were damp. Little beads of moisture wereupon his face. But below, where the Atlantic billows came thundering inupon a rock-strewn coast, the sun, slowly gathering strength, seemed to berolling aside the feathery grey clouds. Downwards, split with greatravines, the road now sloped abruptly to a little plateau of farmland, onthe seaward edge of which stood the ruins of a grey castle. Dotted here andthere about that pastoral strip and on the opposite hillside, were a fewwhite-washed cottages. Beyond these no human habitation, no other sign oflife. 

The traveller gazed downwards till he suddenly found a new mist before hiseyes. Nothing was changed. Everywhere he looked upon familiar objects. There was the little harbour where he had moored his boat, scarcely morethan a pool surrounded by those huge masses of jagged rocks; the fieldswhere he had played, the cave in the cliffs where he had sat and dreamed. This was his own little corner, the land which his forefathers had sworn todeliver, the land for which his father had died, for which he had become anexile, to which he returned with the price of death upon his head. 

After a while he slipped down from the car, examined the brakes, mounted tohis seat and commenced the precipitous descent. Skilful driver though hewas, more than once he was compelled to turn into the cliff side of theroad in order to check his gathering speed. At last, however, he reachedthe lowlands in safety. On the left-hand side now was the rock-strewnbeach, and the almost deafening roar of the Atlantic. On the right and infront, fields, no longer like patchwork but showing some signs ofcultivation; here and there, indeed, the stooping forms of labourers--men, drab-coloured, unnoticeable; women in bright green and scarlet shawls andshort petticoats. He passed a little row of whitewashed cottages, fromwhose doorways and windows the children and old people stared at him withstrange eyes. One old man who met his gaze crossed himself hastily anddisappeared. Jocelyn Thew looked after him with a bitter smile upon hislips. He knew so well the cause of the terror. 

He came at last to the great gates leading to the ruined castle, gateswhose pillars were surmounted by huge griffins. He looked at the desertedlodges, the coat of arms, nothing of which remained but a few droopingfragments. He shook the iron gates, which still held together, in vain. Finally he drove the car through an opening in the straggling fence, and upthe long, grass-grown avenue, until he reached the building itself. Here hedescended, walked along the weed-framed flags to the arched front door, bythe side of which hung the rusty and broken fragments of a bell, at whichhe pulled for some moments in vain. To all appearances the place wasentirely deserted. No one answered his shout, or the wheezy summons of thecracked and feeble bell. He passed along the front, barely out of reach ofthe spray which a strong west wind was bringing from seaward, looked inthrough deserted windows till he came at last to a great crack in thewalls, through which he stepped into a ruined apartment. It was thus thathe entered the home in which he had been born. 

He made his way into a stone passage, along which he passed until a door onhis right yielded to his touch. In front of him now were what had been thestate apartments, stretching along the whole front of the castle save thelittle corner where he had entered. Here was dilapidation supreme, complete. The white, stone-flagged floor knew no covering save here andthere a strip of torn matting. The walls were stained with damp. At longintervals were tables and chairs of jet-black oak, in all sorts and statesof decay. On one or two remained the fragments of some crimson velvet, --onthe back of one, remnants of a coat of arms! And here, entirely in keepingwith the scene of desolation, were the first signs of human life--an oldman with a grey beard, leaning upon a stick, who walked slowly back andforth, mumbling to himself. 

A new light broke across Jocelyn Thew's face as he listened, and the tearsstood in his eyes. The man was reciting Gaelic verses, verses familiar tohim from childhood. The whole desolate picture seemed to envisage thoughtswhich he had never been able to drive from his mind, seemed in the personof this old man to breathe such incomparable, unalterable fidelity that hefelt himself suddenly a traitor who had slipped unworthily away and hiddenfrom a righteous doom. Better that his blood had been spilt and his bonesburied in the soil of the land than to have become a fugitive, to haveplaced an ocean between himself and the voices to which this old man hadlistened, day by day and night by night, through the years!

Jocelyn Thew stole softly out of the shadows. 

"Timothy, " he called quietly. 

The old man paused in his walk. Then he came forward towards the speakerand dropped on one knee. His face showed no surprise, though his eyes werestrange and almost terribly brilliant. 

"The Cathley!" he exclaimed. "God is good!"

He kissed his master's hand, which he had seized with almost frantic joy. Jocelyn Thew raised him to his feet. 

"You recognised me then, Timothy?"

"There is no Cathley in the world, " the old man answered passionately, "would ever rise up before me and call himself by any other name. "

"Am I safe here, Timothy, for a day or two?"

The old man's scorn was a wonderful thing. 

"Safe!" he repeated. "Safe! There is just a dozen miles or so of theKingdom of Ireland where the stranger who came on evil business woulddisappear, and it's our pride that we are the centre of it. "

"They've held on, then, in these parts?"

"Hold on? Why, the fire that smouldered has become a blaze, " was the eagerresponse. "Ireland is our country here. Why--you know?"

"Know what?" Jocelyn Thew demanded. "You must treat me as a stranger, Timothy, I have been living under a false name. News has failed me foryears. "

"Don't you know, " the old man went on eagerly, "that they meet here in thecastle, the men who count--Hagen, the poet, Matlaske, the lawyer, Indewick, Michael Dilwyn, Harrison, and the great O'Clory himself?"

"I thought O'Clory was in prison since the Sinn Fein rising. "

"In prison, aye, but they daren't keep him there!" was the fierce reply. "They had a taste then of the things that are ablaze through the country. The O'Clory and the others will be here to-night, under your own roof. Aye, and the guard will be out, and there'll be no Englishman dare come within adozen miles!"

Jocelyn Thew walked away to one of the great windows and looked outseaward. The old servant limped over to his side. 

"Your honour, " he said, his voice shaking even as the hands which claspedhis stick, "this is a wonderful day--sure, a wonderful day!"

"For me, too, Timothy!"

"You've been a weary time gone. Maybe you've lain hidden across the seasthere--you've heard nothing. "

"I've heard little enough, Timothy, " his master told him sadly. "There camea time when I put the newspapers away from me. I did it that I might keepsane. "

"You've missed much then, Sir Denis. There has been cruelty and wickedness, treason and murder afoot, but the spirit of the dear land has never evenflickered in these parts. The arms we sent to Dublin were landed in yonderbay, and there was none to stop them, either, though they laid hands onthat poor madman who well-nigh brought us all to ruin. There's strangecraft rides there now, where your honour's looking. "

A silence fell between the two men. Presently the steward withdrew. 

"I'll be seeing after your honour's room, " he murmured "and there's othersto tell. There's a drop of something left, too, in the cellars, thank God!"

Jocelyn Thew listened to the retreating footsteps and then for a momentpushed open the window. There was the old roar once more, which seemed tohave dwelt in his ears; the salt sting, the scream of the pebbles, the cryof a wheeling gull. There was the headland round which he had sailed hisyacht, the moorland over which he had wandered with his gun, the meadowround which he had tried the wild young horses. In those few seconds ofecstatic joy, he seemed for the first time to realise all that he hadsuffered during his long exile. 

More and more unreal seemed to grow the world in which Sir Denis JocelynCathley passed that day. Time after time, the great hall in which he hadplayed when a boy, draughty now but still moderately weather-tight, hadechoed to the roars of welcome from old associates. But the climax of itall came later on, when he sat at the head of the long, black oak table, presiding over what was surely the strangest feast ever prepared and givento the strangest gathering of guests. The tablecloth of fine linen waspatched and mended--here and there still in holes. Some of the dishes wereof silver and others of kitchen china. There were knives and forksbeautifully shaped and fashioned, mingled with the horn-handled ware of thekitchen; silver plate and common pewter side by side; priceless glass andcommon tumblers; fragments of beautiful china and here and there whitedelf, borrowed from a neighbouring farm. The fare was simple but plentiful;the only drink whisky and some ancient Marsala, in dust-covered bottles, produced by Timothy with great pride and served with his own hand. The roarwhich had greeted the first drinking of Sir Denis' health had scarcely diedaway when Michael Dilwyn led the way to the final sensation. 

"Denis, my boy, " he said, "there's a trifle of mystery about you yet. Willyou tell me then, why, when I spoke to you at the Savoy Restaurant theother night, you denied your own identity? Told me your name was Thew, orsomething like it, and I your father's oldest friend, and your own, too!"

A sudden flood of recollection unlocked some of the fears in DenisCathley's breast. 

"I have not used the name of Cathley for many years, " he said. "Was itlikely that I should own to it there, in the heart of London, with a priceupon my head, and half a dozen people within earshot? I came back toEngland at the risk of my life, on a special errand. I scarcely dared tohope that I might meet any of you. I just wanted twelve hours here--"

"Stop, lad!" Dilwyn interrupted. "What's that about a price on your head?You've missed none of our letters, by any chance?"

"Letters?" Sir Denis repeated. "I have had no word from this country, noteven from Timothy here, for over three years and a half. "

There was a little murmur of wonder. The truth was beginning to dawn uponthem. 

"It'll be the censor, maybe, " Michael Dilwyn murmured. "Tell us, DenisCathley, what brought you back, then? What was this special errand youspoke of?"

"Nothing I can discuss, even with you, " was the grim answer. "It was a bigrisk, in more ways than one, but if to-night keeps calm I'll bring it off. "

"You've had no letters for three years, " Michael Dilwyn repeated. "Why, d----n it, boy, " he exclaimed, striking the table with his fist, "maybe youdon't know, then? You haven't heard of it?"

"Heard of what?" Sir Denis demanded. 

"Your pardon!"

"My--what?"

"Your pardon, " was the hoarse reply, "signed and sealed a year ago, beforethe Dublin matter. Things aren't as bad as they were! There's a differentspirit abroad. --Pass him the Madeira, Hagan. Sure, this has unnerved him!"

Sir Denis drank mechanically, drank until he felt the fire of the old winein his veins. He set the glass down empty. 

"My pardon!" he muttered. 

"It's true, " Hagan assured him. "You were one of a dozen. I wrote you withmy own hand to the last address we had from you, somewhere out on the westcoast of America. Dilwyn's right enough. England has a Government at last. There are men there who want to find the truth. They know what we are andwhat we stand for. You can judge what I mean when I tell you that we speakas we please here, openly, and no one ventures to disturb us. Denis, they've begun to see the truth. Dilwyn here will tell you the same thing. He was in Downing Street only last week. "

"I was indeed--I, Michael Dilwyn, the outlaw!--and they listened to me. "

"The days are coming, " Hagan continued, "for which we've pawned our lands, our relatives, and some of us our liberty. Please God there isn't one herethat won't see a free Ireland! We've hammered it into their dull Saxonbrains. It's been a long, drear night, but the dawn's breaking. "

"And I am pardoned!" Sir Denis repeated wonderingly. 

"Where have you been to these three years, man, that you've heard nothing?"Michael Dilwyn asked. 

"In Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, Uraguay. You're right. I've been out of theworld. I crept out of it deliberately. When I left here, nothing seemed sohopeless as the thought that a time of justice might come. I cut myself offeven from news. I have lived without a name and without a future. "

"Maybe for the best, " Hagan declared cheerfully. "Remember that it's buttwelve months ago since your pardon was signed, and you'd have done ill tohave found your way back before then. --But what about this mission youspoke of?"

Sir Denis looked down the table. Of servants there was only old Timothy atthe sideboard, and of those who were gathered around his board there wasnot one whom he could doubt. 

"I will tell you about that, " he promised, leaning a little forward. "Youhave read of the documents and the famous stolen letter which were supposedto have been brought over to England in a certain trunk, protected by theseal of a neutral country?"

"Why, sure!" Michael Dilwyn murmured under his breath. "The box was to havebeen opened at Downing Street, but one heard nothing more of it. "

"The stolen letter, " Hagan remarked, "was supposed to have been indiscreetenough to have brought about the ruin of a great man in America. "

Sir Denis nodded. 

"You've got the story all right, " he said. "Well, those papers never werein that trunk. I brought them over myself in the _City of Boston_. Ibrought them over under the nose of a Secret Service man, and although thesteamer and all of us on board were searched from head to foot in theMersey before we were permitted to land. "

"And where are they now?" Michael Dilwyn asked. 

Sir Denis drew a long envelope from his pocket and laid it upon the tablebefore him. Almost as he did so, another little sensation brought them allto their feet. They hurried to the window. From about a mile out seaward, ablue ball, followed by another, had shot up into the sky. Sir Denis watchedfor a moment steadily. Then he pointed to a bonfire which had been lightedon the beach. 

"That, " he pointed out, "is my signal, and there is the answer. Thedocuments you have all read about are in that envelope. "

There was a queer, protracted silence, a silence of doubt and difficulty. 

"It will be a German submarine, that, " Michael Dilwyn declared. "She hascome to pick up your papers, maybe?"

"That's true, " was the quiet answer. "I was to light the fire on the beachthe moment I arrived. The blue balls were to be my answer. "

The O'Clory, a big, silent man, leaned over and laid his hand on his host'sshoulder. 

"What are you going to do about it?" he demanded. 

"For the moment I do not know, " Sir Denis confessed. "Advise me, all ofyou. I undertook this enterprise partly because of its danger, partly for agreat sum of money which I should have handed over to our cause, partlybecause if I succeeded it would hurt England. Now I have come back and Ifind you all moved by a different spirit. "

"There isn't a man in this island, " Michael Dilwyn said slowly, "who hashated England as I have. She has been our oppressor for generations, and inreturn we have given her the best of our sons, their life-blood, theirgenius, their souls. And yet, with it all there is a bond. Our childrenhave married theirs, and when we've looked together over the side, we'veseen the same things. We've made use of Germans, Denis, but I tell youfrankly I hate them. There are two things every Irishman loves--justice andcourage--and England went into this war in the great manner. She has donebig things, and I tell you, in a sneaking sort of way we're proud. I amhonest with you, you see, Denis. You can guess, from what I've said, whatI'd do with that packet. "

Sir Denis turned to the O'Clory. 

"And you?" he asked. 

"My boy, " was the reply, "sure Michael's right. I've hated England, I'veshouldered a rifle against her, I've talked treason up and down thecountry, and I've known the inside of a prison. I've spat at her authority. I've said in plain words what I think of her--fat, commerce-ridden, smug, selfish. I've watched her bleed and been glad of it, but at the bottom ofmy heart I'd have liked to have seen her outstretched hand. Denis, lad, that's coming. We've got to remember that we, too, are a proud, obstinate, pig-headed race. We've got to meet that hand half-way, and when the momentcomes I'd like to be the first to raise the boys round here and give theGermans hell!"

Another blue ball shot up into the sky. Sir Denis took the packet of papersfrom the table and stood by the great open stone hearth. Michael Dilwynmoved to his side, a gaunt, impressive figure. 

"You're doing the right thing, Denis, " he declared. "What fighting we'vedone, and any that we may still have to do with England, we'll do it on thesurface. I was down at Queenstown when they brought in some of the bodiesfrom the _Lusitania_. To Hell with such tricks! There's no Irishman yet hasever joined hands with those who war against women and babies. "

Denis drew a log of burning wood out on to the hearth and laid the packetdeliberately upon it. He stood there watching the smoke curl upwards as theenvelope shrivelled and the flames crept from one end to the other. 

"That seems a queer thing to do, " he observed, with a dry little laugh. "I've carried my life in my hands for those papers, and there's a hundredthousand pounds waiting for them, not a mile away. "

"Blood-money, boy, " the O'Clory reminded him, "and anyway there's a touchof the evil thing about strangers' gold. --Eh, but who's this?"

A large motor-car had suddenly flashed by the window. With the instinct ofpast dangers, the little gathering of men drew close together. There wasthe sound of an impatient voice in the hall. The door was opened hurriedlyand Crawshay stepped in. "It is a gentleman in a great hurry, your honour, "Timothy explained. 

Crawshay, dour and threatening, came a little further into the room. Behindhim in the hall was a vision of his escort. Sir Denis looked up from thehearth with a poker in his hand. 

"My friend, " he observed, "it seems to be your unfortunate destiny to bealways five minutes too late in life. "

Crawshay's outstretched hand pointed denouncingly through the windowtowards the bay. 

"If I am too late this time, " he declared, "then an act of treason has beencommitted. You know what it means, I suppose, to communicate with theenemy?"

Denis shook his head. 

"As yet, " he said, "we have held no communication with our visitors. If youdoubt my word, come down on your knees with me and examine these ashes. "

Crawshay, with a little exclamation, crossed the floor and crouched down bythe other's side. A word or two in the topmost document stared at him. Theseal of the envelope had melted, and a little thread of green wax had madea strange pattern upon the stones. 

"Is this the end, then?" he demanded in bewilderment. 

"It is the end, " was the solemn reply. "Perhaps if you take the ashes awaywith you, you will be able to consider that honours are divided. "

"You burnt them--yourself?" Crawshay muttered, still wondering. "Everygentleman in this room, " Denis replied, "is witness of the fact that Idestroyed unopened the packet which I brought from America, barely fiveminutes ago. "

Crawshay stood upright once more. He was convinced but puzzled. 

"Will you tell me what induced you to do this?" he asked. 

"We will tell you presently. As for the submarine outside, well, as yousee, he is still sending up blue lights. "

Crawshay gathered the ashes together and thrust them into an envelope. 

"Your friend will be trying some of our Irish whisky, Denis, " MichaelDilwyn invited. "We are hoping to make the brand more popular in Englandbefore long. "

CHAPTER XXVIII

One by one, the next morning, in all manner of vehicles, the guests leftthe Castle. Sir Denis bade them farewell, parting with some of them in theleaky hall of his ancestors, and with others out in the stone-flaggedcourtyard. Crawshay alone lingered, with the obvious air of havingsomething further to say to his host. The two men strolled down togetherseaward to where the great rocks lay thick upon the stormy beach. 

"These, " Sir Denis pointed out, "are supposed to be the marbles with whichthe great giant Cathley used to play. Tradition is a little vague upon thesubject, but according to some of the legends he was actually an ancestor, and according to others a kind of patron saint. .. . Just look at my house, Crawshay! What would you do with a place like that?"

They turned and faced its crumbling front, majestic in places, squalid inothers, one whole wing open to the rain and winds, one great turret stillas solid and strong as the rocks themselves. 

"It would depend very much, " Crawshay replied, "upon the extremely sordidquestion of how much money I had to spend. If I had enough, I shouldcertainly restore it. It's a wonderful situation. "

The eyes of its owner glowed as he swept the outline of the storm-batteredcountry and passed on to the rich strip of walled-in fields above. 

"It is my home, " he said simply. "I shall live in no other place. If thismatter which we discussed last night should indeed prove to have a solidfoundation, if this even should be the beginning of the end of the greatstruggle--"

"But it is, " Crawshay interrupted. "How can you doubt it if you have readthe papers during the last six months?"

"I have scarcely glanced at an English newspaper for ten years, " was hiscompanion's reply. "I fled to America, hating England as a man might dosome poisonous reptile, sternly determined never to set foot upon hershores again. I left without hope. It seemed to me that she was implacable. The war has changed many things. "

"You are right, " Crawshay admitted. "In many respects it has changed theEnglish character. We look now a little further afield. We have lost someof our stubborn over-confidence. We have grown in many respects morespiritual. We have learnt what it means to make sacrifices, sacrifices notfor gold but for a righteous cause. And as far as regards this country ofyours, Sir Denis, " he continued, "I was only remarking a few days ago thatthe greatest opponents of Home Rule who have ever mounted a politicalplatform in England have completely changed their views. There is only oneidea to-day, and that is to let Ireland settle her own affairs. Suchtrouble as remains lies in your own country. Convert Ulster and you arefree. "

"You heard what was said last night?" Sir Denis reminded his companion. "The O'Clory believes that that is already done. "

The faintest of white mists was being burnt away now by the strengtheningsun. Long, green waves came rolling in from the Atlantic. Distant rocksgleamed purple in the gathering sunshine. The green of the fields grewdeeper, the colouring on the moors warmer. Crawshay lit a cigarette andleaned back against a rock. 

"Over in America, " he observed, "I heard all sorts of stories about you. The man Hobson, with whom I was sent to Halifax, and who dragged me off toChicago, seemed to think that if he could once get his hand on yourshoulder there were other charges which you might have to answer. Brightman, that Liverpool man, had the same idea. I am mentioning this foryour own sake, Sir Denis. "

The latter shook his head. 

"Heaven knows how I've kept clear, " he declared, "but there isn't a thingagainst me. I sailed close to the wind in Mexico. I'd have fought for themagainst America if they'd really meant business, but they didn't. I was toolate for the Boer War or I'd have been in that for a certainty. I wentthrough South America, but the little fighting I did there doesn't amountto anything. After I came back to the States I ran some close shaves, Iadmit, but I kept clear of the law. Then I got in with some Germans atWashington. They knew who I was, and they knew very well how I felt aboutEngland. I did a few things for them--nothing risky. They were keeping mefor something big. That came along, as you know. They offered me the job ofbringing these things to England, and I took it on. "

"For an amateur, " Crawshay confessed, "you certainly did wonderfully. I amnot a professional detective myself, but you fairly beat us on the sea, andyou practically beat us on land as well. "

"There's nothing succeeds like simplicity, " Denis declared. "I gambled uponit that no one would think of searching the curtains of the music hall boxin which Gant and I spent apparently a jovial evening. No one did--until itwas too late. Then I felt perfectly certain that both you and Brightmanwould believe I was trying to get hold of Richard Beverley. The poor fellowthought so himself for some time. "

"There is just one question, " Crawshay said, after a moment's pause, "whichI'd like to ask. It's about Nora Sharey. "

Sir Denis glanced at his companion with a faint smile. He suddenly realisedthe purport of his lingering. 

"Well, what about her?"

"She seems to have followed you very quickly from New York. "

"Must you put it like that? Her father and brother were connected with theGerman Secret Service in New York, and on the declaration of war they hadto hide. She could scarcely stay there alone. "

"She might have gone with her father to Chicago, " Crawshay observed. 

"You must remember that she, too, is Irish, " Sir Denis pointed out. "I amnot at all sure that she wasn't a little homesick. By-the-by, are youinterested in her?"

"Since you ask me, " Crawshay replied, "I am. "

Sir Denis threw away his cigarette. 

"I suppose, " he said quietly, "if I tell you that I am delighted to hearit, for your own sake as well as hers--"

"That's all I have been hanging about to hear, " Crawshay interrupted, turning towards the castle. "I suppose we shall meet again in London?"

"I think not. They talk about sending me to the Dublin Convention here. Until they want me, I don't think I shall move. "

Crawshay looked around him. The prospect in its way was beautiful, but savefor a few bending figures in the distant fields, there was no sign of anyhuman being. 

"You won't be able to stand this for long, " he remarked. "You've lived tooturbulent a life to vegetate here. "

Sir Denis laughed softly but with a new ring of real happiness. 

"It's clear that you are not an Irishman!" he declared. "I've been away forover ten years. I can just breathe this air, wander about on the beachhere, walk on that moorland, watch the sea, poke about amongst my oldruins, send for the priest and talk to him, get my tenants together andhear what they have to say--I can do these things, Crawshay, and breathethe atmosphere of it all down into my lungs and be content. It's justIreland--that's all. --You hurry back to your own bloated, over-rich, smoke-disfigured, town-ruined country, and spend your money on restaurantsand theatres if you want to. You're welcome. "

Sir Denis' words sounded convincing enough, but his companion only smiledas he brought his car out of a dilapidated coach-house, from amidst theruins of a score of carriages. 

"All the same, " he observed, as he leaned over and shook hands with hishost, "I should never be surprised to come across you in thatsmoke-disfigured den of infamy! Look me up when you come, won't you?"

"Certainly, " Sir Denis promised. "And--my regards to Nora!"

Richard Beverley, after his first embrace, held his sister's hands for amoment and looked into her face. 

"Why, Katharine, " he exclaimed, "London's not agreeing with you! You lookpale. "

She laughed carelessly. 

"It was the heat last month, " she told him. "I shall be all right now. Howwell you're looking!"

"I'm fine, " he admitted. "It's a great life, Katharine. I'm kind of worriedabout you, though. "

"There is nothing whatever the matter with me, " she assured him, "exceptthat I want some work. In a few days' time now I shall have it. I haveeighty nurses on the way from the hospital, with doctors and dressers and acomplete St. Agnes's outfit. They sailed yesterday, and I shall go acrossto Havre to meet them. "

"Good for you!" Richard exclaimed. "Say, Katharine, what about lunch?"

"You must be starving, " she declared. "We'll go down and have it. I feelbetter already, Dick. I think I must have been lonely. "

They went arm in arm down-stairs and lunched cheerfully. Towards the end ofthe meal, he asked the question which had been on his lips more than once. 

"Heard anything of Jocelyn Thew?"

"Not a word. "

Richard sighed thoughtfully. 

"What a waste!" he exclaimed. "A man like that ought to be doing greatthings. Katharine, you ought to have seen their faces when they searched meand found I was only carrying out a packet of old love letters, and itdawned upon them that he'd got away with the goods! I wonder if they evercaught him. "

"Shouldn't we have heard of it?" she asked. 

"Not necessarily. If he'd been caught under certain circumstances, he mighthave been shot on sight and we should never have heard a word. Not thatthat's likely, of course, " he went on, suddenly realising her pallor. "Whata clumsy ass I am, Katharine! We should have heard of it one way oranother. --Do you see who's sitting over there in a corner?"

Katharine looked across the room and shook her head. 

"The face of the man in khaki seems familiar, " she admitted. 

"That's Crawshay, the fellow whom Jocelyn Thew fooled. He was married lastweek to the girl with him. Nora Sharey, her name was. She came from NewYork. "

"They seem very happy, " Katharine observed, watching them as they left theroom. 

"Crawshay's a good fellow enough, " her brother remarked, "and the girl'sall right, although at one time--"

He stopped short, but his sister's eyes were fixed upon him enquiringly. 

"At one time, " he continued, "I used to think that she was mad aboutJocelyn Thew. Not that that made any difference so far as he was concerned. He never seemed to find time or place in his life for women. "

They finished their luncheon and made their way up-stairs once more toKatharine's sitting room. Richard stretched himself in any easy-chair andlit a cigar with an air of huge content. 

"I am to be transferred when our first division comes across, " he told her. "Our Squadron Commander's going to make that all right with the W. O. We'vehad some grand flights lately, I can tell you, Katharine. "

There was a knock at the door, a few moments later. The waiter entered, bearing a card upon a tray, which he handed to Katharine. She read it witha perplexed frown. 

"Sir Denis Cathley. --But I don't know of any one of that name, " shedeclared, glancing up. "Are you sure that he wants to see me?"

"Perhaps I had better explain, " a quiet voice interposed from outside. "MayI come in?"

Katharine gave a little cry and Richard sprang to his feet. Sir Denispushed past the waiter. For a moment Katharine had swayed upon her feet. "Iam so sorry, " he said earnestly. "Please forgive me, Miss Beverley, and dosit down. It was an absurd thing to force my way upon you like this. Only, you see, " he went on, as he helped her to a chair, "the circumstances whichrequired my use of a partially assumed name have changed. I ought to havewritten you and explained. Naturally you thought I was dead, or at theother end of the world. "

Katharine smiled a little weakly. She was back again in her chair, but SirDenis seemed to have forgotten to release her hand, which she made noeffort to withdraw. 

"It was perfectly ridiculous of me, " she murmured, "but I was just tellingDick--he is back again for another four days' leave and we were talkingabout you at luncheon time--that I wasn't feeling very well, and yourcoming in like that was quite a shock. I am absolutely all right now. Doplease sit down and explain, " she begged, motioning him to a chair. 

The waiter had disappeared. Sir Denis shook hands with Richard, who wheeledan easy-chair forward for him. He sat down between them and commenced hisexplanation. 

"You see, " he went on, "as a criminal I am really rather a fraud. When Itell you that I am an Irishman--perhaps you may have guessed it from myname--and a rabid one, a Sinn Feiner, and that for ten years I have livedwith a sentence probably of death hanging over me, you will perhapsunderstand my hatred of England and my somewhat morbid demeanourgenerally. "

Katharine was speechless. Richard Beverley indulged in a long whistle. 

"So that's the explanation!" he exclaimed. "That was why you got mixed upwith that German crew, eh?"

"That, " Sir Denis admitted, "was the reason for my attempted enterprise. "

"Attempted?" Richard protested. "But you brought it off, didn't you?"

"The end of the affair was really curious, " Sir Denis explained. "Isuppose, in a way, I did bring it off. I caught the mail train from Eustonthat night, got away with the papers and took them where I always meantto--to my old home on the west coast of Ireland. There, whilst I waswaiting to keep an appointment with a German U-boat, I found out whathappens to a man who has sworn an oath that he will never again look insidean English newspaper, and been obstinate enough to keep his word. "

"Say, this is interesting!" Richard declared enthusiastically. "Why, ofcourse, there have been great changes, haven't there? You Irish are goingto have all that you want, after all. "

"It looks like it, " Sir Denis assented. "I found that my home was therendezvous of a lot of my old associates, only instead of meetingunderneath trapdoors at the risk of their lives, they were meeting quiteopenly and without fear of molestation. From them I heard that theGovernment had granted me, together with some others, a free pardon manymonths ago. I heard, too, of the coming Convention and of the alteredspirit in English politics. I heard of these things just in time, for theU-boat was waiting outside in the bay. "

"You didn't part with the stuff?" Richard exclaimed eagerly. 

Sir Denis shook his head. 

"I burnt the papers upon my hearth, " he told them. "Crawshay ran me toground there, but his coming wasn't necessary. A great deal besides theashes of those documents went up in smoke that night. "

Richard Beverley had risen to his feet and was pacing up and down the room. He found some vent for his feelings by wringing his friend's hand. 

"If this doesn't beat the band!" he exclaimed. "My head isn't strong enoughto take it all in. So Crawshay found you out?"

"He arrived, " Sir Denis replied, "to find the papers burning upon thehearth. As a matter of fact, he took the ashes with him. "

"He didn't arrest you, then, after all? There was no charge made?"

"None whatever. He was perfectly satisfied. He stayed until the nextmorning and we parted friends. A few days ago I had his wedding cards. Youknow whom he married?"

"Saw them together down-stairs, " Richard declared. "I'm off in a moment tosee if I can get hold of Crawshay and shake his hand. --So you're Sir DenisCathley, eh, and you've chucked that other game altogether?"

"Naturally, " the other replied--"Sir Denis Jocelyn Cathley. As a matter offact, I am up in town to arrange for some one else to take my place at theConvention. I am not much use as a maker of laws. They've promised me acommission in the Irish Guards. That will be settled in a few days. Then Ishall go back home to see what I can do amongst my tenantry, andafterwards--well, " he concluded, with a little gleam in his dark eyes, "they promise me I shall go out with the first drafts of the newbattalion. "

Richard gripped his friend's hand once again and turned towards the door. 

"It's great!" he declared. "I must try and catch Crawshay before he goes. "

He hurried out. The door was closed. Sir Denis turned at once towardsKatharine. He rose to his feet and leaned over her chair. His voice was notquite so steady. 

"So much that I had thought lost for ever, " he said, "has come back to me. So much that I had never thought to realise in this world seems to becoming true. Is it too late for me to ask for the one greatest thing of allof the only person who could count--who ever has counted? You know so well, Katharine, that even as a soured and disappointed man I loved you, and nowit is just you, and you only, who could give me--what I want in life. "

She laid her fingers upon his shoulders. Her eyes shone as he drew her intohis arms. 

"I ought to keep you waiting such a long time, " she murmured, "because Ihad to ask you first--for your friendship, and you weren't very kind todie. But I can't. "