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+Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+Posting Date: November 25, 2008 [EBook #1931]
+Release Date: October, 1999
+Last Updated: March 9, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER
+
+By E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+“Never heard a sound,” the younger of the afternoon callers admitted,
+getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his low chair. “No
+more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough. Done splendidly, thanks. No, I
+went to bed last night soon after eleven--the Colonel had been route
+marching us all off our legs--and I never awoke until reveille this
+morning. Sleep of the just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly
+sell, all the same! You hear anything of it, sir?” he asked, turning to
+his companion, who was seated a few feet away.
+
+Captain Griffiths shook his head. He was a man considerably older than
+his questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair streaked
+with grey. His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a soldier,
+curiously sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which was
+considerable, he was awkward, at times almost uncouth. His voice was
+hard and unsympathetic, and his contributions to the tea-table talk had
+been almost negligible.
+
+“I was up until two o'clock, as it happened,” he replied, “but I knew
+nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice officially.”
+
+Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her
+absent hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the
+circumstances of the case entitled her.
+
+“I heard it distinctly,” she declared; “in fact it woke me up. I hung
+out of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly as though
+it were over the golf links.”
+
+The young subaltern sighed.
+
+“Rotten luck I have with these things,” he confided. “That's three times
+they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one. This time they
+say that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming down. Of course,
+you've heard of the observation car found on Dutchman's Common this
+morning?”
+
+The girl assented.
+
+“Did you see it?” she enquired.
+
+“Not a chance,” was the gloomy reply. “It was put on two covered trucks
+and sent up to London by the first train. Captain Griffiths can tell you
+what it was like, I dare say. You were down there, weren't you, sir?”
+
+“I superintended its removal,” the latter informed them. “It was a very
+uninteresting affair.”
+
+“Any bombs in it?” Helen asked.
+
+“Not a sign of one. Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and a
+telephone. It seems to have got caught in some trees and been dragged
+off.”
+
+“How exciting!” the girl murmured. “I suppose there wasn't any one in
+it?”
+
+Griffiths shook his head.
+
+“I believe,” he explained, “that these observation cars, although they
+are attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night raids.”
+
+“I should like to have seen it, all the same,” Helen confessed.
+
+“You would have been disappointed,” her informant assured her.
+“By-the-by,” he added, a little awkwardly, “are you not expecting Lady
+Cranston back this evening?”
+
+“I am expecting her every moment. The car has gone down to the station
+to meet her.”
+
+Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+undemonstrative satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair with the air
+of one who is content to wait.
+
+“Have you heard, Miss Fairclough,” his younger companion enquired, a
+little diffidently, “whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?”
+
+Helen Fairclough looked away. There was a slight mist before her eyes.
+
+“I had a letter this morning,” she replied. “She seems to have heard
+nothing at all encouraging so far.”
+
+“And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?”
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+“Not a line,” she sighed. “It's two months now since we last had a
+letter.”
+
+“Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well,” the young
+man observed sympathetically.
+
+“It all seems very cruel,” Helen agreed. “He wasn't really fit to go
+back, but the Board passed him because they were so short of officers
+and he kept worrying them. He was so afraid he'd get moved to another
+battalion. Then he was taken prisoner in that horrible Pervais affair,
+and sent to the worst camp in Germany. Since then, of course, Philippa
+and I have had a wretched time, worrying.”
+
+“Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?” Griffiths
+enquired.
+
+“And my only fiancé,” she replied, with a little grimace. “However,
+don't let us talk about our troubles any more,” she continued, with an
+effort at a lighter tone. “You'll find some cigarettes on that table,
+Mr. Harrison. I can't think where Nora is. I expect she has persuaded
+some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's Common.”
+
+“The road all the way is like a circus,” the young soldier observed,
+“and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval airmen
+were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths wasn't
+far behind them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers, sir,” he
+concluded, turning to his neighbour.
+
+“As Commandant of the place,” Captain Griffiths replied, “I naturally
+had to have the Common searched. With the exception of the observation
+car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences in telling you
+that we discovered nothing of interest.”
+
+“Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was flying
+so low?” Helen enquired.
+
+“It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis,” the Commandant assented. “Two
+patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her. An old
+man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a long, black
+cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost deafened by the noise
+of the engines. Personally, I cannot believe that they would come down
+so low unless she was in some trouble.”
+
+The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
+suddenly thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady, very
+much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long plaits of the
+schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand she carried a man's
+Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+
+“Come in, Arthur,” she shouted to a young subaltern who was hovering
+in the background. “Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy! Just look, Mr.
+Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a bush, not twenty yards
+from where the observation car came down.”
+
+Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+
+“But, my dear child,” she exclaimed, “this is nothing but an ordinary
+hat! People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things like that. How
+do you do, Mr. Somerfield?” she added, smiling at the young man who had
+followed Nora into the room.
+
+“Don't they!” the latter retorted, with an air of superior knowledge.
+“Just look here!”
+
+She turned down the lining and showed it to them. “What do you make of
+that?” she asked triumphantly.
+
+Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+
+“Read it out,” Nora insisted.
+
+Helen obeyed:
+
+               “Schmidt,
+                    Berlin,
+                         Unter den Linden, 127.”
+
+“That sounds German,” she admitted.
+
+“It's a trophy, all right,” Nora declared. “One of the crew--probably
+the Commander--must have come on board in a hurry and changed into
+uniform after they had started.”
+
+“It is my painful duty, Miss Nora,” Harrison announced solemnly,
+“to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles of
+whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's Common,
+which might possibly have belonged to any one in the Zeppelin, must be
+sent at once to the War Office.”
+
+“Rubbish!” Nora scoffed. “The War Office aren't going to have my hat.”
+
+“Duty,” the young man began--
+
+“You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,”
+ Nora interrupted, “but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw it
+into the fire sooner than give it up.”
+
+“Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora,” Captain Griffiths
+ventured thoughtfully.
+
+“Nothing so important as hats,” Harrison put in. “You see they
+fit--somebody.”
+
+The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. “I'd listen to
+anything Captain Griffiths had to say,” she declared, “but you boys who
+are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit. There's
+nothing in your textbook about hats. If you're going to make yourselves
+disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the regiment.”
+
+The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay. Nora took a
+chocolate from a box.
+
+“Be merciful, Miss Nora!” Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+
+“Don't break the regiment up altogether,” Somerfield begged, with a
+little catch in his voice.
+
+“All very well for you two to be funny,” Nora went on, revisiting the
+chocolate box, “but you've heard about the Seaforths coming, haven't
+you? I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?”
+
+“Every woman does,” Helen admitted, smiling. “I suppose the child really
+can keep the hat, can't she?” she added, turning to the Commandant.
+
+“Officially the matter is outside my cognizance,” he declared. “I shall
+have nothing to say.”
+
+The two young men exchanged glances.
+
+“A hat,” Somerfield ruminated, “especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely an
+appurtenance of warfare.”
+
+His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object in
+question. Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+
+“I shall take the whole responsibility,” he decided magnanimously, “of
+saying nothing about the matter. We can't afford to quarrel with Miss
+Nora, can we, Somerfield?”
+
+“Not on your life,” that young man agreed.
+
+“Sensible boys!” Nora pronounced graciously.
+
+“Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them in
+their folly. You can take me as far as the post-office when you go,
+Arthur,” she continued, turning to the fortunate possessor of the
+side-car, “and we'll have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if you like.”
+
+“Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?” Helen invited.
+
+“Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough,” the man replied; “we had tea
+some time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora.”
+
+Nora suddenly held up her finger. “Isn't that the car?” she asked. “Why,
+it must be mummy, here already. Yes, I can hear her voice!”
+
+Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+
+“It is Lady Cranston,” he announced solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful. She
+had masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long railway
+journey, deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost porcelain-like
+complexion, and a sensitive, delightfully shaped mouth. Her figure
+was small and dainty, and just at that moment she had an appearance of
+helplessness which was almost childlike. Nora, after a vigorous embrace,
+led her stepmother towards a chair.
+
+“Come and sit by the fire, Mummy,” she begged. “You look tired and
+cold.”
+
+Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests. She was still
+wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was unmistakable.
+Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since her entrance,
+wheeled an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into which she sank with a
+murmured word of thanks.
+
+“You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?” Helen enquired.
+
+Philippa shook her head. Her eyes met her friend's for a moment--it was
+only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual sorrow seemed
+curiously revealed in that unspoken question and answer. The two young
+subalterns prepared to take their leave. Nora, kneeling down, stroked
+her stepmother's hand.
+
+“No news at all, then?” Helen faltered.
+
+“None,” was the weary reply.
+
+“Any amount of news here, Mummy,” Nora intervened cheerfully, “and heaps
+of excitement. We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last night,
+and she lost her observation car. Mr. Somerfield took me up there this
+afternoon, and I found a German hat. No one else got a thing, and, would
+you believe it, those children over there tried to take it away from
+me.”
+
+Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+
+“I expect you are keeping the hat, dear,” she observed.
+
+“I should say so!” Nora assented.
+
+Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting to
+take their leave.
+
+“You must come and dine one night this week, both of you,” she said. “My
+husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm sure he
+will be glad to have you.”
+
+“Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted,” Harrison
+declared.
+
+“Rather!” his companion echoed.
+
+Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+Philippa's chair.
+
+“And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths,” she said, smiling
+pleasantly up at him. “Must you hurry away?”
+
+“I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns,” he answered,
+resuming his seat.
+
+“Do!” Philippa begged him. “I have had such a miserable time in town.
+You can't think how restful it is to be back here.”
+
+“I am afraid,” he observed, “that your journey has not been successful.”
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+“It has been completely unsuccessful,” she sighed. “I have not been able
+to hear a word about my brother. I am so sorry for poor Helen, too. They
+were only engaged, you know, a few days before he left for the front
+this last time.”
+
+Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+
+“I never met Major Felstead,” he remarked, “but every one who has
+seems to like him very much. He was doing so well, too, up to that last
+unfortunate affair, wasn't he?”
+
+“Dick is a dear,” Philippa declared. “I never knew any one with so many
+friends. He would have been commanding his battalion now, if only he
+were free. His colonel wrote and told me so himself.”
+
+“I wish there were something I could do,” Griffiths murmured, a little
+awkwardly. “It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset.”
+
+She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+
+“Nobody can do anything,” she bemoaned. “That is the unfortunate part of
+it all.”
+
+He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was when
+he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which he had no
+idea what to do with.
+
+“You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?” he
+asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+unpleasant voice. She shook her head.
+
+“Perhaps one morning later,” she replied, a little vaguely. “I haven't
+any heart for anything just now.”
+
+He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out into
+the twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things which
+he had meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten them.
+Philippa, to whom his departure had been, as it always was, a relief,
+was already leaning forward in her chair with her arm around Helen's
+neck.
+
+“I thought that extraordinary man would never go,” she exclaimed, “and
+I was longing to send for you, Helen. London has been such a dreary
+chapter of disappointments.”
+
+“What a sickening time you must have had, dear!”
+
+“It was horrid,” Philippa assented sadly, “but you know Henry is no use
+at all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone. I have been
+to every friend at the War Office, and every friend who has friends
+there. I have made every sort of enquiry, and I know just as much now
+as I did when I left here--that Richard was a prisoner at Wittenberg
+the last time they heard, and that they have received no notification
+whatever concerning him for the last two months.”
+
+Helen glanced at the calendar.
+
+“It is just two months to-day,” she said mournfully, “since we heard.”
+
+“And then,” Philippa sighed, “he hadn't received a single one of our
+parcels.”
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet. She was a tall, fair girl of the best
+Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every promise,
+indeed, of a fuller and more gracious development in the years to come.
+She was barely twenty-two years old, and, as is common with girls of her
+complexion, seemed younger. Her bright, intelligent face was, above
+all, good-humoured. Just at that moment, however, there was a flush of
+passionate anger in her cheeks.
+
+“It makes me feel almost beside myself,” she exclaimed, “this hideous
+incapacity for doing anything! Here we are living in luxury, without a
+single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on earth to both of us,
+is being starved and goaded to death in a foul German prison!”
+
+“We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear,” Philippa
+remonstrated. “What is it, Mills?”
+
+The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band, bowed
+as he arranged it upon a side table.
+
+“I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+ladyship,” he announced, “and some hot buttered toast. Cook has sent
+some of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally fancies.”
+
+“It is very kind of you, Mills,” Philippa said, with rather a wan little
+smile. “I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad. You might
+take my coat, please.”
+
+She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her slim,
+elegant little body.
+
+“Shall I light up, your ladyship?” Mills enquired.
+
+“You might light a lamp,” Philippa directed, “but don't draw the blinds
+until lighting-up time. After the noise of London,” she went on,
+turning to Helen, “I always think that the faint sound of the sea is so
+restful.”
+
+The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to his
+mistress.
+
+“We should be glad to hear, your ladyship,” he said, “if there is any
+news of Major Felstead?” Philippa shook her head.
+
+“None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills! Still, we must hope for the
+best. I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as we imagine.”
+
+“We must hope not, your ladyship,” was the somewhat dismal reply. “Shall
+I fasten the windows?”
+
+“You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills,” Philippa
+directed. “I am not at home, if any one should call. See that we are
+undisturbed for a little time.”
+
+“Very good, your ladyship.”
+
+The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone. Philippa
+held out her arms.
+
+“Helen, darling, come and be nice to me,” she begged. “Let us both
+pretend that no news is good news. Oh, I know what you are suffering,
+but remember that even if Dick is your lover, he is my dear, only
+brother--my twin brother, too. We have been so much to each other all
+our lives. He'll stick it out, dear, if any human being can. We shall
+have him back with us some day.”
+
+“But he is hungry,” Helen sobbed. “I can't bear to think of his being
+hungry. Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me.”
+
+“I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like,” Philippa
+murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+
+“He always used to love one about this time,” Helen faltered, glancing
+at the clock.
+
+“And cigarettes!” Philippa exclaimed. “I wonder whether they give him
+anything to smoke.”
+
+“Nasty German tobacco, if they do,” Helen rejoined indignantly. “And
+to think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his favourite
+Egyptians!”
+
+She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side. Their arms were
+intertwined, their cheeks touching. One of those strange, feminine
+silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while under its
+thrall. Then, almost at the same moment, a queer awakening came for both
+of them. Helen's arm was stiffened. Philippa turned her head, but her
+eyes were filled with incredulous fear. A little current of cool air was
+blowing through the room. The French windows stood half open, and with
+his back to them, a man who had apparently entered the room from the
+gardens and passed noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing
+by the door, listening. They heard him turn the key. Then, in a
+businesslike manner, he returned to the windows and closed them, the
+eyes of the two women following him all the time. Satisfied, apparently,
+with his precautions, he turned towards them just as an expression of
+indignant enquiry broke from Philippa's lips. Helen sprang to her feet,
+and Philippa gripped the sides of her chair. The newcomer advanced a few
+steps nearer to them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual silence
+was, that in those few seconds they jointly conceived definite and
+lasting impressions of the man who was to become, during the next few
+weeks, an object of the deepest concern to both of them. The intruder
+was slightly built, of little more than medium height, of dark
+complexion, with an almost imperceptible moustache of military pattern,
+black hair dishevelled with the wind, and eyes of almost peculiar
+brightness. He carried himself with an assurance which was somewhat
+remarkable considering the condition of his torn and mud stained
+clothes, the very quality of which was almost undistinguishable. They
+both, curiously enough, formed the same instinctive conviction that,
+notwithstanding his tramplike appearance and his burglarious entrance,
+this was not a person to be greatly feared.
+
+The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and opened
+the conversation with some ceremony.
+
+“Ladies,” he began, with a low bow, “in the first place let me offer
+my most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance to your
+house.”
+
+Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him. The firelight
+played upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness
+from her face. Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had almost
+the appearance of a framed cameo. Her voice was quite steady, although
+its inflection betrayed some indignation.
+
+“Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+extraordinary behaviour?” she demanded.
+
+“It is my earnest intention to do so without delay,” he assured her, his
+eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa. “Kindly pardon me.”
+
+He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell, had
+made a stealthy attempt to slip past him. Her eyes flashed as she felt
+his fingers upon her arm.
+
+“How dare you attempt to stop me!” she exclaimed.
+
+“My dear Miss Fairclough,” he remonstrated, “in the interests of all
+of us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+conversation. I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure of
+addressing Miss Fairclough?”
+
+There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in its
+way, impressive yet irritating. Helen appeared bereft of words and
+retreated to her place almost mildly. Philippa's very delicate eyebrows
+were drawn together in a slight frown.
+
+“You are acquainted with our names, then?”
+
+“Perfectly,” was the suave reply. “You, I presume, are Lady Cranston? I
+may be permitted to add,” he went on, looking at her steadfastly, “that
+the description from which I recognise you does you less than justice.”
+
+“I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent,” Philippa
+told him coldly.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. There was a slight smile upon his lips and
+his eyes twinkled.
+
+“Alas!” he murmured, “for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+circumstances of our meeting. Permit me to offer you what I trust you
+will accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction.”
+
+“A letter of introduction,” Philippa repeated, glancing at his
+disordered clothes, “and you come in through the window!”
+
+“Believe me,” the intruder assured her, “it was the only way.”
+
+“Perhaps you will tell me, then,” Philippa demanded, her anger gradually
+giving way to bewilderment, “what is wrong with my front door?”
+
+“For all I know, dear lady,” the newcomer confessed, “yours may be
+an excellent front door. I would ask you, however, to consider my
+appearance. I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of my
+journey in somewhat ignominious fashion. My clothes--they were quite
+nice clothes, too, when I started,” he added, looking down at himself
+ruefully--“have suffered. And, as you perceive, I have lost my hat.”
+
+“Your hat?” Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+
+“Precisely! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging
+to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes,
+and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an
+explanation which I thought better avoided. I make myself quite clear, I
+trust?”
+
+“Clear?” Philippa murmured helplessly.
+
+“Clear?” Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+
+“I mean, of course,” their visitor explained, “so far as regards my
+choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house.”
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the
+bell. The intruder, however, barred her way. She looked up into his
+face and found it difficult to maintain her indignation. His expression,
+besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a respectful admiration.
+
+“Will you please let me pass?” she insisted.
+
+“Madam,” he replied, “I am afraid that it is your intention to ring the
+bell.”
+
+“Of course it is,” she admitted. “Don't dare to prevent me.”
+
+“Madam, I do not wish to prevent you,” he assured her. “A few moments'
+delay--that is all I plead for.”
+
+“Will you explain at once, sir,” Philippa demanded, “what you mean by
+forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and by
+locking that door?”
+
+“I am most anxious to do so,” was the prompt reply. “I am correct, of
+course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston--and you Miss
+Fairclough?” he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them. “A very
+great pleasure! I recognised you both quite easily, you see, from your
+descriptions.”
+
+“From our descriptions?” Philippa repeated.
+
+The newcomer bowed.
+
+“The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated, of your
+brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fiancé, Miss Fairclough.”
+
+“Richard?” Philippa almost shrieked.
+
+“You have seen Dick?” Helen gasped.
+
+The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes. He
+handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+
+“My letters of introduction,” he explained, with a little sigh of
+relief. “I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to have
+some tea. I am almost starving.”
+
+The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+
+“One moment, I beg,” their visitor interposed. “I have established, I
+trust, my credentials. May I remind you that I was compelled to ensure
+the safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by locking that
+door. Are you likely to be disturbed?”
+
+“No, no! No chance at all,” Philippa assured him.
+
+“If we are, we'll explain,” Helen promised.
+
+“In that case,” the intruder begged, “perhaps you will excuse me.”
+
+He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew the
+curtains carefully across the French windows. Afterwards he made his way
+towards the tea-table. A little throbbing cry had broken from Helen's
+lips.
+
+“Philippa,” she exclaimed, “it's from Dick! It's Dick's handwriting!”
+
+Philippa's reply was incoherent. She was tearing open her own envelope.
+With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these communications seized a
+sandwich in one hand and poured himself out some tea with the other. He
+ate and drank with the restraint of good-breeding, but with a voracity
+which gave point to his plea of starvation. A few yards away, the
+breathless silence between the two women had given place to an almost
+hysterical series of disjointed exclamations.
+
+“It's from Dick!” Helen repeated. “It's his own dear handwriting. How
+shaky it is! He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a friend.”
+
+“I know--I know,” Philippa murmured tremulously. “Our parcels have been
+discovered, and he got them all at once. Just fancy, Helen, he's really
+not so ill, after all!”
+
+They drew a little closer together.
+
+“You read yours out first,” Helen proposed, “and then I'll read mine.”
+
+Philippa nodded. Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+
+  MY DEAREST SISTER,
+
+  I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+  really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+  but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+  friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+  heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+  that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+  me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+  promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+
+  You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+  man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+
+  Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+  all the difference.
+
+  My love to you and to Henry.
+                                 Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
+
+  P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+  scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+  hope he came out all right.
+
+Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her
+teeth as though determined to ignore it.
+
+“Isn't it wonderful!” she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with glowing
+eyes. “Now yours, dear?”
+
+Helen's voice trembled as she read. Her eyes, too, at times were misty:
+
+  DEAREST,
+
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+
+                                               Always your lover,
+                                                       DICK.
+
+There were a few moments of significant silence. The girls were leaning
+together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads almost
+touching. Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and drink. He rose
+at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and coughed. They started,
+suddenly remembering his presence. Philippa turned impulsively towards
+him with outstretched hands.
+
+“I can't tell you how thankful we are to you,” she declared.
+
+“Both of us,” Helen echoed.
+
+He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+tea-table.
+
+“You permit?” he asked.
+
+“Of course,” Philippa assented eagerly. “You will find some matches on
+the tray there. Do please help yourself. I am afraid that I must have
+seemed very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing. Won't you
+have some fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like some more
+sandwiches?”
+
+“Nothing more at present, thank you,” he replied. “If you do not mind, I
+would rather continue our conversation.”
+
+“These letters are wonderful,” Philippa told him gratefully. “You know
+from whom they come, of course. Dick is my twin brother, and until the
+war we had scarcely ever been parted. Miss Fairclough here is engaged
+to be married to him. It is quite two months since we had a line, and
+I myself have been in London for the last three days, three very weary
+days, making enquiries everywhere.”
+
+“I am very happy,” he said, “to have brought you such good news.”
+
+Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose itself
+upon the two women. They remembered the locked door, the secrecy of
+their visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+
+“May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?” Philippa
+enquired.
+
+“My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham,” was the suave reply.
+
+“For the present?” Philippa repeated. “You have perhaps, some
+explanations to make,” she went on, with some hesitation; “the condition
+of your clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?”
+
+“With your permission.”
+
+“One moment,” Helen intervened eagerly. “Is it possible, Mr. Lessingham,
+that you have seen Major Felstead lately?”
+
+“A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough. I am happy to tell
+you that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite reasonably
+well.”
+
+Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came over
+to their visitor's side.
+
+“This was taken just before he went out the first time,” she continued.
+“Is he anything like that now?”
+
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+
+“You must expect,” he warned her, “that prison and hospital have had
+their effect upon him. He was gaining strength every day, however, when
+I left.”
+
+Philippa held out her hand. She had been looking curiously at their
+visitor.
+
+“Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us about
+Dick,” she insisted. “First there are some questions which I must ask.”
+
+He bowed slightly and drew himself up. For a moment it seemed as though
+they were entering upon a duel--the slight, beautiful woman and the man
+in rags.
+
+“Just now,” she began, “you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+brother, fifty-six hours ago.”
+
+“That is so,” he assented.
+
+“But it is impossible!” she pointed out. “My brother is a prisoner of
+war in Germany.”
+
+“Precisely,” he replied, “and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp. Let us talk about him,
+shall we?”
+
+“Are you mad,” Helen demanded, “or are you trying to confuse us?”
+
+“My dear young lady!” he protested. “Why suppose such a thing? I was
+flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were, under the
+circumstances, perfectly rational.”
+
+“But you are talking nonsense,” Philippa insisted. “You say that you saw
+Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago. You cannot mean us to believe that
+fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg.”
+
+“That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you,” he agreed.
+
+“But it isn't possible!” Helen gasped.
+
+“Quite, I assure you,” he continued; “in fact, we should have been
+here before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along the
+coast. There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here, which we were
+credibly informed had once been fired without the slightest accident.”
+
+Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+
+“He's raving!” she decided.
+
+“He isn't!” Helen cried, with sudden divination. “Is that your hat?” she
+asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+
+“It is,” he admitted with a smile, “but I do not think that I will claim
+it.”
+
+“You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!”
+
+Lessingham extended his hand.
+
+“Softly, please,” he begged. “You have, I gather, arrived at the
+truth, but for the moment shall it be our secret? I made an exceedingly
+uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the Zeppelin which
+passed over Dutchman's Common last night.”
+
+“Then,” Philippa cried, “you are a German!”
+
+“My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune,” Lessingham confessed.
+“Do you think that none other than Germans ride in Zeppelins?”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation. The
+conversation, never without its emotional tendencies, at once changed
+its character. Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat lurking all
+the time in her tone and manner, became its guiding spirit.
+
+“We may enquire your name?” she asked.
+
+“I am the Baron Maderstrom,” was the prompt reply. “For the purpose of
+my brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the name of
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment.”
+
+“Maderstrom,” Philippa repeated. “You were at Magdalen with my brother.”
+
+“For three terms,” he assented.
+
+“You have visited at Wood Norton. It was only an accident, then, that I
+did not meet you.”
+
+“It is true,” he answered, with a bow. “I received the most charming
+hospitality there from your father and mother.”
+
+“Why, you are the friend,” Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his hands,
+“of whom Dick speaks in his letter!”
+
+“It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+Felstead,” was the grave admission. “He and I, during our college days,
+were more than ordinarily intimate. I saw his name in one of the lists
+of prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg.”
+
+A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa brushed
+her away.
+
+“Please let me speak,” she said. “You have brought us these letters from
+Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you did
+not risk your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply as
+his ambassador. There is something beyond this in your visit to this
+country. You may be a Swede, but is it not true that at the present
+moment you are in the service of an enemy?”
+
+Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+
+“You are entirely right,” he murmured.
+
+“Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask of us?”
+
+“Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration,” Lessingham assured
+her. “I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for those which I
+have rendered and those which I may yet render to your brother.”
+
+“And that favour?”
+
+Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+
+“A suit of your brother's clothes,” he replied, “and a room in which
+to change. The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to your
+ingenuity.”
+
+“Anything else?”
+
+“It is my wish,” he continued, “to remain in this neighbourhood for a
+short time--perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month. I should value your
+introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of such hospitality as
+may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances.”
+
+“As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?”
+
+“Beyond a doubt.”
+
+There was a moment's silence. Philippa's face had become almost stony.
+She took a step towards the telephone. Lessingham, however, held out his
+hand.
+
+“Your purpose?” he enquired.
+
+“I am going to ring up the Commandant here,” she told him, “and explain
+your presence in this house.”
+
+“An heroic impulse,” he observed, “but too impulsive.”
+
+“We shall see,” she retorted. “Will you let me pass?”
+
+His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+
+“Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you,” he suggested. “I am
+here at your mercy. I promise you that under no circumstances will I
+attempt any measure of violence. From any fear of that, I trust my name
+and my friendship with your brother will be sufficient guarantee.”
+
+“Continue, then,” Philippa assented.
+
+“You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case,” he begged.
+
+“We must!” Helen exclaimed. “We must, Philippa! Please!”
+
+“You shall have your ten minutes,” Philippa conceded.
+
+He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+hearth-rug, his hands behind him. He addressed himself to Philippa. It
+was Philippa who had become his judge.
+
+“I will claim nothing from you,” he began, “for the services which I
+have rendered to Richard. Our friendship was a real thing, and, finding
+him in such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances, have done
+all that I have done. I am well paid for this by the thanks which you
+have already proffered me.”
+
+“No thanks--nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+recompense,” Helen declared energetically.
+
+“Let me speak for a moment of the future,” he continued. “Supposing you
+ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here? Well, that
+will be the end of me, without a doubt. You will have done what seemed
+to you to be the right thing, and I hope that that consciousness will
+sustain you, for, believe me, though it may not be at my will, your
+brother's life will most certainly answer for mine.”
+
+There was a slight pause. A sob broke from Helen's throat. Even
+Philippa's lip quivered.
+
+“Forgive me,” he went on, “if that sounds like a threat. It was not so
+meant. It is the simple truth. Let me hurry on to the future. I ask so
+little of you. It is my duty to live in this spot for one month. What
+harm can I do? You have no great concentration of soldiers here, no
+docks, no fortifications, no industry. And in return for the slight
+service of allowing me to remain here unmolested, I pledge my word that
+Richard shall be set at liberty and shall be here with you within two
+months.”
+
+Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted
+with eagerness. She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her whole
+attitude an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+
+“Philippa, you will not hesitate? You cannot?”
+
+“I must,” Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation. “I love Dick
+more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen, we have to
+remember, before everything, that we are English women. We have to
+put our human feelings behind us. We are learning every day to make
+sacrifices. You, too, must learn, dear. My answer to you, Baron
+Maderstrom--or Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call yourself--is no.”
+
+“Philippa, you are mad!” Helen exclaimed passionately. “Didn't I have to
+realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully, the day
+after we were engaged? Haven't I realised the duty of cheerfulness and
+sacrifice through all these weary months? But there is a limit to
+these things, Philippa, a sense of proportion which must be taken
+into account. It's Dick's life which is in the balance against some
+intangible thing, nothing that we could ever reproach ourselves with,
+nothing that could bring real harm upon any one. Oh, I love my country,
+too, but I want Dick! I should feel like his murderess all my life, if I
+didn't consent!”
+
+“It occurs to me,” Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa, “that
+Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered.”
+
+“Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?” Philippa
+demanded, with a little break in her voice. “Richard is my twin brother,
+he is the dearest thing in life to me. Can't you realise, though, that
+what you ask of us is treason?”
+
+“It really doesn't amount to that,” Lessingham assured her. “In my own
+heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand. No
+object that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is worth the
+life of a man like Richard Felstead.”
+
+“Oh, he's right!” Helen exclaimed. “Think, Philippa! What is there here
+which the whole world might not know? There are no secrets in Dreymarsh.
+We are miles away from everywhere. For my sake, Philippa, I implore you
+not to be unreasonable.”
+
+“In plain words,” Lessingham intervened, “do not be quixotic, Lady
+Cranston. There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life on the
+other. You see, the scales do not balance.”
+
+“Can't you realise, though,” Philippa answered, “what that idea
+means? It is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs from a
+principle.”
+
+“What are principles against love?” Helen demanded, almost fiercely. “A
+sister may prate about them, Philippa. A wife couldn't. I'd sacrifice
+every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect, myself and all
+that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!”
+
+There was a brief, throbbing silence. Helen was feverishly clutching
+Philippa's hand. Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face
+into which he gazed. There were no women like this in his own country.
+
+“Dear lady,” he said, and for the first time his own voice shook, “I
+abandon my arguments. I beg you to act as you think best for your own
+future happiness. The chances of life or death are not great things for
+either men like your brother or for me. I would not purchase my end, nor
+he his life, at the expense of your suffering. You see, I stand on one
+side. The telephone is there for your use.”
+
+“You shan't use it!” Helen cried passionately. “Phillipa, you shan't!”
+
+Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone out of
+her face. Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth was twitching
+with emotion. She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+
+“My dear, I can't! I can't!” she sobbed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Philippa's breakdown was only momentary. With a few brusque words
+she brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered
+equanimity.
+
+“To be practical,” she began, “we have no time to lose. I will go
+and get a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take Mr.
+Lessingham into the gun room. Afterwards, perhaps you will have time to
+ring up the hotel.”
+
+Lessingham took a quick step towards her,--almost as though he were
+about to make some impetuous withdrawal. Philippa turned and met
+his almost pleading gaze. Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+self-abnegation.
+
+“I am in command of the situation,” she continued, a little more
+lightly. “Every one must please obey me. I shan't be more than five
+minutes.”
+
+She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the door for
+her. He stood for a moment looking at the place where she had vanished.
+Then he turned round.
+
+“Major Felstead's description,” he said quietly, “did not do his sister
+justice.”
+
+“Philippa is a dear,” Helen declared enthusiastically. “Just for a
+moment, though, I was terrified. She has a wonderful will.”
+
+“How long has she been married?”
+
+“About six years.”
+
+“Are there--any children?”
+
+Helen shook her head.
+
+“Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us.”
+
+“Six years!” Lessingham repeated. “Why, she seems no more than a child.
+Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior.”
+
+“Sixteen years,” Helen told him. “Philippa is twenty-nine. And now,
+don't be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me. I want to show
+you where to change your clothes.”
+
+She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a small
+apartment across the passage.
+
+“If you'll wait in there,” she begged, “I'll bring the clothes to you
+directly they come. I am going to telephone now.”
+
+“So many thanks,” he answered. “I should like a pleasant bedroom and
+sitting room, and a bathroom if possible. My luggage you will find
+already there. A friend in London has seen to that.”
+
+She looked at him curiously.
+
+“You are very thorough, aren't you?” she remarked.
+
+“The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are,” he
+replied. “One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the mightiest
+chain.”
+
+She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+
+“Number three, please,” she began. “Are you the hotel? The manager?
+Good! I am speaking for Lady Cranston. She wishes a sitting-room,
+bedroom and bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving
+to-day--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham. You have his luggage already, I believe.
+Please do the best you can for him.--Certainly.--Thank you very much.”
+
+She set down the receiver. The door was quickly opened and shut.
+Philippa reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+
+“Why, you've brought his grey suit,” Helen cried in dismay, “the one he
+looks so well in!”
+
+“Don't be an idiot,” Philippa scoffed. “I had to bring the first I could
+find. Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's sake see that he
+hurries! Henry's train is due, and he may be here at any moment.”
+
+“I'll tell him,” Helen promised. “I'll smuggle him out of the back way,
+if you like.”
+
+Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+
+“A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!” she
+observed. “No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes, but, if
+the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and introduce him. Henry
+isn't likely to notice anything,” she added, a little bitterly.
+
+Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+
+“You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?” the former asked
+anxiously.
+
+“I don't know,” Philippa replied, without turning her head. “I don't
+know what may come of it, Helen. I have a queer sort of feeling about
+that man.”
+
+Helen sighed. “I suppose,” she confessed, “I am the narrowest person on
+earth. I can think of one thing, and one thing only. If Mr. Lessingham
+keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a month, perhaps six
+weeks--certainly soon!”
+
+“He will keep his word,” Philippa said quietly. “He is that sort of
+man.”
+
+The door on the other side of the room was softly opened. Lessingham's
+head appeared.
+
+“Could I have a necktie?” he asked diffidently. Philippa stretched out
+her hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+
+“Better give him this,” she said, handing it over to Helen. “It is one
+of Henry's which I was mending.--Stop!”
+
+She put up her finger. They all listened.
+
+“The car!” Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet. “That is
+Henry! Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen,” she continued, “and wait
+until he is ready. Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller, and bring
+him in presently.”
+
+Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+
+Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door. In a moment it was
+thrown open. Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+
+“I went to meet him, Mummy,” she explained. “No uniform--isn't it a
+shame!”
+
+Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife. There was
+a shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather
+hesitating approach.
+
+“Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil,” he told her. “I had to make a
+call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street. Any luck?”
+
+She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+
+“Henry,” she said earnestly, “do you know I am so much more anxious to
+hear your news.”
+
+“Mine will keep,” he replied. “What about Richard?”
+
+She shook her head.
+
+“I spent the whole of my time making enquiries,” she sighed, “and every
+one was fruitless. I failed to get the least satisfaction from any one
+at the War Office. They know nothing, have heard nothing.”
+
+“I'm ever so sorry to hear it,” Sir Henry declared sympathetically. “You
+mustn't worry too much, though, dear. Where's Helen?”
+
+“She is in the gun room with a caller.”
+
+“With a caller?” Nora exclaimed. “Is it any one from the Depot? I must
+go and see.”
+
+“You needn't trouble,” her stepmother replied. “Here they are, coming
+in.”
+
+The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and Hamar
+Lessingham and Helen entered together. Lessingham was entirely at his
+ease,--their conversation, indeed, seemed almost engrossing. He came at
+once across the room on realising Sir Henry's presence.
+
+“This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham--my husband,” Philippa said. “Mr.
+Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and he
+have been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences.”
+
+The two men shook hands.
+
+“I found time also to examine your Leech prints,” Lessingham remarked.
+“You have some very admirable examples.”
+
+“Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days,” Sir Henry admitted. “One
+or two of them are very good, I believe. Are you staying in these parts
+long, Mr. Lessingham?”
+
+“Perhaps for a week or two,” was the somewhat indifferent reply. “I am
+told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I have come
+down here to pull up again after a slight illness.”
+
+“A dreary spot just now,” Sir Henry observed, “but the air's all right.
+Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?”
+
+“I have done a little of it,” the visitor confessed. Sir Henry's face
+lit up. He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+
+“I don't mind telling you,” he confided as he cut the string, “that I
+don't think there's another sport like it in the world. I have tried
+most of them, too. When I was a boy I was all for shooting, perhaps
+because I could never get enough. Then I had a season or two at Melton,
+though I was never much of a horseman. But for real, unadulterated
+excitement, for sport that licks everything else into a cocked hat, give
+me a strong sea rod, a couple of traces, just enough sea to keep on the
+bottom all the time, and the codling biting. Look here, did you ever see
+a mackerel spinner like that?” he added, drawing one out of the parcel
+which he had untied. “Look at it, all of you.”
+
+Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers. Philippa, a little
+ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a
+newspaper.
+
+“Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of sport
+just now,” Sir Henry explained good-humouredly. “All the same I argue
+that one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or other.”
+
+“Quite right, Dad!” Nora agreed. “We must carry on, as the Colonel says.
+All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval uniform, with
+lots of gold braid on your sleeve. I think they might have made you an
+admiral, Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge.”
+
+“I am afraid,” her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the spinner
+which Lessingham was holding, “that that is a consideration which didn't
+seem to weigh with them much. Look at the glitter of it,” he went on,
+taking up another of the spinners. “You see, it's got a double swivel,
+and they guarantee six hundred revolutions a minute.”
+
+“I must plead ignorance,” Lessingham regretted, “of everything connected
+with mackerel spinning.”
+
+“It's fine sport for a change,” Sir Henry declared. “The only thing is
+that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars in.
+By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa? Have you heard whether
+there are any mackerel in?”
+
+Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+
+“Mackerel!” she repeated sarcastically.
+
+“Have you any objection to the fish, dear?” Sir Henry enquired blandly.
+
+Philippa made no reply. Her husband frowned and turned towards
+Lessingham.
+
+“You see,” he complained a little irritably, “my wife doesn't approve of
+my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but, hang it
+all, what are you to do when you reach my age? Thinks I ought to be a
+special constable, don't you, Philippa?”
+
+“Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?” she asked, without looking
+up from her paper.
+
+Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+
+“See something more of you, I hope,” Sir Henry remarked hospitably, as
+he conducted his guest to the door. “Where are you staying here?”
+
+“At the hotel.”
+
+“Which?”
+
+“I did not understand that there was more than one,” Lessingham replied.
+“I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh.”
+
+“There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham,” Philippa
+observed, turning towards him. “Why do you ask such an absurd question,
+Henry? The 'Grand' is full of soldiers. Come and see us whenever you
+feel inclined, Mr. Lessingham.”
+
+“I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,”
+ were the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself out.
+
+Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda. Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though waiting
+patiently for his return. Helen and Nora had already obeyed the summons
+of the dressing bell.
+
+“Henry, I want to hear your news,” she insisted. He threw himself into
+an easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's workbasket.
+
+“Where's that tie of mine you were mending?” he asked. “Is it finished
+yet?”
+
+“It is upstairs somewhere,” she replied. “No, I have not finished it.
+Why do you ask? You have plenty, haven't you?”
+
+“Drawers full,” he admitted cheerfully. “Half of them I can never wear,
+though. I like that black and white fellow. Your friend Lessingham was
+wearing one exactly like it.”
+
+“It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern,” Philippa reminded him.
+
+“Seems to have the family taste in clothes,” Sir Henry continued,
+stroking his chin. “That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the same
+pattern as the suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw him in
+mufti.”
+
+“They probably go to the same tailor,” Philippa remarked equably.
+
+Sir Henry abandoned the subject. He was once more engrossed in an
+examination of the mackerel spinners.
+
+“You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble,” he ventured
+presently.
+
+Philippa turned and looked at him. Her eyes were usually very sweet and
+soft and her mouth delightful. Just at that moment, however, there were
+new and very firm lines in her face.
+
+“Henry,” she said sternly, “you are purposely fencing with me. Mr.
+Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and goings, are
+not what I want to hear or talk about. You went to London, unwillingly
+enough, to keep your promise to me. I want to know whether you have
+succeeded in getting anything from the Admiralty?”
+
+“Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear,” he answered with a little
+chuckle.
+
+“Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?” she
+persisted. “You may have been out of the service too long for them to
+start you with a modern ship, but surely they could have given you an
+auxiliary cruiser, or a secondary command of some sort?”
+
+“They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear,” he confessed. “My name's on
+a list, they said--”
+
+“Oh, that list!” Philippa interrupted angrily. “Henry, I really can't
+bear it. Couldn't they find you anything on land?”
+
+“My dear girl,” he replied a little testily, “what sort of a figure
+should I cut in an office! No one can read my writing, and I couldn't
+add up a column of figures to save my life. What is it?” he added, as
+the door opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+
+“Dumble is here to see you, sir.”
+
+“Show him in at once,” his master directed with alacrity. “Come in,
+Jimmy,” he went on, raising his voice. “I've got something to show you
+here.”
+
+Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together. She swept past her
+husband on her way to the door.
+
+“I hope you will be so good,” she said, looking back, “as to spare me
+half an hour of your valuable time this evening. This is a subject which
+I must discuss with you further at once.”
+
+“As urgent as all that, eh?” Sir Henry replied, stopping to light a
+cigarette. “Righto! You can have the whole of my evening, dear, with the
+greatest of pleasure.--Now then, Jimmy!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity for
+silence. He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his hat in
+his hand. Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did not for a moment
+address his visitor. There was a subtle but unmistakable change in his
+appearance as he stood with his hands in his pockets, and a frown on
+his forehead, whistling softly to himself, his eyes fixed upon the door
+through which his wife had vanished. He swung round at last towards the
+telephone.
+
+“Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?” he directed.
+
+“Aye, aye, sir!”
+
+Sir Henry took up the receiver. He dropped his voice a little, although
+it was none the less distinct.
+
+“Number one--police-station, please.--Hullo there! The inspector
+about?--That you, Inspector?--Sir Henry Cranston speaking. Could you
+just step round?--Good! Tell them to show you straight into the library.
+You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights, eh? Thank you.”
+
+He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+
+“Well, Jimmy,” he enquired, “all serene down in the village, eh?”
+
+“So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke as
+shouldn't be.”
+
+“A lazy lot they are,” Sir Henry observed.
+
+“They don't look far beyond the end of their noses.”
+
+“Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't,” was the cautious reply.
+
+Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+
+“Perhaps you are right, Jimmy,” he admitted.
+
+“That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with ideas.”
+
+“He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble,” Dumble
+declared. “He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know he
+put Grice's lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday week,
+but that don't amount to anything. He was dead drunk for three days
+afterwards.”
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+“I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy,” he confided, as he threw
+open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the further wall.
+“No strangers about, eh?”
+
+“Not a sign of one, sir.”
+
+Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+
+“Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?” his visitor asked.
+
+“I don't think it is necessary,” Sir Henry replied. “They've all gone up
+to change. Now listen to me, Jimmy.”
+
+He leaned forward and touched a spring. The false back of the cabinet,
+with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks and tackle,
+slowly rolled back. Before them stood a huge chart, wonderfully executed
+in red, white and yellow.
+
+“That's a marvellous piece of work, sir,” the fisherman observed
+admiringly.
+
+“Best thing I ever did in my life,” Sir Henry agreed. “Now see here,
+Jimmy. We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat, according to the
+wind. We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass Dead Man's Rock on the
+left side of the waterway, and keep straight on until we get Budden Wood
+on the church tower. You follow me?”
+
+“Aye, aye, sir!”
+
+“We make for the headland from there. You see, we shall be outside the
+Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up. Put all the fishing
+tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait. We must never lose sight
+of the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our lives is to catch fish.”
+
+“That's right, sir,” was the hearty assent.
+
+“We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then,” Sir Henry decided.
+
+“The tide'll be on the flow by that time,” Jimmy observed, “and we'll
+get off from the staith breakwater. That do be a fine piece of work and
+no mistake,” he added, as the false back of the cabinet glided slowly to
+its place.
+
+Sir Henry chuckled.
+
+“It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy,” he said.
+“I've got the seaweed on that, pretty well. You'll take a drop of whisky
+on your way out?” he added. “Mills will look after you.”
+
+“I thank you kindly, sir.”
+
+Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+
+“The inspector is here to see you, sir,” he announced. “He did mention
+something about the lights. I'm sure we've all been most careful. Even
+her ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom.”
+
+“Show the inspector in,” Sir Henry directed, “and I'll hear what he has
+to say. And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a cigar.”
+
+“Wishing you good night, sir,” the latter said, as he followed Mills.
+“I'll be punctual in the morning. Looks to me as though we might have
+good sport.”
+
+“We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy,” his employer replied cheerfully.
+“Come in, Inspector.”
+
+The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+attention. Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door. He
+remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+
+“Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector,” he observed, sitting on the
+edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette. “Any fresh
+arrivals?”
+
+“None, sir,” the man reported, “of any consequence that I can see. There
+are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady for the
+Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night. There was
+a commercial traveller came in the first train this morning, but he went
+on during the afternoon.”
+
+“Hm! What about a Mr. Lessingham--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?”
+
+“I haven't heard of him, sir.”
+
+“Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?”
+
+“Not this evening, sir. I met the Midland and Great Northern train in
+myself. Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here.”
+
+“And I came the other way myself,” Sir Henry reflected.
+
+“Now you come to mention the matter, sir,” the inspector continued,
+“I was up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about
+addressed to a name somewhat similar to that.”
+
+“Probably sent on in advance, eh?”
+
+“There could be no other way, sir,” the inspector replied, “unless the
+registration paper has been mislaid. I'll step up to the hotel this
+evening and make sure.”
+
+“You'll oblige me very much, if you will. By Jove,” Sir Henry added,
+looking towards the door, “I'd no idea it was so late!”
+
+Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black net
+gown, was standing in the doorway. She looked at the inspector, and for
+a moment the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+
+“Is anything the matter?” she asked breathlessly.
+
+“Nothing in the world, my dear,” her husband assured her. “I am
+frightfully sorry I'm so late. Jimmy stayed some time, and then the
+inspector here looked in about our lights. Just a little more care in
+this room at night, he thinks. We'll see to it, Inspector.”
+
+“I am very much obliged, sir,” the man replied. “Sorry to be under the
+necessity of mentioning it.”
+
+Sir Henry opened the door.
+
+“You'll find your own way out, won't you?” he begged. “I'm a little
+late.”
+
+The inspector saluted and withdrew. Sir Henry glanced round.
+
+“I won't be ten minutes, Philippa,” he promised. “I had no idea it was
+so late.”
+
+“Come here one moment, please,” she insisted.
+
+He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small
+table near which she had paused.
+
+“What is it, dear?” he enquired. “We are going to leave our talk till
+after dinner, aren't we?”
+
+She looked him in the face. There was an anxious light in her eyes, and
+she was certainly not herself. “Of course! I only wanted to know--it
+seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to the
+inspector, as I came into the room. Are you sure that it was the lights
+he came around about? There isn't anything else wrong, is there?”
+
+“What else could there be?” he asked wonderingly.
+
+“I have no idea,” she replied, with well-simulated indifference. “I was
+only asking you whether there was anything else?”
+
+He shook his head.
+
+“Nothing!”
+
+She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+
+“Thank you,” she said. “Do hurry, please. I have a new cook and she
+asked particularly whether we were punctual people.”
+
+“Six minutes will see me through it,” Sir Henry promised, making for the
+door. “Come to think of it, I missed my lunch. I think I'll manage it in
+five.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening. The new
+cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having dined
+exceedingly well. He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before a blazing
+wood fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of cigarettes, and
+his wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few feet away.
+
+“Quite a remarkable change in Helen,” he observed. “She was in the
+depths of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems positively
+cheerful.”
+
+“Helen varies a great deal,” Philippa reminded him.
+
+“Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found her
+more depressed than ever,” Sir Henry went on. “She hoped so much from
+your trip to London, and you apparently accomplished nothing.”
+
+“Nothing at all.”
+
+“And you have had no letters?”
+
+“None.”
+
+“Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's natural
+inconsistency.--Philippa, dear!”
+
+“Yes?”
+
+“I am glad to be at home. I am glad to see you sitting there. I know you
+are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch at me. Won't
+you launch it and let's get it over?”
+
+Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned to
+face her husband. He made a little grimace.
+
+“Don't look so severe,” he begged. “You frighten me before you begin.”
+
+“I'm sorry,” she said, “but my face probably reflects my feelings. I am
+hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry.”
+
+“That's a good start, anyway,” he groaned.
+
+“We have been married six years,” Philippa went on, “and I admit at once
+that I have been very happy. Then the war came. You know quite well,
+Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very fond of you, yet
+it never occurred to me for a moment but that, like every other woman, I
+should have to lose my husband for a time.--Stop, please,” she insisted,
+as he showed signs of interrupting. “I know quite well that it was
+through my persuasions you retired so early, but in those days there was
+no thought of war, and I always had it in my mind that if trouble came
+you would find your way back to where you belonged.”
+
+“But, my dear child, that is all very well,” Sir Henry protested, “but
+it's not so easy to get back again. You know very well that I went up to
+the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the war started.”
+
+“Yes, and what happened?” Philippa demanded. “You were, in a measure,
+shelved. You were put on a list and told that you would hear from
+them--a sort of Micawber-like situation with which you were perfectly
+satisfied. Then you took that moor up in Scotland and disappeared for
+nearly six months.”
+
+“I was supplying the starving population with food,” he reminded her
+genially. “We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market, not to
+speak of the salmon. We had some very fair golf, too, some of the time.”
+
+“Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your diversions!”
+ Philippa said scornfully. “Sometimes,” she continued, “I wonder whether
+you are quite responsible, Henry. How you can even talk of these things
+when every man of your age and strength is fighting one way or another
+for his country, seems marvellous to me. Do you realise that we are
+fighting for our very existence? Do you realise that my own father, who
+is fifteen years older than you, is in the firing line? This is a small
+place, of course, but there isn't a man left in it of your age, with
+your physique, who has had the slightest experience in either service,
+who isn't doing something.”
+
+“I can't do more than send in applications,” he grumbled. “Be
+reasonable, my dear Philippa. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to
+find a job for a sailor who has been out of it as long as I have.”
+
+“So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all did
+in London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there is
+generally a polite little silence. No one believes it. I don't believe
+it.”
+
+“Philippa!”
+
+Sir Henry turned in his chair. His cigar was burning now idly between
+his fingers. His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+
+“Well, I don't,” she reiterated. “You can be angry, if you will--in
+fact I think I should prefer you to be angry. You take no pains at
+the Admiralty. You just go there and come away again, once a year or
+something like that. Why, if I were you, I wouldn't leave the place
+until they'd found me something--indoors or outdoors, what does it
+matter so long as your hand is on the wheel and you are doing your
+little for your country? But you--what do you care? You went to town
+to get a job--and you come back with new mackerel spinners! You are off
+fishing to-morrow morning with Jimmy Dumble. Somewhere up in the North
+Sea, to-day and to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives
+for their country. What do you care? You will sit there smoking your
+pipe and catching dabs!”
+
+“Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?” her husband said
+quietly.
+
+“I want to be,” she retorted. “I should like you to feel that I am. In
+any case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall hold with
+you on the subject.”
+
+“Well, thank God for that, anyway!” he observed, strolling to the
+chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack. “I think you've said
+about enough.”
+
+“I haven't finished,” she told him ominously.
+
+“Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over,” he
+begged.
+
+“Oh, you're impossible!” Philippa exclaimed bitterly. “Listen. I give
+you one chance more. Tell me the truth? Is there anything in your
+health of which I do not know? Is there any possible explanation of your
+extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason or other, you have kept
+to yourself? Give me your whole confidence.”
+
+Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough. He stood looking down at
+her a little wistfully.
+
+“My dear,” he told her, “I have nothing to say except this. You are my
+very precious wife. I have loved you and trusted you since the day of
+our marriage. I am content to go on loving and trusting you, even though
+things should come under my notice which I do not understand. Can't you
+accept me the same way?”
+
+Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+
+“Accept you the same way? How can I! There is nothing in my life to
+compare in any way with the tragedy of your--”
+
+She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence. He waited
+patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+
+“Of my what?”
+
+Philippa compromised.
+
+“Lethargy,” she pronounced triumphantly.
+
+“An excellent word,” he murmured.
+
+“It is too mild a one, but you are my husband,” she remarked.
+
+“That reminds me,” he said quietly. “You are my wife.”
+
+“I know it,” she admitted, “but I am also a woman, and there are limits
+to my endurance. If you can give me no explanation of your behaviour,
+Henry, if you really have no intention of changing it, then there is
+only one course left open for me.”
+
+“That sounds rather alarming--what is it?” he demanded.
+
+Philippa lifted her head a little. This was the pronouncement towards
+which she had been leading.
+
+“From to-day,” she declared, “I cease to be your wife.”
+
+His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he was
+filling his pipe. He turned and looked at her.
+
+“You what?”
+
+“I cease to be your wife.”
+
+“How do you manage that?” he asked.
+
+“Don't jest,” she begged. “It hurts me so. What I mean is surely plain
+enough. I will continue to live under your roof if you wish it, or I
+am perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton. I will continue to bear
+your name because I must, but the other ties between us are finished.”
+
+“You don't mean this, Philippa,” he said gravely.
+
+“But I do mean it,” she insisted. “I mean every word I have spoken. So
+far as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance.”
+
+There was a knock at the door. Mills entered with a note upon a salver.
+Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife, and tore open
+the envelope.
+
+“There will be no answer, Mills,” he said.
+
+The man withdrew. Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:--
+
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+  SIR,
+
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+
+                                           Respectfully yours,
+                                              JOHN HAYLOCK.
+
+“Is your note of interest?” Philippa enquired.
+
+“In a sense, yes,” he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat pocket.
+“I presume we can consider our late subject of conversation finished
+with?”
+
+“I have nothing more to say,” she pronounced.
+
+“Very well, then,” her husband agreed, “let us select another topic.
+This time, supposing I choose?”
+
+“You are welcome.”
+
+“Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham.”
+
+Philippa had taken up her work. Her fingers ceased their labours, but
+she did not look up.
+
+“About Mr. Hamar Lessingham,” she repeated. “Rather a limited subject, I
+am afraid.”
+
+“I am not so sure,” he said thoughtfully. “For instance, who is he?”
+
+“I have no idea,” she replied. “Does it matter? He was at college with
+Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton. That is all that
+we know. Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any reasonable
+hospitality?”
+
+“I am not disputing it,” Sir Henry assured her. “On the face of it, it
+seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him. On the other
+hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his coming here
+just now.”
+
+“Really?” Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower over
+her work.
+
+“In the first place,” her husband continued, “how did he arrive here?”
+
+“For all I know,” she replied, “he may have walked.”
+
+“A little unlikely. Still, he didn't come from London by either of the
+evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for him
+until about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to the
+hotel. So, you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief he did get
+here.”
+
+“I took his rooms?” Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch at her
+heart.
+
+“Some one from here rang up, didn't they?” Sir Henry went on carelessly.
+“I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel.”
+
+“Where did you hear that?” she demanded.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+
+“I have no doubt,” he continued, “that the whole subject of Mr. Hamar
+Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing. Yet he does seem to have
+arrived here under a little halo of coincidence.”
+
+“I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that,” Philippa remarked; “in
+fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing in the
+world. After all, although one scarcely remembers that since the war,
+this is a health resort, and the man has been ill.”
+
+“Quite right,” Sir Henry agreed. “You are not going to bed, dear?”
+
+Philippa had folded up her work. She stood for a moment upon the
+hearth-rug. The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+
+“May I say just one word more,” she begged, “about our previous--our
+only serious subject of conversation? I have tried my best since we were
+married, Henry, to make you happy.”
+
+“You know quite well,” he assured her, “that you have succeeded.”
+
+“Grant me one favour, then,” she pleaded. “Give up your fishing
+expedition to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let me
+write to Lord Rayton. I am sure he would do something for you.”
+
+“Of course he'd do something!” Her husband groaned. “I should get a
+censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth.”
+
+“Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?” she asked,
+“than go on living the life you are living now?”
+
+“To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't,” he declared
+bluntly. “What on earth use should I be in a land appointment? Why, no
+one could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely out of
+date. Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time.”
+
+“You refuse to let me write, then?” she persisted.
+
+“Absolutely.”
+
+“You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble
+to-morrow?”
+
+“Wouldn't miss it for anything,” he confessed.
+
+Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+
+“Henry, I've finished,” she declared, holding out her hand to keep
+him away from her. “I've finished with you entirely. I would rather be
+married to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his country than to
+you. What I have said, I mean. Don't come near me. Don't try to touch
+me.”
+
+She swept past him on her way to the door.
+
+“Not even a good-night kiss?” he asked, stooping down.
+
+She looked him in the eyes.
+
+“I am not a child,” she said scornfully.
+
+He closed the door after her. For a moment he remained as though
+undecided whether to follow or not. His face had softened with her
+absence. Finally, however, he turned away with a little shrug of
+the shoulders, threw himself into his easy-chair and began to smoke
+furiously.
+
+The telephone bell disturbed his reflection. He rose at once and took up
+the receiver.
+
+“Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh. Trunk call? All right, I am here.”
+
+He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+
+“Cranston?”
+
+“Speaking.”
+
+“That's right. The message is Odino Berry, you understand? O-d-i-n-o
+b-e-r-r-y.”
+
+“I've got it,” Sir Henry replied. “Good night!” He hung up the receiver,
+crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers, and produced
+a black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock. He drew a key from
+his watch chain, opened the book, and ran his fingers down the O's.
+
+“Odino,” he muttered to himself. “Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+information from Berlin.' Now Berry.” He turned back. “'You are being
+watched by an enemy secret service agent.'”
+
+He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk. Then he
+strolled over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and soda
+from the tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+
+“We have trustworthy information from Berlin,” he repeated to himself,
+“that you are being watched by an enemy secret service agent.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+“Tell me, Mr. Lessingham,” Philippa insisted, “exactly what are you
+thinking of? You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below that
+I've climbed up on purpose to ask you.”
+
+Lessingham held out his hand to steady her. They were standing on
+a sharp spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces,
+thrashing into little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which the
+twilight was already resting. For a moment or two neither of them could
+speak.
+
+“I was thinking of my country,” he confessed. “I was looking through the
+shadows there, right across the North Sea.”
+
+“To Germany?”
+
+He shook his head.
+
+“Further away--to Sweden.”
+
+“I forgot,” she murmured. “You looked as though you were posing for a
+statue of some one in exile,” she observed. “Come, let us go a little
+lower down--unless you want to stay here and be blown to pieces.”
+
+“I was on my way back to the hotel,” he answered quickly, as he followed
+her lead, “but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little lonely.”
+
+“That,” she declared, “is your own fault. I asked you to come to
+Mainsail Haul whenever you felt inclined.”
+
+“As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived,” he remarked
+with a smile, “you might, perhaps, by this time have had a little too
+much of me.”
+
+“On the contrary,” she told him, “I quite expected you yesterday
+afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been
+doing. So you were thinking about--over there?” she added, moving her
+head seawards.
+
+“Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts,” he confessed, “and
+the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks.”
+
+“Well, I should like to hear about the first half,” she insisted.
+
+“Do you know,” he replied, “there are times when even now this war seems
+to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading about,
+some wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable poets. I
+can't believe that millions of the flower of Germany's manhood and
+yours have perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly. And France--poor
+decimated France!”
+
+“Well, Germany started the war, you know,” she reminded him.
+
+“Did she?” he answered. “I sometimes wonder. Even now I fancy, if the
+official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side, with their
+own case stated from their own point of view, even you might feel a
+little confused about that. Still, I am going to be very honest with
+you. I think myself that Germany wanted war.”
+
+“There you are, then,” she declared triumphantly. “The whole thing is
+her responsibility.”
+
+“I do not quite go so far as that,” he protested. “You see, the world is
+governed by great natural laws. As a snowball grows larger with rolling,
+so it takes up more room. As a child grows out of its infant clothes, it
+needs the vestments of a youth and then a man. And so with Germany. She
+grew and grew until the country could not hold her children, until her
+banks could not contain her money, until she stretched her arms out on
+every side and felt herself stifled. Germany came late into the world
+and found it parcelled out, but had she not a right to her place? She
+made herself great. She needed space.”
+
+“Well,” Philippa observed, “you couldn't suppose that other nations
+were going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their
+possessions, could you?”
+
+“Perhaps not,” he admitted. “And yet, you see, the immutable law comes
+in here. The stronger must possess--not only the stronger by arms,
+mind, but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in science, by
+utilitarianism. The really cruel part, the part I was thinking of then,
+as I looked out across the sea, is that this crude and miserable resort
+to arms should be necessary.”
+
+“If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as
+you,” Philippa sighed, “one feels that there might be some hope for the
+future!”
+
+“I am not alone,” he assured her, “but, you see, all over Germany there
+is spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen--devotion
+to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser. Independent thought
+has made Germany great in science, in political economy, in economics.
+But independent thought is never turned towards her political destinies.
+Those are shaped for her. For good or for evil her children have learnt
+obedience.”
+
+They were descending the hillside now. At their feet lay the little
+town, black and silent.
+
+“You have helped me to understand a little,” Philippa said. “You put
+things so gently and yet so clearly. Now tell me, will you not, how it
+is that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for Germany?”
+
+“That is very simple,” he confessed. “My mother was a German, and when
+she died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a very
+considerable fortune. These I could never have inherited unless I
+had chosen to do my military service in Germany. My family is an
+impoverished one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent upon me.
+Under the circumstances, hesitation on my part was impossible.”
+
+“But when the war came?” she queried.
+
+He looked at her in surprise.
+
+“What was there left for me then?” he demanded. “Naturally I heard
+nothing but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey. I was in that
+mad rush through Belgium. I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else I should
+have followed hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat of yours.
+As it was, I lay for many months in hospital. I joined again--shall I
+confess it?--almost unwillingly. The bloodthirstiness of it all sickened
+me. I fought at Ypres, but I think that it was something of the courage
+of despair, of black misery. I was wounded again and decorated. I
+suppose I shall never be fit for the front again. I tried to turn to
+account some of my knowledge of England and English life. Then they sent
+me here.”
+
+“Here, of all places in the world!” Philippa repeated wonderingly.
+“Just look at us! We have a single line of railway, a perfectly
+straightforward system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers being
+trained, no mysteries, no industries--nothing. What terrible scheme are
+you at work upon, Mr. Lessingham?”
+
+He smiled.
+
+“Between you and me,” he confided, “I am not at all sure that I am not
+here on a fool's errand--at least I thought so when I arrived.”
+
+She glanced up at him.
+
+“And why not now?”
+
+He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly
+away. There was a moment's queer, strained silence. Before them loomed
+up the outline of Mainsail Haul.
+
+“You will come in and have some tea, won't you?” she invited.
+
+“If I may. Believe me,” he added, “it has only been a certain diffidence
+that has kept me away so long.”
+
+She made no reply, and they entered the house together. They found Helen
+and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having tea in the
+drawing-room. Lessingham slipped very easily into the pleasant little
+circle. If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners, and a sense of humour
+which every now and then displayed itself, were most attractive.
+
+“Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir,” Harrison
+asked him. “He was at Magdalen a few years after Major Felstead, and I
+am sure you'd find plenty to talk about.”
+
+“I am quite sure that we should,” Lessingham replied. “May I come,
+perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous
+efforts to lead an absolutely quiet life here.”
+
+“Whenever you like, sir. We sha'n't be able to show you anything very
+wild in the way of dissipation. Vintage port and a decent cigar are the
+only changes we can make for guests.”
+
+Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit with
+her in a distant corner of the room.
+
+“I knew there was something I wanted to say to you,” she began, “but
+somehow or other I forgot when I met you. My husband was very much
+struck with Helen's improved spirits. Don't you think that we had better
+tell him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major Felstead?”
+
+Lessingham agreed.
+
+“Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary way,”
+ he advised. “I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of your husband,
+that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible that he might
+have associated them with me if you had mentioned them the other night.
+When is he coming back?”
+
+“I never know,” Philippa answered with a sigh. “Perhaps to-night,
+perhaps in a week. It depends upon what sport he is having. You are not
+smoking.”
+
+Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+
+“I find your husband,” he said quietly, “rather an interesting type. We
+have no one like that in Germany. He almost puzzles me.”
+
+Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+
+“There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one,” she
+complained bitterly. “He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted to
+amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him. Why do
+you look at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping
+something back? I am not, I can assure you.”
+
+“Perhaps I was wondering,” he confessed, “how you really felt towards a
+husband whose outlook was so unnatural.”
+
+She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+
+“Do you know,” she said softly, “I feel, somehow or other, although we
+have known one another such a short time, as though we were friends,
+and yet that is a question which I could not answer. A woman must always
+have some secrets, you know.”
+
+“A man may try sometimes to preserve his,” he sighed, “but a woman is
+clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out.”
+
+A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks. She welcomed Helen's
+approach almost eagerly.
+
+“A woman must first feel the will,” she murmured, without glancing at
+him. “Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come and dine?”
+
+“Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion,” Lessingham
+begged eagerly.
+
+“I haven't the least idea of doing so,” Helen laughed, “so long as I may
+have--say just ten minutes to talk about Dick.”
+
+“It is a bargain,” he promised.
+
+“We shall be quite alone,” Philippa warned him, “unless Henry arrives.”
+
+“It is the great attraction of your invitation,” he confessed.
+
+“At eight o'clock, then.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+“Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship.”
+
+Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the piano
+before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival. Then she
+glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight.
+
+“You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me.”
+
+Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room--awkward, unwieldly, nervous
+as usual. He entered as though in a hurry, and there was nothing in his
+manner to denote that he had spent the last few hours making up his mind
+to this visit.
+
+“I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston,” he said,
+watching the closing of the door. “I will not take up more than five
+minutes of your time.”
+
+“We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,”
+ Philippa said hospitably. “Do sit down, please.”
+
+Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+
+“It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston,” he continued
+apologetically. “The fact of it is, however, that as Commandant here
+it is my duty to examine the bona fides of any strangers in the place.
+There is a gentleman named Lessingham staying at the hotel, who I
+understand gave your name as reference.”
+
+Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent, as
+she gazed up at her visitor.
+
+“Why, of course, Captain Griffiths,” she said. “Mr. Lessingham was at
+college with my brother, and one of his best friends. He has shot down
+at my father's place in Cheshire.”
+
+“You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?”
+
+“My only brother.”
+
+“I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston,” Captain Griffiths
+declared. “I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+Lessingham.”
+
+Philippa laughed.
+
+“It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about
+any one down here,” she observed. “It really is a very harmless
+neighbourhood, isn't it?”
+
+“There isn't much going on, certainly,” the Commandant admitted. “Very
+dull the place seems at times.”
+
+“Now be perfectly frank,” Philippa begged him. “Is there a single fact
+of importance which could be learnt in this place, worth communicating
+to the enemy? Is the danger of espionage here worth a moment's
+consideration?”
+
+“That,” Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, “is not a
+question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand.”
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to Helen,
+who had just entered the room.
+
+“Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths! He is making me feel
+quite creepy. There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants to know
+all about Mr. Lessingham.”
+
+Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+
+“Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?” she
+observed, as she shook hands.
+
+“We can do more,” Philippa declared. “We can help him to judge for
+himself. We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain Griffiths.
+Do stay.”
+
+“I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this,” Captain Griffiths
+replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice sound hoarser and
+more unpleasant. “It is most kind of you, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you
+will give me another opportunity.”
+
+“I sha'n't think of it,” Philippa insisted. “You must stay and dine
+to-night. We shall be a partie carríe, for Nora goes to bed directly
+after dinner. I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set an extra
+place,” she added.
+
+Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+complacency. He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced, with
+very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in every way
+a success. Towards its close, Philippa became a little thoughtful.
+She glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was sitting by her side,
+almost in admiration. His conversation, gay at times, always polished,
+was interlarded continually with those little social reminiscences
+inevitable amongst men moving in a certain circle of English society.
+Apparently Richard Felstead was not the only one of his college friends
+with whom he had kept in touch. The last remnants of Captain Griffiths'
+suspicions seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although
+his manner became in no way more genial.
+
+“Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?” Philippa asked her
+favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out a bridge table.
+
+“One adapts one's methods to one's adversary,” he murmured, with a
+smile, “Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional
+suspicions. The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance with
+the ordinary English sports, is quite sufficient with a man like that.”
+
+Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room. Philippa
+raised her eyes to her companion's.
+
+“You become more of a mystery than ever,” she declared. “You are making
+me even curious. Tell me really why you have paid us this visit from the
+clouds?”
+
+She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question. For a moment
+the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed. His eyes
+glowed.
+
+“In search of new things,” he answered.
+
+“Guns? Fortifications?”
+
+“Neither.”
+
+A spirit of mischief possessed her. Lessingham's manner was baffling
+and yet provocative. For a moment the political possibilities of his
+presence faded away from her mind. She had an intense desire to break
+through his reserve.
+
+“Won't you tell me--why you came?”
+
+“I could tell you more easily,” he answered in a low tone, “why it will
+be the most miserable day of my life when I leave.”
+
+She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+
+“How delightful to be flirted with again!” she sighed. “And I thought
+all German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone compliments.
+Still, your secret, sir, please? That is what I want to know.”
+
+“If you will have just a little patience!” he begged, leaning so close
+to her that their heads almost touched, “I promise that I will not leave
+this place before I tell it to you.”
+
+Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his. She knew
+perfectly well what she ought to have done and she was singularly
+indisposed to do it. It was a most piquant adventure, after all, and
+it almost helped her to forget the trouble which had been sitting so
+heavily in her heart. Still avoiding his eyes, she called the others.
+
+“We are quite ready for bridge,” she announced.
+
+They played four or five rubbers. Lessingham was by far the most expert
+player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners. The two men
+stood together for a moment or two at the sideboard, helping themselves
+to whisky and soda. Griffiths had become more taciturn than ever, and
+even Philippa was forced to admit that the latter part of the evening
+had scarcely been a success.
+
+“Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?” Griffiths asked.
+
+“Never,” was the calm reply.
+
+“You are head and shoulders above our class down here.”
+
+“Very good of you to say so,” Lessingham replied courteously. “I held
+good cards to-night.”
+
+“I wonder,” Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and keeping
+his eyes fixed upon his companion, “what the German substitute for
+bridge is.”
+
+“I wonder,” Lessingham echoed.
+
+“As a nation,” his questioner proceeded, “they probably don't waste as
+much time on cards as we do.”
+
+Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent. He
+strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa. She, for her part,
+was watching Captain Griffiths.
+
+“So many thanks, Lady Cranston,” Lessingham murmured, “for your
+hospitality.”
+
+“And what about that secret?” she asked.
+
+“You see, there are two,” he answered, looking down at her. “One I shall
+most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the one secret
+which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself. As for the
+other--”
+
+He hesitated. There was something almost like pain in his face. She
+broke in hastily.
+
+“I did not call you away to ask about either. I happened to notice
+Captain Griffiths just now. Do you know that he is watching you very
+closely?”
+
+“I had an idea of it,” Lessingham admitted indifferently. “He is rather
+a clumsy person, is he not?”
+
+“You will be careful?” she begged earnestly. “Remember, won't you, that
+Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if anything should
+come out.”
+
+“Nothing shall,” he promised her. “I think you know, do you not, that,
+whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to protect you.”
+
+For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly reprove
+his boldness. She had even to struggle to keep her tone as careless as
+her words.
+
+“You really are a delightful person!” she exclaimed. “How long is it
+since you descended from the clouds?”
+
+“Sometimes I think that I am there still,” he answered, “but I have
+known you about seventy-six hours.”
+
+“What precision?” she laughed. “It's a national characteristic, isn't
+it? Captain Griffiths,” she continued, as she observed his approach, “if
+you really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with you. He is making
+fun of me. I don't allow even Dick's friends to do that.”
+
+Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+
+“You must both come again very soon,” their hostess concluded, as she
+shook hands. “I enjoyed our bridge immensely.”
+
+The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden idea
+seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths. He turned back.
+
+“By-the-by, Lady Cranston,” he asked, “have you heard anything from your
+brother?”
+
+Philippa shook her head sadly. Helen, who, unlike her friend, had not
+had the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur dramatic
+stage, turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+“Not a word,” was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+
+Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+
+“Bad luck!” he said. “I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston. Good night once
+more.”
+
+This time their departure was uninterrupted. Helen removed her
+handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at the
+closed door.
+
+“Do you believe,” Helen asked seriously, “that Captain Griffiths has any
+suspicions?”
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+“If he has, who cares?” she replied, a little defiantly. “The very idea
+of a duel of wits between those two men is laughable.”
+
+“Perhaps so,” Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+customary walks. The crystalline October sunshine, in which every
+distant tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed to
+gain a new clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed fields, the
+yellowing bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees, while the west
+wind, which had strewn the sea with white-flecked waves, brought down
+the leaves to form a carpet for their feet, and played strange music
+along the wood-crested slope. In the broken land through which they
+made their way, a land of trees and moorland, with here and there a
+cultivated patch, the yellow gorse still glowed in unexpected corners;
+queer, scentless flowers made splashes of colour in the hedgerows; a
+rabbit scurried sometimes across their path; a cock pheasant, after
+a moment's amazed stare, lowered his head and rushed for unnecessary
+shelter. The longer they looked upwards, the bluer seemed the sky. The
+grass beneath their feet was as green and soft as in springtime. Driven
+by the wind, here and there a white-winged gull sailed over their
+heads,--a cloud of them rested upon a freshly turned little square of
+ploughed land between two woods. A flight of pigeons, like torn leaves
+tossed about by the wind, circled and drifted above them. Philippa
+seated herself upon the trunk of a fallen tree and gazed contentedly
+about her.
+
+“If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be perfectly
+happy,” she sighed. “I am sure my hair must look awful.”
+
+Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+
+“I decline to say the correct thing,” she declared. “I will only remind
+you that there will be no one here to look at it.”
+
+“I am not so sure,” Philippa replied. “These are the woods which the
+special constables haunt by day and by night. They gaze up every tree
+trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind hedges and watch
+for mysterious flashes.”
+
+“Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?” Helen enquired,
+lazily. “I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the equipment
+of the melodramatic spy. As to Zeppelins, don't you remember he told us
+that he hated them and was terrified of bombs.”
+
+“My dear,” Philippa remonstrated, “Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude.”
+
+“And yet,--” Helen began.
+
+“Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head,” Philippa
+interrupted. “Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I believe that
+Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come over here to see
+if I am really like it.”
+
+“He does behave rather like that,” her companion admitted drily.
+
+Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+
+“Helen,” she said severely, “don't be a cat.”
+
+“If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour,” Helen went on,
+picking up a pine cone and examining it, “I might astonish you.”
+
+“You have an evil mind,” Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette case.
+“What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes forgets to talk
+about Dick.”
+
+“The poor man doesn't get much chance,” Helen retorted, watching the
+blue smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+“Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?”
+
+“Literature--English and German,” Philippa murmured demurely. “Mr.
+Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our English
+poets than any man I have met for years.”
+
+“I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing.”
+
+“Once more, don't be a cat,” Philippa enjoined. “If you want me to
+confess it, I will own up at once. You know what a simple little thing
+I am. I admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a most
+interesting companion.”
+
+“You mean,” her friend observed drily “the Baron Maderstrom.” Philippa
+looked around and frowned.
+
+“You are most indiscreet, Helen,” she declared. “I have learnt something
+of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you that all spoken
+or written words are dangerous. There is a thoroughly British squirrel
+in that tree overhead, and I am sure he heard.”
+
+“I suppose the sunshine has got into your head,” Helen groaned.
+
+“If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+right,” Philippa assented. “As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+depressed. Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast
+this morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or
+to-morrow. They must have landed somewhere down the coast.”
+
+“You are a most undutiful wife,” Helen pronounced severely. “I am sure
+Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little irresponsible, and
+it is almost pathetic to remember how much you were in love with him, a
+year or two ago.”
+
+Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+
+“That was before the war,” she sighed.
+
+“I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand
+him,” Helen said thoughtfully.
+
+“No doubt,” Philippa assented, “but you'd find the not understanding him
+a little more galling, if you were his wife. You see, I didn't know that
+I was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole.”
+
+“I wonder,” Helen reflected, “how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get on
+when they see more of one another.”
+
+“I really don't care,” Philippa observed indifferently.
+
+“I used to notice sometimes--that was soon after you were married,”
+ Helen continued, “that Henry was just a little inclined to be jealous.”
+
+Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea. There was a queer little smile
+upon her lips.
+
+“Well, if he still is,” she said, “I'll give him something to be jealous
+about.”
+
+“Poor Mr. Lessingham!” Helen murmured.
+
+Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+
+“Poor Mr. Lessingham?” she repeated. “I don't think you'll find that
+he'll be in the least sorry for himself.”
+
+“He may be in earnest,” Helen reminded her friend. “You can be horribly
+attractive when you like, you know, Philippa.”
+
+Philippa smiled sweetly.
+
+“It is just possible,” she said, “that I may be in earnest myself. I've
+quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a helpless
+creature without a little admiration.”
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet. Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+approaching through the wood.
+
+“You really aren't respectable, Philippa,” she declared. “Throw away
+your cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up. Some one is coming.”
+
+Philippa only moved her head lazily. The sunlight, which came down in
+a thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell straight
+upon her rather pale, defiant little face, with its unexpressed evasive
+charm, and seemed to find a new depth of colour in the red-gold of her
+disordered hair. Her slim, perfect body was stretched almost at full
+length, one leg drawn a little up, her hands carelessly drooping towards
+the grass. The cigarette was still burning in the corner of her lips.
+
+“I decline,” she said, “to throw away my cigarette for any one.”
+
+“Least of all, I trust,” a familiar voice interposed, “for me.”
+
+Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+resentfully at Lessingham. He was wearing a brown tweed knickerbocker
+suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+
+“Whatever are you doing up here,” she demanded, “and do you know
+anything about our game laws? You can't come out into the woods here and
+shoot things just because you feel like it.”
+
+He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+
+“That is quite all right,” he assured her. “Your neighbour, Mr.
+Windover, to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring my
+gun out this morning and try and get a woodcock.”
+
+“Gracious! You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?” Philippa
+demanded, looking around. Lessingham shook his head.
+
+“His car came for him at the other side of the wood,” he explained. “He
+was wanted to go on the Bench. I elected to walk home.”
+
+“And the woodcock?” she asked. “I adore woodcock.”
+
+He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was lying
+amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin feathers
+under the silk band.
+
+“There,” he said, handing it to her, “the first woodcock of the season.
+We got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope that you would
+like it. I shall leave it with the estimable Mills, on my return.”
+
+“You must come and share it,” Philippa insisted. “Those boys of Nora's
+are coming in to dinner. Your gift shall be the piece de resistance.”
+
+“Then may I dine another night?” he begged. “This place encourages in me
+the grossest of appetites.”
+
+“Have no fear,” she replied. “You will never see that woodcock again. I
+shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow. I ordered dinner before I came
+out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise that you shall not
+go away hungry.”
+
+“Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?” he asked,
+dropping his voice for a moment.
+
+She turned and studied him. Helen, who had strolled a few yards away,
+was knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some gorgeously
+coloured leaves from a solitary bramble bush. Lessingham had thrown his
+cap onto the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the unusual colour in
+his cheeks were both, in their way, becoming. His loose but well-fitting
+country clothes, his tie and soft collar, were all well-chosen and
+suitable. She admired his high forehead and his firm, rather proud
+mouth. His eyes as well as his tone were full of seriousness.
+
+“You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away across
+that terrible North Sea,” she laughed.
+
+“There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do,” he
+whispered.
+
+She picked up her hat and sighed.
+
+“Really,” she said, “I think things are quite complicated enough as they
+are. I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your mission here
+and your real identity. I simply could not include a flirtation amongst
+my excitements.”
+
+“I have never flirted,” he assured her gravely.
+
+“Wise man,” she pronounced, rising to her feet. “Come, let us go and
+help Helen pick leaves. She is scratching her fingers terribly, and I'm
+sure you have a knife. A dear, economical creature, Helen,” she added,
+as they strolled along. “I am perfectly certain that those are destined
+to adorn my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums at sixpence each,
+you can't imagine how welcome they are. Come, produce the knife, Mr.
+Lessingham.”
+
+The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+homeward. Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of
+the wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful
+fields, the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling stretch
+of green turf on the crown of the cliffs. Beyond was the foam-flecked
+blue sea, dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+
+“Would one believe,” she asked satirically, “that there should be scope
+here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a--Mr. Lessingham!”
+
+“Remember that I was sent,” he protested. “The error, if error there be,
+is not mine.”
+
+“And after all,” Helen reminded them both, “think how easily one may be
+misled by appearances. You couldn't imagine anything more honest than
+the faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees about, yet do you
+know, Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by burglars last night?”
+
+“Seriously?” he asked.
+
+“Without a doubt. Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to thieves.
+They could get in anywhere. Last night they chose the French windows and
+seem to have made themselves at home in the library.”
+
+“I trust,” Lessingham said, “that they did not take anything of value?”
+
+“They took nothing at all,” Philippa sighed. “That is the humiliating
+part of it. They evidently didn't like our things.”
+
+“How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?”
+ Lessingham enquired.
+
+“So practical!” Philippa murmured. “As a matter of fact, I heard some
+one moving about, and I rang the alarm bell. Mills was downstairs
+almost directly and we heard some one running down the drive. The French
+windows were open, a chair was overturned in the library, and a drawer
+in my husband's desk was wide open.”
+
+“The proof,” Lessingham admitted, “is overwhelming. You were visited by
+a burglar. Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?”
+
+“Henry hasn't anything of value in the world,” Philippa replied drily,
+“except his securities, and they are at the bank.”
+
+“Without going so far as to contradict you,” Lessingham observed, with a
+smile, “I still venture to disagree!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they had
+been weighing, admiringly.
+
+“You see that, Mills? You see that, Jimmy?” he pointed out. “Six and
+three-quarter pounds! I was right almost to an ounce. He's a fine
+fellow!”
+
+“A very extraordinary fish, sir,” the butler observed. “Will you allow
+me to take your oilskins? Dinner was served nearly an hour ago.”
+
+Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+
+“That's all right,” he replied. “Listen. Don't say a word about my
+arrival to your mistress at present. I have some writing to do. Bring
+me a glass of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can do so without
+being missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some whisky and soda.”
+
+“But what about your own dinner, sir?”
+
+“I'll have a tray in the gun room,” his master decided, “say in twenty
+minutes' time. And, Mills, who did you say were dining?”
+
+“Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir--Mr. Harrison and Mr.
+Sinclair--and Mr. Hamar Lessingham.”
+
+“Lessingham, eh?” Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before his
+writing-table. “Mills,” he added, in a confidential whisper, “what port
+did you serve?”
+
+The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+
+“Not the vintage, sir,” he announced with emphasis. “Some very excellent
+wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons. The young gentlemen
+like it.”
+
+“You're a jewel, Mills,” his master declared. “Now you understand--an
+aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and not a word
+about my being here. Good night, Jimmy. Sorry we were too late for the
+mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same. You'll have a day
+or two's rest ashore now.”
+
+“Aye, aye, sir!” Dumble replied. “We got in just in time. There's
+something more than a squall coming up nor'ards.”
+
+Sir Henry listened for a moment. The French windows shook, the rain beat
+against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly audible from
+outside.
+
+“We timed that excellently,” he agreed. “Come up and have a chat
+to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you.”
+
+“I'll be round before eleven, sir,” the fisherman promised, with a grin.
+
+Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door. Then he leaned forward for
+several moments. He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned from a
+week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he loved best.
+The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather than increased.
+There were black lines under his eyes which seemed to speak of sleepless
+nights, and a beard of several days' growth was upon his chin. He drank
+the cocktail which Mills presently brought him, at a gulp, and watched
+with satisfaction while the mixer was vigorously shaken and a second one
+poured out.
+
+“We've had a rough time, Mills,” he observed, as he set down the glass.
+“Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing.”
+
+“I'm sorry to hear it, sir,” was the respectful reply. “If I may be
+allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired.”
+
+“I am tired,” Sir Henry admitted. “I think, if I tried, I could go to
+sleep now for twenty-four hours.”
+
+“You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters, that
+there is no post out tonight, sir,” Mills proceeded. “I have prepared a
+warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change.”
+
+“Capital!” Sir Henry exclaimed. “It isn't a letter that's bothering me,
+though, Mills. There are just a few geographical notes I want to make.
+You know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of the coast round
+here. That fellow Groocock--Jimmy Dumble's uncle--very nearly lost his
+motor boat last week through trusting to the old one.”
+
+“Just so, sir,” Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass
+upon his tray. “If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the dining
+room.”
+
+“Quite right,” his master assented. “They won't be out just yet, will
+they?”
+
+“Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir--not
+before that.”
+
+Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently. Directly the door was closed
+he rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his
+fishing cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring.
+With the aid of a little electric torch which he took from his pocket,
+he studied particularly a certain portion of the giant chart, made some
+measurements with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and closed it
+up again with an air of satisfaction. Then he resumed his seat, drew
+a folded slip of paper from his breast pocket, a chart from another,
+turned up the lamp and began to write. His face, as he stooped low,
+escaped the soft shade and was for a moment almost ghastly. Every now
+and then he turned and made some calculations on the blotting-paper by
+his side. At last he leaned back with a little sigh of relief. He had
+barely done so before the door behind him was opened.
+
+“Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+drawing-room?” Nora asked.
+
+“In here, I think,” he heard Philippa reply.
+
+Then they both came in, followed by Helen. Nora was the first to see him
+and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+
+“Why, here's Dad!” she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+“Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are
+having dinner! When did you get back? What a fish!”
+
+Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came forward
+to meet his wife.
+
+“Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!” he agreed. “Well, Philippa, how are you?
+Pleased to see me, I hope? Another new frock, I believe, and in war
+time!”
+
+“Fancy your remembering that it was war time!” she answered, standing
+very still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+
+“Nasty one for me,” Sir Henry observed good-humouredly. “How well you're
+looking, Helen! Any news of Dick yet?”
+
+Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+success.
+
+“Nothing fresh,” she answered.
+
+“Well, well, no news may be good news,” Sir Henry remarked consolingly.
+“Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again! This morning has
+been the only patch of decent weather we've had.”
+
+“This morning was lovely,” Helen assented. “Philippa and I went and sat
+up in the woods.”
+
+Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her husband
+critically.
+
+“We have some men dining,” she said. “They will be out in a few minutes.
+Don't you think you had better go and make yourself presentable? You
+smell of fish, and you look as though you hadn't shaved for a week.”
+
+“Guilty, my dear,” Sir Henry admitted. “Mills is just getting me
+something to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a bath and
+change my clothes.”
+
+“And shave, Dad,” Nora reminded him.
+
+“And shave, you young pest,” her father agreed, patting her on the
+shoulder. “Run away and play billiards with Helen. I want to talk to
+your mother until my dinner's ready.”
+
+Nora acquiesced promptly.
+
+“Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up. Or perhaps you'd like
+to play shell out?” she proposed. “Arthur Sinclair says I have improved
+in my potting more than any one he ever knew.”
+
+Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them. Then he returned and
+seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side. She glanced up at
+him as though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards her
+work-basket, took up some knitting.
+
+“I really think I should change at once, if I were you,” she suggested.
+
+“Presently. I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a word or
+two with you first. I've been away for nearly a fortnight, haven't I?”
+
+“You have,” Philippa assented. “Perhaps that is the reason why I feel
+that I haven't very much to say to you.”
+
+“That sounds just a trifle hard,” he said slowly.
+
+“I am hard sometimes,” Philippa confessed. “You know that quite well.
+There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart at all, nor
+any sympathy; when every sensation I might have had seems shrivelled up
+inside me.”
+
+“Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me, Philippa?”
+ he asked.
+
+Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+
+“You had every warning,” she told him. “I tried to make you understand
+exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you went away.”
+
+“Yes, I remember,” he admitted. “I'm afraid, dear, you think I am a
+worthless sort of a fellow.”
+
+Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch. She bent lower still over her
+knitting. There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her mouth was
+unrecognisable.
+
+“Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?” her husband
+remarked presently.
+
+“Yes,” Philippa assented, “he is dining to-night. You will probably see
+him in a few minutes.”
+
+Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+
+“You're so keen about that sort of thing,” he said, “what about
+Lessingham? He is not soldiering or anything, is he?”
+
+“I have no idea,” Philippa replied. “He walks with a slight limp and
+admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us very
+much about himself.”
+
+“I wonder you haven't tackled him,” Sir Henry continued. “You're such
+an ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing his bit of
+butchery.”
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham,” she said, “is a very delightful friend, whose stay
+here every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative stranger.
+I feel no responsibility as to his actions.”
+
+“And you do as to mine?”
+
+“Naturally.”
+
+Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of
+the lounge. He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining room
+beyond.
+
+“Hm!” he observed. “Has he been here often while I've been away?”
+
+“As often as he chose,” Philippa replied. “He has become very popular in
+the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest here
+at any time.”
+
+“Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?”
+
+“He is here most days. We are always rather disappointed when he doesn't
+come.”
+
+Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+
+“What's the attraction?” he demanded.
+
+Philippa smiled. It was the smile which those who knew her best, feared.
+
+“Well,” she confided, “I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I think
+that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but Dick and
+their college days. I am rather inclined to fancy that it must be me.”
+
+“You, indeed!” he grunted. “Are you aware that you are a married woman?”
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work. Her eyebrows were raised, and her
+expression was one of mild surprise.
+
+“How queer that you should remind me of it!” she murmured. “I am afraid
+that the sea air disturbs your memory.”
+
+Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+
+“Oh, damn!” he exclaimed.
+
+He walked to the door. His guests were still lingering over their wine.
+He could hear their voices more distinctly than ever. Then he came back
+to the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+
+“Philippa, old girl,” he pleaded, “don't let us quarrel. I have had such
+a hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the dirtiest
+seas I've ever known at this time of the year. For five days I hadn't a
+dry stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once. We were all in
+the water together, and there was a nasty green wave that looked like
+a mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat bending over us
+as though it meant to squeeze our ribs in. It looked like ten to one
+against us, Phil, and I got a worse chill than the sea ever gave me when
+I thought that I shouldn't see you again.”
+
+Philippa laid down her knitting. She looked searchingly into her
+husband's face. She was very far from indifferent to his altered tone.
+
+“Henry,” she said, “that sounds very terrible, but why do you run such
+risks--unworthily? Do you think that I couldn't give you all that you
+want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with a story
+like this and I knew that you had been facing death righteously and
+honourably for your country's sake? Why, Henry, there isn't a man in the
+world could have such a welcome as I could give you. Do you think I am
+cold? Of course you don't! Do you think I want to feel as I have done
+this last fortnight towards you? Why, it's misery! It makes me feel
+inclined to commit any folly, any madness, to get rid of it all.”
+
+Her husband hesitated. A frown had darkened his face. He had the air of
+one who is on the eve of a confession.
+
+“Philippa,” he began, “you know that when I go out on these fishing
+expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+anxious to prepare for the fishermen.”
+
+Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+
+“Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry! I'm as sick with them
+as I am with you. You can see twenty or thirty of them any morning,
+lounging about the quay, strapping young fellows who shelter themselves
+behind the plea of privileged employment. We are notorious down here
+for our skulkers, and you--you who should be the one man to set them an
+example, are as bad as they are. You deliberately encourage them.”
+
+Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face darkened
+and his eyes flashed.
+
+“Skulkers?” he repeated furiously.
+
+Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+
+“Yes! Don't you like the word?”
+
+The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come. He
+laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box, and
+lit it.
+
+“It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?” he observed, thrusting his
+hands into his jacket pockets strolling away. “If one doesn't feel the
+call--well, there you are, you see. Jove, that's a fine fish.”
+
+He stood admiring the codling upon the scales. Philippa continued her
+work.
+
+“If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us,” she told him
+calmly, “please let me remind you again that we have guests for dinner.
+Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely becoming.”
+
+He turned away and came back towards her. As he passed the lamp, she
+started.
+
+“Why, you're wet,” she exclaimed, “wet through!”
+
+“Of course I am,” he admitted, feeling his sleeve, “but to tell you the
+truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten it.
+Here come our guests, before I have had time to escape. I can hear your
+friend Lessingham's voice.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle. Sir
+Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+
+“No idea that you were back, sir,” Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+
+Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly. “I turned up about three
+quarters of an hour ago,” he explained, “just too late to join you at
+dinner.”
+
+“Bad luck, sir,” Sinclair remarked. “I hope that you had good sport?”
+
+“Not so bad,” Sir Henry admitted. “We had to go far enough for it,
+though. What do you think of that for an October codling?”
+
+They all approached the scales and admired the fish. Sir Henry stood
+with his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+
+“You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?” he enquired.
+
+“One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+delightfully hospitable a place,” was the somewhat measured reply.
+
+“You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?” Sir Henry
+continued.
+
+“In a very small way,” Lessingham acknowledged. “I have been out once or
+twice.”
+
+“With Ben Oates, eh?”
+
+“I believe that was the man's name.”
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of surprise.
+
+“I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham. Whatever made you choose Ben
+Oates? He is a most disgraceful person.”
+
+“It was entirely by accident,” Lessingham explained. “I met him on the
+front. It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather pressing in
+his invitation.”
+
+“I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport,” Sir Henry observed. “From
+what Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken you in
+entirely the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide.”
+
+“We had a small catch,” Lessingham replied. “I really went more for the
+sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed.”
+
+“The coast itself,” Sir Henry remarked, “is rather an interesting one.”
+
+“I should imagine so,” Lessingham assented. “Mr. Ben Oates, indeed,
+told me some wonderful stories about it. He spoke of broad channels down
+which a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of the land.”
+
+“He is quite right, too,” his host agreed.
+
+“There's a lot of deep water about here. The whole of the coast is very
+curious in that way. What the--what the dickens is this?”
+
+Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a Homburg
+hat from the far side of a table of curios. Philippa glanced up at his
+exclamation.
+
+“That's Nora's trophy,” she explained. “I told her to take it up to her
+own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends.”
+
+“Nora's trophy?” Sir Henry repeated. “Why, it's nothing but an ordinary
+man's hat.”
+
+“Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir,” Harrison pointed out.
+“Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+observation car was found there.”
+
+Sir Henry held out the hat.
+
+“But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in this
+sort of headgear, does she?” he demanded.
+
+“If you'll just look inside the lining, sir,” Sinclair suggested.
+
+Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly. “By Jove, it's a German hat,
+all right!” he exclaimed. “Doesn't look a bad shape, either.”
+
+He tried it on. There was a little peal of laughter from the men.
+Philippa had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch. Sir
+Henry looked at himself in the looking-glass.
+
+“Well, that's funny,” he observed. “I shouldn't have thought it would
+have been so much too small for me. Here, just try how you'd look in it,
+Mr. Lessingham,” he added, handing it across to him.
+
+Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+carefully on his head.
+
+“It doesn't feel particularly comfortable,” he remarked.
+
+“That may be,” Sir Henry suggested, “because you have it on wrong side
+foremost. If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would find it a
+very good fit.”
+
+Lessingham at once obeyed. Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+
+“Excellent!” he exclaimed. “Look at that, Philippa. Might have been made
+for him, eh?”
+
+Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from his
+head with some casual observation. He was entirely at his ease. His
+host turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+
+“Captain Griffiths, sir,” the latter announced.
+
+Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+
+“How are you, Griffiths?” he said. “Glad to see you. Excuse my costume,
+but I am just back from a fishing expedition. We are all admiring Mr.
+Lessingham in his magic hat.”
+
+Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others, and
+turned towards Lessingham.
+
+“Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham,” Sir Henry begged.
+“You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's slipper. The
+hat which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's Common fits our friend
+like a glove. I never thought the Germans made such good hats, did you,
+Griffiths?”
+
+“I always thought they imported their felt hats,” Captain Griffiths
+acknowledged. “Is that really the one with the German name inside, which
+Miss Nora brought home?”
+
+“This is the genuine article,” Lessingham assented, taking it from
+his head and passing it on to the newcomer. “Notwithstanding the name
+inside, I should still believe that it was an English hat. It feels too
+comfortable for anything else.”
+
+The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully. He drew
+out the lining and looked all the way round. Suddenly he gave vent to a
+little exclamation.
+
+“Here are the owner's initials,” he declared, “rather faint but still
+distinguishable,--B. M. Hm! There's no doubt about its being a German
+hat.”
+
+“B. M.,” Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder. “How very
+interesting! B. M.,” he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had
+recommenced her knitting. “Is it my fancy, or is there something a
+little familiar about that?”
+
+“I am sure that I have no idea,” Philippa replied. “It conveys nothing
+to me.”
+
+There was a brief but apparently pointless silence. Philippa's needles
+flashed through her wool with easy regularity. Lessingham appeared to be
+sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed concerning the hat.
+Sir Henry was standing with knitted brows, in the obvious attitude of a
+man seeking to remember something.
+
+“B. M.,” he murmured softly to himself. “There was some one I've known
+or heard of in England--What's that, Mills?”
+
+“Your dinner is served, sir,” Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+announced.
+
+Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible owner.
+He threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed a new
+interest in life.
+
+“Jove, I'm ravenous!” he confessed. “You'll excuse me, won't you? Mills,
+see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes--in the billiard
+room, I should think. You'll find the young people there. I'll come in
+and have a game of pills later.”
+
+The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry at
+once from the room. Lessingham, however, lingered. He stood with his
+hands behind him, looking at the closed door.
+
+“Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?”
+ Philippa asked.
+
+“If I may,” he answered, without changing his position.
+
+Philippa looked at him curiously.
+
+“Do you see ghosts through that door?”
+
+He shook his head.
+
+“Do you know,” he said, as he seated himself by her side, “there are
+times when I find your husband quite interesting.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Philippa leaned back in her place.
+
+“Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?” she demanded.
+
+He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+towards her.
+
+“I must confess,” he said, “that sometimes your husband puzzles me.”
+
+“Not nearly so much as he puzzles me,” Philippa retorted, a little
+bitterly.
+
+“Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?”
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+“More or less, but never quite to this extent. The thing has become an
+obsession with him lately. If you are really going to stay and talk with
+me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband? Just now the subject is
+rather a painful one with me.”
+
+“I can quite understand that,” Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+
+“What do you think of Captain Griffiths?” she asked, a little abruptly.
+
+“I have thought nothing more about him. Should I? Is he of any real
+importance?”
+
+“He is military commandant here.”
+
+Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+
+“I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my track,”
+ he observed.
+
+“I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was,” Philippa
+said drily. “I have told you that he came and asked about you the other
+night, when he dined here. He seemed perfectly satisfied then, but he
+is here again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits anywhere in an
+ordinary way.”
+
+“Are you uneasy about me?” Lessingham enquired.
+
+“I am not sure,” she answered frankly. “Sometimes I am almost terrified
+and would give anything to hear that you were on your way home. And at
+other times I realise that you are really very clever, that nothing is
+likely to happen to you, and that the place will seem duller than ever
+when you do go.”
+
+“That is very kind of you,” he said. “In any case, I fear that my
+holiday will soon be coming to an end.”
+
+“Your holiday?” she repeated. “Is that what you call it?”
+
+“It has been little else,” he replied indifferently. “There is nothing
+to be learnt here of the slightest military significance.”
+
+“We told you that when you arrived,” Philippa reminded him.
+
+“I was perhaps foolish not to believe you,” he acknowledged.
+
+“So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in failure,
+after all!” she went on, a moment or two later.
+
+“Failure? No, I should not call it failure.”
+
+“You have really made some discoveries, then?” she enquired dubiously.
+
+“I have made the greatest discovery in the world.”
+
+Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered, her
+eyes fell.
+
+“Dear me! In this quiet spot?” she sighed.
+
+“Yes!”
+
+“Is it Helen or me?”
+
+“Philippa!” he protested.
+
+Her eyebrows were more raised than ever. Her mouth had lost its alluring
+curve.
+
+“Really, Mr. Lessingham!” she exclaimed. “Have I ever given you the
+right to call me by my Christian name?”
+
+“In my country,” he answered, “we do not wait to ask. We take.”
+
+“Rank Prussianism,” she murmured. “I really think you had better go back
+there. You are adopting their methods.”
+
+“I may have to at any moment,” he admitted, “or to some more distant
+country still. I want something to take back with me.”
+
+“You want a keepsake, of course,” Philippa declared, looking around the
+room. “You can have my photograph--the one over there. Helen will give
+you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her. She is just as grateful
+to you about Richard as I am.”
+
+“But from you,” he said earnestly, “I want more than gratitude.”
+
+“Dear me, how persistent you are!” Philippa murmured. “Are you really
+determined to make love to me?”
+
+“Ah, don't mock me!” he begged. “What I am saying to you comes from my
+heart.”
+
+Philippa laughed at him quietly. There was just a little break in her
+voice, however.
+
+“Don't be absurd!”
+
+“There is nothing absurd about it,” he replied, with a note of sadness
+in his tone. “I felt it from the moment we met. I struggled against it,
+but I have felt it growing day by day. I came here with my mind filled
+with different purposes. I had no thought of amusing myself, no thought
+of seeking here the happiness which up till now I seem to have missed.
+I came as a servant because I was sent, a mechanical being. You have
+changed everything. For you I feel what I have never felt for any woman
+before. I place before you my career, my freedom, my honour.”
+
+Philippa sighed very softly.
+
+“Do you mind ringing the bell?” she begged.
+
+“The bell?” he repeated. “What for?”
+
+“I want Helen to hear you,” she confided, with a wonderful little smile.
+
+“Philippa, don't mock me,” he pleaded. “If this is only amusement to
+you, tell me so and let me go away. It is the first time in my life
+that a woman has come between me and my work. I am no longer master of
+myself. I am obsessed with you. I want nothing else in life but your
+love.”
+
+There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face. The banter
+which had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon as
+her defensive weapon, was suddenly useless. Lessingham had created an
+atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+
+“Are you in earnest?” she faltered.
+
+“God knows I am!” he insisted.
+
+“You--you care for me?”
+
+“So much,” he answered passionately, “that for your sake I would
+sacrifice my honour, my country, my life.”
+
+“But I've only known you for such a short time,” Philippa protested,
+“and you're an enemy.”
+
+“I discard my birth. I renounce my adopted country,” he declared
+fiercely. “You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition and
+patriotism. You have filled it with one thing only--a great, consuming
+love.”
+
+“Have you forgotten my husband?”
+
+“Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should have
+dared to speak? Ask yourself how you can continue to live with him? You
+can call him which you will. Both are equally disgraceful. Your heart
+knows the truth. He is either a coward or a philanderer.”
+
+Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white. Her eyes flashed. His words had
+stung her to the quick.
+
+“A coward?” she repeated furiously. “You dare to call Henry that?”
+
+Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet. He moved restlessly about the
+room. His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+
+“I do!” he pronounced. “Philippa, look at this matter without prejudice.
+Do you believe that there is a single man of any country, of your
+husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the seas for
+fish whilst his country's blood is being drained dry? Who would weigh
+a codling,” he added, pointing scornfully to the scales, “whilst the
+funeral march of heroes is beating throughout the world? The thing is
+insensate, impossible!”
+
+Philippa's head drooped. Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+
+“Don't!” she pleaded, “I have suffered so much.”
+
+“Forgive me,” he begged, with a sudden change of voice. “If I am
+mistaken in your husband--and there is always the chance--I am sorry.
+I will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him, but I can
+only judge from what I have seen and from that there is no one in the
+world who would not agree with me that your husband is unworthy of you.”
+
+“Oh, please stop!” Philippa cried. “Stop at once!”
+
+Lessingham came back to his place by her side. His voice was still
+shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+
+“Philippa, forgive me,” he repeated. “If you only knew how it hurts to
+see you like this! Yet I must speak. There is just once in every man's
+lifetime when he must tell the truth. That time has come with me--I love
+you.”
+
+“So does my husband,” she murmured.
+
+“I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,”
+ Lessingham continued. “He sets your wishes at defiance. He who should be
+an example in a small place like this, is only an object of contempt in
+the neighbourhood. Even I, who have only lived here for so short a time,
+have caught the burden of what people say.”
+
+Philippa wiped her eyes.
+
+“Please, do you mind,” she begged, “not saying anything more about
+Henry. You are only reminding me of things which I try all the time to
+forget.”
+
+“Believe me,” Lessingham answered wistfully, “I am only too content to
+ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you are the
+woman who has changed my life.”
+
+Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child who
+has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+
+“But you must not--you must not talk to me like this!”
+
+His hand closed upon hers. It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold, yet
+passive.
+
+“Why not?” he whispered. “I have the one unalterable right, and I am
+willing to pay the great price.”
+
+“Right?” she faltered.
+
+“The right of loving you--the right of loving you better than any woman
+in the world.”
+
+There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly aware,
+to the emotion of the moment. A door behind them had opened. Philippa's
+quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps. Lessingham rose
+deliberately to his feet. In his heart he welcomed the interruption.
+This might, perhaps, be the decisive moment. Sir Henry was strolling
+towards them. His manner and his tone, however, were alike good-natured.
+
+“I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham,” he
+announced. “Sinclair has been sent for--a night route march, or some
+such horror--and they want you to make a four.”
+
+Lessingham hesitated. He had a passionate inclination to face
+the situation, to tell this man the truth. Sir Henry's courteous
+indifference, however, was like a harrier. He recognised the inevitable.
+
+“I am afraid I am rather out of practice,” he said, “but I shall be
+delighted to do my best.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers. For a mild-mannered
+and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+
+“That fellow was making love to you,” he said bluntly, as soon as the
+door was closed behind Lessingham.
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+
+“He was doing it very nicely, too,” she admitted.
+
+“You mean to say that you let him?”
+
+“I listened to what he had to say,” she confessed. “It didn't occur to
+you, I suppose,” her husband remarked, with somewhat strained sarcasm,
+“that you were another man's wife?”
+
+“I am doing my best to forget that fact,” Philippa reminded him.
+
+“I see! And he is to help you?”
+
+“Possibly.”
+
+Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+
+“I shall turn the fellow out of the house,” he declared.
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+“Why don't you?”
+
+He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side. “Look here, Philippa,
+don't let's wrangle,” he begged. “I'm afraid you'll have to make up your
+mind to see a good deal less of your friend Lessingham, anyway.”
+
+Philippa's brows were knitted. She was conscious of a vague uneasiness.
+
+“Really? And why?”
+
+“For one thing,” her husband explained, “because I don't intend to have
+him hanging about my house during my absence.”
+
+“The best way to prevent that would be not to go away,” Philippa
+suggested.
+
+“Well, in all probability,” he announced guardedly, “I am not going away
+again--at least not just yet.”
+
+Philippa's manner suddenly changed. She laid down her work. Her hand
+rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+
+“You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing
+excursions of yours?”
+
+“For the present I am,” he assured her.
+
+“And are you going to do something--some work, I mean?” she asked
+breathlessly.
+
+“For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after
+you,” he replied.
+
+Philippa's face fell. Her manner became notably colder.
+
+“You are very wise,” she declared. “Mr. Lessingham is a most fascinating
+person. We are all half in love with him--even Helen.”
+
+“The fellow must have a way with him,” Sir Henry conceded grudgingly.
+“As a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless they
+have immediate connections in the neighbourhood. Even Griffiths, who
+since they made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions, seems
+inclined to accept him.”
+
+“Captain Griffiths dined here the other night,” Philippa remarked, “and
+I noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well.”
+
+“The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt,” Sir Henry began.
+
+“Of course he is,” Philippa interrupted. “Helen likes him quite as much
+as I do.”
+
+“Does he make love to Helen, too?” Sir Henry ventured.
+
+“Don't talk nonsense!” Philippa retorted. “He isn't that sort of a
+man at all. If he has made love to me, he has done so because I have
+encouraged him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault.”
+
+Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and took a
+cigarette from an open box.
+
+“Quite time I stayed at home, I can see. All the same, the fellow's
+rather a puzzle. I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making
+such an easy conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for her
+flirtations, and a young woman who is madly in love with another man. He
+hasn't--”
+
+“Hasn't what?”
+
+“He hasn't,” Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he
+had been holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, “been in the
+position of being able to render you or Helen any service, has he?”
+
+“I don't understand you,” Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+
+“There's nothing to understand,” Sir Henry went on. “I was simply trying
+to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici.”
+
+“I don't think you need go any further than the fact,” Philippa
+observed, “that he is well-bred, charming and companionable.”
+
+“Incidentally,” Sir Henry queried, “do you happen to have come across
+any one here who ever heard of him before?”
+
+“I don't remember any one,” Philippa replied. “He was at college with
+Richard, you know.”
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+“Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen,” he
+admitted. “And by-the-by, that reminds me,” he went on, “I never saw
+such a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen. A few weeks
+ago you were fretting yourselves to death about Dick. Now you don't seem
+to mention him, you both of you look as though you hadn't a care in the
+world, and yet you say you haven't heard from him. Upon my word, this is
+getting to be a house of mysteries!”
+
+“The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry,” she declared.
+
+“Me?” he protested. “I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive. What
+is there mysterious about me?”
+
+“Your ignominious life,” was the cold reply.
+
+“Jove, I got it that time!” he groaned,--“got it in the neck! But didn't
+I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?”
+
+“Then prove it,” Philippa pleaded. “Let me write to Rayton and beg him
+to use his influence to get you something to do. I am sure you would be
+happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would make to me.”
+
+“It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing,” he confided. “You
+know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war. They'd make me
+take some one's place at home behind a desk.”
+
+“But even if they did,” she protested, “even if they put you in a coal
+cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping your
+country? Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?”
+
+Sir Henry made a wry face.
+
+“It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear,” he
+grumbled. “However--now what the dickens is the matter?”
+
+The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but Jimmy
+Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the room.
+
+“Hullo? What is it, Jimmy?” his patron demanded.
+
+“Beg your pardon, sir,” was the almost incoherent reply. “I've run all
+the way up, and there's a rare wind blowing. There's one of our--our
+trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green and six
+yellow balls.”
+
+“Whiting, by God!” Sir Henry exclaimed.
+
+“Whiting!” Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust. “What does this mean,
+Henry?”
+
+“It must be a shoal,” her husband explained. “It means that we've got to
+get amongst them quick. Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?”
+
+“She there all right, sir,” was the somewhat doubtful reply, “but us'll
+have a rare job to get away, sir. That there nor'easter is blowing great
+guns again and it's a cruel tide.”
+
+“We've got to get out somehow,” Sir Henry declared. “Mills, my oilskins
+and flask at once. I sha'n't change a thing, but you might bring a
+cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda.”
+
+Mills withdrew, a little dazed. Philippa, whose fingers were clenched
+together, found her tongue at last.
+
+“Henry!” she exclaimed furiously.
+
+“What is it, my dear?”
+
+“Do you mean to tell me that after your promise,” she continued, “after
+what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for another
+fishing expedition?”
+
+“Whiting, my dear,” Sir Henry explained. “One can't possibly miss
+whiting. Where the devil are my keys?--Here they are. Now then.”
+
+He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed
+to be a couple of charts in oilskin cases. All the time the wind was
+shaking the windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the panes.
+
+“Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy,” Sir Henry invited, as he
+buttoned up his coat. “You'll need it all presently.”
+
+“I thank you kindly, sir,” Jimmy replied. “I am thinking that we'll both
+need a drink before we're through this night.”
+
+He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of
+half and half. Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+indignantly, once more found words.
+
+“Henry, you are incorrigible!” she exclaimed. “Listen to me if you
+please. I insist upon it.”
+
+Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her. “Philippa, I really
+can't stop now,” he protested. “But you must! You shall!” she cried.
+“You shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before you go. What I
+said the other day I repeat a thousandfold now.”
+
+Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door. The
+fisherman made an awkward exit.
+
+“A thousandfold,” Philippa repeated passionately. “You hear, Henry? I do
+not consider myself any more your wife. If I am here when you return, it
+will be simply because I find it convenient. Your conduct is disgraceful
+and unmanly.”
+
+“My dear girl!” he remonstrated. “I may be back in twenty-four--possibly
+twelve hours.”
+
+“It is a matter of indifference to me when you return,” was the curt
+reply. “I have finished.”
+
+The door was thrown open.
+
+“Your oilskins, sir, and flask,” Mills announced, hurrying in, a little
+breathless. “You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it scarcely seems
+a fit night to leave home.”
+
+“Got to be done this once, Mills,” his master replied, struggling into
+his coat.
+
+The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in. Nora, who
+was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+
+“Why, where's Dad going?” she cried.
+
+“It appears,” Philippa explained sarcastically, “that a shoal of whiting
+has arrived.”
+
+“Very uncertain fish, whiting,” Sir Henry observed, “here to-day and
+gone to-morrow.”
+
+“You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir,” Harrison
+remarked doubtfully.
+
+“Jimmy will see to that,” was the confident reply. “I expect we shall be
+amongst them at daybreak. Good-by, everybody! Good-by, Philippa!”
+
+His eyes sought his wife's in vain. She had turned towards Lessingham.
+
+“You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?” she asked. “I want
+you to show me that new Patience.”
+
+“I shall be delighted.”
+
+Sir Henry turned slowly away. For a moment his face darkened as his eyes
+met Lessingham's. He seemed about to speak but changed his mind.
+
+“Well, good-by, every one,” he called out. “I shall be back before
+midnight if we don't get out.”
+
+“And if you do?” Nora cried.
+
+“If we do, Heaven help the whiting!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+“Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!” Philippa
+declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+
+“You mean by coming to a place like this?” Lessingham queried, looking
+around the crowded restaurant. “We are not, in that case, the only
+sinners.”
+
+“I didn't mean the mere fact of being here,” Philippa explained, “but
+being here with you.”
+
+“I forgot,” he said gloomily, “that I was such a black sheep.”
+
+“Don't be silly,” she admonished. “You're nothing of the sort. But, of
+course, we are skating on rather thin ice. If I had Henry to consider
+in any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should be more
+careful. As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately. Dreymarsh
+has got upon my nerves. The things that I thought most of in life seem
+to have crumbled away.”
+
+“Ought I to be sorry?” he asked. “I am not.”
+
+“But why are you so unsympathetic?”
+
+“Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild,” he whispered.
+
+A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped before
+their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a glance at
+Philippa, moved away with him to the little space reserved for the
+dancers.
+
+“What a chaperon I am!” Philippa sighed. “I scarcely know anything about
+the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's regiment.”
+
+“I did not hear it,” Lessingham observed, “but I feel deeply grateful
+to him. It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to you alone like
+this.”
+
+“It seems incredible that we have talked so long,” Philippa said,
+glancing at the watch upon her wrist. “I really feel now that I know all
+about you--your school days, your college days, and your soldiering. You
+have been very frank, haven't you?”
+
+“I have nothing to conceal--from you,” he replied. “If there is anything
+more you want to know--”
+
+“There is nothing,” she interrupted uneasily.
+
+“Perhaps you are wise,” he reflected, “and yet some day, you know, you
+will have to hear it all, over and over again.”
+
+“I will not be made love to in a restaurant,” she declared firmly.
+
+“You are so particular as to localities,” he complained. “You could
+not see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider a
+suitable environment?”
+
+Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+
+“Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!” she begged.
+“And there is some one there who wants to speak to you.”
+
+Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before
+their table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death. He
+remained perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly to
+be drawn from his cheeks. Yet the newcomer himself seemed in no way
+terrifying. He was tall and largely built, clean-shaven, and with
+the humourous mouth of an Irishman or an American. Neither was there
+anything threatening in his speech.
+
+“Glad to run up against you, Lessingham,” he said, holding out his hand.
+“Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?”
+
+“Very,” Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a dream.
+“Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend--Mr. Hayter.”
+
+Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in trivial
+conversation. Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+
+“I must be joining my friends,” he observed. “Look in and see me
+sometime, Lessingham--Number 72, Milan Court. You know what a nightbird
+I am. Perhaps you will call and have a final drink with me when you have
+finished here.”
+
+“I shall be very glad,” Lessingham promised.
+
+Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to judge
+by his interrupted progress. Lady Cranston looked at her companion. She
+was puzzled.
+
+“Is that a recent acquaintance,” she asked, “as he addressed you by the
+name of Lessingham?”
+
+“Yes,” was the quiet reply.
+
+“You don't wish to talk about him?”
+
+“No!”
+
+Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little
+party presently broke up. Lessingham drove the two women to their hotel
+in Dover Street.
+
+“We've had a most delightful evening,” Philippa assured him, as they
+said good night. “You are coming round to see us in the morning, aren't
+you?”
+
+“If I may,” Lessingham assented.
+
+Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night. She had
+nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+
+“May I sit down for a few moments?” she asked, a little nervously. “Your
+fire is so much better than mine.”
+
+Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before which
+she was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace. She felt a
+forewarning of what was coming.
+
+“Of course, dear,” she replied. “Have you enjoyed your evening?”
+
+“Very much, in a way,” was the somewhat hesitating reply. “Of course,
+nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice to talk with
+some one who knows him.”
+
+“Agreeable conversation,” Philippa remarked didactically, “is one of the
+greatest pleasures in life.”
+
+“You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?” Helen asked.
+
+Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew up an
+easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+
+“So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?”
+
+“I suppose you know that he's in love with you?” Helen began.
+
+“I hope he is a little, my dear,” was the smiling reply. “I'm sure I've
+tried my best.”
+
+“Won't you talk seriously?” Helen pleaded.
+
+“I don't altogether see the necessity,” Philippa protested.
+
+“I do, and I'll tell you why,” Helen answered. “I don't think Mr.
+Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed. I
+think that he is in deadly earnest about you. I think that he was in
+deadly earnest from the first. You don't really care for him, do you,
+dear?”
+
+“Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking of,”
+ was the quiet reply.
+
+“Then please send him away,” Helen begged.
+
+“My dear, how can I?” Philippa objected. “He has done us an immense
+service, and he can't disobey his orders.”
+
+“You don't want him to go away, then?”
+
+Philippa was silent for several moments. “No,” she admitted, “I don't
+think that I do.”
+
+“You don't care for Henry any more?”
+
+“Just as much as ever,” was the somewhat bitter reply. “That's what I
+resent so much. I should like Henry to believe that he had killed every
+spark of love in me.”
+
+Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair. She felt
+that she was going to be very daring.
+
+“Have you any idea at the back of your mind, dear,” she asked “of making
+use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?”
+
+Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+
+“How hatefully downright you are!” she murmured. “I don't know.”
+
+“Because,” Helen continued, “if you have any such idea in your mind, I
+think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham. You know perfectly well that
+anything else between you and him would be impossible.”
+
+“And why?”
+
+“Don't be ridiculous!” Helen exclaimed vigorously. “Mr. Lessingham may
+have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has attached
+himself to a country which no English man or woman will be able to
+think of without shuddering, for many years to come. You can't dream
+of cutting yourself adrift from your friends and your home and your
+country! It's too unnatural! I'm not even arguing with you, Philippa.
+You couldn't do it! I'm wholly concerned with Mr. Lessingham. I cannot
+forget what we owe him. I think it would be hatefully cruel of you to
+spoil his life.”
+
+Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary. She made a little
+grimace. She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+
+“You underrate my charm, Helen,” she declared. “I really believe that I
+could make his life instead of spoiling it.”
+
+“And you would pay the price?”
+
+Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair. There
+was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+
+“I sometimes think,” she said calmly, “that I would pay any price in the
+world to make Henry understand how I feel. There, now run along, dear.
+You're full of good intentions, and don't think it horrid of me, but
+nothing that you could say would make any difference.”
+
+“You wouldn't do anything rash?” Helen pleaded.
+
+“Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise that
+I'll send cards out first. Whatever I do, impulse will probably decide.”
+
+“Impulse!”
+
+“Why not? I trust mine. Can't you?” Philippa added, with a little shrug
+of the shoulders.
+
+“Sometimes,” Helen sighed, “they are such wild horses, you know. They
+lead one to such terrible places.”
+
+“And sometimes,” Philippa replied, “they find their way into the heaven
+where our soberer thoughts could never take us. Good night, dear!”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan Court,
+was a very altered personage. He extended no welcoming salutation to his
+midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a chair.
+
+“Well,” he began, “is your task finished that you are in London?”
+
+“My task,” Lessingham replied, “might just as well never have been
+entered upon. The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an ordinary
+sport-loving Englishman.”
+
+“Really! You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and that is
+your impression of him?”
+
+“It is,” Lessingham assented. “He has been away sea-fishing, half the
+time, but I have searched his house thoroughly.”
+
+“Searched his papers, eh?”
+
+“Every one I could find, and hated the job. There are a good many charts
+of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen.”
+
+“Wonderful!” Hayter scoffed. “My young friend, you may yet find
+distinction in some other walk of life. Our secret service, I fancy,
+will very soon be able to dispense with your energies.”
+
+“And I with your secret service,” Lessingham agreed heartily. “I dare
+say there may be some branches of it in which existence is tolerable.
+That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I have been
+engaged.”
+
+“You have been completely duped,” Hayter told him calmly, “and the
+information you have sent us is valueless. Sir Henry Cranston, instead
+of being the type of man whom you have described, is one of the greatest
+experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the English Admiralty.”
+
+Lessingham laughed shortly.
+
+“That,” he declared, “is perfectly absurd.”
+
+“It is,” Hayter repeated, with emphasis, “the precise truth. Sir Henry
+Cranton's fishing excursions are myths. He is simply transferred from
+his fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of so-called mine sweepers,
+from which he conducts his operations. Nearly every one of the most
+important towns on the east coast are protected by minefields of his
+design.”
+
+Lessingham was dumbfounded. His companion's manner was singularly
+convincing.
+
+“But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?” he
+protested. “Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him because
+she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood gossips
+over his slackness.”
+
+“The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled,” Hayter retorted. “There are
+one or two who know, however.”
+
+“There are one or two,” Lessingham observed grimly, “who are beginning
+to suspect me.”
+
+“That is a pity,” Hayter admitted, “because it will be necessary for you
+to return to Dreymarsh at once.”
+
+“Return to Dreymarsh at once? But Cranston is away. There is nothing for
+me to do there in his absence.”
+
+“He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night,” was the confident
+reply. “He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of a town
+on the east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to bombard. We
+must have that chart.”
+
+Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+
+“Could you possibly get me relieved?” he begged. “The fact is--”
+
+“We could not, and we will not,” Hayter interrupted fiercely. “Unless
+you wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a coward, you will
+go through with the work which has been allotted to you. Your earlier
+mistakes will be forgiven if that chart is in my hands by Friday.”
+
+“But how do you know that he will have it?” Lessingham protested.
+“Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the minefields
+you speak of, I should think the last thing he would do would be to
+bring the chart back to Dreymarsh.”
+
+“As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do,” Hayter assured
+his listener. “He is bringing it back for the inspection of one of the
+commissioners for the east coast defense, who is to meet him at his
+house. And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom, that you will have very
+little time. For some reason or other, Cranston is dissatisfied with the
+secrecy under which he has been compelled to work, and has applied
+to the Admiralty for recognition of his position. Immediately this is
+given, I gather that his house will be inaccessible to you.”
+
+Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire. His
+thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear. Cranston
+was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be. Philippa's whole
+point of view might well be changed by this discovery--especially now
+that Cranston had made up his mind to assert himself for his wife's
+sake. There was an icy fear in his heart.
+
+“You understand,” Hayter persisted coldly, “what it is you have to do?”
+
+“Perfectly. I shall return by the afternoon train,” was the despairing
+reply.
+
+“If you succeed,” Hayter continued, “I shall see that you get the usual
+acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your transfer to
+another branch of the service. I am not questioning your patriotism or
+your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the man for this work.”
+
+“You are right,” Lessingham said. “I am not.”
+
+“It is not my affair,” Hayter proceeded, “to enquire too closely into
+the means used by our agents in carrying out our designs. That I find
+you in London in company with the wife of the man whom you are appointed
+to watch, may be a fact capable of the most complete and satisfactory
+explanation. I ask no questions. I only remind you that your country,
+even though it be only your adopted country, demands from you, as from
+all others in her service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by
+the claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour. Have I said enough?”
+
+“You have said as much as it is wise for you to say,” Lessingham
+replied, his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+
+“That is all, then,” the other concluded. “You know where to send
+or bring the chart when you have it? If you bring it yourself, it
+is possible that something which you may regard as a reward, will be
+offered to you.”
+
+Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet. His farewell to Hayter was
+cold and lifeless.
+
+He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with a
+sense of intolerable depression. The streets through which he passed
+were sombre and unlit.
+
+A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to their
+homes. There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere. An intense
+and gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted thoroughfares.
+Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like shadows. Policemen lurked
+in the shadows of the houses. The few vehicles left crawled about with
+insufficient lights. Even the warning horns of the taxicab men sounded
+furtive and repressed. Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt
+curiously in sympathy with his environment. Hayter's news brought him
+face to face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the
+dominant factor in his life. For the first time he knew what love was.
+He felt the wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities, the strange
+idealism called so unexpectedly into being. He recognized the vagaries
+of Philippa's disposition, and yet, during the last few days, he had
+convinced himself that she was beginning to care. Her strained relations
+with her husband had been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards
+the acceptance of his proffered devotion. Now he told himself with eager
+hopefulness that some portion of it, however minute, must be for his own
+sake. The relations between husband and wife, he reminded himself, must,
+at any rate, have been strained during the last few months, or Cranston
+would never have been able to keep his secret. In his gloomy passage
+through this land of ill omens, however, he shivered a little as he
+thought of the other possibility--tortured himself with imagining what
+might happen during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the
+truth. A sense of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed
+to lift him into some lofty state of aloofness, from which he could
+look down and despise himself, the poor, tired plodder wearing the heavy
+chains of duty. There was a life so much more wonderful, just the other
+side of the clouds, a very short distance away, a life of alluring and
+passionate happiness. Should he ever find the courage, he wondered, to
+escape from the treadmill and go in search of it? Duty, for the last two
+years, had taken him by the hand and led him along a pathway of shame.
+He had never been a hypocrite about the war. He was one of those who had
+acknowledged from the first that Germany had set forth, with the sword
+in her hand, on a war of conquest. His own inherited martial spirit had
+vaguely approved; he, too, in those earlier days, had felt the sunlight
+upon his rapier. Later had come the enlightenment, the turbulent waves
+of doubt, the nightmare of a nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in
+his own soul. It was in a depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser
+degree by millions of those whose ranks he had joined, that he felt this
+passionate craving for escape into a world which took count of other
+things.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented himself
+at the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall porter to take
+a seat in the lounge. Philippa entered, a few minutes later, her eyes
+and cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise she had been taking, her
+slim figure most becomingly arrayed in grey cloth and chinchilla.
+
+“I lost Helen in Harrod's,” she announced, “but I know she's lunching
+with friends, so it really doesn't matter. You'll have to take care of
+me, Mr. Lessingham, until the train goes, if you will.”
+
+“For even longer than that, if you will,” he murmured.
+
+She laughed. “More pretty speeches? I don't think I'm equal to them
+before luncheon.”
+
+“This time I am literal,” he explained. “I am coming back to Dreymarsh
+myself.”
+
+He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him. Philippa's
+expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+
+“I'm so glad,” she assured him. “Do you know, I was thinking only as I
+came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you.”
+
+She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first
+little impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the fire.
+She turned towards him gravely.
+
+“After all, do you think you are wise?” she asked. “Of course, I don't
+think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but you know
+Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and--well, you're safely away now.
+You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful altogether,” she
+went on, “that I couldn't bear it if trouble were to come.”
+
+He smiled at her.
+
+“I think I know what is at the back of your mind,” he said. “You think
+that I am coming back entirely on your account. As it happens, this is
+not so.”
+
+She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+
+“Surely,” she exclaimed, “you have satisfied yourself that there is no
+field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?”
+
+“I thought that I had,” he admitted. “It seems that I am wrong. I have
+had orders to return.”
+
+“Orders to return?” she repeated. “From whom?”
+
+He shook his head.
+
+“Of course, I ought not to have asked that,” she proceeded hastily,
+“but it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions and
+messages from Germany, here in London.”
+
+“Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany,” he reminded her.
+
+“So they say,” she admitted, “but one doesn't come into contact with it.
+So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!”
+
+“With you, if I may?”
+
+“Naturally,” she agreed.
+
+He glanced at the clock. “We might almost be starting for lunch,” he
+suggested.
+
+She nodded. “As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage.”
+
+She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to the
+Carlton. Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham walked with
+his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the left.
+
+“Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?” she asked him. “There
+must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for instance?”
+
+“Nine years makes a lot of difference,” he reminded her, “and besides, I
+have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition really
+takes place. So long as I do not look into any one's face, I feel quite
+safe.”
+
+“You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than the
+Carlton?”
+
+“It makes no difference,” he assured her. “My credentials have been
+wonderfully established for me.”
+
+“I'm so glad,” she confessed. “I know it's most unfashionable, but I do
+like these big places. If ever I had my way, I should like to live
+in London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living in the
+country and being just an hotel dweller in London.”
+
+“I wonder if New York would not do?” he ventured.
+
+“I expect I should like New York,” she murmured.
+
+“I think,” he said, “in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave here I
+shall go to the United States.”
+
+She looked at him and turned suddenly away. They arrived just then at
+their destination, and the moment passed. Lessingham left his companion
+in the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to secure his
+table and order lunch. When he came back, he found Philippa sitting very
+upright and with a significant glitter in her eyes.
+
+“Look over there,” she whispered, “by the palm.”
+
+He followed the direction which she indicated. A man was standing
+against one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously a
+foreigner, wrapped in wonderful furs. There was something familiar about
+his figure and the slight droop of his head.
+
+“Why, it's Sir Henry!” Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+
+“My husband,” Philippa faltered.
+
+Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+shortsightedness. He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham and his
+wife without recognition or any sign of flinching. At that distance it
+was impossible to see the tightening of his lips and the steely flash in
+his blue eyes.
+
+“The whiting seem to have brought him a long way,” Philippa said, with
+an unnatural little laugh.
+
+“Shall I go and speak to him?” Lessingham asked.
+
+“For heaven's sake, no!” she insisted. “Don't leave me. I wouldn't have
+him come near me for anything in the world. It is only a few weeks ago
+that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said that he hated
+the place. You don't know--the woman?”
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+“She looks like a foreigner,” was all he could say.
+
+“Take me in to lunch at once,” Philippa begged, rising abruptly to her
+feet. “This is really the last straw.”
+
+They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry
+was standing. He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with his
+companion, and did not even turn around. Philippa's little face
+seemed to have hardened as she took her seat. Only her eyes were still
+unnaturally bright.
+
+“I am so sorry if this has annoyed you,” Lessingham regretted. “You
+would not care to go elsewhere?”
+
+“I? Go anywhere else?” she exclaimed scornfully. “Thank you, I am
+perfectly satisfied here. And with my companion,” she added, with a
+brilliant little smile. “Now tell me about New York. Have you ever been
+there?”
+
+“Twice,” he told her. “At present the dream of my life is to go there
+with you.”
+
+She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+
+“I wonder if you really care,” she said. “Men get so much into the habit
+of saying that sort of thing to women. Sometimes it seems to me they
+must do a great deal of mischief. But you--Is that really your wish?”
+
+“I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life,” he
+declared, with his face aglow, “for its realization.”
+
+“But you would be a deserter from your country,” she pointed out. “You
+would never be able to return. Your estates would be confiscated. You
+would be homeless.”
+
+“Home,” he said softly, “is where one's heart takes one. Home is just
+where love is.”
+
+Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft. Then
+she began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare notes of
+countries which they had both visited, even of people whom they had met.
+They were obliged to leave early to catch their train. As they passed
+down the crowded restaurant they once more found themselves within a few
+feet of Sir Henry. His back was turned to them, and he was apparently
+ignorant of their near presence. The party had become a partie Carríe,
+another man, and a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined
+it.
+
+“Of course,” Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, “I am behaving
+like an idiot. I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what I think of him,
+or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion. We lose so much,
+don't we, by stifling our instincts.”
+
+“For the next few minutes,” he replied, glancing at his watch, “I think
+we had better concentrate our attention upon catching our train.”
+
+They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare. Grover,
+however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for them,
+ensconced in a corner. She accepted the news of Lessingham's return with
+resignation. Philippa became thoughtful as they drew towards the close
+of their journey and the slow, frosty twilight began to creep down upon
+the land.
+
+“I suppose we don't really know what war is,” she observed, looking
+out of the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with a
+background of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church. “The
+people are safe in their homes. You must appreciate what that means, Mr.
+Lessingham.”
+
+“Indeed I do,” he answered gravely. “I have seen the earth torn and
+dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel. A few
+blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful village stood;
+men and women running about like lunatics stricken with a mortal fear.
+And all the time a red glow on the horizon, a blood-red glow, and little
+specks of grey or brown lying all over the fields; even the cattle
+racing round in terror. And every now and then the cry of Death! You are
+fortunate in England.”
+
+Philippa leaned forward.
+
+“Do you believe that our turn will come?” she asked. “Do you believe
+that the wave will break over our country?”
+
+“Who can tell?”
+
+“Ah, no, but answer me,” she begged. “Is it possible for you to land an
+army here?”
+
+“I think,” he replied, “that all things are possible to the military
+genius of Germany. The only question is whether it is worth while.
+Germans are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know. I rather doubt it.
+There is nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so much as
+the news of a German invasion of Great Britain. On the other hand,
+there is a great party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one, which is
+continually reminding the Government that, without Great Britain as a
+market, Germany would never recover from the financial strain of the
+war.”
+
+“This is all too impersonal,” Philippa objected. “Do you, in your heart,
+believe that the time might come when in the night we should hear the
+guns booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad soldiers forming
+up on the beach and scaling our cliffs?”
+
+“That will not be yet,” he pronounced. “It has been thought of. Once it
+was almost attempted. Just at present, no.”
+
+Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+
+“Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+landing?”
+
+“Nothing,” he assured her. “I can even go a little further. I can tell
+you that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected place,
+in an unexpected fashion.”
+
+“Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at first-hand,”
+ Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner. “I suppose we
+are really two disgraceful women, Helen and I--traitors and all the rest
+of it. Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he were one of our best
+friends.”
+
+“I refuse to be called an enemy,” Lessingham protested. “There are times
+when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality. I am just a
+human being, born into the same world and warmed by the same sun as you.
+Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow creatures.”
+
+“Dreymarsh once more,” Philippa announced, looking out of the window.
+“And you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham. Come round and
+see us after dinner--if it doesn't interfere with your work.”
+
+“On the contrary,” he murmured under his breath. “Thank you very much.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very blank
+expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty Square. He was
+alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the walls of which were
+so hung with charts that it had almost the appearance of a schoolroom
+prepared for an advanced geography class. The table from which he had
+risen was covered with an amazing number of scientific appliances, some
+samples of rock and sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+
+Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the outlook,
+turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself confronted by an
+elderly gentleman of cheerful appearance, who at that moment had entered
+the room. From the fact that he had done so without knocking, it was
+obvious that he was an intimate.
+
+“Well, my gloomy friend,” the newcomer demanded, “what's wrong with
+you?”
+
+Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor. He pushed a chair
+towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box of cigars
+upon his desk.
+
+
+“Your little Laranagas,” he observed. “Try one.”
+
+The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped himself.
+
+“Now, then, get at it, Henry,” he enjoined. “I've a Board in
+half-an-hour, and three dispatches to read before I go in. What's your
+trouble?”
+
+“Look here, Rayton,” was the firm reply, “I want to chuck this infernal
+hole-and-corner business. I tell you I've worked it threadbare at
+Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable.”
+
+The newcomer grinned.
+
+“Poor chap!” he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards. “You're
+in a nasty mess, you know, Henry. Did I tell you that I had a letter
+from your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't find you a job?”
+
+Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the joke.
+
+“That's all very well,” he said, “but we are on the point of a
+separation, or something of the sort. I'll admit it was all right at
+first to run the thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted up by
+now. Why, according to your own reports, they know all about me on the
+other side.”
+
+“Not a doubt about it,” the other agreed. “I'm not sure that you haven't
+got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now.”
+
+“I'm quite sure of it,” Sir Henry replied grimly. “The brute was
+lunching with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would have it,
+I was landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and sister-in-law. You're
+breaking up the happy home, that's what you're doing, Rayton!”
+
+His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing. He laughed
+until the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+“I should love to have seen Philippa's face,” he chuckled, “when she
+walked into the restaurant and saw you there! You're supposed to be off
+on a fishing expedition, aren't you?”
+
+“I went out after whiting,” Sir Henry groaned, “and I'd just promised to
+chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message.”
+
+“Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway,” his visitor promised.
+
+“Don't be an ass!” Sir Henry exclaimed irritably. “I don't want the
+fellow touched at present. Why, he's been a sort of persona grata at my
+house. Hangs around there all the time when I'm away.”
+
+“All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should
+say,” was the cheerful reply.
+
+“And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and Miss
+Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!” Sir Henry retorted.
+
+“I forgot that,” his friend confessed ruminatively. “He's a gentlemanly
+sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy. What do you want
+done with him?”
+
+“Leave him for me to deal with,” Sir Henry insisted. “I have a little
+scheme on hand in which he is concerned.”
+
+Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+
+“The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems,” he reminded his friend.
+
+“I won't run any risks,” Sir Henry promised. “I just want him left
+there, that's all. And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from you.
+I quite agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the time when I
+was up in Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer with the people
+who count. Every one in Germany knows that I'm a mine-field specialist,
+so I don't see why the dickens I should pose any longer as a sort of
+half-baked idiot.”
+
+Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+
+“You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical
+disclosure of your greatness,” he laughed. “Poor Philippa will fall
+upon her knees. You will be the hero of the village, which will probably
+present you with some little article of plate. You've a good time
+coming, Henry.”
+
+“Talk sense, there's a good fellow,” the other begged. “You go and see
+the Chief and put it to him. There isn't a single reason why I shouldn't
+own up now.”
+
+“I'll see what I can do,” Rayton promised, “but what about this fellow
+Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there? There's a
+chap named Griffiths--Commandant, isn't he?--been writing us about him.”
+
+“I won't have Lessingham touched,” Sir Henry insisted. “He can't do any
+particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a drawing of mine
+down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to.”
+
+Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+
+“Look here, Henry, old fellow,” he said, “I do sympathise with you up
+to a certain point. I tell you what I'll do. I shall have to answer
+Philippa's letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if she is as
+clever a little woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint. Of course,”
+ he went on ruminatively, “it is rather a misfortune that the Princess
+Ollaneff and her sister are such jolly good-looking women. Makes it look
+a little fishy, doesn't it? What I mean to say is, it's a far cry
+from fishing for whiting in the North Sea to lunching with a beautiful
+princess at the Carlton--when you think your wife's down in Norfolk.”
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+“Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton,” he declared. “You get back
+and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it.”
+
+The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of voices
+in the corridor, and departed. The door had scarcely been closed
+when two younger men presented themselves--Miles Ensol, Sir Henry's
+secretary, a typical-looking young sailor minus his left arm; and a
+pale-faced, clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian clothes. Sir
+Henry shook hands with the latter and pointed to the easy-chair which
+his previous visitor had just vacated.
+
+“Welcome back again, Horridge,” he said cordially. “Miles, I'll ring
+when I want you.”
+
+“Very good, sir,” the secretary replied. “There's a fisherman from
+Norfolk downstairs, when you're at liberty.”
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+“I'll see him presently. Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke.”
+
+The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+
+“I don't think,” he explained, “that eavesdropping extends to these
+premises, or that our voices could reach outside. Still, a ha'porth of
+prevention, eh? Have a cigar, Horridge.”
+
+“I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir.”
+
+“You look as though they'd put you through it,” Sir Henry remarked.
+
+His visitor smiled.
+
+“I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel,” he said, “and we were
+out for twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff. You know what the
+weather's been like in the North Sea. Before that, the last word of
+writing I saw on German soil was a placard, offering a reward of five
+thousand marks for my detention, with a disgustingly lifelike photograph
+at the top. I had about fifty yards of quay to walk in broad daylight,
+and every other man I passed turned to stare after me. It gives you the
+cold shivers down your back when you daren't look round to see if you're
+being followed.”
+
+Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle of
+whisky and a syphon of soda water. His visitor nodded approvingly.
+
+“I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary,” he
+observed. “My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my life. Do
+you mind, sir, if I lock the door?”
+
+“Go ahead,” Sir Henry assented.
+
+He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room. Horridge resumed
+his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly. For a moment or two he
+shook as though he had an ague. Then, just as suddenly as it had come
+upon him, the fit passed. He drained the contents of the tumbler at a
+gulp, set it down empty by his side, and stretched out his hand for a
+cigar.
+
+“The end of my journey didn't help matters any,” he went on. “I daren't
+even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually by a tramp
+steamer from Newcastle to London with coals. I hadn't been on board more
+than an hour before a submarine which had been following overhauled us.
+I thought it was all up then, but the fog lifted, and we found ourselves
+almost in the midst of a squadron of destroyers from Harwich. I made
+another transfer, and they landed me in time to catch the early morning
+train from Felixstowe.”
+
+“Did they get the submarine?” his listener asked eagerly.
+
+“Get it!” the other repeated, with a smile. “They blew it into scrap
+metal.”
+
+“Plenty of movement in your life!”
+
+“I've run the gauntlet over there once too often,” Horridge said grimly.
+“Just look at me now, Sir Henry. I'm twenty-nine years old, and it's
+only two years and a half since I was invalided out of the navy and
+took this job on. The last person I asked to guess my age put me down at
+fifty. What should you have said?”
+
+“Somewhere near it,” was the candid admission. “Never mind, Horridge,
+you've done your bit. You shall pass on your experience to a new hand,
+take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few months.
+Now let's get on with it. You know what I want to hear about.”
+
+Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+
+“They're there, sir,” he announced, “coaled to the scuppers, every man
+standing to stations and steam up. There's the list.”
+
+He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+
+“The fast cruiser squadron,” he observed. “Hm! Three new ships we
+haven't any note of. No transports, then, Horridge?'”
+
+“Not a sign of one, sir,” was the reply. “They're after a bombardment.”
+
+He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+certain port on the east coast. Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+
+“You're sure?”
+
+“It is a certainty,” Horridge replied. “I've been on three of those
+ships. I've dined with four of the officers. They're under sealed
+orders, and the crew believes that they're going to escort out half
+a dozen commerce destroyers. But I have the truth. That's their
+objective,” Horridge repeated, touching once more the spot upon the map,
+“and they are waiting just for one thing.”
+
+Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+
+“I know what they're waiting for,” he said. “Perhaps if they'd a Herr
+Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before now. As
+it is--well, I'm not sure,” he went on. “It seems a pity to disappoint
+them, doesn't it? I'd love to give them a run for their money.”
+
+Horridge smiled faintly. He knew a good deal about his companion.
+
+“They're spoiling for it, sir,” he admitted. Sir Henry spoke down a
+telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+
+“Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room,” his chief directed, “and one of
+our confidential typists. You can make out your report at your leisure,”
+ he went on. “Come in and see me when it's all finished.”
+
+“Certainly, sir,” Horridge replied, rising.
+
+Sir Henry held out his hand. He looked with something like wonder at
+the nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain air of
+briskness.
+
+“Horridge,” he said, “I wish I had your pluck.”
+
+“I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any,
+sir,” was the quiet reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the scene
+of his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the moorland,
+seawards. Above him, the sky was covered with little masses of quickly
+scudding clouds. A fugitive and watery sunshine shone feebly upon a
+wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape. He found a certain grim
+satisfaction in comparing the disorderliness of the day with the tumult
+in his own life. He felt that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater
+than his capacity, for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable.
+And behind him was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a
+few hours ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+
+Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation.
+Great events wait upon you. The object of your search is necessary for
+our imminent operations.
+
+The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him. Captain Griffiths, on a
+great bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the roadside,
+and then pulled up.
+
+“Back again, Mr. Lessingham?” he remarked.
+
+“As you see.”
+
+The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment. Then he approached
+a little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+
+“You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham,” he remarked.
+
+“When the fancy takes me,” was the equable reply.
+
+“Have you come out to see our new guns?”
+
+“I had no idea,” Lessingham answered indifferently, “that you had any.”
+
+Griffiths smiled.
+
+“We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from
+the south of England,” he said. “The secret of their coming and their
+locality has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for the last
+week.”
+
+Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+
+“They most of them spotted the guns,” his companion continued, “but not
+many of them have found the searchlights yet.”
+
+“It seems a little late in the year,” Lessingham observed, “to be making
+preparations against Zeppelins.”
+
+“Well, they cross here pretty often, you know,” Griffiths reminded him.
+“It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to grief
+on this common. We picked up their observation car not fifty yards from
+where you are sitting.”
+
+“I remember hearing about it,” Lessingham acknowledged.
+
+“By-the-by,” the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck,
+“didn't you arrive that evening or the evening after?”
+
+“I believe I did.”
+
+“Liverpool Street or King's Cross? The King's Cross train was very
+nearly held up.”
+
+“I didn't come by train at all,” Lessingham replied, glancing for a
+moment into the clouds, “And now I come to think of it, it must have
+been the evening after.”
+
+“Fine county for motoring,” Griffiths continued, stroking his horse's
+head.
+
+“The roads I have been on seem very good,” was the somewhat bored
+admission.
+
+“You haven't a car of your own here, have you?”
+
+“Not at present.”
+
+Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments.
+Then he turned once more towards his companion.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham,” he said, “you are aware that I am Commandant here?”
+
+“I believe,” Lessingham replied, “that Lady Cranston told me so.”
+
+“It is my duty, therefore,” Griffiths went on, “to take a little more
+than ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this time
+of the year. The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston is, of
+course, an entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence here.
+At the same time, there is certain information concerning strangers of
+which we keep a record, and in your case there is a line or two which we
+have not been able to fill up.”
+
+“If I can be of any service,” Lessingham murmured.
+
+“Precisely,” the other interrupted. “I knew you would feel like that.
+Now your arrival here--we have the date, I think--October 6th. As you
+have just remarked, you didn't come by train. How did you come?”
+
+Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+
+“Is that a question which you ask me to answer--officially?” he
+enquired.
+
+His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“I am not putting official questions to you at all,” he replied, “nor
+am I cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the circumstances,
+simply because your friendship with the Cranstons is, of course, a
+guarantee as to your position. But on the other hand, I think it would
+be reasonable if you were to answer my question.”
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+“Perhaps you are right,” he admitted. “As you can tell by finding me
+here this afternoon, I am a great walker. I arrived--on foot.”
+
+“I see,” Griffiths reflected. “The other question which we usually ask
+is, where was your last stopping place?”
+
+“Stopping place?” Lessingham murmured.
+
+“Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?” Griffiths
+persisted.
+
+Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful
+memory.
+
+“But I did not sleep at all,” he complained. “It was one of the worst
+nights which I have ever spent in my life.”
+
+Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+
+“Well,” he said with clumsy sarcasm, “I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered my
+questions. I won't bother you any more just at present. Shall I see you
+to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?”
+
+“Lady Cranston has asked me to dine,” was the somewhat reserved reply.
+
+His inquisitor nodded and cantered away. Lessingham looked after him
+until he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh and
+walked steadily into the lowering afternoon. Twilight was falling as
+he reached Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some
+callers, to whom she promptly introduced him. Lessingham gathered,
+almost in the first few minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was
+becoming a subject of comment.
+
+“My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think,” a lady
+by whose side he found himself observed. “You perhaps didn't hear my
+name--Mrs. Johnson?”
+
+“I congratulate you upon your husband,” Lessingham replied. “I remember
+him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I revoked.”
+
+“Dear me!” she exclaimed. “He must have taken a fancy to you, then. As a
+rule, they rather complain about him at bridge.”
+
+“I formed the impression,” Lessingham continued, “that he was rather a
+better player than the majority of the performers there.”
+
+Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady,
+smiled.
+
+“He thinks so, at any rate,” she conceded. “Didn't he tell me that you
+were invalided home from the front?”
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+“I am quite sure that it was not mentioned,” he said. “We walked home
+together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of the golf
+and some shooting in the neighbourhood.”
+
+Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing. There was a
+little commotion. Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to help
+collect the fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper in his
+ear.
+
+“Be careful. That woman is a cat. Stay and talk to me. Please don't
+bother, Mr. Lessingham. Won't you ring the bell instead?” she continued,
+raising her voice.
+
+Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs.
+Johnson's inviting smile as he returned. Philippa made room for him by
+her side.
+
+“Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham,” she said, “of
+the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and both
+had just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity. You never played, did
+you?”
+
+He shook his head.
+
+“No such luck. In any case, Richard would have been in well before me. I
+always maintained that he was the first of our googlie bowlers.”
+
+“So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?” another caller remarked
+in mild wonder.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends,” Philippa explained.
+“Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire.”
+
+Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+disappointment. The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance in
+Dreymarsh was practically strangled. Mrs. Johnson, however, fired a
+parting shot as she rose to go.
+
+“You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+Lessingham?” she asked. “No,” he answered calmly.
+
+Philippa was busy with her adieux. Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+
+“What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?” she persisted. “You must
+forgive my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military
+affairs.”
+
+Lessingham bowed courteously.
+
+“I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all,” he said coolly,
+“but as a matter of fact I am in the Guards.”
+
+Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable. Her good-by to
+Lessingham was most affable. She walked up the road with the vicar.
+
+“I think, Vicar,” she said severely, “that for a small place, Dreymarsh
+is becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew. Every one
+has been saying all sorts of unkind things about that charming Mr.
+Lessingham, and there you are--Major Felstead's friend and a Guardsman!
+Somehow or other, I felt that he belonged to one of the crack regiments.
+I shall certainly ask him to dinner one night next week.”
+
+The vicar nodded benignly. He had the utmost respect for Mrs. Johnson's
+cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to which the object
+of their discussion had attained.
+
+“I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time,” he pronounced,
+with ample condescension. “I noticed him in church last Sunday morning.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+“My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!” Philippa exclaimed
+pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers. “The
+Guards, indeed!”
+
+Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+
+“Well,” he said, “I told the dear lady the truth. You will find my
+name well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the Prussian
+Guards.”
+
+She threw herself back in her chair and laughed. “How amusing it would
+be if it weren't all so terrible! You really are a perfect political
+Raffles. Do you know that this afternoon you have absolutely
+reestablished yourself? Mr. Johnson will probably call on you
+to-morrow--they may even ask you to dine--the vicar will write and ask
+for a subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you to play golf with
+her.”
+
+“Do not turn my head,” he begged.
+
+“All the same,” Philippa continued, more gravely, “I shall never have
+a moment's peace whilst you are in the place. I was thinking about you
+last night. I don't believe I have ever realised before how terrible it
+would be if you really were discovered. What would they do to you?”
+
+“Whatever they might do,” he replied, a little wearily, “I must obey
+orders. My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told that I
+might go, I should find it hard.”
+
+“Do you mean that?” she asked.
+
+“I think you know,” he answered.
+
+“You men are so strange,” she went on, after a moment's pause. “You give
+us so little time to know you, you show us so little of yourselves and
+you expect so much.”
+
+“We offer everything,” he reminded her.
+
+“I want to avoid platitudes,” she said thoughtfully, “but is love quite
+the same thing for a man as for a woman?”
+
+“Sometimes it is more,” was the prompt reply. “Sometimes love, for a
+woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the blending of
+all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that he has learned
+from books and from life. Sometimes a man can see no further and needs
+to look no further.”
+
+Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger. There was something in
+her heart of which she had never before been conscious, some music, some
+strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or the words themselves.
+It was madness, she told herself breathlessly. She was in love with
+her husband, if any one. She could not have lost all feeling for him so
+soon. She clasped her hands tightly. Lessingham seemed conscious of his
+advantage, and leaned towards her.
+
+“If I were not offering you my whole life,” he pleaded, “believe me, I
+would not open my lips. If I were thinking of episodes, I would throw
+myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even your fingers. But
+you, and you alone, could fill the place in my life which I have always
+prayed might be filled, not for a year or even a decade of years, but
+for eternity.”
+
+“Oh, but you forget!” she faltered.
+
+“I remember so much,” he replied, “that I know it is hard for you to
+speak. There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your
+fingers shrink from tearing them asunder. If it were not for this,
+Philippa--hear the speech of a renegade--my mandate should be torn in
+pieces. My instructions should flutter into the waste-paper basket,
+To-morrow should see us on our way to a new country and a new life. But
+you must be very sure indeed.”
+
+“Is it because of me that you are staying here?” she asked.
+
+“Upon my honour, no,” he assured her. “I must stay here a little longer,
+whatever it may mean for me. And so I am content to remain what I am to
+you at this minute. I ask from you only that you remain just what you
+are. But when the moment of my freedom comes, when my task here is
+finished and I turn to go, then I must come to you.”
+
+She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open the
+window. The breeze swept through the room, flapping the curtains,
+blowing about loose articles into a strange confusion. She stood there
+for several moments, as though in search of some respite from the
+emotional atmosphere upon which she had turned her back. When she
+finally closed the window, her hair was in little strands about her
+face. Her eyes were soft and her lips quivering.
+
+“You make me feel,” she said, taking his hand for a moment and looking
+at him almost piteously, “you make me feel everything except one thing.”
+
+“Except one thing?” he repeated.
+
+“Can't you understand?” she continued, stretching out her hand with a
+quick, impulsive little movement. “I am here in Henry's house, his wife,
+the mistress of his household. All the years we've been married I have
+never thought of another man. I have never indulged in even the idlest
+flirtation. And now suddenly my life seems upside down. I feel as
+though, if Henry stood before me now, I would strike him on the cheek. I
+feel sore all over, and ashamed, but I don't know whether I have ceased
+to love him. I can't tell. Nothing seems to help me. I close my eyes
+and I try to think of that new world and that new life, and I know that
+there is nothing repulsive in it. I feel all the joy and the strength of
+being with you. And then there is Henry in the background. He seems to
+have had so much of my love.”
+
+He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+encouragingly.
+
+“Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing,” he said.
+“Just think these things out. It isn't really a matter for sorrow,” he
+continued. “Love must always mean happiness--for the one who is loved.”
+
+She leaned back in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her,
+her eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet. He sat by her side,
+fingering some of the things in her work basket. Once she held out her
+hand and seemed to find comfort in his clasp. He raised her fingers to
+his lips without any protest from her. She looked at him with a little
+smile.
+
+“You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine,” she declared. “I can't see
+my way like those wonderful emancipated women.”
+
+“Yet,” he said thoughtfully, “the way to the simple things is so clear.”
+
+Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of Nora
+and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked in for a
+game of billiards. Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the latter had
+returned to their game. His tone and manner now were completely changed.
+He seemed ill at ease and unhappy.
+
+“I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow,” he told Philippa, “but
+I must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates. They all
+tell me that your husband has any number of charts of the coast. Do you
+think I could borrow one?”
+
+“Why, of course,” she replied, “if we can find it.”
+
+She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers as
+were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly. By the
+time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a little
+collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+
+“I don't know where else to look,” she said. “You might go through those
+and see if they are of any use. What is it, Mills?” she added, turning
+to the door.
+
+Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at Sir
+Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour. He looked away towards his
+mistress, however, as he replied.
+
+“The young woman has called with reference to a situation as
+parlour-maid, your ladyship,” he announced. “I have shown her into the
+sewing room.” Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+
+“I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes,” she promised Lessingham.
+“Just look through those till I come back.”
+
+She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room. He stood for a
+moment listening. On the left-hand side, through the door which had
+been left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls and occasional
+peals of laughter. On the right-hand side there was silence. He moved
+swiftly across the room and closed the door leading into the billiard
+room, deposited on the sofa the charts which he had been carrying, and
+hurried back to the secretary. With a sickening feeling of overwhelming
+guilt, he drew from his pocket a key and opened, one by one, the drawers
+through which they had not searched. It took him barely five minutes to
+discover--nothing. With an air of relief he rearranged everything.
+When Philippa returned, he was sitting on the lounge, going through the
+charts which they had looked out together.
+
+“Well?” she asked.
+
+“There is nothing here,” he decided, “which will help me very much. With
+your permission I will take this,” he added, selecting one at random.
+
+She nodded and they replaced the others. Then she touched him on the
+arm.
+
+“Listen,” she said, “are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+coming?”
+
+He listened for a moment.
+
+“I can't hear any one,” he answered. “They've started a four-handed game
+of pool in the billiard room.”
+
+She smiled.
+
+“Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret. See!”
+
+She touched the spring in the side of the secretary. The false back,
+with its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up. The large
+and very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so much of his
+time, was revealed. Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+
+“There!” she said. “That has been a great labour of love with Henry.
+It is the chart, on a great scale, from which he works. I don't know
+a thing about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry that you have
+seen it.”
+
+He continued to examine the chart earnestly. Not a part of it escaped
+him. Then he turned back to Philippa.
+
+“Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?” he
+asked.
+
+“I don't exactly know where it is,” she replied. “Every time Henry finds
+out anything new, he comes and works at it. I believe that very soon it
+will be perfect. Then he will start on another part of the coast.”
+
+“This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?” Lessingham
+enquired.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+“I believe it is the fifth,” she replied. “They all disappear when they
+are finished, but I have no idea where to. To me they seem to represent
+a shocking waste of time.”
+
+Lessingham was suddenly taciturn. He held out his hand. “You are dining
+with us to-morrow night, remember,” she said.
+
+“I am not likely to forget,” he assured her.
+
+“And don't get drowned,” she concluded. “I don't know any of these
+fishermen--I hate them all--but I'm told that Oates is the worst.”
+
+“I think that we shall be quite all right,” he assured her. “Thanks very
+much for finding me the charts. What I have seen will help me.”
+
+Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+perfunctory. Lessingham was almost thankful to escape. There was an
+unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his heart.
+All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous quest had
+faded away. No sense of duty or patriotism could revive his drooping
+spirits. He felt himself suddenly an unclean and dishonoured being.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous wind
+of an uncertain morning settled down to worse things. It tore the spray
+from the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even against the
+French windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down the open spaces
+cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean artillery. A little
+group of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the railing and discussed
+the chances of Ben Oates bringing his boat in safely. Philippa, also,
+distracted by a curious anxiety, stood before the blurred window,
+gazing into what seemed almost a grey chaos. “Captain Griffiths, your
+ladyship.”
+
+She turned around quickly at the announcement. Even an unwelcome caller
+at that moment was almost a relief to her.
+
+“How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+Griffiths,” she exclaimed, as they shook hands. “Helen is over at the
+Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem most
+dolefully alone.”
+
+Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in the
+way of enlivenment. He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than ever,
+and his tone was almost threatening.
+
+“I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston,” he said. “I came
+specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter.”
+
+Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There seemed
+to her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly conscious that
+there was a new danger to be faced, and that this man's attitude towards
+her was, for some reason or other, inimical. After the first shock,
+however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+
+“Well, you seem very mysterious,” she observed. “I haven't broken any
+laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?”
+
+“So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort,” the
+Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint. “My
+call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a friendly one.”
+
+“How nice!” she sighed. “Then you'll have some tea, won't you?”
+
+“Not at present, if you please,” he begged. “I have come to talk to you
+about Mr. Hamar Lessingham.”
+
+“Really?” Philippa exclaimed. “Whatever has that poor man been doing
+now.”
+
+“Dreymarsh,” her visitor proceeded, “having been constituted, during the
+last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and enquire
+into the business of any stranger who appears here. Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his friendship with
+you. I regret to state, however, that certain facts have come to my
+knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself may not in some
+measure have been deceived.”
+
+“This sounds very ridiculous,” Philippa interposed quietly.
+
+“A few weeks ago,” Captain Griffith continued, “we received information
+that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by some person
+connected with the Secret Service of Germany. There is strong evidence
+that the person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham.”
+
+“A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+visitor at my father's house in Cheshire,” Philippa observed, with faint
+sarcasm.
+
+“The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston,” Captain
+Griffiths rejoined, “has, I must confess, only just occurred to me. The
+authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to, and no one of the
+name of Lessingham was there during any one of your brother's terms.”
+
+Philippa took the blow well. She simply stared at her caller in a
+noncomprehending manner.
+
+“We have also information,” he continued gravely, “from Wood Norton
+Hall--from your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston--that no college friend
+of your brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton.”
+
+“Go on,” Philippa begged, a little faintly. “Did I ever live there
+myself? Was Richard ever at Magdalen?”
+
+Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to
+finish and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+
+“I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of
+which I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his last
+habitation. He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced fashion. He
+practically declined to give me any account of himself.”
+
+Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+
+“I suppose I must give you some tea,” she said, “although you seem to
+have come here on purpose to make my head ache.”
+
+“My object in coming here,” Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little
+stiffly, “is to save you some measure of personal annoyance.”
+
+“Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful,” Philippa begged. “Of
+course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get to the
+bottom of it presently--Tell me what you think of the storm?” she added,
+as Mills entered with the tea tray. “Do you think it will get any worse,
+because I am terrified to death already?”
+
+“I am no judge of the weather here,” he confessed. “I believe the
+fishermen are preparing for something unusual.”
+
+She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing
+her duties as hostess. Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm and
+addressed him with an air of complete candour.
+
+“Now, Captain Griffiths,” she began, “do listen to me. Just one moment
+of common sense, if you please. What do you suppose there could possibly
+be in our harmless seaside village to induce any one to risk his life by
+coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of Germany?”
+
+“Dreymarsh,” Captain Griffiths replied, “was not made a prohibited area
+for nothing.”
+
+“But, my dear man, be reasonable,” Philippa persisted. “There are
+perhaps a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations along
+the cliff for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, and
+a couple of searchlights. There isn't a grocer's boy in the place who
+doesn't know all this. There's no concealment about it. You must
+admit that Germany doesn't need to send over a Secret Service agent to
+acquaint herself with these insignificant facts.”
+
+Her visitor smiled very faintly. It was the first time he had relaxed
+even so far as this.
+
+“I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you,
+Lady Cranston,” he said, “but I am not prepared to accept your statement
+that Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than the things
+which you have mentioned.”
+
+There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now. The suggestion
+contained in her visitor's words had really left her in a state of
+wonder.
+
+“You are making my flesh creep!” she exclaimed. “You don't mean to say
+that we have secrets here?”
+
+“I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon the
+subject,” he declared. “You will understand, I am sure, that I am not
+here in the character of an inquisitor. I simply thought it my duty, in
+view of the fact that you had made yourself the social sponsor for
+Mr. Lessingham, to place certain information before you, and to ask,
+unofficially, of course, if you have any explanation to give? You may
+even,” he went on, hesitatingly, “appreciate the motives which led me to
+do so.”
+
+“My dear man, what explanation could I have?” Philippa protested, “it is
+an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at Magdalen
+with my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood Norton. I know
+both these things of my own knowledge. The only possible explanation,
+therefore, is that you have been misinformed.”
+
+“Or,” Captain Griffiths ventured, “that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in those
+days passed under another name.”
+
+“Another name?” Philippa faltered.
+
+“Some such name, perhaps,” he continued, “as Bertram Maderstrom.”
+
+There was a short silence. Captain Griffiths had leaned back in his
+chair and was caressing his upper lip. His eyes were fixed upon Philippa
+and Philippa saw nothing. Her little heel dug hard into the carpet. In a
+few seconds the room ceased to spin. Nevertheless, her voice sounded to
+her pitifully inadequate.
+
+“What an absurdity all this is!” she exclaimed.
+
+“Maderstrom,” Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, “was, curiously
+enough, an intimate college friend of your brother's. He was also a
+visitor at Wood Norton Hall. At neither place is there any trace of
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham. Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady Cranston.
+Perhaps you have recognised the man and failed to remember his name. If
+so, now is the moment to declare it.”
+
+“I am very much obliged to you,” Philippa retorted, “but I have never
+met or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom--”
+
+“Baron Maderstrom,” he interrupted.
+
+“Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I remember
+perfectly.”
+
+“I am sorry,” Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup and
+rising slowly to his feet. “We cannot help one another, then.”
+
+“If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember perfectly,
+into a German baron whom I never heard of,” Philippa declared boldly, “I
+am afraid that we can't.”
+
+“Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman,” Captain Griffiths observed.
+
+“Swedish or German, I know nothing of him,” Philippa persisted.
+
+“There remains, then, nothing more to be said.”
+
+“I am afraid not,” Philippa agreed sweetly.
+
+“Under the circumstances,” Captain Griffiths asked, “you will not, I am
+sure, expect me to dine to-night.”
+
+“Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham,” Philippa replied.
+
+Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible
+for that little storm of passion which for a moment transformed his
+appearance. He quickly recovered, however.
+
+“I may still,” he concluded, moving towards the door, “be forced to
+present myself here in another capacity.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+visitor, stifled Philippa. Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf around
+her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to the railing,
+dragged herself along to where the fishermen were gathered together in a
+little group. The storm as yet showed no signs of abatement.
+
+“Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?” she enquired.
+
+An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+
+“There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!”
+
+“Will she get in?” Philippa asked eagerly.
+
+There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+
+“She's weathering it grand,” the fisherman to whom she had first spoken,
+declared. “We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning on getting 'em
+ashore all right. Lucky for Ben that the gentleman along with him is a
+fine sailor. Look at that, mum!” he added in excitement. “See the way he
+brought her head round to it, just in time. Boys, they'll come in on the
+next one!”
+
+One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+wave-splashed beach. There were a few more minutes of breathless
+anxiety. Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight,
+hidden by a huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to the
+top of it, to hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and the
+surf and a great green mass of waters, and then finally, with a harsh
+crash of timbers and a shout from the fishermen, to be flung high and
+dry upon the stones. Philippa, clutching the iron railing, saw for a
+moment nothing but chaos. Her knees became weak. She was unable to move.
+There was a queer dizziness in her ears. The sound of voices sounded
+like part of an unreal nightmare. Then she was aware of a single figure
+climbing the steps towards her. There was blood trickling down his face
+from the wound in the forehead, and he was limping slightly.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham!” she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+
+He took an eager step towards her.
+
+“Philippa!” he exclaimed. “Why, what are you doing here?”
+
+“I was frightened,” she faltered. “Are you hurt?”
+
+“Not in the least,” he assured her. “We had a rough sail home, that's
+all, and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious. Come along,
+let me help you up the steps and out of this.”
+
+She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the
+house. Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and Helen
+came hurrying to them from the background.
+
+“I went out to see the storm,” Philippa explained weakly, “and I saw Mr.
+Lessingham's boat brought in.”
+
+“And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once,” Helen insisted. “I
+haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going to
+bind his head up.”
+
+Philippa began to feel her strength returning. The horror which lay
+behind those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind. Mills
+had hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were preparing to
+follow. She stopped them.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham,” she said, “listen. Captain Griffiths has been here. He
+knows or guesses everything.”
+
+“Everything?”
+
+Philippa nodded.
+
+“Helen must bind your head up, of course,” she continued. “After that,
+think! What can we do? Captain Griffiths knows that there was no Hamar
+Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited Wood Norton, that
+there is some mystery about your arrival here, and he told me to my face
+that he believes you to be Bertram Maderstrom.”
+
+“What a meddlesome fellow!” Lessingham grumbled, holding his
+handkerchief to his forehead.
+
+“Oh, please be serious!” Helen begged, looking up from the bandage which
+she was preparing. “This is horrible!”
+
+“Don't I know it!” Philippa groaned. “Mr. Lessingham, you must please
+try and escape from here. You can have the car, if you like. There must
+be some place where you can go and hide until you can get away from the
+country.”
+
+“But I'm dining here to-night,” Lessingham protested. “I'm not going to
+hide anywhere.”
+
+The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+
+“Can't I make you understand!” Philippa exclaimed pathetically. “You're
+in danger here--really in danger!”
+
+Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+
+“Of course, I can quite understand,” he said, “that Griffiths is
+suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have broken
+the law here, and I shall not make things any better by attempting an
+opera bouffe flight. Can I have my head tied up and come and talk to you
+about it later on?”
+
+“Oh, if you like,” Philippa assented weakly. “I can't argue.”
+
+She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes. When she
+came down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the library,
+with a piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the
+other. His head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed quite at his
+ease.
+
+“You know,” he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her,
+“that man Griffiths doesn't like me. He never took to me from the first,
+I could see that. If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths. He is
+one of those mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very well do
+without.”
+
+Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her
+bedroom, tried to be firm.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham,” she said, “you know that we are both your friends. Do
+listen, please. Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a position
+of authority. He has a very large power. I honestly believe that it is
+his intention to have you arrested--if not to-night, within a very few
+days.”
+
+“I do not see how he can,” Lessingham objected, helping himself to
+another piece of toast. “I have committed no crime here. I have played
+golf with all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and I have
+given the committee some excellent advice as to the two new holes. I
+have played bridge down at the club--we will call it bridge!--and I
+have kept my temper like an angel. I have dined at Mess and told them at
+least a dozen new stories. I have kept my blinds drawn at night, and I
+have not a wireless secreted up the chimney. I really cannot see what
+they could do to me.”
+
+Philippa tried bluntness.
+
+“You have served in the German army, and you are living in a protected
+area under a false name,” she declared.
+
+“Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say,” he admitted,
+“but even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should do no
+good by running away. To be perfectly serious,” he added, setting his
+cup down, “there is only one thing at the present moment which would
+take me out of Dreymarsh, and that is if you believe that my presence
+here would further compromise you and Miss Fairclough.”
+
+Philippa was beginning to find her courage. “We're in it already, up to
+the neck,” she observed. “I really don't see that anything matters so
+far as we are concerned.”
+
+“In that case,” he decided, “I shall have the honour of presenting
+myself at the usual time.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before
+eight that evening. Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a model of
+simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that undefinable appeal to
+the mysterious which even the greatest artist frequently fails to create
+out of any form of colour. Some fancy had induced her to strip off her
+jewels at the last moment, and she wore no ornaments save a band of
+black velvet around her neck. Helen looked at her curiously.
+
+“Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?” she asked, as they
+stood together by the log fire.
+
+Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+
+“I don't know what I was thinking about, really,” she confessed. “Is
+that the exact time, I wonder?”
+
+“Two minutes to eight,” Helen replied.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual,” Philippa murmured. “I wonder if
+Captain Griffiths would dare!”
+
+“We've done our best to warn him,” Helen reminded her friend. “The man
+is simply pig-headed.”
+
+“I can't help feeling that he's right,” Philippa declared, “when he
+argues that they couldn't really prove anything against him.”
+
+“Does that matter,” Helen asked anxiously, “so long as he is an enemy,
+living under a false name here?”
+
+“You don't think they'd--they'd--”
+
+“Shoot him?” Helen whispered, lowering her voice. “They couldn't do
+that! They couldn't do that!”
+
+The clock began to chime. Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening,
+gave a little exclamation of relief.
+
+“I hear his voice!” she exclaimed. “Thank goodness!”
+
+Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's. A moment later
+Mills ushered in their guest. He was still wearing his bandage, but his
+colour had returned. He seemed, in fact, almost gay.
+
+“Nothing has happened, then?” Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon as
+the door was closed.
+
+“Nothing at all,” he assured them. “Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+afraid of making a mistake.”
+
+“So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine. Never mind, you'll have to
+take care of us both,” she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+
+“I'll do my best,” he promised, offering his arm.
+
+If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it
+seemed only to heighten the merriment of their little repast. Philippa
+had ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining room, the
+many appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded, the glow of
+the wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon the table, seemed
+in delicious contrast to the fury of the storm outside. They all three
+appeared completely successful in a strenuous effort to dismiss all
+disconcerting subjects from their minds. Lessingham talked chiefly of
+the East. He had travelled in Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, and India,
+and he had the unusual but striking gift of painting little word
+pictures of some of the scenes of his wanderings. It was half-past nine
+before they rose from the table, and Lessingham accompanied them into
+the library. With the advent of coffee, they were for the first time
+really alone. Lessingham sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a
+low chair close at hand.
+
+“I think,” he said, “that I can venture now to tell you some news.”
+
+Helen put down her work. Philippa looked at him in silence, and her eyes
+seemed to dilate.
+
+“I have hesitated to say anything about it,” Lessingham went on,
+“because there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I believe
+that it is now finally arranged. I think that within the next week or
+ten days--perhaps a little before, perhaps a little later--your brother
+Richard will be set at liberty.”
+
+“Dick? Dick coming home?” Philippa cried, springing up from her
+reclining position.
+
+“Dick?” Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap. “Mr.
+Lessingham, do you mean it? Is it possible?”
+
+“It is not only possible,” Lessingham assured them, “but I believe that
+it will come to pass. I have had to exercise a little duplicity, but
+I fancy that it has been successful. I have insisted that without help
+from an influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot bring my labours here
+to a satisfactory conclusion, and I have named as the price of that
+help, Richard's absolute and immediate freedom. I heard only this
+morning that there would be no difficulty.”
+
+Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+
+“I will come back in a few minutes,” she promised, her voice a little
+broken.
+
+Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place.
+There were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a faint
+patch of colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite steady. She
+caught at his hands.
+
+“Oh, my dear, dear friend!” she said. “If only that little nightmare
+part of you did not exist. If only you could be just what you seem, and
+one could feel that you were there in our lives for always! I feel that
+I want to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you. What shall I
+call you?”
+
+“Bertram, please,” he whispered.
+
+“Then Bertram, dear,” she went on, “for my sake, because you have really
+become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of your danger,
+and because--see how honest I am--I am a little afraid of myself--will
+you go away? The thought of your danger is like a nightmare to me. It
+all seems so absurd and unreasonable--I mean that the danger which I
+fear should be hanging over you. But I think that there is just a little
+something back of your brain of which you have never spoken, which it
+was your duty to keep to yourself, and it is just that something which
+brings the danger.”
+
+“I am not afraid for myself, Philippa,” he told her. “I took a false
+step in life when I came here. What it was that attracted me I do not
+know. I think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst the
+clouds, and the starlight. It seemed such a wonderful beginning to any
+enterprise. And, Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the part which
+concerns you, it was a gorgeous prelude, and for the other--well, it
+just does not count because I have no fear. I have faith in my fortune,
+do you know that? I believe that I shall leave this place unharmed, but
+I believe that if I leave it without you, I shall go back to the worst
+hell in which a man could ever...”
+
+“Bertram,” she pleaded, “think of it all. Even if I cared enough--and I
+don't--there is something unnatural about it. Doesn't it strike you as
+horrible? My brother, my cousins, my father, are all fighting the men of
+the nation whose cause you have espoused! There is a horrible, eternal
+cloud of hatred which it will take generations to get rid of, if ever it
+disappears. How can we two speak of love! What part of the world could
+we creep into where people would not shrink away from us? I may have
+lost a little of my heart to you, Bertram, I may miss you when you go
+away, I may waste weary hours thinking, but that is all. Oh, you know
+that it must be all!”
+
+“I do not,” he answered stubbornly.
+
+“Oh, you must be reasonable,” she begged, with a little break in her
+voice. “You know very well that I ought not to listen to you. I ought
+not to welcome you here. I ought to be strong and close my ears.”
+
+“But you will not do that!”
+
+“No!” she faltered. “Please don't come any nearer. I--”
+
+She broke off suddenly. The struggle in her face was ended, her
+expression transformed. Her finger was held up as though to bid him
+listen. With her other hand she clutched the back of the couch. Her eyes
+were fixed upon the door. The little patch of wonderful colour faded
+from her cheeks.
+
+“Listen!” she cried, with a note of terror in her voice. “That was the
+front door! Some one has come! Can't you hear them?”
+
+Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket. She caught the glitter
+of something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a half-stifled moan.
+
+“Not before you, dear,” he promised. “Please do not be afraid. If this
+is the end, leave me alone with Griffiths. I shall not hurt him. I
+shall not forget. And if by any chance,” he added, “this is to be our
+farewell, Philippa, you will remember that I love you as the flowers of
+the world love their sun. Courage!”
+
+The door facing them was opened.
+
+“Captain Griffiths,” Mills announced.
+
+Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers and
+Inspector Fisher. Griffiths came into the room alone, however, and
+waited until the door was closed before he spoke. He carried himself
+as awkwardly as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to have taken
+to itself a new expression. He had the air of a man indulging in some
+strange pleasure.
+
+“Lady Cranston,” he said, “I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit here
+is official.”
+
+“What is it?” she asked hoarsely.
+
+“I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I spoke to
+you this afternoon,” he went on. “I am sorry to disturb you at such an
+hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a charge of espionage.”
+
+Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+
+“A most objectionable word,” he remarked.
+
+“A most villainous profession,” Captain Griffiths retorted. “Thank
+heaven that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with its
+disciples.”
+
+“This is all a hideous mistake,” Philippa declared feverishly. “I assure
+you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that he was
+well-known to me years ago.”
+
+“As the Baron Maderstrom! What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston, to
+induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not know, but
+the facts are very clear.”
+
+“He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?” Lessingham remarked, turning to
+Philippa. “And as I gather that a portion of the British Army, assisted
+by the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside, perhaps I had
+better humour him.”
+
+“It would be as well, sir,” Captain Griffiths assented grimly. “I am
+glad to find you in the humour for jesting.”
+
+Lessingham turned once more to Philippa. This time his tone was more
+serious.
+
+“Lady Cranston,” he begged, “won't you please leave us?”
+
+“No!” she answered hysterically. “I know why you want me to, and I won't
+go! You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you. I will not
+leave the room, and you shall not--”
+
+His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat. She broke
+down in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+
+“If you have any weapon in your possession, sir,” he said, “you had
+better hand it over to me.”
+
+“Well, do you know,” Lessingham replied, “I scarcely see the necessity.
+One thing I will promise you,” he added, with a sudden flash in his
+eyes, “a single step nearer--a single step, mind--and you shall have
+as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the rest of your life.
+Remember that so long as you are reasonable I do not threaten you. Help
+me to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us.”
+
+Captain Griffiths was out of his depths. He was not a coward, but he had
+no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's threat and
+in the flash of his eyes. While he hesitated, there was a knock upon the
+door. Mills came silently in. He carried a telegram upon a salver.
+
+“For you, sir,” he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths. “An orderly
+has just brought it down.”
+
+Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned. He tore it open,
+however, without a word. As he read, his long, upper teeth closed
+in upon his lip. So he stood there until two little drops of blood
+appeared.
+
+Then he turned to Mills.
+
+“There is no answer,” he said.
+
+The man bowed and left the room. He walked slowly and he looked back
+from the doorway. It was scarcely possible for even so perfectly trained
+a servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+
+“Something tells me,” Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the door
+was closed, “that that message concerns me.”
+
+The Commandant made no immediate reply. He straightened out the telegram
+and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to be sure there
+was no possible mistake. Then he folded it up and placed it in his
+waistcoat pocket.
+
+“The notion of your arrest, sir,” he said to Lessingham harshly, “is
+apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not digested
+my information. I am withdrawing my men for the present.”
+
+“You're not going to arrest him?” Philippa cried.
+
+“I am not,” Captain Griffiths answered. “But,” he added, turning to
+Lessingham, “this is only a respite. I have more evidence behind all
+that I have offered. You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom, a German spy,
+living here in a prohibited area under a false name. That I know, and
+that I shall prove to those who have interfered with me in the execution
+of my duty. This is not the end.”
+
+He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa. Lessingham
+looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his
+shoulders.
+
+“I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths,” he declared.
+“There is no breeding about the fellow.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain Griffiths
+and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance. The crisis,
+with its bewildering denouement, had affected her curiously. Lessingham
+rose presently to his feet.
+
+“I wonder,” he asked, “if I could have a whisky and soda?”
+
+She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+
+“You're not natural!” she cried. “Whisky and soda!”
+
+“Well, I don't know,” he protested mildly, helping himself from the
+table in the background. “I rather thought I was being particularly
+British. When in doubt, take a drink. That is Richard all the world
+over, you know.”
+
+She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+
+“I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!” she exclaimed.
+
+He crossed the room towards her.
+
+“Perhaps I am, dear,” he confessed. “I want you just to sit up and lose
+that unnatural look. I am not really full of cheap bravado, but I am a
+philosopher. Something has happened to postpone--the end. Good luck to
+it, I say!”
+
+He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty. Philippa rose
+to her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+
+“I'll try and be reasonable too,” she promised, resuming her seat. “I
+was right, you see. Captain Griffiths has discovered everything. Can
+you tell me what possible reason any one in London could have had for
+interference?”
+
+“I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?” he
+observed.
+
+“This is aging me terribly,” Philippa declared, throwing herself back
+into her seat. “All my life I have hated mysteries. Here I am face to
+face with two absolutely insoluble ones. Captain Griffiths has assured
+me that there is here in Dreymarsh something of sufficient importance to
+account for the presence of a foreign spy. You have confirmed it. I have
+been torturing my brain about that for the last twenty-four hours. Now
+there happens something more inexplicable still. You are arrested, and
+you are not arrested. Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is
+forbidden to do his duty.”
+
+“It seems puzzling, does it not?” Lessingham agreed. “I shouldn't worry
+about the first, but this last little episode takes some explaining.”
+
+“If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,”
+ Philippa sighed.
+
+“And something is going to happen,” Lessingham declared, rising to his
+feet. “Did you hear that?”
+
+Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a gun
+from almost underneath the window. The room was suddenly lightened by a
+single vivid flash.
+
+“A mortar!” Lessingham exclaimed. “And that was a rocket, unless I'm
+mistaken.”
+
+“The signal for the lifeboat!” Philippa announced. “I wonder if we can
+see anything.”
+
+She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening of the
+door. Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+
+“Mummy, there's a wreck!” the former cried in excitement. “I heard
+something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the
+window, watching. I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling now
+for the other one.”
+
+“It's quite true, Philippa,” Helen declared. “We're going to try and
+fight our way down to the beach.”
+
+“I'll go, too,” Lessingham decided. “Perhaps I may be of use.”
+
+“We'll all go,” Philippa agreed. “Wait while I get my things on. What
+is it, Mills?” she added, as the door opened and the latter presented
+himself.
+
+“There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your
+ladyship,” he announced. “They have just sent up from the beach to know
+if we can take some of the crew in. They are landing them as well as
+they can on the line.”
+
+“Of course we can,” was the prompt reply. “Tell them to send as many as
+they want to. We will find room for them, somehow. I'll go upstairs and
+see about the fires. You'll all come back?” she added, turning around.
+
+“We will all come back,” Lessingham promised.
+
+They fought their way down to the beach. At first the storm completely
+deafened all sound. The lanterns, waved here and there by unseen hands,
+seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the only background was
+the raging of the storm. Then suddenly, with a startling hiss, another
+rocket clove its way through the darkness. They had an instantaneous but
+brilliant view of all that was happening,--saw the trawler lying on its
+side, apparently only a few yards from the shore, saw the line stretched
+to the beach, on which, even at that moment, a man was being drawn
+ashore, licked by the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair
+clearly visible. Then all was darkness again more complete than ever.
+They struggled down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of
+fishermen were hard at work with the line. Almost the first person
+they ran across was Jimmy Dumble. He was standing on the edge of the
+breakwater with a great lantern in his hand, superintending the line,
+and, as they drew near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could
+hear his voice above the storm. He was shouting towards the wreck, his
+hand to his mouth.
+
+“Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line. Do you
+hear?”
+
+There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+
+“Whom do you mean by 'master'?” he demanded. Dumble scarcely glanced at
+his interlocutor.
+
+“Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure,” was the agitated answer. “These
+lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line won't stand
+for more than another one or two,” he added, dropping his voice.
+
+Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself into a
+great drama before Lessingham's eyes. Sir Henry was on that ship as near
+as any man might wish to be to death.
+
+“'Ere's the next,” Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass
+vigorously. “Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!”
+
+Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill
+fearful yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's
+hearing. Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach by
+Jimmy's side. The line had broken. The body of its suspended traveller
+had disappeared! And just then, strangely enough, for the first time for
+over an hour, the heavens opened in one great sheet of lightning,
+and they could see the figure of one man left on the ship, clinging
+desperately to the rigging.
+
+“Tie the line around me,” Jimmy shouted. “Let her go. Get the other end
+on the windlass.”
+
+They paid out the rope through their hands. Jimmy kicked off his boots
+and plunged into the cauldron. He swam barely a dozen strokes before he
+was caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about like a cork and
+flung back upon the beach, where he lay groaning. There was a little
+murmur amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean over him.
+
+“Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water,” one of
+them declared.
+
+Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed it
+around.
+
+“Where are the young ladies?” he asked.
+
+“Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck,” some
+one informed him.
+
+Lessingham stooped down. Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord from
+Jimmy's waist. He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots. Some
+helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line around his
+own waist.
+
+“We've sent for more rockets,” one man shouted in his ear. “The man will
+be back in half an hour.”
+
+Lessingham pushed them on one side. He stood on the edge of the beach
+and, borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity. Then suddenly
+he vanished. They looked after him. They could see nothing but the rope
+slipping past their feet, inch by inch. Sometimes it was stationary,
+sometimes it was drawn taut. The first great wave that came flung a yard
+or so of slack amongst them. Then, after the roar of its breaking had
+died away, they saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and
+the excitement began to thicken.
+
+“That 'un didn't get him, anyway,” one of them muttered.
+
+“He'll go through the next, with luck,” another declared hopefully.
+
+Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half stunned
+by the roar of the waters about him, still felt the exhilaration of
+that great struggle. He looked once into seas which seemed to touch the
+clouds, drew himself stiff, and plunged into the depths of a mountain of
+foaming waters, whose summit seemed to him like one of those grotesque
+and nightmare-distorted efforts of the opium-eating brain. Then the roar
+sounded all behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers.
+He swam to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain. It was Sir
+Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+
+“My God, that was a swim!” the latter declared, as he pulled his rescuer
+up, not in the least recognising him. “Let's have the end of that cord,
+quick! So!” he went on, paying it out through his fingers until the end
+of the rope appeared. “You'd better get your breath, young man, and then
+over you go. I'll follow.”
+
+“I'm damned if I do!” was the vigorous reply. “You start off while I get
+my breath.”
+
+They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray. Sir Henry held
+Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept overboard.
+
+“Get one arm through the chains, man,” he shouted. “My God!” he added,
+peering through the gloom. “Lessingham!”
+
+“Well, don't stop to worry about that,” was the fierce reply. “Let's get
+on with our job.”
+
+Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+
+“Follow me when they wave the lantern twice,” he directed. “If we either
+of us get the knock--well, thanks!”
+
+Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and went
+overboard into the darkness. Then, with one arm through the chains,
+he drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which Sir Henry had
+thrown upon the deck. Gradually it came within reach of his disengaged
+hand. He seized it, shook it out, and dived eagerly into the breast
+pocket. There were several small articles which he threw ruthlessly
+away, and then a square packet, wrapped in oilcloth, which bent to his
+fingers. Another breaking wave threw him on his back. One arm was still
+through the chain, the other gripped what some illuminating instinct
+had already convinced him was the chart! As soon as he had recovered
+his breath, a grim effort of humour parted his lips. He lay there for a
+moment and laughed till the spray, this time with a rush of green water
+underneath, very nearly swept him from his place.
+
+They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to his
+feet.
+
+He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and
+groped about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had
+fastened to a staple below the chains. Then he drew a long breath,
+gripped the rope and shouted. A second or two later he was back in the
+cauldron.
+
+As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea. Whatever
+happened, he must not lose consciousness. The packet was still there
+against the calf of his leg. It must be his own hands which removed his
+clothes. It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces, those half a
+dozen rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied a hundredfold.
+It was an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which patted him on the back
+and welcomed him, lanterns like the stars flashing everywhere around.
+He set his teeth and fought against the buzzing in his ears. He tried to
+speak, and his voice sounded like a weak, far away whisper.
+
+“I am all right,” he kept on saying.
+
+Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms. His feet followed the
+mesmeric influence of their movement. Was he going into the clouds, he
+wondered? They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading to the gardens
+of Mainsail Haul. How did he get there? He had no idea. More movements
+of his feet, and then unexpected warmth. He looked around him. There
+were voices. He listened. The one voice? The one face bending over his,
+her eyes wet with tears, her whispers an incoherent stream of broken
+words. Then the warmth seemed to come back to his veins. He sat up and
+found himself on the couch in the library, the rain dripping from him in
+little pools, and he knew that he had succeeded. He had not fainted.
+
+“I am all right,” he repeated. “What a mess I am making!”
+
+The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand which
+held a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+
+“Drink it all,” she begged.
+
+He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf of his
+leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost steady.
+
+“There's a hot bath ready,” Philippa told him; “some dry clothes, and a
+bedroom with a fire in. Do let Mills show you the way.”
+
+He rose at once, prepared to follow her. His feet were not quite so
+steady as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable show.
+Mills, with a little apology, held out his arm. Philippa walked by his
+other side.
+
+“As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry clothes,”
+ Philippa whispered, “please ring, or send Mills to let us know.”
+
+He was even able to smile at her.
+
+“I am quite all right,” he assured her once more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the empty
+breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang the bell.
+
+“Mills,” she enquired, “is no one down?”
+
+“Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship,” the man
+answered, “and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him.”
+
+“And Mr. Lessingham?”
+
+“Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship,” Mills continued, looking carefully
+behind him as though to be sure that the door was closed, “has
+disappeared.”
+
+“Disappeared?” Philippa repeated. “What do you mean, Mills?”
+
+“I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship,” Mills explained,
+“in a suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed--I
+should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock. I called
+him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty. The bed
+had not been slept in.”
+
+“Was there no note or message?” Philippa asked incredulously.
+
+“Nothing, your ladyship. One of the maid servants believes that she
+heard the front door open at five o'clock this morning.”
+
+“Ring up the hotel,” Philippa instructed, “and see if he is there.”
+
+Mills departed to execute his commission. Philippa stood looking out
+of the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the beach.
+There was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell from the day
+before. The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining brilliantly.
+Sir Henry, Helen, and Nora were strolling about the beach as though
+searching for something. About fifty yards out, the wrecked trawler
+was lying completely on its side, with the end of one funnel visible.
+Scattered groups of the villagers were examining it from the sands. In
+due course Mills returned.
+
+“The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship, beyond
+the fact that he did not return last night. They received a message
+from Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to say that their
+mechanic had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning to Norwich, where
+he had caught the mail train to London, The boy was to say that Mr.
+Lessingham would be back in a day or so.”
+
+Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the
+beach. She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand to
+the others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+
+“Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?” Sir Henry observed.
+
+He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+response. Helen pointed to the wreck.
+
+“It doesn't seem possible, does it,” she said, “that men's lives should
+have been lost in that little space. Two men were drowned, they say,
+through the breaking of the rope. They recovered the bodies this
+morning.”
+
+“Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat,” Sir
+Henry grumbled. “I was down here at daylight, looking for it.”
+
+“Your coat!” Philippa repeated scornfully. “Fancy thinking of that, when
+you only just escaped with your life!”
+
+“But to tell you the truth, my dear,” Sir Henry explained, “my
+pocketbook and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat. I
+can't think how I came to forget them. I think it was the surprise
+of seeing that fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like a
+drowned rat. Jove, what a pluck he must have!”
+
+
+“The fishermen can talk of nothing else,” Nora put in excitedly. “Mummy,
+it was simply splendid! Helen and I had gone up with two of the rescued
+men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the rope round his
+waist and watch him plunge in.”
+
+“How is he this morning?” Helen asked.
+
+“Gone,” Philippa replied.
+
+They all looked at her in surprise.
+
+“Gone?” Sir Henry repeated. “What, back to the hotel, do you mean?”
+
+“His bed has not been slept in,” Philippa told them. “He must have
+slipped away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car, and
+motored to Norwich. From there he went on to London. He has sent word
+that he will be back in a few days.”
+
+“I hope to God he won't!” Sir Henry muttered.
+
+Philippa swung round upon him.
+
+“What do you mean by that?” she demanded. “Don't you want to thank him
+for saving your life?”
+
+“My dear, I certainly do,” Sir Henry replied, “but just now--well, I am
+a little taken aback. Gone to London, eh? Tore away without warning
+in the middle of the night to London! And coming back, too--that's the
+strange part of it!”
+
+One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding
+food for much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden
+disappearance.
+
+“He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham,” he added thoughtfully. “He
+must have--yes, by God, he must have--In that storm, too!”
+
+“If you could speak coherently, Henry,” Philippa observed, “I should
+like to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham has
+deserted us so precipitately.”
+
+Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him. He
+shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+
+“The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem,” he said. “Of
+course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I have. Isn't
+it true that people have begun to make curious remarks about him?”
+
+“How did you know that, Henry?” Philippa demanded.
+
+“Well, one hears things,” he replied. “I should gather, from what I
+heard, that his position here had become a little precarious. Hence his
+sudden disappearance.”
+
+“But he is coming back again,” Philippa reminded her husband.
+
+“Perhaps!”
+
+Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+behind with her. They walked side by side up the gravel path. Philippa
+kept her hands clasped behind her.
+
+“To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time,” she began, “I feel
+very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but I must
+confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you lunching at
+the Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days ago, when you left
+here with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and also why you return here
+on a trawler which belongs to another part of the coast?”
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+“I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead,” he observed
+good-humouredly. “If you wouldn't mind giving me another--well, to be
+on the safe side let us say eight days--I think I shall be able to offer
+you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory.”
+
+“Thank you,” Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; “I see no reason why
+you should not answer such simple questions at once.”
+
+Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take
+his wife's arm.
+
+“Philippa, be a little brick,” he begged. “I know I seem to have been
+playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a sort of
+reason for it.”
+
+“What reason could there possibly be,” she demanded, “which you could
+not confide in me?”
+
+He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again there was a new
+earnestness in his tone.
+
+“Philippa,” he said, “I have been working for some time at a little
+scheme which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but which
+may lead to something which I hope will alter your opinion. You couldn't
+see your way clear to trust me a little longer, could you?” he begged,
+with rather a plaintive gleam in his blue eyes. “It would make it so
+much easier for me to say no more but just have you sit tight.”
+
+“I wonder,” she answered coldly, “if you realise how much I have
+suffered, sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to do
+something!”
+
+“My fishing excursions,” he went on desperately, “have not been
+altogether a matter of sport.”
+
+“I know that quite well,” she replied. “You have been making that chart
+you promised your miserable fishermen. None of those things interest me,
+Henry. I fear--I am very much inclined to say that none of your doings
+interest me. Least of all,” she went on, her voice quivering with
+passion, “do I appreciate in the least these mysterious appeals for my
+patience. I have some common sense, Henry.”
+
+“You're a suspicious little beast,” he told her.
+
+“Suspicious!” she scoffed. “What a word to use from a man who goes
+off fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days
+afterwards, with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!”
+
+“That was a trifle awkward,” Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst of
+candour, “but it goes in with the rest, Philippa.”
+
+“Then it can stay with the rest,” she retorted, “exactly where I have
+placed it in my mind. Please understand me. Your conduct for the last
+twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between us. If this
+explanation that you promise comes--in time, and I feel like it, very
+well. Until it does, I am perfectly free, and you, as my husband, are
+non-existent. That is my reply, Henry, to your request for further
+indulgence.”
+
+“Rather a foolish one, my dear,” he answered, patting her shoulder, “but
+then you are rather a child, aren't you?”
+
+She swung away from him angrily.
+
+“Don't touch me!” she exclaimed. “I mean every word of what I have said.
+As for my being a child--well, you may be sorry some day that you have
+persisted in treating me like one.”
+
+Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure. There
+was an unusual shade of trouble in his face. His love for and confidence
+in his wife had been so absolute that even her threats had seemed to him
+like little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to him out of the froth
+of her temper. Yet at that moment a darker thought crossed his mind.
+Lessingham, he realised, was not a rival, after all, to be despised. He
+was a man of courage and tact, even though Sir Henry, in his own mind,
+had labelled him as a fool. If indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh,
+what could it be for? How much had Philippa known about him? He stood
+there for a few moments in indecision. A great impulse had come to him
+to break his pledge, to tell her the truth. Then he made his disturbed
+way into the breakfast room.
+
+“Where's your mother, Nora?” he asked, as Helen took Philippa's place at
+the head of the table.
+
+“She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room.” Nora explained.
+“The wind made her giddy.”
+
+Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+
+“You going away again, Daddy?” Nora asked.
+
+“I am going to London this morning,” he replied, a little absently.
+
+“To London?” Helen repeated. “Does Philippa know?”
+
+“I haven't told her yet.”
+
+Helen turned towards Nora.
+
+“I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee,
+there's a dear,” she suggested.
+
+Nora acquiesced at once. As soon as she had left the room, Helen leaned
+over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+
+“Don't go to London, Henry,” she begged.
+
+“But my dear Helen, I must,” he replied, a little curtly.
+
+“I wouldn't if I were you,” she persisted. “You know, you've tried
+Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional state.
+She is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave her alone if
+I were you.”
+
+Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he leaned
+towards her.
+
+“You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?” he asked
+bluntly.
+
+“No, I don't,” Helen replied, “but I think she is more furious with you
+than you believe. For months you have acted--well, how shall I say?”
+
+“Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool. Go on.”
+
+“She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,”
+ Helen continued, “and you have given her none. You have treated her like
+something between a doll and a child. Philippa is as good and sweet as
+any woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to you that women
+are rather mysterious beings? They may sometimes do, out of a furious
+sense of being wrongly treated, out of a sort of aggravated pique, what
+they would never do for any other reason. If you must go, come back
+to-night, Henry. Come back, and if you are obstinate, and won't tell
+Philippa all that she has a right to know, tell her about that luncheon
+in town.”
+
+Sir Henry frowned.
+
+“It's all very well, you know, Helen,” he said, “but a woman ought to
+trust her husband.”
+
+“I am your friend, remember,” Helen replied, “and upon my word, I
+couldn't trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have done
+for the last twelve months.”
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+“Well, that settles it, I suppose, then,” he observed. “I'll have one
+more try and see what I can do with Philippa. Perhaps a hint of what's
+going on may satisfy her.”
+
+He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at his
+wife's door. There was no reply. He tried the handle and found the door
+locked.
+
+“Are you there, Philippa?” he asked.
+
+“Yes!” she replied coldly.
+
+“I am going to London this morning. Can I have a few words with you
+first?”
+
+“No!”
+
+Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+
+“Don't be silly, Philippa,” he persisted. “I may be away for four or
+five days.”
+
+There was no answer. Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance
+from a newly added bathroom. He availed himself of it and found Philippa
+seated in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her breakfast. She
+raised her eyebrows at his entrance.
+
+“These are my apartments,” she reminded him.
+
+“Don't be a little fool,” he exclaimed impatiently.
+
+Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up her
+book, and became at once immersed in it.
+
+“You don't wish to talk to me, then?” he demanded.
+
+“I do not,” she agreed. “You have had all the opportunities which any
+man should need, of explaining certain matters to me. My curiosity
+in them has ended; also my interest--in you. You say you are going to
+London. Very well. Pray do not hurry home on my account.”
+
+Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake of a
+man arguing with a woman--he attempted to have the last word.
+
+“Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?”
+
+“Perhaps so,” Philippa assented sweetly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought--solitude. She had
+walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on the other
+side of a spur of the cliffs. Before her stretched a long and level
+plain, a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly beach. There was not a
+sign of any human being in sight, and of buildings only a quaint tower
+on the far horizon.
+
+She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down, her
+hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward. She had
+come out here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and transient her
+thoughts became. Her husband was always there in the background, but
+in those moments it was Lessingham who was the predominant figure. She
+remembered his earnestness, his tender solicitude for her, the courage
+which, when necessity demanded, had flamed up in him, a born and natural
+quality. She remembered the agony of those few minutes on the preceding
+day, when nothing but what still seemed a miracle had saved him. At one
+moment she felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back.
+At another, her heart ached to see him once more. She knew so well
+that if he came it would be for her sake, that he would come to ask her
+finally the question with which she had fenced. She knew, too, that his
+coming would be the moment of her life. She was so much of a woman, and
+the passionate craving of her sex to give love for love was there in her
+heart, almost omnipotent. And in the background there was that bitter
+desire to bring suffering upon the man who had treated her like a child,
+who had placed her in a false position with all other women, who had
+dawdled and idled away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every
+serious obligation. When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear,
+and yet, behind it all, there was that cold impulse of almost Victorian
+prudishness, the inheritance of a long line of virtuous women, a
+prudishness which she had once, when she had believed that it was part
+of her second nature, scoffed at as being the outcome of one of the
+finer forms of selfishness.
+
+She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision came no
+nearer to her. A late afternoon star shone weakly in the sky. A faint,
+vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in tangled wreaths upon
+the face of the sea. Only that line of sand seemed still clear-cut and
+distinct, and as she glanced along it her eyes were held by something
+approaching, something which seemed at first nothing but a black, moving
+speck, then gradually resolved itself into the semblance of a man on
+horseback, galloping furiously. She watched him as he drew nearer and
+nearer, the sand flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless,
+his eyes apparently fixed upon some distant spot. It was not until he
+had come within fifty yards of her that she recognised him. His horse
+shied at the sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a powerful
+wrist. Little specks of sand, churned up in the momentary stampede
+of hoofs, fell upon her skirt. For the rest, she watched the struggle
+composedly, a struggle which was over almost as soon as it was begun.
+Captain Griffiths leaned down from his trembling but subdued horse.
+
+“Lady Cranston!” he exclaimed in astonishment.
+
+“That's me,” she replied, smiling up at him. “Have you been riding off
+your bad temper?”
+
+He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides. Back as far as one could
+see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+
+“Am I bad-tempered?” he asked.
+
+“Well,” she observed, “I don't know you well enough to answer that
+question. I was simply thinking of yesterday evening.”
+
+He slipped from his horse and stood before her. His long, severe face
+had seldom seemed more malevolent.
+
+“I had enough to make me bad-tempered,” he declared. “I had tracked
+down a German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for
+arrest--expecting it, even--and then I got that wicked message.”
+
+“What was that wicked message after all?” she enquired.
+
+“That doesn't matter,” he answered. “It was from a quarter where they
+ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest. I have sent
+to the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying that they may
+change their minds.”
+
+Philippa sighed.
+
+“If you hadn't received that telegram last night,” she observed, “it
+seems to me that I should have been a widow to-day.”
+
+He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+
+“Yes, I heard of that,” he admitted. “I dare say if he hadn't gone,
+though, some one else would.”
+
+“Would you have gone if you had been there?” she asked.
+
+“If you had told me to,” he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+
+Philippa felt a little shiver. There was something ominous in the
+intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to impart
+to his tone. She rose to her feet.
+
+“Well,” she said, “don't let me keep you here. I am getting cold.”
+
+He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse. “I will walk with
+you, if I may,” he proposed. She made no reply, and they set their faces
+homewards.
+
+“I hear Lessingham has left the place,” he remarked, a little abruptly.
+
+“Oh, I expect he'll come back,” Philippa replied.
+
+“How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with German
+spies?” he asked.
+
+“Don't be foolish--or impertinent,” she enjoined. “You are making a
+ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham.”
+
+He laughed unpleasantly.
+
+“No need for us to fence,” he said. “You and I know who he is. What I
+do want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from the point
+there--four miles of hard galloping and one question--why are you his
+friend? What is he to you?”
+
+“Really, Captain Griffiths,” she protested, looking up at him, “of what
+possible interest can that be to you?”
+
+“Well, it is, anyhow,” he answered gruffly. “Anything that concerns you
+is of interest to me.”
+
+Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what it
+all meant. She realised the significance of those apparently purposeless
+afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had to send for
+Helen to help her out; the significance of those long silences, the
+melancholy eyes which seemed to follow her movements. She felt an
+unaccountable desire to laugh, and then, at the first twitchings of her
+lips, she restrained herself. She knew that tragedy was stalking by her
+side.
+
+“I think, Captain Griffiths,” she said gravely, “that you are talking
+nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it. Won't you please ride
+on?”
+
+He made no movement to mount his horse. He plodded along the soft sand
+by her side--a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed upon the
+ground.
+
+“Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard,” he
+persisted.
+
+She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+
+“I was never so hard?” she repeated. “Do you imagine that I have ever
+for a single moment considered my demeanour towards you--you of all
+persons in the world? I simply don't remember when you have been there
+and when you haven't. I don't remember the humours in which I have been
+when we have conversed. All that you have said seems to me to be the
+most arrant nonsense.”
+
+He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+
+“Thank you,” he said bitterly, “I understand. Only let me tell you
+this,” he went on, his whip poised in his hand. “You may have powerful
+friends who saved your--”
+
+He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that he had
+wished to say in his face.
+
+“My what?” she asked.
+
+His courage failed him.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham,” he proceeded, “from arrest. But if he shows his face
+here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him. I shall shoot him
+on sight and chance the consequences.”
+
+“They'll hang you!” she declared savagely.
+
+He laughed at her.
+
+“Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy? They
+won't dare! They won't even dare to place me under arrest for an hour.
+Why, when the truth becomes known,” he went on, his voice gaining
+courage as the justice of his case impressed itself upon him, “what do
+you suppose is going to happen to two women who took this fellow in and
+befriended him, introduced him under a false name to their friends, gave
+him the run of their house--this man whom they knew all the time was a
+German? You, Lady Cranston, chafing and scolding your husband by night
+and by day because he isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so
+patriotic that you cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you--the
+hostess, the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom! It
+will be a pretty tale when it's all told!”
+
+“I really think,” Philippa asserted calmly, “that you are the most
+utterly impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met.”
+
+His face was dangerous for a moment. They had not yet reached the
+promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+
+“Perhaps,” he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, “I could make
+myself even more obnoxious.”
+
+“Quite possibly,” she replied, “only I want to tell you this. If you
+come a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you.”
+
+“Your friend or your husband, eh?” he scoffed.
+
+She waved him on.
+
+“I think,” she told him, “that either of them would be quite capable of
+ridding the world of a coward like you.”
+
+“A coward?” he repeated.
+
+“Precisely! Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?”
+
+“I don't want to terrorise you,” he said sulkily.
+
+“Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire to
+make yourself agreeable,” she pointed out.
+
+He turned suddenly upon her.
+
+“I am a fool, I know,” he declared bitterly. “I'm an awkward, nervous,
+miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in the Mess,
+turning the people against me I want to have like me, stumbling into
+every blunder a fool can. I'm the sort of man women make sport of, and
+you've done it for them cruelly, perfectly.”
+
+“Captain Griffiths!” she protested. “When have I ever been anything but
+kind and courteous to you?”
+
+“It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy! There's a curse upon
+my tongue,” he went on desperately. “I'm not like other men. I don't
+know how to say what I feel. I can't put it into words. Every one
+misunderstands me. You, too! Here I rode up to you this afternoon and
+my heart was beating for joy, and in five minutes I had made an enemy of
+you. Damn that fellow Lessingham! It is all his fault!”
+
+Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon his
+horse's flanks. The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off, riding
+at a furious gallop. Philippa watched him with immense relief. In the
+far distance she could see two little specks growing larger and larger.
+She hurried on towards them.
+
+“Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?” Nora demanded. “Why
+he passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman, and his face
+looked--well, what did it look like, Helen?”
+
+Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+
+“Like a man riding for his enemy,” she declared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across the
+luncheon table.
+
+“I suppose one misses the child,” Helen said.
+
+“I feel too depressed for words,” Philippa admitted.
+
+“A few days ago,” Helen reminded her companion, “we were getting all the
+excitement that was good for any one.”
+
+“And a little more,” Philippa agreed. “I don't know why things seem
+so flat now. We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has
+happened.”
+
+“What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away,” Helen continued, “and
+Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have reverted to
+the normal, haven't we? I wonder--if Mr. Lessingham has gone back.”
+
+“I do not think so,” Philippa murmured.
+
+Helen frowned slightly.
+
+“Personally,” she said, with some emphasis, “I hope that he has.”
+
+“If we are considering the personal point of view only,” Philippa
+retorted, “I hope that he has not.”
+
+Helen looked her disapproval.
+
+“I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire,” she
+observed.
+
+“One never has until one has burned one's fingers,” Philippa sighed.
+“I know perfectly well what is the matter with you,” she continued
+severely. “You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's favourite
+dish.”
+
+“I am not such a baby,” Helen protested. “All the same, it does make one
+think. I wonder--”
+
+“I know exactly what you were going to say,” Philippa interrupted. “You
+were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham would keep
+his promise.”
+
+“Whether he would be able to,” Helen corrected. “It does seem so
+impossible, doesn't it?”
+
+“So does Mr. Lessingham himself,” Philippa reminded her. “It isn't
+exactly a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and well-bred
+young man step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room.”
+
+“You really believe, then,” Helen asked eagerly, “that he will be able
+to keep his promise?”
+
+Philippa nodded confidently.
+
+“Do you know,” she said, “I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some means
+or another, would keep any promise he ever made. I am expecting to see
+Dick at any moment now, so you can get on with your lunch, dear, and not
+sit looking at the curry with tears in your eyes.”
+
+“It isn't the curry so much as the chutney,” Helen protested faintly.
+“He never would touch any other sort.”
+
+“Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the bottle,”
+ Philippa declared. “I have a feeling this morning that something is
+going to happen.”
+
+“How long has Nora gone away for?” Helen enquired, after a moment's
+pause.
+
+“A fortnight or three weeks,” Philippa answered. “Her grandmother wired
+that she would be glad to have her until Christmas.”
+
+“Just why,” Helen asked seriously, “have you sent her away?”
+
+Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she
+regretted Mills' absence from the room.
+
+“I thought it best,” she said quietly. “You see, I am not quite sure
+what the immediate future of this menage is going to be.”
+
+Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+
+“Dear,” she sighed, “it worries me so to hear you talk like that.”
+
+“Why?”
+
+“Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it,
+that at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry. It
+isn't fair, you know.”
+
+“To whom isn't it fair?” Philippa demanded.
+
+“To Mr. Lessingham.”
+
+Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+
+“Perhaps,” she admitted, “that is a point of view which I have not
+sufficiently considered.”
+
+Helen pressed home her advantage.
+
+“I don't think you realise, Philippa,” she said, “how madly in love with
+you the man is. In a perfectly ingenuous way, too. No one could help
+seeing it.”
+
+“Then where does the unfairness come in?” Philippa asked. “It is within
+my power to give him all that he wants.”
+
+“But you wouldn't do it, Philippa. You know that you wouldn't!” Helen
+objected. “You may play with the idea in your mind, but that's just as
+far as you'd ever get.”
+
+
+Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face. “I disagree with you,
+Helen,” she said. Helen set down the glass which she had been in the act
+of raising to her lips. It was her first really serious intimation of
+the tragedy which hovered over her future sister-in-law's life. Somehow
+or other, Philippa had seemed, even to her, so far removed from that
+strenuous world of over-drugged, over-excited feminine decadence, to
+whom the changing of a husband or a lover is merely an incident in
+the day's excitements. Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike
+beauty, her love of the wholesome ways of life, and her strong
+affections, represented other things. Now, for the first time, Helen was
+really afraid, afraid for her friend.
+
+“But you couldn't ever--you wouldn't leave Henry!”
+
+Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+
+“That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing,” she confided.
+
+Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced. Their
+conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+
+Then the wonderful thing happened. The windows of the dining room faced
+the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a motor car turn
+in at the gate and stop at the front door. It was obviously a hired
+car, as the driver was not in livery, but the tall, mulled-up figure
+in unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front seat was for the moment a
+mystery to them. Only Helen seemed to have some wonderful premonition of
+the truth, a premonition which she was afraid to admit even to herself.
+Her hand began to shake. Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+
+“You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!” she exclaimed. “Who on
+earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?”
+
+Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+agitation. She sprang to her feet.
+
+“Helen, you don't imagine--” she gasped. “Listen!”
+
+There was a voice in the hail--a familiar voice, though strained a
+little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent. And
+then--Major Richard Felstead!
+
+“Dick!” Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Dick!
+Dick!”
+
+It was an incoherent, breathless moment. Somehow or other, Philippa
+found herself sharing her brother's embrace. Then the fire of questions
+and answers was presently interrupted by Mills, triumphantly bearing in
+a fresh dish of curry.
+
+“What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?” he asked.
+
+Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+
+“Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!” he
+said. “It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the day, isn't
+it, Philippa, but can I have some champagne?”
+
+“You can have the whole cellarful,” Philippa assured him joyously. “Be
+sure you bring the best, Mills.”
+
+“The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship,” was the murmured reply.
+
+Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they
+found themselves seated once more at the table. They sat one on
+either side of him, watching his glass and his plate. By degrees their
+questions and his answers became more intelligible.
+
+“When did you get here?” they wanted to know.
+
+“I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning,” he told them; “came
+across from Holland. I hired a car and drove straight here.”
+
+“When did you know you were coming home?” Helen asked.
+
+“Only two days ago,” he replied. “I never was so surprised in my life.
+Even now I can't realise my good luck. I can't see what I've done. The
+last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream. Jove!” he
+went on, as he drank his wine, “I never thought I should be such a pig
+as to care so much for eating and drinking!”
+
+“And think what weeks of it you have before you?” Helen explained,
+clapping her hands. “Philippa and I will have a new interest in life--to
+make you fat.”
+
+He laughed.
+
+“It won't be very difficult,” he promised them. “I had several months of
+semi-starvation before the miracle happened. It was all just the chance
+of having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been serving in the German
+Army--Bertram Maderstrom was his name. You remember him, Philippa? He
+was a Swede in those days.”
+
+“What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been so
+faithful!” Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+
+“He's a real good sort,” Felstead declared enthusiastically, “although
+Heaven knows why he's turned German! He worked like a slave for me. I
+dare say he didn't find it so difficult to get me better quarters and a
+servant, and decent food, but when they told me that I was free--well,
+it nearly knocked me silly.”
+
+“The dear fellow!” Philippa murmured pensively.
+
+“Do you remember him, either of you?” Felstead continued. “Rather
+good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman.”
+
+“I--seem to remember,” Philippa admitted.
+
+“The name sounds familiar,” Helen echoed. “Do have some more chutney,
+Dick.”
+
+“Thanks! What a pig I am making of myself!” he observed cheerfully.
+“You girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom, but the
+whole business beats me so completely. Of course, we were great pals, in
+a way, but I never thought that I was the apple of his eye, or anything
+of that sort. How he got the influence, too, I can't imagine. And oh!
+I knew there was something else I was going to ask you girls,”
+ Felstead went on. “Have you ever had a letter, or rather a letter each,
+uncensored? Just a line or two? I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I
+should not have been allowed to do in the ordinary prison letters.”
+
+Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the quick
+glance which passed between the two women.
+
+“Yes, we had them, Dick,” Philippa told him. “It was one afternoon--it
+doesn't seem so very long ago. And oh, how thankful we were!”
+
+Felstead nodded.
+
+“He got them across all right, then. Tell me, did they come through
+Holland? What was the postmark?”
+
+“The postmark,” Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully. “You heard what
+Dick asked, Helen? The postmark?”
+
+“I don't think there was one,” Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+Philippa.
+
+Felstead set down his glass.
+
+“No postmark? You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose? They were posted
+in England, eh?”
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+“They came to us, Dick,” she said, “by hand.”
+
+Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished. He turned round in his chair
+towards Philippa.
+
+“By hand?” he repeated. “Do you mean to say that they were actually
+brought here by hand?”
+
+Perhaps something in his manner warned them. Philippa laughed as she
+bent over his chair.
+
+“We will tell you how they came, presently,” she declared, “but
+not until you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that
+champagne, and had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has been
+decanting so carefully. After that we will see. Just now I have only one
+feeling, and I know that Helen has it, too. Nothing else matters except
+that we have you home again.”
+
+Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his and
+kissed her.
+
+“It's so wonderful to be at home!” he exclaimed apologetically. “But I
+must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive. I went out to the
+war with a certain amount of respect for the Germans. I have come back
+loathing them like vermin. I spent--but I won't go on.”
+
+Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+
+“I beg your ladyship's pardon,” he said, as he filled Felstead's glass,
+“but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library, waiting to see
+you.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without significance.
+For the first time he became conscious, however, of something which
+seemed almost like a secret understanding between his sister and his
+fiancée.
+
+“Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he will
+kindly wait,” Philippa instructed.
+
+“Who is Mr. Lessingham?” Richard enquired, as soon as the door had
+closed behind Mills. “Seems a queer time to call.”
+
+Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+
+“Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood,” the
+latter replied. “You will probably make his acquaintance before long.
+Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night.”
+
+“Sounds exciting,” Richard observed. “What form of destruction was Henry
+courting?”
+
+“There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm,” Philippa explained. “You
+can see it from all the front windows. Henry was on board, returning
+from one of his fishing excursions. They were trying to find Dumble's
+anchorage and were driven in on to that low ridge of rock. A rope broke,
+or something, they had no more rockets, and Mr. Lessingham swam out with
+the line.”
+
+“Sounds like a plucky chap,” Richard admitted.
+
+Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+
+“I expect he has come to wish us good-by,” she said. “I'll leave you
+with Helen, Dick. Don't let her overfeed you. And you know where the
+cigars are, Helen. Take Dick into the gun room afterwards. You'll have
+it all to yourselves and there is a fire there.”
+
+Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she was
+glad to have some reasonable excuse. She held out both her hands to
+Lessingham.
+
+“Dick is back--just arrived!” she exclaimed. “I can't tell you how happy
+we are, and how grateful!”
+
+Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+
+“I am glad,” he said simply. “Do you mean that he is in the house here,
+now?”
+
+“He is in the dining room with Helen.”
+
+Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+
+“Don't you think,” he suggested, “that it would be better to keep us
+apart?”
+
+“I was wondering,” she confessed.
+
+“Have you told him about my bringing the letters?”
+
+She shook her head.
+
+“We nearly did. Then I stopped--I wasn't sure.”
+
+“You were wise,” he said.
+
+“Are you wise?” she asked him quickly.
+
+“In coming back here?”
+
+She nodded.
+
+“Captain Griffiths knows everything,” she reminded him. “He is simply
+furious because your arrest was interfered with. I really believe that
+he is dangerous.”
+
+Lessingham was unmoved.
+
+“I had to come back,” he said simply.
+
+“Why did you go away so suddenly?”
+
+“Well, I had to do that, too,” he replied, “only the governing causes
+were very different. We will speak, if you do not mind, only of the
+cause which has brought me back. That I believe you know already.”
+
+Philippa was curiously afraid. She looked towards the door as though
+with some vague hope of escape. She realised that the necessity for
+decision had arrived.
+
+“Philippa,” he went on, “do you see what this is?”
+
+He handed her two folded slips of paper. She started. At the top of one
+she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+
+“What are they?” she asked. “What does it mean?”
+
+“They are passports for America,” he told her.
+
+“For--for me?” she faltered.
+
+“For you and me.”
+
+They slipped from her fingers. He picked them up from the carpet. Her
+face was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+
+“I know so well how you are feeling,” he said humbly. “I know how
+terrible a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near. You are
+so different from the other women who might do this thing. It is so much
+harder for you than for them.”
+
+She lifted her head. There was still something of the look of a scared
+child in her face.
+
+“Don't imagine me better than I am,” she begged. “I am not really
+different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort of
+thing has ever come into my life.”
+
+“I know. You see,” he went on, a little wistfully, “you have not taken
+me, as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa. You know that I
+love you as a man loves only once. It sounds like an empty phrase to say
+it, but if you will give me your life to take care of, I shall only have
+one thought--to make you happy. Could I succeed? That is what you have
+to ask yourself. You are not happy now. Do you think that, if you stay
+on here, the future is likely to be any better for you?”
+
+She shook her head drearily.
+
+“I believe,” she confessed, “that I have reached the very limit of my
+endurance.”
+
+He came a little nearer. His hands rested upon her shoulders very
+lightly, yet they seemed like some enveloping chain. More than ever in
+those few moments she realised the spiritual qualities of his face.
+His eyes were aglow. His voice, a little broken with emotion, was
+wonderfully tender. He looked at her as though she were some precious
+and sacred thing.
+
+“I am rich,” he said, “and there are few parts of the world where we
+could not live. We could find our way to the islands, like your great
+writer Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands full of colour,
+and wonderful birds, and strange blue skies; islands where the peace of
+the tropics dulls memory, and time beats only in the heart. The world is
+a great place, Philippa, and there are corners where the sordid crime of
+this ghastly butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and
+the taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and
+moon are still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon the
+sapphire seas.”
+
+“It sounds like a fairy tale,” she murmured, with a half pathetic smile.
+
+“Love always fashions life like a fairy tale,” he replied.
+
+She stood perfectly still.
+
+“You must have my answer now, at this moment?” she asked at last.
+
+“There are yet some hours,” he told her. “I have a very powerful
+automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon. If we leave here at
+ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon. Everything
+has been made very easy for me. And fortune, too, is with us--your
+vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in London. You see,
+you have the whole afternoon for thought. I want you only for your
+happiness. At ten o'clock I shall come here. If you are coming with me,
+you must be ready then. You understand?”
+
+“I understand,” she assented, under her breath. “And now,” she went
+on, raising her eyes, “somehow I think that you are right. It would be
+better for you and Dick not to meet.”
+
+“I am sure of it,” he agreed. “I shall come for my answer at ten
+o'clock. I wonder--”
+
+He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her face.
+There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass, even,
+for affection, and yet something which, behind it all, chilled his
+confidence. He left his sentence uncompleted and turned towards the
+door. Suddenly she called him back. She held up her finger. Her whole
+expression had changed. She was alarmed.
+
+“Wait!” she begged. “I can hear Dick's voice. Wait till he has crossed
+the hail.”
+
+They both stood, for a moment, quite silent. Then they heard a little
+protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from Richard. The
+door was thrown open.
+
+“You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?” her brother
+asked. “We're not--My God!”
+
+There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the threshold,
+the picture of distress.
+
+“I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa.”
+
+Richard took a quick step forward. His hands were outstretched.
+
+“Bertram!” he exclaimed. “Is this a miracle? You here with my sister?”
+
+Lessingham held out his hand. Suddenly Richard dropped his. His
+expression had become sterner.
+
+“I don't understand,” he said simply. “Somebody please explain.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon themselves
+the onus of speech. Richard's amazement seemed to increase upon
+reflection.
+
+“Maderstrom!” he exclaimed. “Bertram! What in the name of all that's
+diabolical are you doing here?”
+
+“I am just a derelict,” Lessingham explained, with a faint smile. “Glad
+to see you, Richard. You are a day earlier than I expected.”
+
+“You knew that I was coming, then?” Richard demanded.
+
+“Naturally,” Lessingham replied. “I had the great pleasure of arranging
+for your release.”
+
+“Look here,” Richard went on, “I'm groping about a bit. I don't
+understand. Forgive me if I run off the track. I'm not forgetting our
+friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came and found me
+at Wittenburg. But for all that, you have served in the German Army and
+are an enemy, and I want to know what you are doing here, in England, in
+my brother-in-law's house.”
+
+“No particular harm, Richard, I promise you,” Lessingham replied mildly.
+
+“You are here under a false name!”
+
+“Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind,” the other assented. “I prefer my
+own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would ensure me a very
+warm welcome over here just now. Besides,” he added, with a glance
+at Philippa, “I have to consider the friends whose hospitality I have
+enjoyed.”
+
+In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard. His tone
+became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+
+“Maderstrom,” he said, “we met last under different circumstances. I
+will admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an honourable
+imprisonment. I am not so sure that yours is an honourable freedom.”
+
+Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+
+“Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!” she
+begged.
+
+“You would never have lived through it,” Helen echoed.
+
+“You are talking to Mr. Lessingham,” Philippa protested, “as though he
+were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your life.”
+
+Richard waved them away.
+
+“You must leave this to us,” he insisted. “Maderstrom and I will be
+able to understand one another, at any rate. What are you doing in this
+house--in England? What is your mission here?”
+
+“Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished,” Lessingham said
+gravely. “At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country
+to-night.”
+
+“Accomplished?” Richard repeated. “What the devil do you mean?
+Accomplished? Are you playing the spy in this country?”
+
+“You would probably consider my mission espionage,” Lessingham admitted.
+
+“And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?”
+
+“I have.”
+
+Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck. “Dick,” she pleaded,
+“please listen. Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this district, ever
+since he landed in England. What possible harm could he do? We haven't
+a single secret to be learned. Everybody knows where our few guns are.
+Everybody knows where our soldiers are quartered. We haven't a harbour
+or any secret fortifications. We haven't any shipping information which
+it would be of the least use signalling anywhere. Mr. Lessingham has
+spent his time amongst trifles here. Take Helen away somewhere and
+forget that you have seen him in the house. Remember that he has saved
+Henry's life as well as yours.”
+
+“I invite no consideration upon that account,” Lessingham declared. “All
+that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted to do,
+for my old friend. Your release was different. I am forced to admit
+that it was the price paid for my sojourn here. I will only ask you to
+remember that the bargain was made without your knowledge, and that you
+are in no way responsible for it.”
+
+“A price,” Richard pronounced fiercely, “which I refuse to pay!”
+
+Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+
+“The alternative,” he confessed, “is in your hands.”
+
+Richard moved towards the telephone.
+
+“I am sorry, Maderstrom,” he said, “but my duty is clear. Who is
+Commandant here, Philippa?”
+
+Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone. There was a queer,
+angry patch of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were on fire.
+
+“Richard,” she exclaimed, “you shall not do this from my house! I forbid
+you!”
+
+“Do what?”
+
+“Give information. Do you know what it would mean if they believed you?”
+
+“Death,” he answered. “Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he came to
+this country under a false name.”
+
+“Perfectly,” Lessingham admitted.
+
+“But I won't have it!” Philippa protested. “He has become our friend.
+Day by day we have grown to like him better and better. He has saved
+your life, Dick. He has brought you back to us. Think what it is that
+you purpose!”
+
+“It is what every soldier has to face,” Richard declared.
+
+“You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!” Philippa cried
+desperately. “The war is in your brains, I think. You would carry it
+from the battlefields into your daily life. Because two great countries
+are at war, is everything to go by--chivalry?--all the finer, sweeter
+feelings of life? If you two met on the battlefield, it would be
+different. Here in my drawing-room, I will not have this black demon of
+the war dragged in as an excuse for murder! Take Dick away, Helen!” she
+begged. “Mr. Lessingham is leaving to-night. I will pledge my word that
+until then he remains a harmless citizen.”
+
+“Women don't understand these things, Philippa--” Richard began.
+
+“Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!” Philippa
+interrupted fiercely. “You have but one idea--to strike--the narrow
+idea of men that breeds warfare. I tell you that if ever universal peace
+comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror of this lust for blood,
+this criminal outrage against civilisation, it is the women who will
+become the teachers, because amongst your instincts the brutish ones of
+force are the first to leap to the surface at the slightest provocation.
+We women see further, we know more. I swear to you, Richard, that if you
+interfere I will never forgive you as long as I live!”
+
+Richard stared at his sister in amazement. There seemed to be some new
+spirit born within her. Throughout all their days he had never known her
+so much in earnest, so passionately insistent. He looked from her to the
+man whom she sought to protect, and who answered, unasked, the thoughts
+that were in his mind.
+
+“Whatever harm I may have been able to do,” Lessingham announced, “is
+finished. I leave this place to-night, probably for ever. As for the
+Commandant,” he went on with a faint smile, “he is already upon my
+track. There is nothing you can tell him about me which he does not
+know. It is just a matter of hours, the toss of a coin, whether I get
+away or not.”
+
+“They've found you out, then?” Richard exclaimed.
+
+“Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago,” Lessingham
+acknowledged. “Your Commandant here is at the present moment in London
+for the sole purpose of denouncing me.”
+
+“And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?” Richard observed
+incredulously. “I'm hanged if I can see through this!”
+
+“You see,” Lessingham explained gently. “I am a fatalist!”
+
+It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room. He looked back
+from the door.
+
+“Maderstrom,” he said, “you know quite well how personally I feel
+towards you. I am grateful for what you have done for me, even though I
+am beginning to understand your motives. But as regards the other things
+we are both soldiers. I am going to talk to Helen for a time. I want to
+understand a little more than I do at present.”
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+“Let me help you,” he begged. “Here is the issue in plain words. All
+that I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any case for
+the sake of our friendship. Your freedom would probably never have been
+granted to me but for my mission, although even that I might have tried
+to arrange. I brought your letters here, and I traded them with your
+sister and Miss Fairclough for the shelter of their hospitality and
+their guarantees. Now you know just where friendship ended and the other
+things began. Do what you believe to be your duty.”
+
+Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him. Lessingham
+looked down into Philippa's face.
+
+“You are more wonderful even than I thought,” he continued softly. “You
+say so little and you live so near the truth. It is those of us who feel
+as you do--who understand--to whom this war is so terrible.”
+
+“I want to ask you one question before I send you away,” she told him.
+“This journey to America?”
+
+“It is a mission on behalf of Germany,” he explained, “but it is, after
+all, an open one. I have friends--highly placed friends--in my own
+country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the war. It is through
+them that I am able to turn my back upon Europe. I have done my share
+of fighting,” he went on sadly, “and the horror of it will never quite
+leave me. I think that no one has ever charged me with shirking my duty,
+and yet the sheer, black ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal
+inutility, have got into my blood so that I think I would rather pass
+out of the world in some simple way than find myself back again in that
+debauch of blood. Is this cowardice, Philippa?”
+
+She looked at him with shining eyes.
+
+“There isn't any one in the world,” she said, “who could call you a
+coward. Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you, that at
+least I know.”
+
+He kissed her fingers.
+
+“At ten o'clock,” he began--
+
+“But listen,” she interrupted. “Apart from anything which Dick might
+do, you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you really have
+accomplished something. Why not go now, at this moment? Why wait? These
+few hours may make all the difference.”
+
+He smiled.
+
+“They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life,” he answered.
+“That is for you.”
+
+He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room. Philippa
+moved to the window and watched him until he had disappeared. Then very
+slowly she left the room, walked up the stairs, made her way to her own
+little suite of apartments, and locked the door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that evening
+at Mainsail Haul. Philippa was at times unusually silent, but Helen had
+expanded in the joy of her great happiness. Richard, shaved and with
+his hair cut, attired once more in the garb of civilisation, seemed
+a different person. Even in these few hours the lines about his mouth
+seemed less pronounced. They talked freely of Maderstrom.
+
+“A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem,” Richard declared, balancing his wine
+glass between his fingers, “a problem, too, which I can't say I have
+solved altogether yet. The only thing is that if he is really going
+to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter drift out of my
+mind.”
+
+“It is so much better,” Helen agreed. “Try as hard as ever I can, I
+cannot picture his doing any harm to anybody. And as for any information
+he may have gained here, well, I think that we can safely let him take
+it back to Germany.”
+
+“He was always,” Richard continued reminiscently, “a sort of cross
+between a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman. There was never
+anything of the practical man of affairs about him. He was scrupulously
+honourable, and almost a purist in his outlook upon life. I have met
+a great many Germans,” Richard went on, “and I've killed a few, thank
+God!--but he is about as unlike the ordinary type as any one I ever met.
+The only pity is that he ever served his time with them.”
+
+Philippa had been listening attentively. She was more than ever silent
+after her brother's little appreciation of his friend. Richard glanced
+at her good-humouredly.
+
+“You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+Philippa,” he observed. “One would think that you were going on a
+journey.”
+
+She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious
+eyes.
+
+“I may go for a walk,” she said, “and leave you two young people to talk
+secrets. I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights.”
+
+“When is Henry coming back?” her brother enquired.
+
+Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+
+“I have no idea,” she confessed. “He comes and goes as the whim seizes
+him, and I very seldom know where he is. One week it is whiting and
+another codling. Lately he seems to have shown some partiality for
+London life.”
+
+Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+
+“You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?”
+
+“Nothing whatever.”
+
+“But what excuse does he give--or rather I should say reason?” Richard
+persisted.
+
+“He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an office,”
+ Philippa replied. “That is what he says. His point of view is so
+impossible that I can not even discuss it with him.”
+
+“It's the rummest go I ever came across,” Richard remarked
+reminiscently. “I should have said that old Henry would have been up and
+at 'em at the Admiralty before the first gun was fired.”
+
+“On the contrary,” Philippa rejoined, “he took advantage of the war to
+hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after hostilities had
+commenced.”
+
+“It's a rum go,” Richard repeated. “I can't fancy Henry as a skulker.
+Forgive me, Philippa,” he added.
+
+“You are entirely forgiven,” she assured him drily.
+
+“He comes of such a fine fighting stock,” Richard mused. “I suppose his
+health is all right?”
+
+“His health,” Philippa declared, “is marvellous. I should think he is
+one of the strongest men I know.”
+
+Her brother patted her hand.
+
+“You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl,” he said
+affectionately. “It's no good doing that, you know. You wait and let me
+have a talk with Henry.”
+
+“I think,” she replied, “that nearly everything possible has already
+been said to him.”
+
+“Perhaps you've put his back up a bit,” Richard suggested, “and he may
+really be on the lookout for something all the time.”
+
+“It has been a long search!” Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm. “Let
+us talk about something else.”
+
+They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made their
+plans for the week--Richard must report at the War Office at once.
+
+Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close. It was
+at Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment over
+his port. She kept her arm through her friend's as they crossed the hall
+into the drawing-room, and closed the door behind them. Philippa stood
+upon the hearth rug. Already her mouth had come together in a straight
+line. Her eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+
+“I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen,” she began, “and I
+warn you that it will be of no use.”
+
+Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+
+“Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?” she asked.
+
+“I am,” was the calm response. “I made up my mind this afternoon. We are
+leaving to-night.”
+
+Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+
+“Motoring?” she enquired.
+
+“Naturally,” Philippa replied. “You know there are no trains leaving
+here to-night.”
+
+“You'll have a cold ride,” Helen remarked. “I should take your heavy fur
+coat.”
+
+Philippa stared at her companion.
+
+“You don't seem much upset, Helen!”
+
+“I think,” Helen declared, looking up, “that nothing that has ever
+happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I can see that
+you have reasoned it all out, and there is not a single argument I could
+use which you haven't already discounted. It is your life, Philippa, not
+mine.”
+
+“Since you are so philosophical,” Philippa observed, “let me ask
+you--should you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?”
+
+“I should not,” was the firm reply.
+
+Philippa laughed heartily.
+
+“Oh, I know what you are going to say!” Helen continued quickly. “You'll
+tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental. I think in your heart
+you rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard. You would call it
+cowlike, or something of that sort. There is a difference between us,
+Philippa, and that is why I am afraid to argue with you.”
+
+“What should you do,” Philippa demanded, “if Richard failed you in some
+great thing?”
+
+“I might suffer,” Helen confessed, “but my love would be there all the
+same. Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I should
+never be able to see with those who judged him hardly.”
+
+“You think, then,” Philippa persisted, “that I ought still to remain
+Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst the
+pastimes of his life--when he feels inclined, for instance, to wander
+from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my complexion, or
+when he settles down at home for a few days after a fortnight's sport on
+the sea and expects me to tell him the war news?”
+
+“I don't think that I should do that,” Helen admitted quietly, “but I am
+quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man.”
+
+“Why not?”
+
+“Because I should be punishing myself too much.”
+
+Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+
+“Helen,” she said, “you are not such a fool as you try to make me think.
+Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my mind? Can't you
+realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring, it will punish Henry
+more?”
+
+“I see,” Helen observed. “You are running away with Mr. Lessingham to
+annoy Henry?”
+
+“Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!” Philippa laughed sardonically. “He has
+terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to him. He'll be
+remarkably sheepish for some time to come. He may even feel a few little
+stabs. When I have time, I am going to write him a letter which he can
+keep for the rest of his life. It won't please him!”
+
+“Where are you--and Mr. Lessingham going to live?” Helen enquired.
+
+“In America, to start with. I've always longed to go to the States.”
+
+“What shall you do,” Helen continued, “if you don't get out of the
+country safely?”
+
+“Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall,” Philippa replied, “and
+he seems a person of many expedients. Of course, if we didn't, I should
+go back to Cheshire. I should have gone back there, anyway, before now,
+if Mr. Lessingham hadn't come.”
+
+“Well, it all seems very simple,” Helen admitted. “I think Mr.
+Lessingham is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder if
+you didn't now and then almost imagine that you were happy.”
+
+“You seem to be taking my going very coolly,” Philippa remarked.
+
+“I told you how I felt about it just now,” Helen reminded her. “Your
+going is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing larger and
+larger, day by day. I think that, in his way, Dick will suffer just as
+much as Henry. We shall all be utterly miserable.”
+
+“Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?” Philippa demanded.
+“You sit there talking about it as though I were going on an ordinary
+country-house visit.”
+
+Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled with
+tears.
+
+“Philippa dear,” she said, “if I thought that all the tears that were
+ever shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's heart, could
+have any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now and implore you to
+give up this idea. But I think--you won't be angry with me, dear?--I
+think you would go just the same.”
+
+“You seem to think that I am obstinate,” Philippa complained.
+
+“You see, you are temperamental, dear,” Helen reminded her. “You have a
+complex nature. I know very well that you need the daily love that Henry
+doesn't seem to have been willing to give you lately, and I couldn't
+stop your turning towards the sun, you know. Only--all the time there's
+that terrible anxiety--are you quite sure it is the sun?”
+
+“You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?” Philippa asked.
+
+“I do indeed,” Helen replied. “I am not quite sure, though, that I
+believe in you.”
+
+Philippa was a little startled.
+
+“Well, I never!” she exclaimed. “Exactly what do you mean by that,
+Helen?”
+
+“I am not quite sure,” Helen continued, “that when the moment has really
+come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched, and your
+feet have left this world in which you are now, I am not quite sure that
+you will find all that you seek.”
+
+“You think he doesn't love me?”
+
+“I am not convinced,” Helen replied calmly, “that you love him.”
+
+“Why, you idiot,” Philippa declared feverishly, “of course I love him!
+I think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I ever knew,
+and as to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he were a Fiji
+Islander or a Chinese.”
+
+Helen nodded sympathetically.
+
+“I agree with you,” she said, “but listen. You know that I haven't
+uttered a single word to dissuade you. Well, then, grant me just one
+thing. Before you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham the truth,
+whatever it may be, the truth which you haven't told me. It very likely
+won't make any difference. Two people as nice as you and he, who are
+going to join their lives, generally do, I believe, find the things they
+seek. Still, tell him.”
+
+Philippa made no reply. Richard opened the door and lingered upon the
+threshold. Helen rose to her feet.
+
+“I am coming, Dick,” she called out cheerfully. “There's a gorgeous fire
+in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just the time I
+have been looking forward to all day. You'll tell me things, won't you?”
+
+She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to him,
+her face full of the one happiness. He passed his arm around her waist.
+
+“I'll try, dear,” he said. “You won't be lonely, Philippa?”
+
+“I'll come and disturb you when I am,” she promised.
+
+The door closed. She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to their
+footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he had
+just descended, glanced at the huge tyres and the tins of petrol lashed
+on behind.
+
+“Nothing more you want, chauffeur?” he asked.
+
+“Nothing, sir,” was the almost inaudible reply.
+
+“You have the route map?”
+
+“Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles.”
+
+Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the drive
+of Mainsail Haul. Decidedly it was the moment of his life. He was
+hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths. A few hours now
+was all the start he could reasonably expect. He was face to face with a
+very real and serious danger, which he could no longer ignore, and from
+which escape was all the time becoming more difficult. And yet all
+the emotionalism of this climax was centred elsewhere. It was from
+Philippa's lips that he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer
+which would fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in
+his rush through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent as to
+its result.
+
+He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of suspended
+animation, which knew no hope and feared no disappointment. Just before
+he reached the front door, the postern gate in the wall on his left-hand
+side opened, and Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat,
+framed in the faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of
+seabounded space. He moved eagerly towards her.
+
+“I heard the car,” she whispered. “Come and sit down for a moment. It
+isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the sea.
+I came out,” she went on, as he walked obediently by her side, “because
+the house somehow stifled me.”
+
+She led him to a seat. Below, the long waves were breaking through upon
+the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air. The village
+which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless--there was, indeed, a
+curious absence of sound, except when the incoming waves broke upon the
+rocks and ground the pebbles together in their long, backward swish.
+Very soon the sleeping country, now wrapped in shadows, would take form
+and outline in the light of the rising moon; hedges would divide the
+square fields, the black woods would take shape and the hills their
+mystic solemnity. But those few minutes were minutes of suspense.
+Lessingham was to some extent conscious of their queer, allegorical
+significance.
+
+“I have come,” he reminded her quite steadily, “for my answer.”
+
+She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched her
+cloak. She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+
+“You see,” she told him, “here I am.”
+
+His face was suddenly transformed. She was almost afraid of the effect
+of her words. She found herself struggling in his arms.
+
+“Not yet,” she begged. “Please remember where we are.”
+
+He released her reluctantly. A few yards away, they could hear the soft
+purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the passing
+moments. He caught her by the hand.
+
+“Come,” he whispered passionately. “Every moment is precious.”
+
+She hesitated no longer. The open postern gate seemed to him suddenly to
+lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid life. He was to
+be one of those favoured few to whom was given the divine prize. And
+then he stopped short, even while she walked willingly by his side. He
+knew so well the need for haste. The gentle murmur of that engine was
+inviting him all the while. Yet he knew there was one thing more which
+must be said.
+
+“Philippa,” he began, “you know what we are doing? We can escape, I
+believe. My flight is all wonderfully arranged. But there will be no
+coming back. It will be all over when our car passes over the hills
+there. You will not regret? You care enough even for this supreme
+sacrifice?”
+
+“I shall never reproach you as long as I live,” she promised. “I have
+made up my mind to come, and I am ready.”
+
+“But it is because you care?” he pleaded anxiously.
+
+“It is because I care, for one reason.”
+
+“In the great way?” he persisted. “In the only way?”
+
+She hesitated. He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his. He saw her
+frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+
+“Don't ask me quite that,” she begged breathlessly. “Be content to know
+that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come.”
+
+He felt the chill of impending disaster. He closed the little gate
+through which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back to
+it. In that faint light which seemed to creep over the world before the
+moon itself was revealed, she seemed to him at that moment the fairest,
+the most desirable thing on earth. Her face was upturned towards his,
+half pathetic, half protesting against the revelation which he was
+forcing from her.
+
+“Listen, Philippa,” he said, “Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing. I
+put it on one side. It did not seem to be possible. Now I must ask you a
+question. You have some other motive, have you not, for choosing to come
+away with me? It is not only because you love me better than any one
+else in the world, as I do you, and therefore that we belong to one
+another and it is right and good that we should spend our lives in one
+another's company? There is something else, is there not, at the root of
+your determination? Some ally?”
+
+It was a strange moment for Philippa. Nothing had altered within her,
+and yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at her
+emotions, bringing a sob into her throat.
+
+“You mean--Henry?” she faltered.
+
+“I mean your husband,” he assented.
+
+She was suddenly passionately angry with herself. It seemed to her that
+the days of childishness were back. She was behaving like an imbecile
+whilst he played the great game.
+
+“You see,” he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, “this is one
+of those moments in both our lives when anything except the exact truth
+would mean shipwreck. You still love your husband?”
+
+“I am such a fool!” she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+
+“You were willing to go away with me,” he continued mercilessly, “partly
+because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out of revenge,
+and just a little because you liked me. Is that not so?”
+
+Her head pressed upon his arm. She nodded. It was just that convulsive
+movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair and its plain
+black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his hopes. She was
+just a child once more--and she trusted him.
+
+“Very well, then,” he said, “just let me think--for a moment.”
+
+She understood enough not to raise her head. Lessingham was gazing out
+through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from which
+the moon was rising. Already the pain had begun, and yet with it was
+that queer sense of exaltation which comes with sacrifice.
+
+“We have been very nearly foolish,” he told her, with grave kindliness.
+“It is well, perhaps, that we were in time. Those windows which lead
+into your library,--through which I first came to you, by-the-by,--” he
+added, with a strange, reminiscent little sigh, “are they open?”
+
+“Yes!” she whispered.
+
+“Come, then,” he invited. “Before I leave there is something I want to
+make clear to you.”
+
+They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little
+terraced walk. Philippa opened the window and closed it again behind
+them. The room was empty. Lessingham, watching her closely, almost
+groaned as he saw the wonderful relief in her face. She threw off the
+cloak, and he groaned again as he remembered how nearly it had been his
+task to remove it. In her plain travelling dress, she turned and looked
+at him very pathetically.
+
+“You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?” he enquired.
+
+“A newspaper? Why, yes, the Times,” she answered, a little surprised.
+
+He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it under
+the lamplight. Presently he called to her. His forefinger rested upon a
+certain column.
+
+“Read this,” he directed.
+
+She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+
+Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for special
+services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral.
+
+“What does it mean?” she asked feverishly. “Henry? A D.S.O. for Henry
+for special services?”
+
+“It means,” he told her, with a forced smile, “that your husband is, as
+you put it in your expressive language, a fraud.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet. Lessingham led her to
+a chair. From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the motor horn,
+calling to its dilatory passenger.
+
+“I can not, of course, explain everything to you,” he began, in a tone
+of unusual restraint, “but I do know that for the last two years your
+husband has been responsible to the Admiralty for most of the mine
+fields around your east coast. To begin with, his stay in Scotland was
+a sham. He was most of the time with the fleet and round the coasts. His
+fishing excursions from here have been of the same order, only more so.
+All the places of importance, from here to the mouth of the Thames, have
+been mined, or rather the approaches to them have been mined, under
+his instructions. My mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh--do
+not shrink from me if you can help it--was to obtain a copy of his mine
+protection scheme of a certain town on the east coast.”
+
+“Why should I shrink from you?” she murmured. “This is all too
+wonderful! What a little beast Henry must think me!” she added, with
+truly feminine and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+
+“You and Miss Fairclough,” Lessingham went on, “have rather scoffed at
+my presence here on behalf of our Secret Service. It seemed to you both
+very ridiculous. Now you understand.”
+
+“It makes no difference,” Philippa protested tearfully. “You always told
+us the truth.”
+
+“And I shall continue to do so,” Lessingham assured her. “I am not a
+clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune favoured
+me the night your husband was shipwrecked. I succeeded in stealing from
+him, on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of the mine field which I
+was sent over to procure.”
+
+“Of course you had to do it if you could,” Philippa sobbed. “I think it
+was very clever of you.”
+
+He smiled.
+
+“There are others who might look at the matter differently,” he said. “I
+am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but I must
+have your answer to take away with me. If you had known all the time
+that your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you thought him, was
+really doing splendid work for his country, you would not have listened
+to me for one moment, would you? You would not have let me grow to love
+you?”
+
+She clutched his hands.
+
+“You are the dearest man in the world,” she exclaimed, her lips still
+quivering, “but, as you say, you know the answer. I was always in love
+with Henry. It was because I loved him that I was so furious. I liked
+you so much that it was mean of me ever to think of--of what so nearly
+happened.”
+
+“So nearly happened!” he repeated, with a sudden access of the bitterest
+self-pity.
+
+Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a
+little more impatient, broke the silence. Philippa was filled with an
+unreasoning terror.
+
+“You must go!” she implored. “You must go this minute! If they were to
+take you, I couldn't bear it. And that man Griffiths--he has sworn that
+if he can not get the Government authority, he will shoot you!”
+
+“Griffiths has gone to London,” he reminded her.
+
+“Yes, but he may be back by this train,” she cried, glancing at the
+clock, “and I have a strange sort of fancy--I have had it all day--that
+Henry might come, too. It is overdue now. Any one might arrive here. Oh,
+please, for my sake, hurry away!” she begged, the tears streaming from
+her eyes. “If anything should happen, I could never forgive myself. It
+is because you have been so dear, so true and honourable, that all this
+time has been wasted. If it were to cost you your life!”
+
+
+She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a
+paroxysm. She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to the
+door. And then she stopped for a moment to listen. Her eyes became
+distended. Her lips were parted. She shook as though with an ague.
+
+“It is too late!” she faltered hysterically. “I can hear Henry's voice!
+Quick! Come to the window. You must get out that way and through the
+postern gate.”
+
+“Your husband will have seen the car,” he protested. “And besides, there
+is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat.”
+
+“I shall tell him everything,” she declared wildly. “Nothing matters
+except that you escape. Oh, hurry! I can hear Henry talking to Jimmy
+Dumble--for God's sake--”
+
+The words died away upon her lips. The door had been opened and closed
+again immediately. There was the quick turn of the lock, sounding like
+the click of fate. Sir Henry, well inside the room, nodded to them both
+affably.
+
+“Well, Philippa? You weren't expecting me, eh? Hullo, Lessingham! Not
+gone yet? Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?”
+
+Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+
+“Perhaps,” he admitted, “a trifle too fine.”
+
+Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm. Philippa had thrown herself into
+his arms. Her fingers were locked around his neck. Her lips, her eyes,
+were pleading with him.
+
+“Henry! Henry, you must forgive me! I never knew--I never dreamed what
+you were really doing. I shall never forgive myself, but you--you will
+be generous.”
+
+“That's all right, dear,” he promised, stooping down to kiss her.
+“Partly my fault, of course. I had to humour those old ladies down at
+Whitehall who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless idiot. You
+see,” he went on, glancing towards Lessingham, “they were always afraid
+that my steps might be dogged by spies, if my position were generally
+known.”
+
+Philippa did not relinquish her attitude. She was still clinging to her
+husband. She refused to let him go.
+
+“Henry,” she begged, “oh, listen to me! I have so much to confess, so
+much of which I am ashamed! And yet, with it all, I want to entreat--to
+implore one great favour from you.”
+
+Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+
+“Is it one I can grant?” he asked gravely.
+
+“If you want me ever to be happy again, you will,” she sobbed. “For
+Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape.”
+
+Lessingham took a quick step forward. He had the air of one who has
+reached the limits of his endurance.
+
+“You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know,” he said, “but I desire no
+intervention.”
+
+Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from him.
+There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment. His mouth
+had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw seemed more
+apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there was a ring of
+authority in his tone.
+
+“Come,” he said, “let us understand one another, Philippa, and you had
+better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham. I can promise you that your chances
+of escape will not be diminished by my taking up these few minutes of
+your time. Philippa,” he went on, turning back to her, “you have always
+posed as being an exceedingly patriotic Englishwoman, yet it seems to
+me that you have made a bargain with this man, knowing full well that he
+was in the service of Germany, to give him shelter and hospitality here,
+access to my house and protection amongst your friends, in return for
+certain favours shown towards your brother.”
+
+Philippa was speechless. It was a view of the matter which she and Helen
+had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+
+“But, Henry,” she protested, “his stay here seemed so harmless. You
+yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh. There is
+nothing to discover. There is nothing going on here which the whole
+world might not know.”
+
+“That was never my plea,” Lessingham intervened.
+
+“Nor is it the truth,” Sir Henry added sternly.
+
+“The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to gain
+access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could, certain plans
+and charts prepared by me.”
+
+Philippa began to tremble. She seemed bereft of words.
+
+“He told me this,” she faltered. “He told me not half an hour ago.”
+
+There was a tapping at the door. Sir Henry moved towards it but did not
+turn the key.
+
+“Who is that?” he asked.
+
+“Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir,” Mills announced. “He
+has seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed to come in.”
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room. Philippa made
+eager signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows. Lessingham,
+however, shook his head.
+
+“I prefer,” he said gently, “to finish my conversation with your
+husband.”'
+
+There was another and more insistent summons from outside. This time it
+was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+
+“Sir Henry Cranston,” he called out, “I am here with authority. I beg to
+be admitted.”
+
+“Where is your escort?”
+
+“In the hall.”
+
+“If I let you come in,” Sir Henry continued, “will you come alone?”
+
+“I should prefer it,” was the eager reply. “I wish to make this business
+as little unpleasant to--to everybody as possible.”
+
+Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted
+Griffiths. The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham. He would
+have hastened at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand upon his
+arm.
+
+“You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments,” he
+insisted. “This is a private conference. Your business with the Baron
+Maderstrom can be adjusted later.”
+
+“It is my duty,” Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, “to arrest that man
+as a spy. I have authority, granted me this morning in London.”
+
+“Quite so,” Sir Henry observed, “but we are in the midst of a very
+interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude. Your turn will
+come later, Captain Griffiths.”
+
+“I can countenance no discussion with such men as that,” Griffiths
+declared scornfully. “I am here in the execution of my duty, and I
+resent any interference with it.”
+
+“No one wishes to interfere with you,” Sir Henry assured him, “but until
+I say the word you will obey my orders.”
+
+“So far as I am concerned,” Lessingham intervened, “I wish it to be
+understood that I offer no defence.”
+
+“You have no defence,” Sir Henry reminded him suavely. “I gather that
+not only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket in the
+midst of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have capped this
+exploit with a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife.”
+
+
+Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself. His eyes glowed.
+His long fingers twitched. He kept edging a little nearer to Lessingham.
+
+“Both charges,” the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes,
+“are true.”
+
+Then Philippa found herself. She saw the sudden flash in her husband's
+eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face. She stepped once more forward.
+
+“Henry,” she insisted, “you must listen to what I have to say.”
+
+“We have had enough words,” Griffiths interposed savagely.
+
+Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+
+“I am listening, Philippa,” he said calmly.
+
+“It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr. Lessingham
+to-night,” she told him deliberately.
+
+“The devil it was!” Sir Henry muttered.
+
+“As for the reason, you know it,” she continued, her tone full of
+courage. “I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all the
+same I was hardly treated. I was made the scapegoat of your stupid
+promise. You kept me in ignorance of things a wife should know. You even
+encouraged me to believe you a coward, when a single word from you
+would have changed everything. Therefore, I say that it is you who are
+responsible for what I nearly did, and what I should have done but for
+him--listen, Henry--but for him!”
+
+“But for him,” her husband repeated curiously.
+
+“It was Mr. Lessingham,” she declared, “who opened my eyes concerning
+you. It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger.
+Look at my coat there. My bag is on that table. I was ready to leave
+with him to-night. Before we went, he insisted on telling me everything
+about you. He could have escaped, and I was willing to go with him.
+Instead, he spent those precious minutes telling me the truth about you.
+That was the end.”
+
+“Lady Cranston omits to add,” Lessingham put in, “that before I did
+so she told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm
+friendliness--that her love was given to her husband, and her husband
+only.”
+
+“How long is this to go on?” Griffiths asked harshly. “I have
+the authority here and the power to take that man. These domestic
+explanations have nothing to do with the case.”
+
+“Excuse me,” Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, “they have a great
+deal to do with it.”
+
+“I am Commandant of this place--” Griffiths commenced.
+
+“And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute,” Sir
+Henry reminded him sternly.
+
+There was a moment's tense silence. Griffiths set his teeth hard, but
+his hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+
+“I am now,” Sir Henry continued, “going to announce to you a piece
+of news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known. During
+last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed to cross
+the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of considerable
+importance to us.”
+
+Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain. He had the
+air of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+
+“Incidentally,” Sir Henry continued, “three-quarters of the squadron
+also found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter met
+our own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not return.”
+
+Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet. One could almost fancy
+that Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned towards him.
+
+“The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself,” he said,
+“which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+specially prepared for you. You see, our own Secret Service is not
+altogether asleep. Those very safe and inviting-looking channels for
+British and Allied traffic--I marked them very clearly, didn't I?--were
+where I'd laid my mines. The channels which your cruisers so carefully
+avoided were the only safe avenues. So you see why it is, Maderstrom,
+that I have no grudge against you.”
+
+Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man. There was
+a look of dull horror in his eyes.
+
+“Is this the truth?” he gasped.
+
+“It is the truth,” Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+
+“Does this conclude the explanations?” Captain Griffiths demanded
+impatiently. “Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry. As regards this
+felon--”
+
+Sir Henry held up his hand.
+
+“Maderstrom's fate,” he said, “is mine to deal with and not yours,
+Captain Griffiths.”
+
+Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was
+standing only a few feet from her. She threw herself upon his arm and
+dragged down the revolver which he had raised. Sir Henry, with a shout
+of fury, was upon them at once. He took Griffiths by the throat and
+threw him upon the sofa. The revolver clattered harmlessly on to the
+carpet.
+
+“His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen,” he thundered. “You know
+that I possess superior authority here.”
+
+“That man shall not escape!” Griffiths shouted.
+
+He struggled for his whistle. Sir Henry snatched it from him and picked
+up the revolver from the carpet.
+
+“Look here, Griffiths,” he remonstrated severely, “one single move
+in opposition to my wishes will cost you your career. Let there be
+no misunderstanding about it. That man will not be arrested by you
+to-night.”
+
+Griffiths staggered to his feet. He was half cowed, half furious.
+
+“You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?” he demanded thickly.
+“The man is a proved traitor. If you assist him to escape, you are
+subject to penalties--”
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+“Captain Griffiths,” he interrupted, “I am not ignorant of my position
+in this matter. Believe me, your last chance of retaining your position
+here is to remember that you have had specific orders to yield to my
+authority in all matters. Kindly leave this room and take your soldiers
+back to their quarters.”
+
+Griffiths hesitated for a single moment. He had the appearance of a man
+half demented by a passion which could find no outlet. Then he left the
+room, without salute, without a glance to the right or to the left. Out
+in the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh voice of command.
+The hall door was opened and closed behind the sound of retreating
+footsteps.
+
+“Sir Henry,” Lessingham reminded him, “I have not asked for your
+intervention.”
+
+“My dear fellow, you wouldn't,” was the prompt reply. “As for the little
+trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it too much to
+heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent you here.”
+
+“The fault of the people who sent me here,” Lessingham repeated. “I
+scarcely understand.”
+
+“It's simple enough,” Sir Henry continued. “You see, you are about as
+fit to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective. You
+possess the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts of a
+gentleman.--Come, come,” he went on, “we have nothing more to say to one
+another. Open that window and take the narrow path down to the beach.
+Jimmy Dumble is waiting for you at the gate. He will row you out to a
+Dutch trawler which is lying even now off the point.”
+
+“You mean me to get away?” Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+
+“Believe me, it will cost nothing,” Sir Henry assured him. “I was not
+bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme authority
+here. He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights in aiding your
+escape.”
+
+Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing. She gave him
+her hands.
+
+“Dear friend,” she begged, “so wonderful a friend as you have been,
+don't refuse this last thing.”
+
+“Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom,” Sir Henry said. “Remember that you
+can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by playing
+the Quixote.”
+
+“Besides,” Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, “it is, after
+all, only an exchange. You have saved Henry's life, set Richard free,
+and brought us happiness. Why should you hesitate to accept your own
+liberty?”
+
+Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light out at
+sea.
+
+“There's your trawler,” he pointed out, “and remember the tide will turn
+in half an hour. I don't wish to hurry you.”
+
+Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+
+“I shall think of you both always,” he said simply. “You are very
+wonderful people.”
+
+He turned towards the window. Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat from the
+table by his side.
+
+“Better take your hat,” he suggested.
+
+Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+
+“You knew from the first?” he asked.
+
+“From the very first,” Sir Henry assured him. “Don't look so
+confounded,” he went on consolingly. “Remember that espionage is the
+only profession in which it is an honour to fail.”
+
+Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned back
+into the room. The tenderness in his own face, however, and a little
+catch in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve which had
+grown up between them.
+
+“My dear little woman!” he murmured. “My little sweetheart! You don't
+know how I've ached to explain everything to you--including the Russian
+ladies.”
+
+“Explain them at once, sir!” Philippa insisted, pretending to draw her
+face away for a moment.
+
+“They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral, Draskieff,
+who was sent over to report upon our method of mine laying,” he told
+her.
+
+“You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow or
+the next day.”
+
+“Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!” Philippa exclaimed ruefully. “I
+imagined--all sorts of things. But, Henry dear,” she went on, “do you
+know that we have a great surprise for you--here in the house?”
+
+“No surprise, dear,” he assured her, shaking his head. “I knew the very
+hour that Richard left Wittenberg. And here he is, by Jove!”
+
+Richard and Helen entered together. Philippa could not even wait for the
+conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting which passed
+between the two men.
+
+“Listen to me, both of you!” she cried incoherently. “Helen, you
+especially! You never heard anything so wonderful in your life! They
+weren't fishing excursions at all. There weren't any whiting. Henry was
+laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the German fleet! It's
+all in the Times this morning. He's got a D.S.O.--Henry has--and he's a
+Rear-Admiral! Oh, Helen, I want to cry!”
+
+The two women wandered into a far corner of the room. Richard wrung his
+brother-in-law's hand.
+
+“Philippa isn't exactly coherent,” he remarked, “but it sounds all
+right.”
+
+“You see,” Sir Henry explained, “I've been mine laying ever since the
+war started. I always had ideas of my own about mine fields, as you may
+remember. I started with Scotland, and then they moved me down here.
+The Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and they insisted upon my
+keeping my job secret. It led to a little trouble with Philippa, but I
+think we are through with all that.--I suppose you know that those two
+young women have been engaged in a regular conspiracy, Dick?”
+
+“I know a little,” Richard replied gravely, “and I'm sure you will
+believe that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd had any
+idea what they were up to.”
+
+“I'm sure you wouldn't,” Sir Henry agreed. “Anyway, it led to no harm.”
+
+“Maderstrom, then,” Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+apprehension of the affair, “was over here to spy upon you?”
+
+“That's the ticket,” Sir Henry assented.
+
+Richard frowned.
+
+“And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!”
+
+“Don't you worry about that,” his brother-in-law begged. “They must have
+known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do any harm.”
+
+“Where is he now?” Richard asked eagerly. “Helen insisted upon keeping
+me out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours. The Commandant
+has been up here after him, hasn't he?”
+
+“Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear! I don't like the
+fellow.”
+
+“And Maderstrom?”
+
+“The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?” Sir Henry observed. “Well, to tell you
+the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for in the
+history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom.”
+
+“You, too?” Richard exclaimed. “Why, every one seems crazy about the
+fellow.”
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+“I remember him in your college days, Dick. He was a gentleman and a
+good sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German. He did his bit of
+soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the war, got a
+knock and volunteered for the Secret Service. They sent him over here.
+The fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare say you know, they
+let him down from the observation car of a Zeppelin. He finds his
+way here all right, makes his silly little bargain with our dear but
+gullible womenkind, and sets himself to watch--to watch me, mind. The
+whole affair is too ridiculously transparent. For a time he can't bring
+himself even to touch my papers here, although, as it happens, they
+wouldn't have done him the least bit of good. It was only the stress
+and excitement of the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the
+chart which I had so carefully prepared for him. I really think, if
+he hadn't done that, I should have had to slip it into his pocket or
+absolutely force it upon him somehow. He sends it off like a lamb and
+behold the result! We've crippled the German Navy for the rest of the
+war.”
+
+“It was a faked chart, then, of course?” Richard demanded breathlessly.
+
+“And quite the cleverest I ever prepared,” Sir Henry acknowledged. “I
+can assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself, if he'd
+got hold of it.”
+
+“But where is Maderstrom now, sir?” Richard asked.
+
+Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the
+last few moments, had softly taken her place. Her eyes were watching
+a green light bobbing up and down in the distance. Suddenly she gave a
+little exclamation.
+
+“It's moving!” she cried. “He's off!”
+
+“He's safe on a Dutch trawler,” Sir Henry declared. “And I think,” he
+added, moving towards the sideboard, “it's time you and I had a drink
+together, Dick.”
+
+They helped themselves to whisky and soda. There were still many
+explanations to be given. Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa stood
+with her eyes turned seawards. The green light was dimmer now, and the
+low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over the glittering track
+of moonlight. She gave a little start as it came into sight. There was
+a sob in her throat, tears burning in her eyes. Her fingers clutched the
+curtains almost passionately. She stood there watching until her eyes
+ached. Then she felt an arm around her waist and her husband's whisper
+in her ear.
+
+“I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?”
+
+She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his extended
+arms. Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+
+“You know,” she murmured.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
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diff --git a/1931-0.zip b/1931-0.zip
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+Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+Posting Date: November 25, 2008 [EBook #1931]
+Release Date: October, 1999
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER
+
+By E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+"Never heard a sound," the younger of the afternoon callers admitted,
+getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his low chair. "No
+more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough. Done splendidly, thanks. No, I
+went to bed last night soon after eleven--the Colonel had been route
+marching us all off our legs--and I never awoke until reveille this
+morning. Sleep of the just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly
+sell, all the same! You hear anything of it, sir?" he asked, turning to
+his companion, who was seated a few feet away.
+
+Captain Griffiths shook his head. He was a man considerably older than
+his questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair streaked
+with grey. His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a soldier,
+curiously sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which was
+considerable, he was awkward, at times almost uncouth. His voice was
+hard and unsympathetic, and his contributions to the tea-table talk had
+been almost negligible.
+
+"I was up until two o'clock, as it happened," he replied, "but I knew
+nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice officially."
+
+Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her
+absent hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the
+circumstances of the case entitled her.
+
+"I heard it distinctly," she declared; "in fact it woke me up. I hung
+out of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly as though
+it were over the golf links."
+
+The young subaltern sighed.
+
+"Rotten luck I have with these things," he confided. "That's three times
+they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one. This time they
+say that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming down. Of course,
+you've heard of the observation car found on Dutchman's Common this
+morning?"
+
+The girl assented.
+
+"Did you see it?" she enquired.
+
+"Not a chance," was the gloomy reply. "It was put on two covered trucks
+and sent up to London by the first train. Captain Griffiths can tell you
+what it was like, I dare say. You were down there, weren't you, sir?"
+
+"I superintended its removal," the latter informed them. "It was a very
+uninteresting affair."
+
+"Any bombs in it?" Helen asked.
+
+"Not a sign of one. Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and a
+telephone. It seems to have got caught in some trees and been dragged
+off."
+
+"How exciting!" the girl murmured. "I suppose there wasn't any one in
+it?"
+
+Griffiths shook his head.
+
+"I believe," he explained, "that these observation cars, although they
+are attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night raids."
+
+"I should like to have seen it, all the same," Helen confessed.
+
+"You would have been disappointed," her informant assured her.
+"By-the-by," he added, a little awkwardly, "are you not expecting Lady
+Cranston back this evening?"
+
+"I am expecting her every moment. The car has gone down to the station
+to meet her."
+
+Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+undemonstrative satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair with the air
+of one who is content to wait.
+
+"Have you heard, Miss Fairclough," his younger companion enquired, a
+little diffidently, "whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?"
+
+Helen Fairclough looked away. There was a slight mist before her eyes.
+
+"I had a letter this morning," she replied. "She seems to have heard
+nothing at all encouraging so far."
+
+"And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?"
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"Not a line," she sighed. "It's two months now since we last had a
+letter."
+
+"Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well," the young
+man observed sympathetically.
+
+"It all seems very cruel," Helen agreed. "He wasn't really fit to go
+back, but the Board passed him because they were so short of officers
+and he kept worrying them. He was so afraid he'd get moved to another
+battalion. Then he was taken prisoner in that horrible Pervais affair,
+and sent to the worst camp in Germany. Since then, of course, Philippa
+and I have had a wretched time, worrying."
+
+"Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?" Griffiths
+enquired.
+
+"And my only fianc�," she replied, with a little grimace. "However,
+don't let us talk about our troubles any more," she continued, with an
+effort at a lighter tone. "You'll find some cigarettes on that table,
+Mr. Harrison. I can't think where Nora is. I expect she has persuaded
+some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's Common."
+
+"The road all the way is like a circus," the young soldier observed,
+"and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval airmen
+were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths wasn't
+far behind them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers, sir," he
+concluded, turning to his neighbour.
+
+"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
+had to have the Common searched. With the exception of the observation
+car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences in telling you
+that we discovered nothing of interest."
+
+"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was flying
+so low?" Helen enquired.
+
+"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented. "Two
+patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her. An old
+man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a long, black
+cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost deafened by the noise
+of the engines. Personally, I cannot believe that they would come down
+so low unless she was in some trouble."
+
+The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
+suddenly thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady, very
+much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long plaits of the
+schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand she carried a man's
+Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+
+"Come in, Arthur," she shouted to a young subaltern who was hovering
+in the background. "Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy! Just look, Mr.
+Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a bush, not twenty yards
+from where the observation car came down."
+
+Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+
+"But, my dear child," she exclaimed, "this is nothing but an ordinary
+hat! People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things like that. How
+do you do, Mr. Somerfield?" she added, smiling at the young man who had
+followed Nora into the room.
+
+"Don't they!" the latter retorted, with an air of superior knowledge.
+"Just look here!"
+
+She turned down the lining and showed it to them. "What do you make of
+that?" she asked triumphantly.
+
+Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+
+"Read it out," Nora insisted.
+
+Helen obeyed:
+
+               "Schmidt,
+                    Berlin,
+                         Unter den Linden, 127."
+
+"That sounds German," she admitted.
+
+"It's a trophy, all right," Nora declared. "One of the crew--probably
+the Commander--must have come on board in a hurry and changed into
+uniform after they had started."
+
+"It is my painful duty, Miss Nora," Harrison announced solemnly,
+"to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles of
+whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's Common,
+which might possibly have belonged to any one in the Zeppelin, must be
+sent at once to the War Office."
+
+"Rubbish!" Nora scoffed. "The War Office aren't going to have my hat."
+
+"Duty," the young man began--
+
+"You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,"
+Nora interrupted, "but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw it
+into the fire sooner than give it up."
+
+"Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora," Captain Griffiths
+ventured thoughtfully.
+
+"Nothing so important as hats," Harrison put in. "You see they
+fit--somebody."
+
+The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. "I'd listen to
+anything Captain Griffiths had to say," she declared, "but you boys who
+are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit. There's
+nothing in your textbook about hats. If you're going to make yourselves
+disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the regiment."
+
+The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay. Nora took a
+chocolate from a box.
+
+"Be merciful, Miss Nora!" Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+
+"Don't break the regiment up altogether," Somerfield begged, with a
+little catch in his voice.
+
+"All very well for you two to be funny," Nora went on, revisiting the
+chocolate box, "but you've heard about the Seaforths coming, haven't
+you? I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?"
+
+"Every woman does," Helen admitted, smiling. "I suppose the child really
+can keep the hat, can't she?" she added, turning to the Commandant.
+
+"Officially the matter is outside my cognizance," he declared. "I shall
+have nothing to say."
+
+The two young men exchanged glances.
+
+"A hat," Somerfield ruminated, "especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely an
+appurtenance of warfare."
+
+His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object in
+question. Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+
+"I shall take the whole responsibility," he decided magnanimously, "of
+saying nothing about the matter. We can't afford to quarrel with Miss
+Nora, can we, Somerfield?"
+
+"Not on your life," that young man agreed.
+
+"Sensible boys!" Nora pronounced graciously.
+
+"Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them in
+their folly. You can take me as far as the post-office when you go,
+Arthur," she continued, turning to the fortunate possessor of the
+side-car, "and we'll have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if you like."
+
+"Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?" Helen invited.
+
+"Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough," the man replied; "we had tea
+some time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora."
+
+Nora suddenly held up her finger. "Isn't that the car?" she asked. "Why,
+it must be mummy, here already. Yes, I can hear her voice!"
+
+Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+
+"It is Lady Cranston," he announced solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful. She
+had masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long railway
+journey, deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost porcelain-like
+complexion, and a sensitive, delightfully shaped mouth. Her figure
+was small and dainty, and just at that moment she had an appearance of
+helplessness which was almost childlike. Nora, after a vigorous embrace,
+led her stepmother towards a chair.
+
+"Come and sit by the fire, Mummy," she begged. "You look tired and
+cold."
+
+Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests. She was still
+wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was unmistakable.
+Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since her entrance,
+wheeled an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into which she sank with a
+murmured word of thanks.
+
+"You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?" Helen enquired.
+
+Philippa shook her head. Her eyes met her friend's for a moment--it was
+only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual sorrow seemed
+curiously revealed in that unspoken question and answer. The two young
+subalterns prepared to take their leave. Nora, kneeling down, stroked
+her stepmother's hand.
+
+"No news at all, then?" Helen faltered.
+
+"None," was the weary reply.
+
+"Any amount of news here, Mummy," Nora intervened cheerfully, "and heaps
+of excitement. We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last night,
+and she lost her observation car. Mr. Somerfield took me up there this
+afternoon, and I found a German hat. No one else got a thing, and, would
+you believe it, those children over there tried to take it away from
+me."
+
+Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+
+"I expect you are keeping the hat, dear," she observed.
+
+"I should say so!" Nora assented.
+
+Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting to
+take their leave.
+
+"You must come and dine one night this week, both of you," she said. "My
+husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm sure he
+will be glad to have you."
+
+"Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted," Harrison
+declared.
+
+"Rather!" his companion echoed.
+
+Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+Philippa's chair.
+
+"And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said, smiling
+pleasantly up at him. "Must you hurry away?"
+
+"I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns," he answered,
+resuming his seat.
+
+"Do!" Philippa begged him. "I have had such a miserable time in town.
+You can't think how restful it is to be back here."
+
+"I am afraid," he observed, "that your journey has not been successful."
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+"It has been completely unsuccessful," she sighed. "I have not been able
+to hear a word about my brother. I am so sorry for poor Helen, too. They
+were only engaged, you know, a few days before he left for the front
+this last time."
+
+Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I never met Major Felstead," he remarked, "but every one who has
+seems to like him very much. He was doing so well, too, up to that last
+unfortunate affair, wasn't he?"
+
+"Dick is a dear," Philippa declared. "I never knew any one with so many
+friends. He would have been commanding his battalion now, if only he
+were free. His colonel wrote and told me so himself."
+
+"I wish there were something I could do," Griffiths murmured, a little
+awkwardly. "It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset."
+
+She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+
+"Nobody can do anything," she bemoaned. "That is the unfortunate part of
+it all."
+
+He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was when
+he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which he had no
+idea what to do with.
+
+"You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?" he
+asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+unpleasant voice. She shook her head.
+
+"Perhaps one morning later," she replied, a little vaguely. "I haven't
+any heart for anything just now."
+
+He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out into
+the twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things which
+he had meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten them.
+Philippa, to whom his departure had been, as it always was, a relief,
+was already leaning forward in her chair with her arm around Helen's
+neck.
+
+"I thought that extraordinary man would never go," she exclaimed, "and
+I was longing to send for you, Helen. London has been such a dreary
+chapter of disappointments."
+
+"What a sickening time you must have had, dear!"
+
+"It was horrid," Philippa assented sadly, "but you know Henry is no use
+at all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone. I have been
+to every friend at the War Office, and every friend who has friends
+there. I have made every sort of enquiry, and I know just as much now
+as I did when I left here--that Richard was a prisoner at Wittenberg
+the last time they heard, and that they have received no notification
+whatever concerning him for the last two months."
+
+Helen glanced at the calendar.
+
+"It is just two months to-day," she said mournfully, "since we heard."
+
+"And then," Philippa sighed, "he hadn't received a single one of our
+parcels."
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet. She was a tall, fair girl of the best
+Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every promise,
+indeed, of a fuller and more gracious development in the years to come.
+She was barely twenty-two years old, and, as is common with girls of her
+complexion, seemed younger. Her bright, intelligent face was, above
+all, good-humoured. Just at that moment, however, there was a flush of
+passionate anger in her cheeks.
+
+"It makes me feel almost beside myself," she exclaimed, "this hideous
+incapacity for doing anything! Here we are living in luxury, without a
+single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on earth to both of us,
+is being starved and goaded to death in a foul German prison!"
+
+"We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear," Philippa
+remonstrated. "What is it, Mills?"
+
+The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band, bowed
+as he arranged it upon a side table.
+
+"I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+ladyship," he announced, "and some hot buttered toast. Cook has sent
+some of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally fancies."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Mills," Philippa said, with rather a wan little
+smile. "I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad. You might
+take my coat, please."
+
+She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her slim,
+elegant little body.
+
+"Shall I light up, your ladyship?" Mills enquired.
+
+"You might light a lamp," Philippa directed, "but don't draw the blinds
+until lighting-up time. After the noise of London," she went on,
+turning to Helen, "I always think that the faint sound of the sea is so
+restful."
+
+The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to his
+mistress.
+
+"We should be glad to hear, your ladyship," he said, "if there is any
+news of Major Felstead?" Philippa shook her head.
+
+"None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills! Still, we must hope for the
+best. I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as we imagine."
+
+"We must hope not, your ladyship," was the somewhat dismal reply. "Shall
+I fasten the windows?"
+
+"You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills," Philippa
+directed. "I am not at home, if any one should call. See that we are
+undisturbed for a little time."
+
+"Very good, your ladyship."
+
+The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone. Philippa
+held out her arms.
+
+"Helen, darling, come and be nice to me," she begged. "Let us both
+pretend that no news is good news. Oh, I know what you are suffering,
+but remember that even if Dick is your lover, he is my dear, only
+brother--my twin brother, too. We have been so much to each other all
+our lives. He'll stick it out, dear, if any human being can. We shall
+have him back with us some day."
+
+"But he is hungry," Helen sobbed. "I can't bear to think of his being
+hungry. Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me."
+
+"I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like," Philippa
+murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+
+"He always used to love one about this time," Helen faltered, glancing
+at the clock.
+
+"And cigarettes!" Philippa exclaimed. "I wonder whether they give him
+anything to smoke."
+
+"Nasty German tobacco, if they do," Helen rejoined indignantly. "And
+to think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his favourite
+Egyptians!"
+
+She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side. Their arms were
+intertwined, their cheeks touching. One of those strange, feminine
+silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while under its
+thrall. Then, almost at the same moment, a queer awakening came for both
+of them. Helen's arm was stiffened. Philippa turned her head, but her
+eyes were filled with incredulous fear. A little current of cool air was
+blowing through the room. The French windows stood half open, and with
+his back to them, a man who had apparently entered the room from the
+gardens and passed noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing
+by the door, listening. They heard him turn the key. Then, in a
+businesslike manner, he returned to the windows and closed them, the
+eyes of the two women following him all the time. Satisfied, apparently,
+with his precautions, he turned towards them just as an expression of
+indignant enquiry broke from Philippa's lips. Helen sprang to her feet,
+and Philippa gripped the sides of her chair. The newcomer advanced a few
+steps nearer to them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual silence
+was, that in those few seconds they jointly conceived definite and
+lasting impressions of the man who was to become, during the next few
+weeks, an object of the deepest concern to both of them. The intruder
+was slightly built, of little more than medium height, of dark
+complexion, with an almost imperceptible moustache of military pattern,
+black hair dishevelled with the wind, and eyes of almost peculiar
+brightness. He carried himself with an assurance which was somewhat
+remarkable considering the condition of his torn and mud stained
+clothes, the very quality of which was almost undistinguishable. They
+both, curiously enough, formed the same instinctive conviction that,
+notwithstanding his tramplike appearance and his burglarious entrance,
+this was not a person to be greatly feared.
+
+The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and opened
+the conversation with some ceremony.
+
+"Ladies," he began, with a low bow, "in the first place let me offer
+my most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance to your
+house."
+
+Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him. The firelight
+played upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness
+from her face. Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had almost
+the appearance of a framed cameo. Her voice was quite steady, although
+its inflection betrayed some indignation.
+
+"Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+extraordinary behaviour?" she demanded.
+
+"It is my earnest intention to do so without delay," he assured her, his
+eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa. "Kindly pardon me."
+
+He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell, had
+made a stealthy attempt to slip past him. Her eyes flashed as she felt
+his fingers upon her arm.
+
+"How dare you attempt to stop me!" she exclaimed.
+
+"My dear Miss Fairclough," he remonstrated, "in the interests of all
+of us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+conversation. I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure of
+addressing Miss Fairclough?"
+
+There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in its
+way, impressive yet irritating. Helen appeared bereft of words and
+retreated to her place almost mildly. Philippa's very delicate eyebrows
+were drawn together in a slight frown.
+
+"You are acquainted with our names, then?"
+
+"Perfectly," was the suave reply. "You, I presume, are Lady Cranston? I
+may be permitted to add," he went on, looking at her steadfastly, "that
+the description from which I recognise you does you less than justice."
+
+"I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent," Philippa
+told him coldly.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. There was a slight smile upon his lips and
+his eyes twinkled.
+
+"Alas!" he murmured, "for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+circumstances of our meeting. Permit me to offer you what I trust you
+will accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction."
+
+"A letter of introduction," Philippa repeated, glancing at his
+disordered clothes, "and you come in through the window!"
+
+"Believe me," the intruder assured her, "it was the only way."
+
+"Perhaps you will tell me, then," Philippa demanded, her anger gradually
+giving way to bewilderment, "what is wrong with my front door?"
+
+"For all I know, dear lady," the newcomer confessed, "yours may be
+an excellent front door. I would ask you, however, to consider my
+appearance. I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of my
+journey in somewhat ignominious fashion. My clothes--they were quite
+nice clothes, too, when I started," he added, looking down at himself
+ruefully--"have suffered. And, as you perceive, I have lost my hat."
+
+"Your hat?" Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+
+"Precisely! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging
+to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes,
+and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an
+explanation which I thought better avoided. I make myself quite clear, I
+trust?"
+
+"Clear?" Philippa murmured helplessly.
+
+"Clear?" Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+
+"I mean, of course," their visitor explained, "so far as regards my
+choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house."
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the
+bell. The intruder, however, barred her way. She looked up into his
+face and found it difficult to maintain her indignation. His expression,
+besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a respectful admiration.
+
+"Will you please let me pass?" she insisted.
+
+"Madam," he replied, "I am afraid that it is your intention to ring the
+bell."
+
+"Of course it is," she admitted. "Don't dare to prevent me."
+
+"Madam, I do not wish to prevent you," he assured her. "A few moments'
+delay--that is all I plead for."
+
+"Will you explain at once, sir," Philippa demanded, "what you mean by
+forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and by
+locking that door?"
+
+"I am most anxious to do so," was the prompt reply. "I am correct, of
+course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston--and you Miss
+Fairclough?" he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them. "A very
+great pleasure! I recognised you both quite easily, you see, from your
+descriptions."
+
+"From our descriptions?" Philippa repeated.
+
+The newcomer bowed.
+
+"The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated, of your
+brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fianc�, Miss Fairclough."
+
+"Richard?" Philippa almost shrieked.
+
+"You have seen Dick?" Helen gasped.
+
+The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes. He
+handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+
+"My letters of introduction," he explained, with a little sigh of
+relief. "I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to have
+some tea. I am almost starving."
+
+The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+
+"One moment, I beg," their visitor interposed. "I have established, I
+trust, my credentials. May I remind you that I was compelled to ensure
+the safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by locking that
+door. Are you likely to be disturbed?"
+
+"No, no! No chance at all," Philippa assured him.
+
+"If we are, we'll explain," Helen promised.
+
+"In that case," the intruder begged, "perhaps you will excuse me."
+
+He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew the
+curtains carefully across the French windows. Afterwards he made his way
+towards the tea-table. A little throbbing cry had broken from Helen's
+lips.
+
+"Philippa," she exclaimed, "it's from Dick! It's Dick's handwriting!"
+
+Philippa's reply was incoherent. She was tearing open her own envelope.
+With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these communications seized a
+sandwich in one hand and poured himself out some tea with the other. He
+ate and drank with the restraint of good-breeding, but with a voracity
+which gave point to his plea of starvation. A few yards away, the
+breathless silence between the two women had given place to an almost
+hysterical series of disjointed exclamations.
+
+"It's from Dick!" Helen repeated. "It's his own dear handwriting. How
+shaky it is! He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a friend."
+
+"I know--I know," Philippa murmured tremulously. "Our parcels have been
+discovered, and he got them all at once. Just fancy, Helen, he's really
+not so ill, after all!"
+
+They drew a little closer together.
+
+"You read yours out first," Helen proposed, "and then I'll read mine."
+
+Philippa nodded. Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+
+  MY DEAREST SISTER,
+
+  I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+  really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+  but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+  friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+  heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+  that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+  me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+  promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+
+  You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+  man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+
+  Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+  all the difference.
+
+  My love to you and to Henry.
+                                 Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
+
+  P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+  scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+  hope he came out all right.
+
+Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her
+teeth as though determined to ignore it.
+
+"Isn't it wonderful!" she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with glowing
+eyes. "Now yours, dear?"
+
+Helen's voice trembled as she read. Her eyes, too, at times were misty:
+
+  DEAREST,
+
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+
+                                               Always your lover,
+                                                       DICK.
+
+There were a few moments of significant silence. The girls were leaning
+together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads almost
+touching. Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and drink. He rose
+at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and coughed. They started,
+suddenly remembering his presence. Philippa turned impulsively towards
+him with outstretched hands.
+
+"I can't tell you how thankful we are to you," she declared.
+
+"Both of us," Helen echoed.
+
+He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+tea-table.
+
+"You permit?" he asked.
+
+"Of course," Philippa assented eagerly. "You will find some matches on
+the tray there. Do please help yourself. I am afraid that I must have
+seemed very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing. Won't you
+have some fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like some more
+sandwiches?"
+
+"Nothing more at present, thank you," he replied. "If you do not mind, I
+would rather continue our conversation."
+
+"These letters are wonderful," Philippa told him gratefully. "You know
+from whom they come, of course. Dick is my twin brother, and until the
+war we had scarcely ever been parted. Miss Fairclough here is engaged
+to be married to him. It is quite two months since we had a line, and
+I myself have been in London for the last three days, three very weary
+days, making enquiries everywhere."
+
+"I am very happy," he said, "to have brought you such good news."
+
+Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose itself
+upon the two women. They remembered the locked door, the secrecy of
+their visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+
+"May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?" Philippa
+enquired.
+
+"My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham," was the suave reply.
+
+"For the present?" Philippa repeated. "You have perhaps, some
+explanations to make," she went on, with some hesitation; "the condition
+of your clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?"
+
+"With your permission."
+
+"One moment," Helen intervened eagerly. "Is it possible, Mr. Lessingham,
+that you have seen Major Felstead lately?"
+
+"A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough. I am happy to tell
+you that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite reasonably
+well."
+
+Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came over
+to their visitor's side.
+
+"This was taken just before he went out the first time," she continued.
+"Is he anything like that now?"
+
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+
+"You must expect," he warned her, "that prison and hospital have had
+their effect upon him. He was gaining strength every day, however, when
+I left."
+
+Philippa held out her hand. She had been looking curiously at their
+visitor.
+
+"Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us about
+Dick," she insisted. "First there are some questions which I must ask."
+
+He bowed slightly and drew himself up. For a moment it seemed as though
+they were entering upon a duel--the slight, beautiful woman and the man
+in rags.
+
+"Just now," she began, "you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+brother, fifty-six hours ago."
+
+"That is so," he assented.
+
+"But it is impossible!" she pointed out. "My brother is a prisoner of
+war in Germany."
+
+"Precisely," he replied, "and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp. Let us talk about him,
+shall we?"
+
+"Are you mad," Helen demanded, "or are you trying to confuse us?"
+
+"My dear young lady!" he protested. "Why suppose such a thing? I was
+flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were, under the
+circumstances, perfectly rational."
+
+"But you are talking nonsense," Philippa insisted. "You say that you saw
+Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago. You cannot mean us to believe that
+fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg."
+
+"That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you," he agreed.
+
+"But it isn't possible!" Helen gasped.
+
+"Quite, I assure you," he continued; "in fact, we should have been
+here before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along the
+coast. There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here, which we were
+credibly informed had once been fired without the slightest accident."
+
+Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+
+"He's raving!" she decided.
+
+"He isn't!" Helen cried, with sudden divination. "Is that your hat?" she
+asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+
+"It is," he admitted with a smile, "but I do not think that I will claim
+it."
+
+"You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!"
+
+Lessingham extended his hand.
+
+"Softly, please," he begged. "You have, I gather, arrived at the
+truth, but for the moment shall it be our secret? I made an exceedingly
+uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the Zeppelin which
+passed over Dutchman's Common last night."
+
+"Then," Philippa cried, "you are a German!"
+
+"My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune," Lessingham confessed.
+"Do you think that none other than Germans ride in Zeppelins?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation. The
+conversation, never without its emotional tendencies, at once changed
+its character. Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat lurking all
+the time in her tone and manner, became its guiding spirit.
+
+"We may enquire your name?" she asked.
+
+"I am the Baron Maderstrom," was the prompt reply. "For the purpose of
+my brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the name of
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment."
+
+"Maderstrom," Philippa repeated. "You were at Magdalen with my brother."
+
+"For three terms," he assented.
+
+"You have visited at Wood Norton. It was only an accident, then, that I
+did not meet you."
+
+"It is true," he answered, with a bow. "I received the most charming
+hospitality there from your father and mother."
+
+"Why, you are the friend," Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his hands,
+"of whom Dick speaks in his letter!"
+
+"It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+Felstead," was the grave admission. "He and I, during our college days,
+were more than ordinarily intimate. I saw his name in one of the lists
+of prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg."
+
+A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa brushed
+her away.
+
+"Please let me speak," she said. "You have brought us these letters from
+Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you did
+not risk your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply as
+his ambassador. There is something beyond this in your visit to this
+country. You may be a Swede, but is it not true that at the present
+moment you are in the service of an enemy?"
+
+Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+
+"You are entirely right," he murmured.
+
+"Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask of us?"
+
+"Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration," Lessingham assured
+her. "I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for those which I
+have rendered and those which I may yet render to your brother."
+
+"And that favour?"
+
+Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+
+"A suit of your brother's clothes," he replied, "and a room in which
+to change. The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to your
+ingenuity."
+
+"Anything else?"
+
+"It is my wish," he continued, "to remain in this neighbourhood for a
+short time--perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month. I should value your
+introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of such hospitality as
+may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances."
+
+"As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+
+"Beyond a doubt."
+
+There was a moment's silence. Philippa's face had become almost stony.
+She took a step towards the telephone. Lessingham, however, held out his
+hand.
+
+"Your purpose?" he enquired.
+
+"I am going to ring up the Commandant here," she told him, "and explain
+your presence in this house."
+
+"An heroic impulse," he observed, "but too impulsive."
+
+"We shall see," she retorted. "Will you let me pass?"
+
+His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+
+"Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you," he suggested. "I am
+here at your mercy. I promise you that under no circumstances will I
+attempt any measure of violence. From any fear of that, I trust my name
+and my friendship with your brother will be sufficient guarantee."
+
+"Continue, then," Philippa assented.
+
+"You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case," he begged.
+
+"We must!" Helen exclaimed. "We must, Philippa! Please!"
+
+"You shall have your ten minutes," Philippa conceded.
+
+He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+hearth-rug, his hands behind him. He addressed himself to Philippa. It
+was Philippa who had become his judge.
+
+"I will claim nothing from you," he began, "for the services which I
+have rendered to Richard. Our friendship was a real thing, and, finding
+him in such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances, have done
+all that I have done. I am well paid for this by the thanks which you
+have already proffered me."
+
+"No thanks--nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+recompense," Helen declared energetically.
+
+"Let me speak for a moment of the future," he continued. "Supposing you
+ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here? Well, that
+will be the end of me, without a doubt. You will have done what seemed
+to you to be the right thing, and I hope that that consciousness will
+sustain you, for, believe me, though it may not be at my will, your
+brother's life will most certainly answer for mine."
+
+There was a slight pause. A sob broke from Helen's throat. Even
+Philippa's lip quivered.
+
+"Forgive me," he went on, "if that sounds like a threat. It was not so
+meant. It is the simple truth. Let me hurry on to the future. I ask so
+little of you. It is my duty to live in this spot for one month. What
+harm can I do? You have no great concentration of soldiers here, no
+docks, no fortifications, no industry. And in return for the slight
+service of allowing me to remain here unmolested, I pledge my word that
+Richard shall be set at liberty and shall be here with you within two
+months."
+
+Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted
+with eagerness. She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her whole
+attitude an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+
+"Philippa, you will not hesitate? You cannot?"
+
+"I must," Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation. "I love Dick
+more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen, we have to
+remember, before everything, that we are English women. We have to
+put our human feelings behind us. We are learning every day to make
+sacrifices. You, too, must learn, dear. My answer to you, Baron
+Maderstrom--or Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call yourself--is no."
+
+"Philippa, you are mad!" Helen exclaimed passionately. "Didn't I have to
+realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully, the day
+after we were engaged? Haven't I realised the duty of cheerfulness and
+sacrifice through all these weary months? But there is a limit to
+these things, Philippa, a sense of proportion which must be taken
+into account. It's Dick's life which is in the balance against some
+intangible thing, nothing that we could ever reproach ourselves with,
+nothing that could bring real harm upon any one. Oh, I love my country,
+too, but I want Dick! I should feel like his murderess all my life, if I
+didn't consent!"
+
+"It occurs to me," Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa, "that
+Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered."
+
+"Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?" Philippa
+demanded, with a little break in her voice. "Richard is my twin brother,
+he is the dearest thing in life to me. Can't you realise, though, that
+what you ask of us is treason?"
+
+"It really doesn't amount to that," Lessingham assured her. "In my own
+heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand. No
+object that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is worth the
+life of a man like Richard Felstead."
+
+"Oh, he's right!" Helen exclaimed. "Think, Philippa! What is there here
+which the whole world might not know? There are no secrets in Dreymarsh.
+We are miles away from everywhere. For my sake, Philippa, I implore you
+not to be unreasonable."
+
+"In plain words," Lessingham intervened, "do not be quixotic, Lady
+Cranston. There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life on the
+other. You see, the scales do not balance."
+
+"Can't you realise, though," Philippa answered, "what that idea
+means? It is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs from a
+principle."
+
+"What are principles against love?" Helen demanded, almost fiercely. "A
+sister may prate about them, Philippa. A wife couldn't. I'd sacrifice
+every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect, myself and all
+that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!"
+
+There was a brief, throbbing silence. Helen was feverishly clutching
+Philippa's hand. Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face
+into which he gazed. There were no women like this in his own country.
+
+"Dear lady," he said, and for the first time his own voice shook, "I
+abandon my arguments. I beg you to act as you think best for your own
+future happiness. The chances of life or death are not great things for
+either men like your brother or for me. I would not purchase my end, nor
+he his life, at the expense of your suffering. You see, I stand on one
+side. The telephone is there for your use."
+
+"You shan't use it!" Helen cried passionately. "Phillipa, you shan't!"
+
+Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone out of
+her face. Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth was twitching
+with emotion. She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+
+"My dear, I can't! I can't!" she sobbed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Philippa's breakdown was only momentary. With a few brusque words
+she brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered
+equanimity.
+
+"To be practical," she began, "we have no time to lose. I will go
+and get a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take Mr.
+Lessingham into the gun room. Afterwards, perhaps you will have time to
+ring up the hotel."
+
+Lessingham took a quick step towards her,--almost as though he were
+about to make some impetuous withdrawal. Philippa turned and met
+his almost pleading gaze. Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+self-abnegation.
+
+"I am in command of the situation," she continued, a little more
+lightly. "Every one must please obey me. I shan't be more than five
+minutes."
+
+She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the door for
+her. He stood for a moment looking at the place where she had vanished.
+Then he turned round.
+
+"Major Felstead's description," he said quietly, "did not do his sister
+justice."
+
+"Philippa is a dear," Helen declared enthusiastically. "Just for a
+moment, though, I was terrified. She has a wonderful will."
+
+"How long has she been married?"
+
+"About six years."
+
+"Are there--any children?"
+
+Helen shook her head.
+
+"Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us."
+
+"Six years!" Lessingham repeated. "Why, she seems no more than a child.
+Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior."
+
+"Sixteen years," Helen told him. "Philippa is twenty-nine. And now,
+don't be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me. I want to show
+you where to change your clothes."
+
+She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a small
+apartment across the passage.
+
+"If you'll wait in there," she begged, "I'll bring the clothes to you
+directly they come. I am going to telephone now."
+
+"So many thanks," he answered. "I should like a pleasant bedroom and
+sitting room, and a bathroom if possible. My luggage you will find
+already there. A friend in London has seen to that."
+
+She looked at him curiously.
+
+"You are very thorough, aren't you?" she remarked.
+
+"The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are," he
+replied. "One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the mightiest
+chain."
+
+She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+
+"Number three, please," she began. "Are you the hotel? The manager?
+Good! I am speaking for Lady Cranston. She wishes a sitting-room,
+bedroom and bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving
+to-day--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham. You have his luggage already, I believe.
+Please do the best you can for him.--Certainly.--Thank you very much."
+
+She set down the receiver. The door was quickly opened and shut.
+Philippa reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+
+"Why, you've brought his grey suit," Helen cried in dismay, "the one he
+looks so well in!"
+
+"Don't be an idiot," Philippa scoffed. "I had to bring the first I could
+find. Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's sake see that he
+hurries! Henry's train is due, and he may be here at any moment."
+
+"I'll tell him," Helen promised. "I'll smuggle him out of the back way,
+if you like."
+
+Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+
+"A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!" she
+observed. "No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes, but, if
+the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and introduce him. Henry
+isn't likely to notice anything," she added, a little bitterly.
+
+Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+
+"You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?" the former asked
+anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," Philippa replied, without turning her head. "I don't
+know what may come of it, Helen. I have a queer sort of feeling about
+that man."
+
+Helen sighed. "I suppose," she confessed, "I am the narrowest person on
+earth. I can think of one thing, and one thing only. If Mr. Lessingham
+keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a month, perhaps six
+weeks--certainly soon!"
+
+"He will keep his word," Philippa said quietly. "He is that sort of
+man."
+
+The door on the other side of the room was softly opened. Lessingham's
+head appeared.
+
+"Could I have a necktie?" he asked diffidently. Philippa stretched out
+her hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+
+"Better give him this," she said, handing it over to Helen. "It is one
+of Henry's which I was mending.--Stop!"
+
+She put up her finger. They all listened.
+
+"The car!" Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet. "That is
+Henry! Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen," she continued, "and wait
+until he is ready. Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller, and bring
+him in presently."
+
+Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+
+Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door. In a moment it was
+thrown open. Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+
+"I went to meet him, Mummy," she explained. "No uniform--isn't it a
+shame!"
+
+Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife. There was
+a shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather
+hesitating approach.
+
+"Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil," he told her. "I had to make a
+call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street. Any luck?"
+
+She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+
+"Henry," she said earnestly, "do you know I am so much more anxious to
+hear your news."
+
+"Mine will keep," he replied. "What about Richard?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I spent the whole of my time making enquiries," she sighed, "and every
+one was fruitless. I failed to get the least satisfaction from any one
+at the War Office. They know nothing, have heard nothing."
+
+"I'm ever so sorry to hear it," Sir Henry declared sympathetically. "You
+mustn't worry too much, though, dear. Where's Helen?"
+
+"She is in the gun room with a caller."
+
+"With a caller?" Nora exclaimed. "Is it any one from the Depot? I must
+go and see."
+
+"You needn't trouble," her stepmother replied. "Here they are, coming
+in."
+
+The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and Hamar
+Lessingham and Helen entered together. Lessingham was entirely at his
+ease,--their conversation, indeed, seemed almost engrossing. He came at
+once across the room on realising Sir Henry's presence.
+
+"This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham--my husband," Philippa said. "Mr.
+Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and he
+have been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences."
+
+The two men shook hands.
+
+"I found time also to examine your Leech prints," Lessingham remarked.
+"You have some very admirable examples."
+
+"Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days," Sir Henry admitted. "One
+or two of them are very good, I believe. Are you staying in these parts
+long, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"Perhaps for a week or two," was the somewhat indifferent reply. "I am
+told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I have come
+down here to pull up again after a slight illness."
+
+"A dreary spot just now," Sir Henry observed, "but the air's all right.
+Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"I have done a little of it," the visitor confessed. Sir Henry's face
+lit up. He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+
+"I don't mind telling you," he confided as he cut the string, "that I
+don't think there's another sport like it in the world. I have tried
+most of them, too. When I was a boy I was all for shooting, perhaps
+because I could never get enough. Then I had a season or two at Melton,
+though I was never much of a horseman. But for real, unadulterated
+excitement, for sport that licks everything else into a cocked hat, give
+me a strong sea rod, a couple of traces, just enough sea to keep on the
+bottom all the time, and the codling biting. Look here, did you ever see
+a mackerel spinner like that?" he added, drawing one out of the parcel
+which he had untied. "Look at it, all of you."
+
+Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers. Philippa, a little
+ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a
+newspaper.
+
+"Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of sport
+just now," Sir Henry explained good-humouredly. "All the same I argue
+that one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or other."
+
+"Quite right, Dad!" Nora agreed. "We must carry on, as the Colonel says.
+All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval uniform, with
+lots of gold braid on your sleeve. I think they might have made you an
+admiral, Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge."
+
+"I am afraid," her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the spinner
+which Lessingham was holding, "that that is a consideration which didn't
+seem to weigh with them much. Look at the glitter of it," he went on,
+taking up another of the spinners. "You see, it's got a double swivel,
+and they guarantee six hundred revolutions a minute."
+
+"I must plead ignorance," Lessingham regretted, "of everything connected
+with mackerel spinning."
+
+"It's fine sport for a change," Sir Henry declared. "The only thing is
+that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars in.
+By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa? Have you heard whether
+there are any mackerel in?"
+
+Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+
+"Mackerel!" she repeated sarcastically.
+
+"Have you any objection to the fish, dear?" Sir Henry enquired blandly.
+
+Philippa made no reply. Her husband frowned and turned towards
+Lessingham.
+
+"You see," he complained a little irritably, "my wife doesn't approve of
+my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but, hang it
+all, what are you to do when you reach my age? Thinks I ought to be a
+special constable, don't you, Philippa?"
+
+"Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?" she asked, without looking
+up from her paper.
+
+Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+
+"See something more of you, I hope," Sir Henry remarked hospitably, as
+he conducted his guest to the door. "Where are you staying here?"
+
+"At the hotel."
+
+"Which?"
+
+"I did not understand that there was more than one," Lessingham replied.
+"I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh."
+
+"There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa
+observed, turning towards him. "Why do you ask such an absurd question,
+Henry? The 'Grand' is full of soldiers. Come and see us whenever you
+feel inclined, Mr. Lessingham."
+
+"I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,"
+were the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself out.
+
+Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda. Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though waiting
+patiently for his return. Helen and Nora had already obeyed the summons
+of the dressing bell.
+
+"Henry, I want to hear your news," she insisted. He threw himself into
+an easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's workbasket.
+
+"Where's that tie of mine you were mending?" he asked. "Is it finished
+yet?"
+
+"It is upstairs somewhere," she replied. "No, I have not finished it.
+Why do you ask? You have plenty, haven't you?"
+
+"Drawers full," he admitted cheerfully. "Half of them I can never wear,
+though. I like that black and white fellow. Your friend Lessingham was
+wearing one exactly like it."
+
+"It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"Seems to have the family taste in clothes," Sir Henry continued,
+stroking his chin. "That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the same
+pattern as the suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw him in
+mufti."
+
+"They probably go to the same tailor," Philippa remarked equably.
+
+Sir Henry abandoned the subject. He was once more engrossed in an
+examination of the mackerel spinners.
+
+"You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble," he ventured
+presently.
+
+Philippa turned and looked at him. Her eyes were usually very sweet and
+soft and her mouth delightful. Just at that moment, however, there were
+new and very firm lines in her face.
+
+"Henry," she said sternly, "you are purposely fencing with me. Mr.
+Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and goings, are
+not what I want to hear or talk about. You went to London, unwillingly
+enough, to keep your promise to me. I want to know whether you have
+succeeded in getting anything from the Admiralty?"
+
+"Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear," he answered with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?" she
+persisted. "You may have been out of the service too long for them to
+start you with a modern ship, but surely they could have given you an
+auxiliary cruiser, or a secondary command of some sort?"
+
+"They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear," he confessed. "My name's on
+a list, they said--"
+
+"Oh, that list!" Philippa interrupted angrily. "Henry, I really can't
+bear it. Couldn't they find you anything on land?"
+
+"My dear girl," he replied a little testily, "what sort of a figure
+should I cut in an office! No one can read my writing, and I couldn't
+add up a column of figures to save my life. What is it?" he added, as
+the door opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+
+"Dumble is here to see you, sir."
+
+"Show him in at once," his master directed with alacrity. "Come in,
+Jimmy," he went on, raising his voice. "I've got something to show you
+here."
+
+Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together. She swept past her
+husband on her way to the door.
+
+"I hope you will be so good," she said, looking back, "as to spare me
+half an hour of your valuable time this evening. This is a subject which
+I must discuss with you further at once."
+
+"As urgent as all that, eh?" Sir Henry replied, stopping to light a
+cigarette. "Righto! You can have the whole of my evening, dear, with the
+greatest of pleasure.--Now then, Jimmy!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity for
+silence. He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his hat in
+his hand. Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did not for a moment
+address his visitor. There was a subtle but unmistakable change in his
+appearance as he stood with his hands in his pockets, and a frown on
+his forehead, whistling softly to himself, his eyes fixed upon the door
+through which his wife had vanished. He swung round at last towards the
+telephone.
+
+"Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?" he directed.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+Sir Henry took up the receiver. He dropped his voice a little, although
+it was none the less distinct.
+
+"Number one--police-station, please.--Hullo there! The inspector
+about?--That you, Inspector?--Sir Henry Cranston speaking. Could you
+just step round?--Good! Tell them to show you straight into the library.
+You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights, eh? Thank you."
+
+He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+
+"Well, Jimmy," he enquired, "all serene down in the village, eh?"
+
+"So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke as
+shouldn't be."
+
+"A lazy lot they are," Sir Henry observed.
+
+"They don't look far beyond the end of their noses."
+
+"Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't," was the cautious reply.
+
+Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Jimmy," he admitted.
+
+"That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with ideas."
+
+"He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble," Dumble
+declared. "He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know he
+put Grice's lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday week,
+but that don't amount to anything. He was dead drunk for three days
+afterwards."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy," he confided, as he threw
+open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the further wall.
+"No strangers about, eh?"
+
+"Not a sign of one, sir."
+
+Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+
+"Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?" his visitor asked.
+
+"I don't think it is necessary," Sir Henry replied. "They've all gone up
+to change. Now listen to me, Jimmy."
+
+He leaned forward and touched a spring. The false back of the cabinet,
+with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks and tackle,
+slowly rolled back. Before them stood a huge chart, wonderfully executed
+in red, white and yellow.
+
+"That's a marvellous piece of work, sir," the fisherman observed
+admiringly.
+
+"Best thing I ever did in my life," Sir Henry agreed. "Now see here,
+Jimmy. We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat, according to the
+wind. We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass Dead Man's Rock on the
+left side of the waterway, and keep straight on until we get Budden Wood
+on the church tower. You follow me?"
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+"We make for the headland from there. You see, we shall be outside the
+Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up. Put all the fishing
+tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait. We must never lose sight
+of the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our lives is to catch fish."
+
+"That's right, sir," was the hearty assent.
+
+"We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then," Sir Henry decided.
+
+"The tide'll be on the flow by that time," Jimmy observed, "and we'll
+get off from the staith breakwater. That do be a fine piece of work and
+no mistake," he added, as the false back of the cabinet glided slowly to
+its place.
+
+Sir Henry chuckled.
+
+"It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy," he said.
+"I've got the seaweed on that, pretty well. You'll take a drop of whisky
+on your way out?" he added. "Mills will look after you."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir."
+
+Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+
+"The inspector is here to see you, sir," he announced. "He did mention
+something about the lights. I'm sure we've all been most careful. Even
+her ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom."
+
+"Show the inspector in," Sir Henry directed, "and I'll hear what he has
+to say. And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a cigar."
+
+"Wishing you good night, sir," the latter said, as he followed Mills.
+"I'll be punctual in the morning. Looks to me as though we might have
+good sport."
+
+"We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy," his employer replied cheerfully.
+"Come in, Inspector."
+
+The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+attention. Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door. He
+remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+
+"Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector," he observed, sitting on the
+edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette. "Any fresh
+arrivals?"
+
+"None, sir," the man reported, "of any consequence that I can see. There
+are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady for the
+Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night. There was
+a commercial traveller came in the first train this morning, but he went
+on during the afternoon."
+
+"Hm! What about a Mr. Lessingham--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+
+"I haven't heard of him, sir."
+
+"Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?"
+
+"Not this evening, sir. I met the Midland and Great Northern train in
+myself. Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here."
+
+"And I came the other way myself," Sir Henry reflected.
+
+"Now you come to mention the matter, sir," the inspector continued,
+"I was up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about
+addressed to a name somewhat similar to that."
+
+"Probably sent on in advance, eh?"
+
+"There could be no other way, sir," the inspector replied, "unless the
+registration paper has been mislaid. I'll step up to the hotel this
+evening and make sure."
+
+"You'll oblige me very much, if you will. By Jove," Sir Henry added,
+looking towards the door, "I'd no idea it was so late!"
+
+Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black net
+gown, was standing in the doorway. She looked at the inspector, and for
+a moment the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+
+"Is anything the matter?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+"Nothing in the world, my dear," her husband assured her. "I am
+frightfully sorry I'm so late. Jimmy stayed some time, and then the
+inspector here looked in about our lights. Just a little more care in
+this room at night, he thinks. We'll see to it, Inspector."
+
+"I am very much obliged, sir," the man replied. "Sorry to be under the
+necessity of mentioning it."
+
+Sir Henry opened the door.
+
+"You'll find your own way out, won't you?" he begged. "I'm a little
+late."
+
+The inspector saluted and withdrew. Sir Henry glanced round.
+
+"I won't be ten minutes, Philippa," he promised. "I had no idea it was
+so late."
+
+"Come here one moment, please," she insisted.
+
+He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small
+table near which she had paused.
+
+"What is it, dear?" he enquired. "We are going to leave our talk till
+after dinner, aren't we?"
+
+She looked him in the face. There was an anxious light in her eyes, and
+she was certainly not herself. "Of course! I only wanted to know--it
+seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to the
+inspector, as I came into the room. Are you sure that it was the lights
+he came around about? There isn't anything else wrong, is there?"
+
+"What else could there be?" he asked wonderingly.
+
+"I have no idea," she replied, with well-simulated indifference. "I was
+only asking you whether there was anything else?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+
+"Thank you," she said. "Do hurry, please. I have a new cook and she
+asked particularly whether we were punctual people."
+
+"Six minutes will see me through it," Sir Henry promised, making for the
+door. "Come to think of it, I missed my lunch. I think I'll manage it in
+five."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening. The new
+cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having dined
+exceedingly well. He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before a blazing
+wood fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of cigarettes, and
+his wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few feet away.
+
+"Quite a remarkable change in Helen," he observed. "She was in the
+depths of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems positively
+cheerful."
+
+"Helen varies a great deal," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found her
+more depressed than ever," Sir Henry went on. "She hoped so much from
+your trip to London, and you apparently accomplished nothing."
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"And you have had no letters?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's natural
+inconsistency.--Philippa, dear!"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I am glad to be at home. I am glad to see you sitting there. I know you
+are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch at me. Won't
+you launch it and let's get it over?"
+
+Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned to
+face her husband. He made a little grimace.
+
+"Don't look so severe," he begged. "You frighten me before you begin."
+
+"I'm sorry," she said, "but my face probably reflects my feelings. I am
+hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry."
+
+"That's a good start, anyway," he groaned.
+
+"We have been married six years," Philippa went on, "and I admit at once
+that I have been very happy. Then the war came. You know quite well,
+Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very fond of you, yet
+it never occurred to me for a moment but that, like every other woman, I
+should have to lose my husband for a time.--Stop, please," she insisted,
+as he showed signs of interrupting. "I know quite well that it was
+through my persuasions you retired so early, but in those days there was
+no thought of war, and I always had it in my mind that if trouble came
+you would find your way back to where you belonged."
+
+"But, my dear child, that is all very well," Sir Henry protested, "but
+it's not so easy to get back again. You know very well that I went up to
+the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the war started."
+
+"Yes, and what happened?" Philippa demanded. "You were, in a measure,
+shelved. You were put on a list and told that you would hear from
+them--a sort of Micawber-like situation with which you were perfectly
+satisfied. Then you took that moor up in Scotland and disappeared for
+nearly six months."
+
+"I was supplying the starving population with food," he reminded her
+genially. "We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market, not to
+speak of the salmon. We had some very fair golf, too, some of the time."
+
+"Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your diversions!"
+Philippa said scornfully. "Sometimes," she continued, "I wonder whether
+you are quite responsible, Henry. How you can even talk of these things
+when every man of your age and strength is fighting one way or another
+for his country, seems marvellous to me. Do you realise that we are
+fighting for our very existence? Do you realise that my own father, who
+is fifteen years older than you, is in the firing line? This is a small
+place, of course, but there isn't a man left in it of your age, with
+your physique, who has had the slightest experience in either service,
+who isn't doing something."
+
+"I can't do more than send in applications," he grumbled. "Be
+reasonable, my dear Philippa. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to
+find a job for a sailor who has been out of it as long as I have."
+
+"So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all did
+in London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there is
+generally a polite little silence. No one believes it. I don't believe
+it."
+
+"Philippa!"
+
+Sir Henry turned in his chair. His cigar was burning now idly between
+his fingers. His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+
+"Well, I don't," she reiterated. "You can be angry, if you will--in
+fact I think I should prefer you to be angry. You take no pains at
+the Admiralty. You just go there and come away again, once a year or
+something like that. Why, if I were you, I wouldn't leave the place
+until they'd found me something--indoors or outdoors, what does it
+matter so long as your hand is on the wheel and you are doing your
+little for your country? But you--what do you care? You went to town
+to get a job--and you come back with new mackerel spinners! You are off
+fishing to-morrow morning with Jimmy Dumble. Somewhere up in the North
+Sea, to-day and to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives
+for their country. What do you care? You will sit there smoking your
+pipe and catching dabs!"
+
+"Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?" her husband said
+quietly.
+
+"I want to be," she retorted. "I should like you to feel that I am. In
+any case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall hold with
+you on the subject."
+
+"Well, thank God for that, anyway!" he observed, strolling to the
+chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack. "I think you've said
+about enough."
+
+"I haven't finished," she told him ominously.
+
+"Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over," he
+begged.
+
+"Oh, you're impossible!" Philippa exclaimed bitterly. "Listen. I give
+you one chance more. Tell me the truth? Is there anything in your
+health of which I do not know? Is there any possible explanation of your
+extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason or other, you have kept
+to yourself? Give me your whole confidence."
+
+Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough. He stood looking down at
+her a little wistfully.
+
+"My dear," he told her, "I have nothing to say except this. You are my
+very precious wife. I have loved you and trusted you since the day of
+our marriage. I am content to go on loving and trusting you, even though
+things should come under my notice which I do not understand. Can't you
+accept me the same way?"
+
+Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+
+"Accept you the same way? How can I! There is nothing in my life to
+compare in any way with the tragedy of your--"
+
+She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence. He waited
+patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+
+"Of my what?"
+
+Philippa compromised.
+
+"Lethargy," she pronounced triumphantly.
+
+"An excellent word," he murmured.
+
+"It is too mild a one, but you are my husband," she remarked.
+
+"That reminds me," he said quietly. "You are my wife."
+
+"I know it," she admitted, "but I am also a woman, and there are limits
+to my endurance. If you can give me no explanation of your behaviour,
+Henry, if you really have no intention of changing it, then there is
+only one course left open for me."
+
+"That sounds rather alarming--what is it?" he demanded.
+
+Philippa lifted her head a little. This was the pronouncement towards
+which she had been leading.
+
+"From to-day," she declared, "I cease to be your wife."
+
+His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he was
+filling his pipe. He turned and looked at her.
+
+"You what?"
+
+"I cease to be your wife."
+
+"How do you manage that?" he asked.
+
+"Don't jest," she begged. "It hurts me so. What I mean is surely plain
+enough. I will continue to live under your roof if you wish it, or I
+am perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton. I will continue to bear
+your name because I must, but the other ties between us are finished."
+
+"You don't mean this, Philippa," he said gravely.
+
+"But I do mean it," she insisted. "I mean every word I have spoken. So
+far as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance."
+
+There was a knock at the door. Mills entered with a note upon a salver.
+Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife, and tore open
+the envelope.
+
+"There will be no answer, Mills," he said.
+
+The man withdrew. Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:--
+
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+  SIR,
+
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+
+                                           Respectfully yours,
+                                              JOHN HAYLOCK.
+
+"Is your note of interest?" Philippa enquired.
+
+"In a sense, yes," he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat pocket.
+"I presume we can consider our late subject of conversation finished
+with?"
+
+"I have nothing more to say," she pronounced.
+
+"Very well, then," her husband agreed, "let us select another topic.
+This time, supposing I choose?"
+
+"You are welcome."
+
+"Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+Philippa had taken up her work. Her fingers ceased their labours, but
+she did not look up.
+
+"About Mr. Hamar Lessingham," she repeated. "Rather a limited subject, I
+am afraid."
+
+"I am not so sure," he said thoughtfully. "For instance, who is he?"
+
+"I have no idea," she replied. "Does it matter? He was at college with
+Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton. That is all that
+we know. Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any reasonable
+hospitality?"
+
+"I am not disputing it," Sir Henry assured her. "On the face of it, it
+seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him. On the other
+hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his coming here
+just now."
+
+"Really?" Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower over
+her work.
+
+"In the first place," her husband continued, "how did he arrive here?"
+
+"For all I know," she replied, "he may have walked."
+
+"A little unlikely. Still, he didn't come from London by either of the
+evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for him
+until about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to the
+hotel. So, you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief he did get
+here."
+
+"I took his rooms?" Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch at her
+heart.
+
+"Some one from here rang up, didn't they?" Sir Henry went on carelessly.
+"I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel."
+
+"Where did you hear that?" she demanded.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+
+"I have no doubt," he continued, "that the whole subject of Mr. Hamar
+Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing. Yet he does seem to have
+arrived here under a little halo of coincidence."
+
+"I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that," Philippa remarked; "in
+fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing in the
+world. After all, although one scarcely remembers that since the war,
+this is a health resort, and the man has been ill."
+
+"Quite right," Sir Henry agreed. "You are not going to bed, dear?"
+
+Philippa had folded up her work. She stood for a moment upon the
+hearth-rug. The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+
+"May I say just one word more," she begged, "about our previous--our
+only serious subject of conversation? I have tried my best since we were
+married, Henry, to make you happy."
+
+"You know quite well," he assured her, "that you have succeeded."
+
+"Grant me one favour, then," she pleaded. "Give up your fishing
+expedition to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let me
+write to Lord Rayton. I am sure he would do something for you."
+
+"Of course he'd do something!" Her husband groaned. "I should get a
+censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth."
+
+"Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?" she asked,
+"than go on living the life you are living now?"
+
+"To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't," he declared
+bluntly. "What on earth use should I be in a land appointment? Why, no
+one could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely out of
+date. Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time."
+
+"You refuse to let me write, then?" she persisted.
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Wouldn't miss it for anything," he confessed.
+
+Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+
+"Henry, I've finished," she declared, holding out her hand to keep
+him away from her. "I've finished with you entirely. I would rather be
+married to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his country than to
+you. What I have said, I mean. Don't come near me. Don't try to touch
+me."
+
+She swept past him on her way to the door.
+
+"Not even a good-night kiss?" he asked, stooping down.
+
+She looked him in the eyes.
+
+"I am not a child," she said scornfully.
+
+He closed the door after her. For a moment he remained as though
+undecided whether to follow or not. His face had softened with her
+absence. Finally, however, he turned away with a little shrug of
+the shoulders, threw himself into his easy-chair and began to smoke
+furiously.
+
+The telephone bell disturbed his reflection. He rose at once and took up
+the receiver.
+
+"Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh. Trunk call? All right, I am here."
+
+He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+
+"Cranston?"
+
+"Speaking."
+
+"That's right. The message is Odino Berry, you understand? O-d-i-n-o
+b-e-r-r-y."
+
+"I've got it," Sir Henry replied. "Good night!" He hung up the receiver,
+crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers, and produced
+a black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock. He drew a key from
+his watch chain, opened the book, and ran his fingers down the O's.
+
+"Odino," he muttered to himself. "Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+information from Berlin.' Now Berry." He turned back. "'You are being
+watched by an enemy secret service agent.'"
+
+He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk. Then he
+strolled over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and soda
+from the tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+
+"We have trustworthy information from Berlin," he repeated to himself,
+"that you are being watched by an enemy secret service agent."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa insisted, "exactly what are you
+thinking of? You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below that
+I've climbed up on purpose to ask you."
+
+Lessingham held out his hand to steady her. They were standing on
+a sharp spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces,
+thrashing into little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which the
+twilight was already resting. For a moment or two neither of them could
+speak.
+
+"I was thinking of my country," he confessed. "I was looking through the
+shadows there, right across the North Sea."
+
+"To Germany?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Further away--to Sweden."
+
+"I forgot," she murmured. "You looked as though you were posing for a
+statue of some one in exile," she observed. "Come, let us go a little
+lower down--unless you want to stay here and be blown to pieces."
+
+"I was on my way back to the hotel," he answered quickly, as he followed
+her lead, "but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little lonely."
+
+"That," she declared, "is your own fault. I asked you to come to
+Mainsail Haul whenever you felt inclined."
+
+"As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived," he remarked
+with a smile, "you might, perhaps, by this time have had a little too
+much of me."
+
+"On the contrary," she told him, "I quite expected you yesterday
+afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been
+doing. So you were thinking about--over there?" she added, moving her
+head seawards.
+
+"Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts," he confessed, "and
+the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks."
+
+"Well, I should like to hear about the first half," she insisted.
+
+"Do you know," he replied, "there are times when even now this war seems
+to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading about,
+some wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable poets. I
+can't believe that millions of the flower of Germany's manhood and
+yours have perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly. And France--poor
+decimated France!"
+
+"Well, Germany started the war, you know," she reminded him.
+
+"Did she?" he answered. "I sometimes wonder. Even now I fancy, if the
+official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side, with their
+own case stated from their own point of view, even you might feel a
+little confused about that. Still, I am going to be very honest with
+you. I think myself that Germany wanted war."
+
+"There you are, then," she declared triumphantly. "The whole thing is
+her responsibility."
+
+"I do not quite go so far as that," he protested. "You see, the world is
+governed by great natural laws. As a snowball grows larger with rolling,
+so it takes up more room. As a child grows out of its infant clothes, it
+needs the vestments of a youth and then a man. And so with Germany. She
+grew and grew until the country could not hold her children, until her
+banks could not contain her money, until she stretched her arms out on
+every side and felt herself stifled. Germany came late into the world
+and found it parcelled out, but had she not a right to her place? She
+made herself great. She needed space."
+
+"Well," Philippa observed, "you couldn't suppose that other nations
+were going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their
+possessions, could you?"
+
+"Perhaps not," he admitted. "And yet, you see, the immutable law comes
+in here. The stronger must possess--not only the stronger by arms,
+mind, but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in science, by
+utilitarianism. The really cruel part, the part I was thinking of then,
+as I looked out across the sea, is that this crude and miserable resort
+to arms should be necessary."
+
+"If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as
+you," Philippa sighed, "one feels that there might be some hope for the
+future!"
+
+"I am not alone," he assured her, "but, you see, all over Germany there
+is spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen--devotion
+to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser. Independent thought
+has made Germany great in science, in political economy, in economics.
+But independent thought is never turned towards her political destinies.
+Those are shaped for her. For good or for evil her children have learnt
+obedience."
+
+They were descending the hillside now. At their feet lay the little
+town, black and silent.
+
+"You have helped me to understand a little," Philippa said. "You put
+things so gently and yet so clearly. Now tell me, will you not, how it
+is that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for Germany?"
+
+"That is very simple," he confessed. "My mother was a German, and when
+she died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a very
+considerable fortune. These I could never have inherited unless I
+had chosen to do my military service in Germany. My family is an
+impoverished one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent upon me.
+Under the circumstances, hesitation on my part was impossible."
+
+"But when the war came?" she queried.
+
+He looked at her in surprise.
+
+"What was there left for me then?" he demanded. "Naturally I heard
+nothing but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey. I was in that
+mad rush through Belgium. I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else I should
+have followed hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat of yours.
+As it was, I lay for many months in hospital. I joined again--shall I
+confess it?--almost unwillingly. The bloodthirstiness of it all sickened
+me. I fought at Ypres, but I think that it was something of the courage
+of despair, of black misery. I was wounded again and decorated. I
+suppose I shall never be fit for the front again. I tried to turn to
+account some of my knowledge of England and English life. Then they sent
+me here."
+
+"Here, of all places in the world!" Philippa repeated wonderingly.
+"Just look at us! We have a single line of railway, a perfectly
+straightforward system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers being
+trained, no mysteries, no industries--nothing. What terrible scheme are
+you at work upon, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"Between you and me," he confided, "I am not at all sure that I am not
+here on a fool's errand--at least I thought so when I arrived."
+
+She glanced up at him.
+
+"And why not now?"
+
+He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly
+away. There was a moment's queer, strained silence. Before them loomed
+up the outline of Mainsail Haul.
+
+"You will come in and have some tea, won't you?" she invited.
+
+"If I may. Believe me," he added, "it has only been a certain diffidence
+that has kept me away so long."
+
+She made no reply, and they entered the house together. They found Helen
+and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having tea in the
+drawing-room. Lessingham slipped very easily into the pleasant little
+circle. If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners, and a sense of humour
+which every now and then displayed itself, were most attractive.
+
+"Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir," Harrison
+asked him. "He was at Magdalen a few years after Major Felstead, and I
+am sure you'd find plenty to talk about."
+
+"I am quite sure that we should," Lessingham replied. "May I come,
+perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous
+efforts to lead an absolutely quiet life here."
+
+"Whenever you like, sir. We sha'n't be able to show you anything very
+wild in the way of dissipation. Vintage port and a decent cigar are the
+only changes we can make for guests."
+
+Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit with
+her in a distant corner of the room.
+
+"I knew there was something I wanted to say to you," she began, "but
+somehow or other I forgot when I met you. My husband was very much
+struck with Helen's improved spirits. Don't you think that we had better
+tell him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major Felstead?"
+
+Lessingham agreed.
+
+"Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary way,"
+he advised. "I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of your husband,
+that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible that he might
+have associated them with me if you had mentioned them the other night.
+When is he coming back?"
+
+"I never know," Philippa answered with a sigh. "Perhaps to-night,
+perhaps in a week. It depends upon what sport he is having. You are not
+smoking."
+
+Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+
+"I find your husband," he said quietly, "rather an interesting type. We
+have no one like that in Germany. He almost puzzles me."
+
+Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+
+"There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one," she
+complained bitterly. "He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted to
+amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him. Why do
+you look at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping
+something back? I am not, I can assure you."
+
+"Perhaps I was wondering," he confessed, "how you really felt towards a
+husband whose outlook was so unnatural."
+
+She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+
+"Do you know," she said softly, "I feel, somehow or other, although we
+have known one another such a short time, as though we were friends,
+and yet that is a question which I could not answer. A woman must always
+have some secrets, you know."
+
+"A man may try sometimes to preserve his," he sighed, "but a woman is
+clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out."
+
+A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks. She welcomed Helen's
+approach almost eagerly.
+
+"A woman must first feel the will," she murmured, without glancing at
+him. "Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come and dine?"
+
+"Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion," Lessingham
+begged eagerly.
+
+"I haven't the least idea of doing so," Helen laughed, "so long as I may
+have--say just ten minutes to talk about Dick."
+
+"It is a bargain," he promised.
+
+"We shall be quite alone," Philippa warned him, "unless Henry arrives."
+
+"It is the great attraction of your invitation," he confessed.
+
+"At eight o'clock, then."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+"Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship."
+
+Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the piano
+before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival. Then she
+glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight.
+
+"You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me."
+
+Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room--awkward, unwieldly, nervous
+as usual. He entered as though in a hurry, and there was nothing in his
+manner to denote that he had spent the last few hours making up his mind
+to this visit.
+
+"I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston," he said,
+watching the closing of the door. "I will not take up more than five
+minutes of your time."
+
+"We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,"
+Philippa said hospitably. "Do sit down, please."
+
+Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+
+"It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston," he continued
+apologetically. "The fact of it is, however, that as Commandant here
+it is my duty to examine the bona fides of any strangers in the place.
+There is a gentleman named Lessingham staying at the hotel, who I
+understand gave your name as reference."
+
+Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent, as
+she gazed up at her visitor.
+
+"Why, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said. "Mr. Lessingham was at
+college with my brother, and one of his best friends. He has shot down
+at my father's place in Cheshire."
+
+"You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?"
+
+"My only brother."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston," Captain Griffiths
+declared. "I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+Philippa laughed.
+
+"It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about
+any one down here," she observed. "It really is a very harmless
+neighbourhood, isn't it?"
+
+"There isn't much going on, certainly," the Commandant admitted. "Very
+dull the place seems at times."
+
+"Now be perfectly frank," Philippa begged him. "Is there a single fact
+of importance which could be learnt in this place, worth communicating
+to the enemy? Is the danger of espionage here worth a moment's
+consideration?"
+
+"That," Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, "is not a
+question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand."
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to Helen,
+who had just entered the room.
+
+"Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths! He is making me feel
+quite creepy. There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants to know
+all about Mr. Lessingham."
+
+Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+
+"Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?" she
+observed, as she shook hands.
+
+"We can do more," Philippa declared. "We can help him to judge for
+himself. We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain Griffiths.
+Do stay."
+
+"I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this," Captain Griffiths
+replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice sound hoarser and
+more unpleasant. "It is most kind of you, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you
+will give me another opportunity."
+
+"I sha'n't think of it," Philippa insisted. "You must stay and dine
+to-night. We shall be a partie carr�e, for Nora goes to bed directly
+after dinner. I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set an extra
+place," she added.
+
+Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+complacency. He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced, with
+very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in every way
+a success. Towards its close, Philippa became a little thoughtful.
+She glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was sitting by her side,
+almost in admiration. His conversation, gay at times, always polished,
+was interlarded continually with those little social reminiscences
+inevitable amongst men moving in a certain circle of English society.
+Apparently Richard Felstead was not the only one of his college friends
+with whom he had kept in touch. The last remnants of Captain Griffiths'
+suspicions seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although
+his manner became in no way more genial.
+
+"Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?" Philippa asked her
+favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out a bridge table.
+
+"One adapts one's methods to one's adversary," he murmured, with a
+smile, "Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional
+suspicions. The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance with
+the ordinary English sports, is quite sufficient with a man like that."
+
+Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room. Philippa
+raised her eyes to her companion's.
+
+"You become more of a mystery than ever," she declared. "You are making
+me even curious. Tell me really why you have paid us this visit from the
+clouds?"
+
+She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question. For a moment
+the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed. His eyes
+glowed.
+
+"In search of new things," he answered.
+
+"Guns? Fortifications?"
+
+"Neither."
+
+A spirit of mischief possessed her. Lessingham's manner was baffling
+and yet provocative. For a moment the political possibilities of his
+presence faded away from her mind. She had an intense desire to break
+through his reserve.
+
+"Won't you tell me--why you came?"
+
+"I could tell you more easily," he answered in a low tone, "why it will
+be the most miserable day of my life when I leave."
+
+She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+
+"How delightful to be flirted with again!" she sighed. "And I thought
+all German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone compliments.
+Still, your secret, sir, please? That is what I want to know."
+
+"If you will have just a little patience!" he begged, leaning so close
+to her that their heads almost touched, "I promise that I will not leave
+this place before I tell it to you."
+
+Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his. She knew
+perfectly well what she ought to have done and she was singularly
+indisposed to do it. It was a most piquant adventure, after all, and
+it almost helped her to forget the trouble which had been sitting so
+heavily in her heart. Still avoiding his eyes, she called the others.
+
+"We are quite ready for bridge," she announced.
+
+They played four or five rubbers. Lessingham was by far the most expert
+player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners. The two men
+stood together for a moment or two at the sideboard, helping themselves
+to whisky and soda. Griffiths had become more taciturn than ever, and
+even Philippa was forced to admit that the latter part of the evening
+had scarcely been a success.
+
+"Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?" Griffiths asked.
+
+"Never," was the calm reply.
+
+"You are head and shoulders above our class down here."
+
+"Very good of you to say so," Lessingham replied courteously. "I held
+good cards to-night."
+
+"I wonder," Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and keeping
+his eyes fixed upon his companion, "what the German substitute for
+bridge is."
+
+"I wonder," Lessingham echoed.
+
+"As a nation," his questioner proceeded, "they probably don't waste as
+much time on cards as we do."
+
+Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent. He
+strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa. She, for her part,
+was watching Captain Griffiths.
+
+"So many thanks, Lady Cranston," Lessingham murmured, "for your
+hospitality."
+
+"And what about that secret?" she asked.
+
+"You see, there are two," he answered, looking down at her. "One I shall
+most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the one secret
+which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself. As for the
+other--"
+
+He hesitated. There was something almost like pain in his face. She
+broke in hastily.
+
+"I did not call you away to ask about either. I happened to notice
+Captain Griffiths just now. Do you know that he is watching you very
+closely?"
+
+"I had an idea of it," Lessingham admitted indifferently. "He is rather
+a clumsy person, is he not?"
+
+"You will be careful?" she begged earnestly. "Remember, won't you, that
+Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if anything should
+come out."
+
+"Nothing shall," he promised her. "I think you know, do you not, that,
+whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to protect you."
+
+For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly reprove
+his boldness. She had even to struggle to keep her tone as careless as
+her words.
+
+"You really are a delightful person!" she exclaimed. "How long is it
+since you descended from the clouds?"
+
+"Sometimes I think that I am there still," he answered, "but I have
+known you about seventy-six hours."
+
+"What precision?" she laughed. "It's a national characteristic, isn't
+it? Captain Griffiths," she continued, as she observed his approach, "if
+you really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with you. He is making
+fun of me. I don't allow even Dick's friends to do that."
+
+Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+
+"You must both come again very soon," their hostess concluded, as she
+shook hands. "I enjoyed our bridge immensely."
+
+The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden idea
+seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths. He turned back.
+
+"By-the-by, Lady Cranston," he asked, "have you heard anything from your
+brother?"
+
+Philippa shook her head sadly. Helen, who, unlike her friend, had not
+had the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur dramatic
+stage, turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+"Not a word," was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+
+Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+
+"Bad luck!" he said. "I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston. Good night once
+more."
+
+This time their departure was uninterrupted. Helen removed her
+handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at the
+closed door.
+
+"Do you believe," Helen asked seriously, "that Captain Griffiths has any
+suspicions?"
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"If he has, who cares?" she replied, a little defiantly. "The very idea
+of a duel of wits between those two men is laughable."
+
+"Perhaps so," Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+customary walks. The crystalline October sunshine, in which every
+distant tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed to
+gain a new clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed fields, the
+yellowing bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees, while the west
+wind, which had strewn the sea with white-flecked waves, brought down
+the leaves to form a carpet for their feet, and played strange music
+along the wood-crested slope. In the broken land through which they
+made their way, a land of trees and moorland, with here and there a
+cultivated patch, the yellow gorse still glowed in unexpected corners;
+queer, scentless flowers made splashes of colour in the hedgerows; a
+rabbit scurried sometimes across their path; a cock pheasant, after
+a moment's amazed stare, lowered his head and rushed for unnecessary
+shelter. The longer they looked upwards, the bluer seemed the sky. The
+grass beneath their feet was as green and soft as in springtime. Driven
+by the wind, here and there a white-winged gull sailed over their
+heads,--a cloud of them rested upon a freshly turned little square of
+ploughed land between two woods. A flight of pigeons, like torn leaves
+tossed about by the wind, circled and drifted above them. Philippa
+seated herself upon the trunk of a fallen tree and gazed contentedly
+about her.
+
+"If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be perfectly
+happy," she sighed. "I am sure my hair must look awful."
+
+Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+
+"I decline to say the correct thing," she declared. "I will only remind
+you that there will be no one here to look at it."
+
+"I am not so sure," Philippa replied. "These are the woods which the
+special constables haunt by day and by night. They gaze up every tree
+trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind hedges and watch
+for mysterious flashes."
+
+"Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?" Helen enquired,
+lazily. "I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the equipment
+of the melodramatic spy. As to Zeppelins, don't you remember he told us
+that he hated them and was terrified of bombs."
+
+"My dear," Philippa remonstrated, "Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude."
+
+"And yet,--" Helen began.
+
+"Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head," Philippa
+interrupted. "Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I believe that
+Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come over here to see
+if I am really like it."
+
+"He does behave rather like that," her companion admitted drily.
+
+Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+
+"Helen," she said severely, "don't be a cat."
+
+"If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour," Helen went on,
+picking up a pine cone and examining it, "I might astonish you."
+
+"You have an evil mind," Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette case.
+"What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes forgets to talk
+about Dick."
+
+"The poor man doesn't get much chance," Helen retorted, watching the
+blue smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+"Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?"
+
+"Literature--English and German," Philippa murmured demurely. "Mr.
+Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our English
+poets than any man I have met for years."
+
+"I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing."
+
+"Once more, don't be a cat," Philippa enjoined. "If you want me to
+confess it, I will own up at once. You know what a simple little thing
+I am. I admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a most
+interesting companion."
+
+"You mean," her friend observed drily "the Baron Maderstrom." Philippa
+looked around and frowned.
+
+"You are most indiscreet, Helen," she declared. "I have learnt something
+of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you that all spoken
+or written words are dangerous. There is a thoroughly British squirrel
+in that tree overhead, and I am sure he heard."
+
+"I suppose the sunshine has got into your head," Helen groaned.
+
+"If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+right," Philippa assented. "As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+depressed. Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast
+this morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or
+to-morrow. They must have landed somewhere down the coast."
+
+"You are a most undutiful wife," Helen pronounced severely. "I am sure
+Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little irresponsible, and
+it is almost pathetic to remember how much you were in love with him, a
+year or two ago."
+
+Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+
+"That was before the war," she sighed.
+
+"I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand
+him," Helen said thoughtfully.
+
+"No doubt," Philippa assented, "but you'd find the not understanding him
+a little more galling, if you were his wife. You see, I didn't know that
+I was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole."
+
+"I wonder," Helen reflected, "how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get on
+when they see more of one another."
+
+"I really don't care," Philippa observed indifferently.
+
+"I used to notice sometimes--that was soon after you were married,"
+Helen continued, "that Henry was just a little inclined to be jealous."
+
+Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea. There was a queer little smile
+upon her lips.
+
+"Well, if he still is," she said, "I'll give him something to be jealous
+about."
+
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham!" Helen murmured.
+
+Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham?" she repeated. "I don't think you'll find that
+he'll be in the least sorry for himself."
+
+"He may be in earnest," Helen reminded her friend. "You can be horribly
+attractive when you like, you know, Philippa."
+
+Philippa smiled sweetly.
+
+"It is just possible," she said, "that I may be in earnest myself. I've
+quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a helpless
+creature without a little admiration."
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet. Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+approaching through the wood.
+
+"You really aren't respectable, Philippa," she declared. "Throw away
+your cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up. Some one is coming."
+
+Philippa only moved her head lazily. The sunlight, which came down in
+a thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell straight
+upon her rather pale, defiant little face, with its unexpressed evasive
+charm, and seemed to find a new depth of colour in the red-gold of her
+disordered hair. Her slim, perfect body was stretched almost at full
+length, one leg drawn a little up, her hands carelessly drooping towards
+the grass. The cigarette was still burning in the corner of her lips.
+
+"I decline," she said, "to throw away my cigarette for any one."
+
+"Least of all, I trust," a familiar voice interposed, "for me."
+
+Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+resentfully at Lessingham. He was wearing a brown tweed knickerbocker
+suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+
+"Whatever are you doing up here," she demanded, "and do you know
+anything about our game laws? You can't come out into the woods here and
+shoot things just because you feel like it."
+
+He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+
+"That is quite all right," he assured her. "Your neighbour, Mr.
+Windover, to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring my
+gun out this morning and try and get a woodcock."
+
+"Gracious! You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?" Philippa
+demanded, looking around. Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"His car came for him at the other side of the wood," he explained. "He
+was wanted to go on the Bench. I elected to walk home."
+
+"And the woodcock?" she asked. "I adore woodcock."
+
+He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was lying
+amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin feathers
+under the silk band.
+
+"There," he said, handing it to her, "the first woodcock of the season.
+We got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope that you would
+like it. I shall leave it with the estimable Mills, on my return."
+
+"You must come and share it," Philippa insisted. "Those boys of Nora's
+are coming in to dinner. Your gift shall be the piece de resistance."
+
+"Then may I dine another night?" he begged. "This place encourages in me
+the grossest of appetites."
+
+"Have no fear," she replied. "You will never see that woodcock again. I
+shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow. I ordered dinner before I came
+out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise that you shall not
+go away hungry."
+
+"Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?" he asked,
+dropping his voice for a moment.
+
+She turned and studied him. Helen, who had strolled a few yards away,
+was knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some gorgeously
+coloured leaves from a solitary bramble bush. Lessingham had thrown his
+cap onto the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the unusual colour in
+his cheeks were both, in their way, becoming. His loose but well-fitting
+country clothes, his tie and soft collar, were all well-chosen and
+suitable. She admired his high forehead and his firm, rather proud
+mouth. His eyes as well as his tone were full of seriousness.
+
+"You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away across
+that terrible North Sea," she laughed.
+
+"There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do," he
+whispered.
+
+She picked up her hat and sighed.
+
+"Really," she said, "I think things are quite complicated enough as they
+are. I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your mission here
+and your real identity. I simply could not include a flirtation amongst
+my excitements."
+
+"I have never flirted," he assured her gravely.
+
+"Wise man," she pronounced, rising to her feet. "Come, let us go and
+help Helen pick leaves. She is scratching her fingers terribly, and I'm
+sure you have a knife. A dear, economical creature, Helen," she added,
+as they strolled along. "I am perfectly certain that those are destined
+to adorn my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums at sixpence each,
+you can't imagine how welcome they are. Come, produce the knife, Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+homeward. Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of
+the wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful
+fields, the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling stretch
+of green turf on the crown of the cliffs. Beyond was the foam-flecked
+blue sea, dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+
+"Would one believe," she asked satirically, "that there should be scope
+here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a--Mr. Lessingham!"
+
+"Remember that I was sent," he protested. "The error, if error there be,
+is not mine."
+
+"And after all," Helen reminded them both, "think how easily one may be
+misled by appearances. You couldn't imagine anything more honest than
+the faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees about, yet do you
+know, Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by burglars last night?"
+
+"Seriously?" he asked.
+
+"Without a doubt. Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to thieves.
+They could get in anywhere. Last night they chose the French windows and
+seem to have made themselves at home in the library."
+
+"I trust," Lessingham said, "that they did not take anything of value?"
+
+"They took nothing at all," Philippa sighed. "That is the humiliating
+part of it. They evidently didn't like our things."
+
+"How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?"
+Lessingham enquired.
+
+"So practical!" Philippa murmured. "As a matter of fact, I heard some
+one moving about, and I rang the alarm bell. Mills was downstairs
+almost directly and we heard some one running down the drive. The French
+windows were open, a chair was overturned in the library, and a drawer
+in my husband's desk was wide open."
+
+"The proof," Lessingham admitted, "is overwhelming. You were visited by
+a burglar. Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?"
+
+"Henry hasn't anything of value in the world," Philippa replied drily,
+"except his securities, and they are at the bank."
+
+"Without going so far as to contradict you," Lessingham observed, with a
+smile, "I still venture to disagree!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they had
+been weighing, admiringly.
+
+"You see that, Mills? You see that, Jimmy?" he pointed out. "Six and
+three-quarter pounds! I was right almost to an ounce. He's a fine
+fellow!"
+
+"A very extraordinary fish, sir," the butler observed. "Will you allow
+me to take your oilskins? Dinner was served nearly an hour ago."
+
+Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+
+"That's all right," he replied. "Listen. Don't say a word about my
+arrival to your mistress at present. I have some writing to do. Bring
+me a glass of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can do so without
+being missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some whisky and soda."
+
+"But what about your own dinner, sir?"
+
+"I'll have a tray in the gun room," his master decided, "say in twenty
+minutes' time. And, Mills, who did you say were dining?"
+
+"Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir--Mr. Harrison and Mr.
+Sinclair--and Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before his
+writing-table. "Mills," he added, in a confidential whisper, "what port
+did you serve?"
+
+The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+
+"Not the vintage, sir," he announced with emphasis. "Some very excellent
+wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons. The young gentlemen
+like it."
+
+"You're a jewel, Mills," his master declared. "Now you understand--an
+aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and not a word
+about my being here. Good night, Jimmy. Sorry we were too late for the
+mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same. You'll have a day
+or two's rest ashore now."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!" Dumble replied. "We got in just in time. There's
+something more than a squall coming up nor'ards."
+
+Sir Henry listened for a moment. The French windows shook, the rain beat
+against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly audible from
+outside.
+
+"We timed that excellently," he agreed. "Come up and have a chat
+to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you."
+
+"I'll be round before eleven, sir," the fisherman promised, with a grin.
+
+Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door. Then he leaned forward for
+several moments. He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned from a
+week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he loved best.
+The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather than increased.
+There were black lines under his eyes which seemed to speak of sleepless
+nights, and a beard of several days' growth was upon his chin. He drank
+the cocktail which Mills presently brought him, at a gulp, and watched
+with satisfaction while the mixer was vigorously shaken and a second one
+poured out.
+
+"We've had a rough time, Mills," he observed, as he set down the glass.
+"Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it, sir," was the respectful reply. "If I may be
+allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired."
+
+"I am tired," Sir Henry admitted. "I think, if I tried, I could go to
+sleep now for twenty-four hours."
+
+"You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters, that
+there is no post out tonight, sir," Mills proceeded. "I have prepared a
+warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change."
+
+"Capital!" Sir Henry exclaimed. "It isn't a letter that's bothering me,
+though, Mills. There are just a few geographical notes I want to make.
+You know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of the coast round
+here. That fellow Groocock--Jimmy Dumble's uncle--very nearly lost his
+motor boat last week through trusting to the old one."
+
+"Just so, sir," Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass
+upon his tray. "If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the dining
+room."
+
+"Quite right," his master assented. "They won't be out just yet, will
+they?"
+
+"Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir--not
+before that."
+
+Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently. Directly the door was closed
+he rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his
+fishing cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring.
+With the aid of a little electric torch which he took from his pocket,
+he studied particularly a certain portion of the giant chart, made some
+measurements with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and closed it
+up again with an air of satisfaction. Then he resumed his seat, drew
+a folded slip of paper from his breast pocket, a chart from another,
+turned up the lamp and began to write. His face, as he stooped low,
+escaped the soft shade and was for a moment almost ghastly. Every now
+and then he turned and made some calculations on the blotting-paper by
+his side. At last he leaned back with a little sigh of relief. He had
+barely done so before the door behind him was opened.
+
+"Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+drawing-room?" Nora asked.
+
+"In here, I think," he heard Philippa reply.
+
+Then they both came in, followed by Helen. Nora was the first to see him
+and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+
+"Why, here's Dad!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+"Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are
+having dinner! When did you get back? What a fish!"
+
+Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came forward
+to meet his wife.
+
+"Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!" he agreed. "Well, Philippa, how are you?
+Pleased to see me, I hope? Another new frock, I believe, and in war
+time!"
+
+"Fancy your remembering that it was war time!" she answered, standing
+very still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+
+"Nasty one for me," Sir Henry observed good-humouredly. "How well you're
+looking, Helen! Any news of Dick yet?"
+
+Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+success.
+
+"Nothing fresh," she answered.
+
+"Well, well, no news may be good news," Sir Henry remarked consolingly.
+"Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again! This morning has
+been the only patch of decent weather we've had."
+
+"This morning was lovely," Helen assented. "Philippa and I went and sat
+up in the woods."
+
+Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her husband
+critically.
+
+"We have some men dining," she said. "They will be out in a few minutes.
+Don't you think you had better go and make yourself presentable? You
+smell of fish, and you look as though you hadn't shaved for a week."
+
+"Guilty, my dear," Sir Henry admitted. "Mills is just getting me
+something to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a bath and
+change my clothes."
+
+"And shave, Dad," Nora reminded him.
+
+"And shave, you young pest," her father agreed, patting her on the
+shoulder. "Run away and play billiards with Helen. I want to talk to
+your mother until my dinner's ready."
+
+Nora acquiesced promptly.
+
+"Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up. Or perhaps you'd like
+to play shell out?" she proposed. "Arthur Sinclair says I have improved
+in my potting more than any one he ever knew."
+
+Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them. Then he returned and
+seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side. She glanced up at
+him as though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards her
+work-basket, took up some knitting.
+
+"I really think I should change at once, if I were you," she suggested.
+
+"Presently. I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a word or
+two with you first. I've been away for nearly a fortnight, haven't I?"
+
+"You have," Philippa assented. "Perhaps that is the reason why I feel
+that I haven't very much to say to you."
+
+"That sounds just a trifle hard," he said slowly.
+
+"I am hard sometimes," Philippa confessed. "You know that quite well.
+There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart at all, nor
+any sympathy; when every sensation I might have had seems shrivelled up
+inside me."
+
+"Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me, Philippa?"
+he asked.
+
+Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+
+"You had every warning," she told him. "I tried to make you understand
+exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you went away."
+
+"Yes, I remember," he admitted. "I'm afraid, dear, you think I am a
+worthless sort of a fellow."
+
+Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch. She bent lower still over her
+knitting. There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her mouth was
+unrecognisable.
+
+"Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?" her husband
+remarked presently.
+
+"Yes," Philippa assented, "he is dining to-night. You will probably see
+him in a few minutes."
+
+Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+
+"You're so keen about that sort of thing," he said, "what about
+Lessingham? He is not soldiering or anything, is he?"
+
+"I have no idea," Philippa replied. "He walks with a slight limp and
+admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us very
+much about himself."
+
+"I wonder you haven't tackled him," Sir Henry continued. "You're such
+an ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing his bit of
+butchery."
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "is a very delightful friend, whose stay
+here every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative stranger.
+I feel no responsibility as to his actions."
+
+"And you do as to mine?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of
+the lounge. He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining room
+beyond.
+
+"Hm!" he observed. "Has he been here often while I've been away?"
+
+"As often as he chose," Philippa replied. "He has become very popular in
+the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest here
+at any time."
+
+"Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?"
+
+"He is here most days. We are always rather disappointed when he doesn't
+come."
+
+Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+
+"What's the attraction?" he demanded.
+
+Philippa smiled. It was the smile which those who knew her best, feared.
+
+"Well," she confided, "I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I think
+that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but Dick and
+their college days. I am rather inclined to fancy that it must be me."
+
+"You, indeed!" he grunted. "Are you aware that you are a married woman?"
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work. Her eyebrows were raised, and her
+expression was one of mild surprise.
+
+"How queer that you should remind me of it!" she murmured. "I am afraid
+that the sea air disturbs your memory."
+
+Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+
+"Oh, damn!" he exclaimed.
+
+He walked to the door. His guests were still lingering over their wine.
+He could hear their voices more distinctly than ever. Then he came back
+to the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+
+"Philippa, old girl," he pleaded, "don't let us quarrel. I have had such
+a hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the dirtiest
+seas I've ever known at this time of the year. For five days I hadn't a
+dry stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once. We were all in
+the water together, and there was a nasty green wave that looked like
+a mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat bending over us
+as though it meant to squeeze our ribs in. It looked like ten to one
+against us, Phil, and I got a worse chill than the sea ever gave me when
+I thought that I shouldn't see you again."
+
+Philippa laid down her knitting. She looked searchingly into her
+husband's face. She was very far from indifferent to his altered tone.
+
+"Henry," she said, "that sounds very terrible, but why do you run such
+risks--unworthily? Do you think that I couldn't give you all that you
+want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with a story
+like this and I knew that you had been facing death righteously and
+honourably for your country's sake? Why, Henry, there isn't a man in the
+world could have such a welcome as I could give you. Do you think I am
+cold? Of course you don't! Do you think I want to feel as I have done
+this last fortnight towards you? Why, it's misery! It makes me feel
+inclined to commit any folly, any madness, to get rid of it all."
+
+Her husband hesitated. A frown had darkened his face. He had the air of
+one who is on the eve of a confession.
+
+"Philippa," he began, "you know that when I go out on these fishing
+expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+anxious to prepare for the fishermen."
+
+Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+
+"Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry! I'm as sick with them
+as I am with you. You can see twenty or thirty of them any morning,
+lounging about the quay, strapping young fellows who shelter themselves
+behind the plea of privileged employment. We are notorious down here
+for our skulkers, and you--you who should be the one man to set them an
+example, are as bad as they are. You deliberately encourage them."
+
+Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face darkened
+and his eyes flashed.
+
+"Skulkers?" he repeated furiously.
+
+Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+
+"Yes! Don't you like the word?"
+
+The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come. He
+laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box, and
+lit it.
+
+"It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?" he observed, thrusting his
+hands into his jacket pockets strolling away. "If one doesn't feel the
+call--well, there you are, you see. Jove, that's a fine fish."
+
+He stood admiring the codling upon the scales. Philippa continued her
+work.
+
+"If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us," she told him
+calmly, "please let me remind you again that we have guests for dinner.
+Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely becoming."
+
+He turned away and came back towards her. As he passed the lamp, she
+started.
+
+"Why, you're wet," she exclaimed, "wet through!"
+
+"Of course I am," he admitted, feeling his sleeve, "but to tell you the
+truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten it.
+Here come our guests, before I have had time to escape. I can hear your
+friend Lessingham's voice."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle. Sir
+Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+
+"No idea that you were back, sir," Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+
+Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly. "I turned up about three
+quarters of an hour ago," he explained, "just too late to join you at
+dinner."
+
+"Bad luck, sir," Sinclair remarked. "I hope that you had good sport?"
+
+"Not so bad," Sir Henry admitted. "We had to go far enough for it,
+though. What do you think of that for an October codling?"
+
+They all approached the scales and admired the fish. Sir Henry stood
+with his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+
+"You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?" he enquired.
+
+"One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+delightfully hospitable a place," was the somewhat measured reply.
+
+"You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?" Sir Henry
+continued.
+
+"In a very small way," Lessingham acknowledged. "I have been out once or
+twice."
+
+"With Ben Oates, eh?"
+
+"I believe that was the man's name."
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of surprise.
+
+"I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham. Whatever made you choose Ben
+Oates? He is a most disgraceful person."
+
+"It was entirely by accident," Lessingham explained. "I met him on the
+front. It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather pressing in
+his invitation."
+
+"I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport," Sir Henry observed. "From
+what Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken you in
+entirely the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide."
+
+"We had a small catch," Lessingham replied. "I really went more for the
+sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed."
+
+"The coast itself," Sir Henry remarked, "is rather an interesting one."
+
+"I should imagine so," Lessingham assented. "Mr. Ben Oates, indeed,
+told me some wonderful stories about it. He spoke of broad channels down
+which a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of the land."
+
+"He is quite right, too," his host agreed.
+
+"There's a lot of deep water about here. The whole of the coast is very
+curious in that way. What the--what the dickens is this?"
+
+Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a Homburg
+hat from the far side of a table of curios. Philippa glanced up at his
+exclamation.
+
+"That's Nora's trophy," she explained. "I told her to take it up to her
+own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends."
+
+"Nora's trophy?" Sir Henry repeated. "Why, it's nothing but an ordinary
+man's hat."
+
+"Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir," Harrison pointed out.
+"Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+observation car was found there."
+
+Sir Henry held out the hat.
+
+"But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in this
+sort of headgear, does she?" he demanded.
+
+"If you'll just look inside the lining, sir," Sinclair suggested.
+
+Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly. "By Jove, it's a German hat,
+all right!" he exclaimed. "Doesn't look a bad shape, either."
+
+He tried it on. There was a little peal of laughter from the men.
+Philippa had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch. Sir
+Henry looked at himself in the looking-glass.
+
+"Well, that's funny," he observed. "I shouldn't have thought it would
+have been so much too small for me. Here, just try how you'd look in it,
+Mr. Lessingham," he added, handing it across to him.
+
+Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+carefully on his head.
+
+"It doesn't feel particularly comfortable," he remarked.
+
+"That may be," Sir Henry suggested, "because you have it on wrong side
+foremost. If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would find it a
+very good fit."
+
+Lessingham at once obeyed. Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+
+"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Look at that, Philippa. Might have been made
+for him, eh?"
+
+Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from his
+head with some casual observation. He was entirely at his ease. His
+host turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+
+"Captain Griffiths, sir," the latter announced.
+
+Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+
+"How are you, Griffiths?" he said. "Glad to see you. Excuse my costume,
+but I am just back from a fishing expedition. We are all admiring Mr.
+Lessingham in his magic hat."
+
+Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others, and
+turned towards Lessingham.
+
+"Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham," Sir Henry begged.
+"You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's slipper. The
+hat which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's Common fits our friend
+like a glove. I never thought the Germans made such good hats, did you,
+Griffiths?"
+
+"I always thought they imported their felt hats," Captain Griffiths
+acknowledged. "Is that really the one with the German name inside, which
+Miss Nora brought home?"
+
+"This is the genuine article," Lessingham assented, taking it from
+his head and passing it on to the newcomer. "Notwithstanding the name
+inside, I should still believe that it was an English hat. It feels too
+comfortable for anything else."
+
+The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully. He drew
+out the lining and looked all the way round. Suddenly he gave vent to a
+little exclamation.
+
+"Here are the owner's initials," he declared, "rather faint but still
+distinguishable,--B. M. Hm! There's no doubt about its being a German
+hat."
+
+"B. M.," Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder. "How very
+interesting! B. M.," he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had
+recommenced her knitting. "Is it my fancy, or is there something a
+little familiar about that?"
+
+"I am sure that I have no idea," Philippa replied. "It conveys nothing
+to me."
+
+There was a brief but apparently pointless silence. Philippa's needles
+flashed through her wool with easy regularity. Lessingham appeared to be
+sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed concerning the hat.
+Sir Henry was standing with knitted brows, in the obvious attitude of a
+man seeking to remember something.
+
+"B. M.," he murmured softly to himself. "There was some one I've known
+or heard of in England--What's that, Mills?"
+
+"Your dinner is served, sir," Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+announced.
+
+Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible owner.
+He threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed a new
+interest in life.
+
+"Jove, I'm ravenous!" he confessed. "You'll excuse me, won't you? Mills,
+see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes--in the billiard
+room, I should think. You'll find the young people there. I'll come in
+and have a game of pills later."
+
+The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry at
+once from the room. Lessingham, however, lingered. He stood with his
+hands behind him, looking at the closed door.
+
+"Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?"
+Philippa asked.
+
+"If I may," he answered, without changing his position.
+
+Philippa looked at him curiously.
+
+"Do you see ghosts through that door?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Do you know," he said, as he seated himself by her side, "there are
+times when I find your husband quite interesting."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Philippa leaned back in her place.
+
+"Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?" she demanded.
+
+He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+towards her.
+
+"I must confess," he said, "that sometimes your husband puzzles me."
+
+"Not nearly so much as he puzzles me," Philippa retorted, a little
+bitterly.
+
+"Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?"
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"More or less, but never quite to this extent. The thing has become an
+obsession with him lately. If you are really going to stay and talk with
+me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband? Just now the subject is
+rather a painful one with me."
+
+"I can quite understand that," Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+
+"What do you think of Captain Griffiths?" she asked, a little abruptly.
+
+"I have thought nothing more about him. Should I? Is he of any real
+importance?"
+
+"He is military commandant here."
+
+Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+
+"I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my track,"
+he observed.
+
+"I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was," Philippa
+said drily. "I have told you that he came and asked about you the other
+night, when he dined here. He seemed perfectly satisfied then, but he
+is here again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits anywhere in an
+ordinary way."
+
+"Are you uneasy about me?" Lessingham enquired.
+
+"I am not sure," she answered frankly. "Sometimes I am almost terrified
+and would give anything to hear that you were on your way home. And at
+other times I realise that you are really very clever, that nothing is
+likely to happen to you, and that the place will seem duller than ever
+when you do go."
+
+"That is very kind of you," he said. "In any case, I fear that my
+holiday will soon be coming to an end."
+
+"Your holiday?" she repeated. "Is that what you call it?"
+
+"It has been little else," he replied indifferently. "There is nothing
+to be learnt here of the slightest military significance."
+
+"We told you that when you arrived," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"I was perhaps foolish not to believe you," he acknowledged.
+
+"So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in failure,
+after all!" she went on, a moment or two later.
+
+"Failure? No, I should not call it failure."
+
+"You have really made some discoveries, then?" she enquired dubiously.
+
+"I have made the greatest discovery in the world."
+
+Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered, her
+eyes fell.
+
+"Dear me! In this quiet spot?" she sighed.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Is it Helen or me?"
+
+"Philippa!" he protested.
+
+Her eyebrows were more raised than ever. Her mouth had lost its alluring
+curve.
+
+"Really, Mr. Lessingham!" she exclaimed. "Have I ever given you the
+right to call me by my Christian name?"
+
+"In my country," he answered, "we do not wait to ask. We take."
+
+"Rank Prussianism," she murmured. "I really think you had better go back
+there. You are adopting their methods."
+
+"I may have to at any moment," he admitted, "or to some more distant
+country still. I want something to take back with me."
+
+"You want a keepsake, of course," Philippa declared, looking around the
+room. "You can have my photograph--the one over there. Helen will give
+you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her. She is just as grateful
+to you about Richard as I am."
+
+"But from you," he said earnestly, "I want more than gratitude."
+
+"Dear me, how persistent you are!" Philippa murmured. "Are you really
+determined to make love to me?"
+
+"Ah, don't mock me!" he begged. "What I am saying to you comes from my
+heart."
+
+Philippa laughed at him quietly. There was just a little break in her
+voice, however.
+
+"Don't be absurd!"
+
+"There is nothing absurd about it," he replied, with a note of sadness
+in his tone. "I felt it from the moment we met. I struggled against it,
+but I have felt it growing day by day. I came here with my mind filled
+with different purposes. I had no thought of amusing myself, no thought
+of seeking here the happiness which up till now I seem to have missed.
+I came as a servant because I was sent, a mechanical being. You have
+changed everything. For you I feel what I have never felt for any woman
+before. I place before you my career, my freedom, my honour."
+
+Philippa sighed very softly.
+
+"Do you mind ringing the bell?" she begged.
+
+"The bell?" he repeated. "What for?"
+
+"I want Helen to hear you," she confided, with a wonderful little smile.
+
+"Philippa, don't mock me," he pleaded. "If this is only amusement to
+you, tell me so and let me go away. It is the first time in my life
+that a woman has come between me and my work. I am no longer master of
+myself. I am obsessed with you. I want nothing else in life but your
+love."
+
+There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face. The banter
+which had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon as
+her defensive weapon, was suddenly useless. Lessingham had created an
+atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+
+"Are you in earnest?" she faltered.
+
+"God knows I am!" he insisted.
+
+"You--you care for me?"
+
+"So much," he answered passionately, "that for your sake I would
+sacrifice my honour, my country, my life."
+
+"But I've only known you for such a short time," Philippa protested,
+"and you're an enemy."
+
+"I discard my birth. I renounce my adopted country," he declared
+fiercely. "You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition and
+patriotism. You have filled it with one thing only--a great, consuming
+love."
+
+"Have you forgotten my husband?"
+
+"Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should have
+dared to speak? Ask yourself how you can continue to live with him? You
+can call him which you will. Both are equally disgraceful. Your heart
+knows the truth. He is either a coward or a philanderer."
+
+Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white. Her eyes flashed. His words had
+stung her to the quick.
+
+"A coward?" she repeated furiously. "You dare to call Henry that?"
+
+Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet. He moved restlessly about the
+room. His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+
+"I do!" he pronounced. "Philippa, look at this matter without prejudice.
+Do you believe that there is a single man of any country, of your
+husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the seas for
+fish whilst his country's blood is being drained dry? Who would weigh
+a codling," he added, pointing scornfully to the scales, "whilst the
+funeral march of heroes is beating throughout the world? The thing is
+insensate, impossible!"
+
+Philippa's head drooped. Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+
+"Don't!" she pleaded, "I have suffered so much."
+
+"Forgive me," he begged, with a sudden change of voice. "If I am
+mistaken in your husband--and there is always the chance--I am sorry.
+I will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him, but I can
+only judge from what I have seen and from that there is no one in the
+world who would not agree with me that your husband is unworthy of you."
+
+"Oh, please stop!" Philippa cried. "Stop at once!"
+
+Lessingham came back to his place by her side. His voice was still
+shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+
+"Philippa, forgive me," he repeated. "If you only knew how it hurts to
+see you like this! Yet I must speak. There is just once in every man's
+lifetime when he must tell the truth. That time has come with me--I love
+you."
+
+"So does my husband," she murmured.
+
+"I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,"
+Lessingham continued. "He sets your wishes at defiance. He who should be
+an example in a small place like this, is only an object of contempt in
+the neighbourhood. Even I, who have only lived here for so short a time,
+have caught the burden of what people say."
+
+Philippa wiped her eyes.
+
+"Please, do you mind," she begged, "not saying anything more about
+Henry. You are only reminding me of things which I try all the time to
+forget."
+
+"Believe me," Lessingham answered wistfully, "I am only too content to
+ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you are the
+woman who has changed my life."
+
+Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child who
+has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+
+"But you must not--you must not talk to me like this!"
+
+His hand closed upon hers. It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold, yet
+passive.
+
+"Why not?" he whispered. "I have the one unalterable right, and I am
+willing to pay the great price."
+
+"Right?" she faltered.
+
+"The right of loving you--the right of loving you better than any woman
+in the world."
+
+There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly aware,
+to the emotion of the moment. A door behind them had opened. Philippa's
+quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps. Lessingham rose
+deliberately to his feet. In his heart he welcomed the interruption.
+This might, perhaps, be the decisive moment. Sir Henry was strolling
+towards them. His manner and his tone, however, were alike good-natured.
+
+"I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham," he
+announced. "Sinclair has been sent for--a night route march, or some
+such horror--and they want you to make a four."
+
+Lessingham hesitated. He had a passionate inclination to face
+the situation, to tell this man the truth. Sir Henry's courteous
+indifference, however, was like a harrier. He recognised the inevitable.
+
+"I am afraid I am rather out of practice," he said, "but I shall be
+delighted to do my best."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers. For a mild-mannered
+and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+
+"That fellow was making love to you," he said bluntly, as soon as the
+door was closed behind Lessingham.
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+
+"He was doing it very nicely, too," she admitted.
+
+"You mean to say that you let him?"
+
+"I listened to what he had to say," she confessed. "It didn't occur to
+you, I suppose," her husband remarked, with somewhat strained sarcasm,
+"that you were another man's wife?"
+
+"I am doing my best to forget that fact," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"I see! And he is to help you?"
+
+"Possibly."
+
+Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+
+"I shall turn the fellow out of the house," he declared.
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side. "Look here, Philippa,
+don't let's wrangle," he begged. "I'm afraid you'll have to make up your
+mind to see a good deal less of your friend Lessingham, anyway."
+
+Philippa's brows were knitted. She was conscious of a vague uneasiness.
+
+"Really? And why?"
+
+"For one thing," her husband explained, "because I don't intend to have
+him hanging about my house during my absence."
+
+"The best way to prevent that would be not to go away," Philippa
+suggested.
+
+"Well, in all probability," he announced guardedly, "I am not going away
+again--at least not just yet."
+
+Philippa's manner suddenly changed. She laid down her work. Her hand
+rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+
+"You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing
+excursions of yours?"
+
+"For the present I am," he assured her.
+
+"And are you going to do something--some work, I mean?" she asked
+breathlessly.
+
+"For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after
+you," he replied.
+
+Philippa's face fell. Her manner became notably colder.
+
+"You are very wise," she declared. "Mr. Lessingham is a most fascinating
+person. We are all half in love with him--even Helen."
+
+"The fellow must have a way with him," Sir Henry conceded grudgingly.
+"As a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless they
+have immediate connections in the neighbourhood. Even Griffiths, who
+since they made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions, seems
+inclined to accept him."
+
+"Captain Griffiths dined here the other night," Philippa remarked, "and
+I noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well."
+
+"The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt," Sir Henry began.
+
+"Of course he is," Philippa interrupted. "Helen likes him quite as much
+as I do."
+
+"Does he make love to Helen, too?" Sir Henry ventured.
+
+"Don't talk nonsense!" Philippa retorted. "He isn't that sort of a
+man at all. If he has made love to me, he has done so because I have
+encouraged him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault."
+
+Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and took a
+cigarette from an open box.
+
+"Quite time I stayed at home, I can see. All the same, the fellow's
+rather a puzzle. I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making
+such an easy conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for her
+flirtations, and a young woman who is madly in love with another man. He
+hasn't--"
+
+"Hasn't what?"
+
+"He hasn't," Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he
+had been holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, "been in the
+position of being able to render you or Helen any service, has he?"
+
+"I don't understand you," Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+
+"There's nothing to understand," Sir Henry went on. "I was simply trying
+to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici."
+
+"I don't think you need go any further than the fact," Philippa
+observed, "that he is well-bred, charming and companionable."
+
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry queried, "do you happen to have come across
+any one here who ever heard of him before?"
+
+"I don't remember any one," Philippa replied. "He was at college with
+Richard, you know."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen," he
+admitted. "And by-the-by, that reminds me," he went on, "I never saw
+such a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen. A few weeks
+ago you were fretting yourselves to death about Dick. Now you don't seem
+to mention him, you both of you look as though you hadn't a care in the
+world, and yet you say you haven't heard from him. Upon my word, this is
+getting to be a house of mysteries!"
+
+"The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry," she declared.
+
+"Me?" he protested. "I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive. What
+is there mysterious about me?"
+
+"Your ignominious life," was the cold reply.
+
+"Jove, I got it that time!" he groaned,--"got it in the neck! But didn't
+I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?"
+
+"Then prove it," Philippa pleaded. "Let me write to Rayton and beg him
+to use his influence to get you something to do. I am sure you would be
+happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would make to me."
+
+"It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing," he confided. "You
+know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war. They'd make me
+take some one's place at home behind a desk."
+
+"But even if they did," she protested, "even if they put you in a coal
+cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping your
+country? Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?"
+
+Sir Henry made a wry face.
+
+"It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear," he
+grumbled. "However--now what the dickens is the matter?"
+
+The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but Jimmy
+Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the room.
+
+"Hullo? What is it, Jimmy?" his patron demanded.
+
+"Beg your pardon, sir," was the almost incoherent reply. "I've run all
+the way up, and there's a rare wind blowing. There's one of our--our
+trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green and six
+yellow balls."
+
+"Whiting, by God!" Sir Henry exclaimed.
+
+"Whiting!" Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust. "What does this mean,
+Henry?"
+
+"It must be a shoal," her husband explained. "It means that we've got to
+get amongst them quick. Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?"
+
+"She there all right, sir," was the somewhat doubtful reply, "but us'll
+have a rare job to get away, sir. That there nor'easter is blowing great
+guns again and it's a cruel tide."
+
+"We've got to get out somehow," Sir Henry declared. "Mills, my oilskins
+and flask at once. I sha'n't change a thing, but you might bring a
+cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda."
+
+Mills withdrew, a little dazed. Philippa, whose fingers were clenched
+together, found her tongue at last.
+
+"Henry!" she exclaimed furiously.
+
+"What is it, my dear?"
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that after your promise," she continued, "after
+what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for another
+fishing expedition?"
+
+"Whiting, my dear," Sir Henry explained. "One can't possibly miss
+whiting. Where the devil are my keys?--Here they are. Now then."
+
+He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed
+to be a couple of charts in oilskin cases. All the time the wind was
+shaking the windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the panes.
+
+"Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy," Sir Henry invited, as he
+buttoned up his coat. "You'll need it all presently."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir," Jimmy replied. "I am thinking that we'll both
+need a drink before we're through this night."
+
+He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of
+half and half. Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+indignantly, once more found words.
+
+"Henry, you are incorrigible!" she exclaimed. "Listen to me if you
+please. I insist upon it."
+
+Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her. "Philippa, I really
+can't stop now," he protested. "But you must! You shall!" she cried.
+"You shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before you go. What I
+said the other day I repeat a thousandfold now."
+
+Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door. The
+fisherman made an awkward exit.
+
+"A thousandfold," Philippa repeated passionately. "You hear, Henry? I do
+not consider myself any more your wife. If I am here when you return, it
+will be simply because I find it convenient. Your conduct is disgraceful
+and unmanly."
+
+"My dear girl!" he remonstrated. "I may be back in twenty-four--possibly
+twelve hours."
+
+"It is a matter of indifference to me when you return," was the curt
+reply. "I have finished."
+
+The door was thrown open.
+
+"Your oilskins, sir, and flask," Mills announced, hurrying in, a little
+breathless. "You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it scarcely seems
+a fit night to leave home."
+
+"Got to be done this once, Mills," his master replied, struggling into
+his coat.
+
+The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in. Nora, who
+was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+
+"Why, where's Dad going?" she cried.
+
+"It appears," Philippa explained sarcastically, "that a shoal of whiting
+has arrived."
+
+"Very uncertain fish, whiting," Sir Henry observed, "here to-day and
+gone to-morrow."
+
+"You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir," Harrison
+remarked doubtfully.
+
+"Jimmy will see to that," was the confident reply. "I expect we shall be
+amongst them at daybreak. Good-by, everybody! Good-by, Philippa!"
+
+His eyes sought his wife's in vain. She had turned towards Lessingham.
+
+"You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?" she asked. "I want
+you to show me that new Patience."
+
+"I shall be delighted."
+
+Sir Henry turned slowly away. For a moment his face darkened as his eyes
+met Lessingham's. He seemed about to speak but changed his mind.
+
+"Well, good-by, every one," he called out. "I shall be back before
+midnight if we don't get out."
+
+"And if you do?" Nora cried.
+
+"If we do, Heaven help the whiting!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+"Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!" Philippa
+declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+
+"You mean by coming to a place like this?" Lessingham queried, looking
+around the crowded restaurant. "We are not, in that case, the only
+sinners."
+
+"I didn't mean the mere fact of being here," Philippa explained, "but
+being here with you."
+
+"I forgot," he said gloomily, "that I was such a black sheep."
+
+"Don't be silly," she admonished. "You're nothing of the sort. But, of
+course, we are skating on rather thin ice. If I had Henry to consider
+in any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should be more
+careful. As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately. Dreymarsh
+has got upon my nerves. The things that I thought most of in life seem
+to have crumbled away."
+
+"Ought I to be sorry?" he asked. "I am not."
+
+"But why are you so unsympathetic?"
+
+"Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild," he whispered.
+
+A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped before
+their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a glance at
+Philippa, moved away with him to the little space reserved for the
+dancers.
+
+"What a chaperon I am!" Philippa sighed. "I scarcely know anything about
+the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's regiment."
+
+"I did not hear it," Lessingham observed, "but I feel deeply grateful
+to him. It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to you alone like
+this."
+
+"It seems incredible that we have talked so long," Philippa said,
+glancing at the watch upon her wrist. "I really feel now that I know all
+about you--your school days, your college days, and your soldiering. You
+have been very frank, haven't you?"
+
+"I have nothing to conceal--from you," he replied. "If there is anything
+more you want to know--"
+
+"There is nothing," she interrupted uneasily.
+
+"Perhaps you are wise," he reflected, "and yet some day, you know, you
+will have to hear it all, over and over again."
+
+"I will not be made love to in a restaurant," she declared firmly.
+
+"You are so particular as to localities," he complained. "You could
+not see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider a
+suitable environment?"
+
+Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+
+"Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!" she begged.
+"And there is some one there who wants to speak to you."
+
+Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before
+their table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death. He
+remained perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly to
+be drawn from his cheeks. Yet the newcomer himself seemed in no way
+terrifying. He was tall and largely built, clean-shaven, and with
+the humourous mouth of an Irishman or an American. Neither was there
+anything threatening in his speech.
+
+"Glad to run up against you, Lessingham," he said, holding out his hand.
+"Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?"
+
+"Very," Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a dream.
+"Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend--Mr. Hayter."
+
+Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in trivial
+conversation. Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+
+"I must be joining my friends," he observed. "Look in and see me
+sometime, Lessingham--Number 72, Milan Court. You know what a nightbird
+I am. Perhaps you will call and have a final drink with me when you have
+finished here."
+
+"I shall be very glad," Lessingham promised.
+
+Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to judge
+by his interrupted progress. Lady Cranston looked at her companion. She
+was puzzled.
+
+"Is that a recent acquaintance," she asked, "as he addressed you by the
+name of Lessingham?"
+
+"Yes," was the quiet reply.
+
+"You don't wish to talk about him?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little
+party presently broke up. Lessingham drove the two women to their hotel
+in Dover Street.
+
+"We've had a most delightful evening," Philippa assured him, as they
+said good night. "You are coming round to see us in the morning, aren't
+you?"
+
+"If I may," Lessingham assented.
+
+Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night. She had
+nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+
+"May I sit down for a few moments?" she asked, a little nervously. "Your
+fire is so much better than mine."
+
+Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before which
+she was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace. She felt a
+forewarning of what was coming.
+
+"Of course, dear," she replied. "Have you enjoyed your evening?"
+
+"Very much, in a way," was the somewhat hesitating reply. "Of course,
+nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice to talk with
+some one who knows him."
+
+"Agreeable conversation," Philippa remarked didactically, "is one of the
+greatest pleasures in life."
+
+"You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?" Helen asked.
+
+Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew up an
+easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+
+"So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?"
+
+"I suppose you know that he's in love with you?" Helen began.
+
+"I hope he is a little, my dear," was the smiling reply. "I'm sure I've
+tried my best."
+
+"Won't you talk seriously?" Helen pleaded.
+
+"I don't altogether see the necessity," Philippa protested.
+
+"I do, and I'll tell you why," Helen answered. "I don't think Mr.
+Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed. I
+think that he is in deadly earnest about you. I think that he was in
+deadly earnest from the first. You don't really care for him, do you,
+dear?"
+
+"Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking of,"
+was the quiet reply.
+
+"Then please send him away," Helen begged.
+
+"My dear, how can I?" Philippa objected. "He has done us an immense
+service, and he can't disobey his orders."
+
+"You don't want him to go away, then?"
+
+Philippa was silent for several moments. "No," she admitted, "I don't
+think that I do."
+
+"You don't care for Henry any more?"
+
+"Just as much as ever," was the somewhat bitter reply. "That's what I
+resent so much. I should like Henry to believe that he had killed every
+spark of love in me."
+
+Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair. She felt
+that she was going to be very daring.
+
+"Have you any idea at the back of your mind, dear," she asked "of making
+use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?"
+
+Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+
+"How hatefully downright you are!" she murmured. "I don't know."
+
+"Because," Helen continued, "if you have any such idea in your mind, I
+think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham. You know perfectly well that
+anything else between you and him would be impossible."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Don't be ridiculous!" Helen exclaimed vigorously. "Mr. Lessingham may
+have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has attached
+himself to a country which no English man or woman will be able to
+think of without shuddering, for many years to come. You can't dream
+of cutting yourself adrift from your friends and your home and your
+country! It's too unnatural! I'm not even arguing with you, Philippa.
+You couldn't do it! I'm wholly concerned with Mr. Lessingham. I cannot
+forget what we owe him. I think it would be hatefully cruel of you to
+spoil his life."
+
+Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary. She made a little
+grimace. She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+
+"You underrate my charm, Helen," she declared. "I really believe that I
+could make his life instead of spoiling it."
+
+"And you would pay the price?"
+
+Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair. There
+was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+
+"I sometimes think," she said calmly, "that I would pay any price in the
+world to make Henry understand how I feel. There, now run along, dear.
+You're full of good intentions, and don't think it horrid of me, but
+nothing that you could say would make any difference."
+
+"You wouldn't do anything rash?" Helen pleaded.
+
+"Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise that
+I'll send cards out first. Whatever I do, impulse will probably decide."
+
+"Impulse!"
+
+"Why not? I trust mine. Can't you?" Philippa added, with a little shrug
+of the shoulders.
+
+"Sometimes," Helen sighed, "they are such wild horses, you know. They
+lead one to such terrible places."
+
+"And sometimes," Philippa replied, "they find their way into the heaven
+where our soberer thoughts could never take us. Good night, dear!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan Court,
+was a very altered personage. He extended no welcoming salutation to his
+midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a chair.
+
+"Well," he began, "is your task finished that you are in London?"
+
+"My task," Lessingham replied, "might just as well never have been
+entered upon. The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an ordinary
+sport-loving Englishman."
+
+"Really! You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and that is
+your impression of him?"
+
+"It is," Lessingham assented. "He has been away sea-fishing, half the
+time, but I have searched his house thoroughly."
+
+"Searched his papers, eh?"
+
+"Every one I could find, and hated the job. There are a good many charts
+of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen."
+
+"Wonderful!" Hayter scoffed. "My young friend, you may yet find
+distinction in some other walk of life. Our secret service, I fancy,
+will very soon be able to dispense with your energies."
+
+"And I with your secret service," Lessingham agreed heartily. "I dare
+say there may be some branches of it in which existence is tolerable.
+That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I have been
+engaged."
+
+"You have been completely duped," Hayter told him calmly, "and the
+information you have sent us is valueless. Sir Henry Cranston, instead
+of being the type of man whom you have described, is one of the greatest
+experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the English Admiralty."
+
+Lessingham laughed shortly.
+
+"That," he declared, "is perfectly absurd."
+
+"It is," Hayter repeated, with emphasis, "the precise truth. Sir Henry
+Cranton's fishing excursions are myths. He is simply transferred from
+his fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of so-called mine sweepers,
+from which he conducts his operations. Nearly every one of the most
+important towns on the east coast are protected by minefields of his
+design."
+
+Lessingham was dumbfounded. His companion's manner was singularly
+convincing.
+
+"But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?" he
+protested. "Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him because
+she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood gossips
+over his slackness."
+
+"The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled," Hayter retorted. "There are
+one or two who know, however."
+
+"There are one or two," Lessingham observed grimly, "who are beginning
+to suspect me."
+
+"That is a pity," Hayter admitted, "because it will be necessary for you
+to return to Dreymarsh at once."
+
+"Return to Dreymarsh at once? But Cranston is away. There is nothing for
+me to do there in his absence."
+
+"He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night," was the confident
+reply. "He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of a town
+on the east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to bombard. We
+must have that chart."
+
+Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+
+"Could you possibly get me relieved?" he begged. "The fact is--"
+
+"We could not, and we will not," Hayter interrupted fiercely. "Unless
+you wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a coward, you will
+go through with the work which has been allotted to you. Your earlier
+mistakes will be forgiven if that chart is in my hands by Friday."
+
+"But how do you know that he will have it?" Lessingham protested.
+"Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the minefields
+you speak of, I should think the last thing he would do would be to
+bring the chart back to Dreymarsh."
+
+"As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do," Hayter assured
+his listener. "He is bringing it back for the inspection of one of the
+commissioners for the east coast defense, who is to meet him at his
+house. And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom, that you will have very
+little time. For some reason or other, Cranston is dissatisfied with the
+secrecy under which he has been compelled to work, and has applied
+to the Admiralty for recognition of his position. Immediately this is
+given, I gather that his house will be inaccessible to you."
+
+Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire. His
+thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear. Cranston
+was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be. Philippa's whole
+point of view might well be changed by this discovery--especially now
+that Cranston had made up his mind to assert himself for his wife's
+sake. There was an icy fear in his heart.
+
+"You understand," Hayter persisted coldly, "what it is you have to do?"
+
+"Perfectly. I shall return by the afternoon train," was the despairing
+reply.
+
+"If you succeed," Hayter continued, "I shall see that you get the usual
+acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your transfer to
+another branch of the service. I am not questioning your patriotism or
+your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the man for this work."
+
+"You are right," Lessingham said. "I am not."
+
+"It is not my affair," Hayter proceeded, "to enquire too closely into
+the means used by our agents in carrying out our designs. That I find
+you in London in company with the wife of the man whom you are appointed
+to watch, may be a fact capable of the most complete and satisfactory
+explanation. I ask no questions. I only remind you that your country,
+even though it be only your adopted country, demands from you, as from
+all others in her service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by
+the claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour. Have I said enough?"
+
+"You have said as much as it is wise for you to say," Lessingham
+replied, his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+
+"That is all, then," the other concluded. "You know where to send
+or bring the chart when you have it? If you bring it yourself, it
+is possible that something which you may regard as a reward, will be
+offered to you."
+
+Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet. His farewell to Hayter was
+cold and lifeless.
+
+He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with a
+sense of intolerable depression. The streets through which he passed
+were sombre and unlit.
+
+A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to their
+homes. There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere. An intense
+and gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted thoroughfares.
+Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like shadows. Policemen lurked
+in the shadows of the houses. The few vehicles left crawled about with
+insufficient lights. Even the warning horns of the taxicab men sounded
+furtive and repressed. Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt
+curiously in sympathy with his environment. Hayter's news brought him
+face to face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the
+dominant factor in his life. For the first time he knew what love was.
+He felt the wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities, the strange
+idealism called so unexpectedly into being. He recognized the vagaries
+of Philippa's disposition, and yet, during the last few days, he had
+convinced himself that she was beginning to care. Her strained relations
+with her husband had been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards
+the acceptance of his proffered devotion. Now he told himself with eager
+hopefulness that some portion of it, however minute, must be for his own
+sake. The relations between husband and wife, he reminded himself, must,
+at any rate, have been strained during the last few months, or Cranston
+would never have been able to keep his secret. In his gloomy passage
+through this land of ill omens, however, he shivered a little as he
+thought of the other possibility--tortured himself with imagining what
+might happen during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the
+truth. A sense of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed
+to lift him into some lofty state of aloofness, from which he could
+look down and despise himself, the poor, tired plodder wearing the heavy
+chains of duty. There was a life so much more wonderful, just the other
+side of the clouds, a very short distance away, a life of alluring and
+passionate happiness. Should he ever find the courage, he wondered, to
+escape from the treadmill and go in search of it? Duty, for the last two
+years, had taken him by the hand and led him along a pathway of shame.
+He had never been a hypocrite about the war. He was one of those who had
+acknowledged from the first that Germany had set forth, with the sword
+in her hand, on a war of conquest. His own inherited martial spirit had
+vaguely approved; he, too, in those earlier days, had felt the sunlight
+upon his rapier. Later had come the enlightenment, the turbulent waves
+of doubt, the nightmare of a nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in
+his own soul. It was in a depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser
+degree by millions of those whose ranks he had joined, that he felt this
+passionate craving for escape into a world which took count of other
+things.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented himself
+at the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall porter to take
+a seat in the lounge. Philippa entered, a few minutes later, her eyes
+and cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise she had been taking, her
+slim figure most becomingly arrayed in grey cloth and chinchilla.
+
+"I lost Helen in Harrod's," she announced, "but I know she's lunching
+with friends, so it really doesn't matter. You'll have to take care of
+me, Mr. Lessingham, until the train goes, if you will."
+
+"For even longer than that, if you will," he murmured.
+
+She laughed. "More pretty speeches? I don't think I'm equal to them
+before luncheon."
+
+"This time I am literal," he explained. "I am coming back to Dreymarsh
+myself."
+
+He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him. Philippa's
+expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+
+"I'm so glad," she assured him. "Do you know, I was thinking only as I
+came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you."
+
+She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first
+little impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the fire.
+She turned towards him gravely.
+
+"After all, do you think you are wise?" she asked. "Of course, I don't
+think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but you know
+Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and--well, you're safely away now.
+You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful altogether," she
+went on, "that I couldn't bear it if trouble were to come."
+
+He smiled at her.
+
+"I think I know what is at the back of your mind," he said. "You think
+that I am coming back entirely on your account. As it happens, this is
+not so."
+
+She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+
+"Surely," she exclaimed, "you have satisfied yourself that there is no
+field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?"
+
+"I thought that I had," he admitted. "It seems that I am wrong. I have
+had orders to return."
+
+"Orders to return?" she repeated. "From whom?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Of course, I ought not to have asked that," she proceeded hastily,
+"but it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions and
+messages from Germany, here in London."
+
+"Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany," he reminded her.
+
+"So they say," she admitted, "but one doesn't come into contact with it.
+So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!"
+
+"With you, if I may?"
+
+"Naturally," she agreed.
+
+He glanced at the clock. "We might almost be starting for lunch," he
+suggested.
+
+She nodded. "As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage."
+
+She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to the
+Carlton. Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham walked with
+his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the left.
+
+"Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?" she asked him. "There
+must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for instance?"
+
+"Nine years makes a lot of difference," he reminded her, "and besides, I
+have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition really
+takes place. So long as I do not look into any one's face, I feel quite
+safe."
+
+"You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than the
+Carlton?"
+
+"It makes no difference," he assured her. "My credentials have been
+wonderfully established for me."
+
+"I'm so glad," she confessed. "I know it's most unfashionable, but I do
+like these big places. If ever I had my way, I should like to live
+in London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living in the
+country and being just an hotel dweller in London."
+
+"I wonder if New York would not do?" he ventured.
+
+"I expect I should like New York," she murmured.
+
+"I think," he said, "in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave here I
+shall go to the United States."
+
+She looked at him and turned suddenly away. They arrived just then at
+their destination, and the moment passed. Lessingham left his companion
+in the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to secure his
+table and order lunch. When he came back, he found Philippa sitting very
+upright and with a significant glitter in her eyes.
+
+"Look over there," she whispered, "by the palm."
+
+He followed the direction which she indicated. A man was standing
+against one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously a
+foreigner, wrapped in wonderful furs. There was something familiar about
+his figure and the slight droop of his head.
+
+"Why, it's Sir Henry!" Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+
+"My husband," Philippa faltered.
+
+Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+shortsightedness. He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham and his
+wife without recognition or any sign of flinching. At that distance it
+was impossible to see the tightening of his lips and the steely flash in
+his blue eyes.
+
+"The whiting seem to have brought him a long way," Philippa said, with
+an unnatural little laugh.
+
+"Shall I go and speak to him?" Lessingham asked.
+
+"For heaven's sake, no!" she insisted. "Don't leave me. I wouldn't have
+him come near me for anything in the world. It is only a few weeks ago
+that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said that he hated
+the place. You don't know--the woman?"
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"She looks like a foreigner," was all he could say.
+
+"Take me in to lunch at once," Philippa begged, rising abruptly to her
+feet. "This is really the last straw."
+
+They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry
+was standing. He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with his
+companion, and did not even turn around. Philippa's little face
+seemed to have hardened as she took her seat. Only her eyes were still
+unnaturally bright.
+
+"I am so sorry if this has annoyed you," Lessingham regretted. "You
+would not care to go elsewhere?"
+
+"I? Go anywhere else?" she exclaimed scornfully. "Thank you, I am
+perfectly satisfied here. And with my companion," she added, with a
+brilliant little smile. "Now tell me about New York. Have you ever been
+there?"
+
+"Twice," he told her. "At present the dream of my life is to go there
+with you."
+
+She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+
+"I wonder if you really care," she said. "Men get so much into the habit
+of saying that sort of thing to women. Sometimes it seems to me they
+must do a great deal of mischief. But you--Is that really your wish?"
+
+"I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life," he
+declared, with his face aglow, "for its realization."
+
+"But you would be a deserter from your country," she pointed out. "You
+would never be able to return. Your estates would be confiscated. You
+would be homeless."
+
+"Home," he said softly, "is where one's heart takes one. Home is just
+where love is."
+
+Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft. Then
+she began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare notes of
+countries which they had both visited, even of people whom they had met.
+They were obliged to leave early to catch their train. As they passed
+down the crowded restaurant they once more found themselves within a few
+feet of Sir Henry. His back was turned to them, and he was apparently
+ignorant of their near presence. The party had become a partie Carr�e,
+another man, and a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined
+it.
+
+"Of course," Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, "I am behaving
+like an idiot. I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what I think of him,
+or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion. We lose so much,
+don't we, by stifling our instincts."
+
+"For the next few minutes," he replied, glancing at his watch, "I think
+we had better concentrate our attention upon catching our train."
+
+They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare. Grover,
+however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for them,
+ensconced in a corner. She accepted the news of Lessingham's return with
+resignation. Philippa became thoughtful as they drew towards the close
+of their journey and the slow, frosty twilight began to creep down upon
+the land.
+
+"I suppose we don't really know what war is," she observed, looking
+out of the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with a
+background of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church. "The
+people are safe in their homes. You must appreciate what that means, Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+"Indeed I do," he answered gravely. "I have seen the earth torn and
+dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel. A few
+blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful village stood;
+men and women running about like lunatics stricken with a mortal fear.
+And all the time a red glow on the horizon, a blood-red glow, and little
+specks of grey or brown lying all over the fields; even the cattle
+racing round in terror. And every now and then the cry of Death! You are
+fortunate in England."
+
+Philippa leaned forward.
+
+"Do you believe that our turn will come?" she asked. "Do you believe
+that the wave will break over our country?"
+
+"Who can tell?"
+
+"Ah, no, but answer me," she begged. "Is it possible for you to land an
+army here?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that all things are possible to the military
+genius of Germany. The only question is whether it is worth while.
+Germans are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know. I rather doubt it.
+There is nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so much as
+the news of a German invasion of Great Britain. On the other hand,
+there is a great party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one, which is
+continually reminding the Government that, without Great Britain as a
+market, Germany would never recover from the financial strain of the
+war."
+
+"This is all too impersonal," Philippa objected. "Do you, in your heart,
+believe that the time might come when in the night we should hear the
+guns booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad soldiers forming
+up on the beach and scaling our cliffs?"
+
+"That will not be yet," he pronounced. "It has been thought of. Once it
+was almost attempted. Just at present, no."
+
+Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+
+"Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+landing?"
+
+"Nothing," he assured her. "I can even go a little further. I can tell
+you that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected place,
+in an unexpected fashion."
+
+"Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at first-hand,"
+Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner. "I suppose we
+are really two disgraceful women, Helen and I--traitors and all the rest
+of it. Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he were one of our best
+friends."
+
+"I refuse to be called an enemy," Lessingham protested. "There are times
+when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality. I am just a
+human being, born into the same world and warmed by the same sun as you.
+Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow creatures."
+
+"Dreymarsh once more," Philippa announced, looking out of the window.
+"And you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham. Come round and
+see us after dinner--if it doesn't interfere with your work."
+
+"On the contrary," he murmured under his breath. "Thank you very much."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very blank
+expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty Square. He was
+alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the walls of which were
+so hung with charts that it had almost the appearance of a schoolroom
+prepared for an advanced geography class. The table from which he had
+risen was covered with an amazing number of scientific appliances, some
+samples of rock and sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+
+Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the outlook,
+turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself confronted by an
+elderly gentleman of cheerful appearance, who at that moment had entered
+the room. From the fact that he had done so without knocking, it was
+obvious that he was an intimate.
+
+"Well, my gloomy friend," the newcomer demanded, "what's wrong with
+you?"
+
+Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor. He pushed a chair
+towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box of cigars
+upon his desk.
+
+
+"Your little Laranagas," he observed. "Try one."
+
+The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped himself.
+
+"Now, then, get at it, Henry," he enjoined. "I've a Board in
+half-an-hour, and three dispatches to read before I go in. What's your
+trouble?"
+
+"Look here, Rayton," was the firm reply, "I want to chuck this infernal
+hole-and-corner business. I tell you I've worked it threadbare at
+Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable."
+
+The newcomer grinned.
+
+"Poor chap!" he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards. "You're
+in a nasty mess, you know, Henry. Did I tell you that I had a letter
+from your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't find you a job?"
+
+Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the joke.
+
+"That's all very well," he said, "but we are on the point of a
+separation, or something of the sort. I'll admit it was all right at
+first to run the thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted up by
+now. Why, according to your own reports, they know all about me on the
+other side."
+
+"Not a doubt about it," the other agreed. "I'm not sure that you haven't
+got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now."
+
+"I'm quite sure of it," Sir Henry replied grimly. "The brute was
+lunching with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would have it,
+I was landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and sister-in-law. You're
+breaking up the happy home, that's what you're doing, Rayton!"
+
+His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing. He laughed
+until the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+"I should love to have seen Philippa's face," he chuckled, "when she
+walked into the restaurant and saw you there! You're supposed to be off
+on a fishing expedition, aren't you?"
+
+"I went out after whiting," Sir Henry groaned, "and I'd just promised to
+chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message."
+
+"Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway," his visitor promised.
+
+"Don't be an ass!" Sir Henry exclaimed irritably. "I don't want the
+fellow touched at present. Why, he's been a sort of persona grata at my
+house. Hangs around there all the time when I'm away."
+
+"All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should
+say," was the cheerful reply.
+
+"And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and Miss
+Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!" Sir Henry retorted.
+
+"I forgot that," his friend confessed ruminatively. "He's a gentlemanly
+sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy. What do you want
+done with him?"
+
+"Leave him for me to deal with," Sir Henry insisted. "I have a little
+scheme on hand in which he is concerned."
+
+Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+
+"The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems," he reminded his friend.
+
+"I won't run any risks," Sir Henry promised. "I just want him left
+there, that's all. And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from you.
+I quite agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the time when I
+was up in Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer with the people
+who count. Every one in Germany knows that I'm a mine-field specialist,
+so I don't see why the dickens I should pose any longer as a sort of
+half-baked idiot."
+
+Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+
+"You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical
+disclosure of your greatness," he laughed. "Poor Philippa will fall
+upon her knees. You will be the hero of the village, which will probably
+present you with some little article of plate. You've a good time
+coming, Henry."
+
+"Talk sense, there's a good fellow," the other begged. "You go and see
+the Chief and put it to him. There isn't a single reason why I shouldn't
+own up now."
+
+"I'll see what I can do," Rayton promised, "but what about this fellow
+Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there? There's a
+chap named Griffiths--Commandant, isn't he?--been writing us about him."
+
+"I won't have Lessingham touched," Sir Henry insisted. "He can't do any
+particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a drawing of mine
+down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to."
+
+Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+
+"Look here, Henry, old fellow," he said, "I do sympathise with you up
+to a certain point. I tell you what I'll do. I shall have to answer
+Philippa's letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if she is as
+clever a little woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint. Of course,"
+he went on ruminatively, "it is rather a misfortune that the Princess
+Ollaneff and her sister are such jolly good-looking women. Makes it look
+a little fishy, doesn't it? What I mean to say is, it's a far cry
+from fishing for whiting in the North Sea to lunching with a beautiful
+princess at the Carlton--when you think your wife's down in Norfolk."
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+"Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton," he declared. "You get back
+and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it."
+
+The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of voices
+in the corridor, and departed. The door had scarcely been closed
+when two younger men presented themselves--Miles Ensol, Sir Henry's
+secretary, a typical-looking young sailor minus his left arm; and a
+pale-faced, clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian clothes. Sir
+Henry shook hands with the latter and pointed to the easy-chair which
+his previous visitor had just vacated.
+
+"Welcome back again, Horridge," he said cordially. "Miles, I'll ring
+when I want you."
+
+"Very good, sir," the secretary replied. "There's a fisherman from
+Norfolk downstairs, when you're at liberty."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I'll see him presently. Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke."
+
+The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+
+"I don't think," he explained, "that eavesdropping extends to these
+premises, or that our voices could reach outside. Still, a ha'porth of
+prevention, eh? Have a cigar, Horridge."
+
+"I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir."
+
+"You look as though they'd put you through it," Sir Henry remarked.
+
+His visitor smiled.
+
+"I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel," he said, "and we were
+out for twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff. You know what the
+weather's been like in the North Sea. Before that, the last word of
+writing I saw on German soil was a placard, offering a reward of five
+thousand marks for my detention, with a disgustingly lifelike photograph
+at the top. I had about fifty yards of quay to walk in broad daylight,
+and every other man I passed turned to stare after me. It gives you the
+cold shivers down your back when you daren't look round to see if you're
+being followed."
+
+Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle of
+whisky and a syphon of soda water. His visitor nodded approvingly.
+
+"I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary," he
+observed. "My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my life. Do
+you mind, sir, if I lock the door?"
+
+"Go ahead," Sir Henry assented.
+
+He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room. Horridge resumed
+his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly. For a moment or two he
+shook as though he had an ague. Then, just as suddenly as it had come
+upon him, the fit passed. He drained the contents of the tumbler at a
+gulp, set it down empty by his side, and stretched out his hand for a
+cigar.
+
+"The end of my journey didn't help matters any," he went on. "I daren't
+even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually by a tramp
+steamer from Newcastle to London with coals. I hadn't been on board more
+than an hour before a submarine which had been following overhauled us.
+I thought it was all up then, but the fog lifted, and we found ourselves
+almost in the midst of a squadron of destroyers from Harwich. I made
+another transfer, and they landed me in time to catch the early morning
+train from Felixstowe."
+
+"Did they get the submarine?" his listener asked eagerly.
+
+"Get it!" the other repeated, with a smile. "They blew it into scrap
+metal."
+
+"Plenty of movement in your life!"
+
+"I've run the gauntlet over there once too often," Horridge said grimly.
+"Just look at me now, Sir Henry. I'm twenty-nine years old, and it's
+only two years and a half since I was invalided out of the navy and
+took this job on. The last person I asked to guess my age put me down at
+fifty. What should you have said?"
+
+"Somewhere near it," was the candid admission. "Never mind, Horridge,
+you've done your bit. You shall pass on your experience to a new hand,
+take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few months.
+Now let's get on with it. You know what I want to hear about."
+
+Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+
+"They're there, sir," he announced, "coaled to the scuppers, every man
+standing to stations and steam up. There's the list."
+
+He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+
+"The fast cruiser squadron," he observed. "Hm! Three new ships we
+haven't any note of. No transports, then, Horridge?'"
+
+"Not a sign of one, sir," was the reply. "They're after a bombardment."
+
+He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+certain port on the east coast. Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+
+"You're sure?"
+
+"It is a certainty," Horridge replied. "I've been on three of those
+ships. I've dined with four of the officers. They're under sealed
+orders, and the crew believes that they're going to escort out half
+a dozen commerce destroyers. But I have the truth. That's their
+objective," Horridge repeated, touching once more the spot upon the map,
+"and they are waiting just for one thing."
+
+Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+
+"I know what they're waiting for," he said. "Perhaps if they'd a Herr
+Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before now. As
+it is--well, I'm not sure," he went on. "It seems a pity to disappoint
+them, doesn't it? I'd love to give them a run for their money."
+
+Horridge smiled faintly. He knew a good deal about his companion.
+
+"They're spoiling for it, sir," he admitted. Sir Henry spoke down a
+telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+
+"Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room," his chief directed, "and one of
+our confidential typists. You can make out your report at your leisure,"
+he went on. "Come in and see me when it's all finished."
+
+"Certainly, sir," Horridge replied, rising.
+
+Sir Henry held out his hand. He looked with something like wonder at
+the nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain air of
+briskness.
+
+"Horridge," he said, "I wish I had your pluck."
+
+"I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any,
+sir," was the quiet reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the scene
+of his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the moorland,
+seawards. Above him, the sky was covered with little masses of quickly
+scudding clouds. A fugitive and watery sunshine shone feebly upon a
+wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape. He found a certain grim
+satisfaction in comparing the disorderliness of the day with the tumult
+in his own life. He felt that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater
+than his capacity, for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable.
+And behind him was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a
+few hours ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+
+Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation.
+Great events wait upon you. The object of your search is necessary for
+our imminent operations.
+
+The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him. Captain Griffiths, on a
+great bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the roadside,
+and then pulled up.
+
+"Back again, Mr. Lessingham?" he remarked.
+
+"As you see."
+
+The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment. Then he approached
+a little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+
+"You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham," he remarked.
+
+"When the fancy takes me," was the equable reply.
+
+"Have you come out to see our new guns?"
+
+"I had no idea," Lessingham answered indifferently, "that you had any."
+
+Griffiths smiled.
+
+"We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from
+the south of England," he said. "The secret of their coming and their
+locality has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for the last
+week."
+
+Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+
+"They most of them spotted the guns," his companion continued, "but not
+many of them have found the searchlights yet."
+
+"It seems a little late in the year," Lessingham observed, "to be making
+preparations against Zeppelins."
+
+"Well, they cross here pretty often, you know," Griffiths reminded him.
+"It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to grief
+on this common. We picked up their observation car not fifty yards from
+where you are sitting."
+
+"I remember hearing about it," Lessingham acknowledged.
+
+"By-the-by," the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck,
+"didn't you arrive that evening or the evening after?"
+
+"I believe I did."
+
+"Liverpool Street or King's Cross? The King's Cross train was very
+nearly held up."
+
+"I didn't come by train at all," Lessingham replied, glancing for a
+moment into the clouds, "And now I come to think of it, it must have
+been the evening after."
+
+"Fine county for motoring," Griffiths continued, stroking his horse's
+head.
+
+"The roads I have been on seem very good," was the somewhat bored
+admission.
+
+"You haven't a car of your own here, have you?"
+
+"Not at present."
+
+Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments.
+Then he turned once more towards his companion.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," he said, "you are aware that I am Commandant here?"
+
+"I believe," Lessingham replied, "that Lady Cranston told me so."
+
+"It is my duty, therefore," Griffiths went on, "to take a little more
+than ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this time
+of the year. The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston is, of
+course, an entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence here.
+At the same time, there is certain information concerning strangers of
+which we keep a record, and in your case there is a line or two which we
+have not been able to fill up."
+
+"If I can be of any service," Lessingham murmured.
+
+"Precisely," the other interrupted. "I knew you would feel like that.
+Now your arrival here--we have the date, I think--October 6th. As you
+have just remarked, you didn't come by train. How did you come?"
+
+Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+
+"Is that a question which you ask me to answer--officially?" he
+enquired.
+
+His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I am not putting official questions to you at all," he replied, "nor
+am I cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the circumstances,
+simply because your friendship with the Cranstons is, of course, a
+guarantee as to your position. But on the other hand, I think it would
+be reasonable if you were to answer my question."
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+"Perhaps you are right," he admitted. "As you can tell by finding me
+here this afternoon, I am a great walker. I arrived--on foot."
+
+"I see," Griffiths reflected. "The other question which we usually ask
+is, where was your last stopping place?"
+
+"Stopping place?" Lessingham murmured.
+
+"Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?" Griffiths
+persisted.
+
+Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful
+memory.
+
+"But I did not sleep at all," he complained. "It was one of the worst
+nights which I have ever spent in my life."
+
+Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+
+"Well," he said with clumsy sarcasm, "I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered my
+questions. I won't bother you any more just at present. Shall I see you
+to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?"
+
+"Lady Cranston has asked me to dine," was the somewhat reserved reply.
+
+His inquisitor nodded and cantered away. Lessingham looked after him
+until he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh and
+walked steadily into the lowering afternoon. Twilight was falling as
+he reached Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some
+callers, to whom she promptly introduced him. Lessingham gathered,
+almost in the first few minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was
+becoming a subject of comment.
+
+"My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think," a lady
+by whose side he found himself observed. "You perhaps didn't hear my
+name--Mrs. Johnson?"
+
+"I congratulate you upon your husband," Lessingham replied. "I remember
+him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I revoked."
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed. "He must have taken a fancy to you, then. As a
+rule, they rather complain about him at bridge."
+
+"I formed the impression," Lessingham continued, "that he was rather a
+better player than the majority of the performers there."
+
+Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady,
+smiled.
+
+"He thinks so, at any rate," she conceded. "Didn't he tell me that you
+were invalided home from the front?"
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"I am quite sure that it was not mentioned," he said. "We walked home
+together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of the golf
+and some shooting in the neighbourhood."
+
+Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing. There was a
+little commotion. Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to help
+collect the fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper in his
+ear.
+
+"Be careful. That woman is a cat. Stay and talk to me. Please don't
+bother, Mr. Lessingham. Won't you ring the bell instead?" she continued,
+raising her voice.
+
+Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs.
+Johnson's inviting smile as he returned. Philippa made room for him by
+her side.
+
+"Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham," she said, "of
+the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and both
+had just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity. You never played, did
+you?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No such luck. In any case, Richard would have been in well before me. I
+always maintained that he was the first of our googlie bowlers."
+
+"So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?" another caller remarked
+in mild wonder.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends," Philippa explained.
+"Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire."
+
+Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+disappointment. The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance in
+Dreymarsh was practically strangled. Mrs. Johnson, however, fired a
+parting shot as she rose to go.
+
+"You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+Lessingham?" she asked. "No," he answered calmly.
+
+Philippa was busy with her adieux. Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+
+"What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?" she persisted. "You must
+forgive my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military
+affairs."
+
+Lessingham bowed courteously.
+
+"I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all," he said coolly,
+"but as a matter of fact I am in the Guards."
+
+Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable. Her good-by to
+Lessingham was most affable. She walked up the road with the vicar.
+
+"I think, Vicar," she said severely, "that for a small place, Dreymarsh
+is becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew. Every one
+has been saying all sorts of unkind things about that charming Mr.
+Lessingham, and there you are--Major Felstead's friend and a Guardsman!
+Somehow or other, I felt that he belonged to one of the crack regiments.
+I shall certainly ask him to dinner one night next week."
+
+The vicar nodded benignly. He had the utmost respect for Mrs. Johnson's
+cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to which the object
+of their discussion had attained.
+
+"I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time," he pronounced,
+with ample condescension. "I noticed him in church last Sunday morning."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+"My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!" Philippa exclaimed
+pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers. "The
+Guards, indeed!"
+
+Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+
+"Well," he said, "I told the dear lady the truth. You will find my
+name well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the Prussian
+Guards."
+
+She threw herself back in her chair and laughed. "How amusing it would
+be if it weren't all so terrible! You really are a perfect political
+Raffles. Do you know that this afternoon you have absolutely
+reestablished yourself? Mr. Johnson will probably call on you
+to-morrow--they may even ask you to dine--the vicar will write and ask
+for a subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you to play golf with
+her."
+
+"Do not turn my head," he begged.
+
+"All the same," Philippa continued, more gravely, "I shall never have
+a moment's peace whilst you are in the place. I was thinking about you
+last night. I don't believe I have ever realised before how terrible it
+would be if you really were discovered. What would they do to you?"
+
+"Whatever they might do," he replied, a little wearily, "I must obey
+orders. My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told that I
+might go, I should find it hard."
+
+"Do you mean that?" she asked.
+
+"I think you know," he answered.
+
+"You men are so strange," she went on, after a moment's pause. "You give
+us so little time to know you, you show us so little of yourselves and
+you expect so much."
+
+"We offer everything," he reminded her.
+
+"I want to avoid platitudes," she said thoughtfully, "but is love quite
+the same thing for a man as for a woman?"
+
+"Sometimes it is more," was the prompt reply. "Sometimes love, for a
+woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the blending of
+all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that he has learned
+from books and from life. Sometimes a man can see no further and needs
+to look no further."
+
+Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger. There was something in
+her heart of which she had never before been conscious, some music, some
+strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or the words themselves.
+It was madness, she told herself breathlessly. She was in love with
+her husband, if any one. She could not have lost all feeling for him so
+soon. She clasped her hands tightly. Lessingham seemed conscious of his
+advantage, and leaned towards her.
+
+"If I were not offering you my whole life," he pleaded, "believe me, I
+would not open my lips. If I were thinking of episodes, I would throw
+myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even your fingers. But
+you, and you alone, could fill the place in my life which I have always
+prayed might be filled, not for a year or even a decade of years, but
+for eternity."
+
+"Oh, but you forget!" she faltered.
+
+"I remember so much," he replied, "that I know it is hard for you to
+speak. There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your
+fingers shrink from tearing them asunder. If it were not for this,
+Philippa--hear the speech of a renegade--my mandate should be torn in
+pieces. My instructions should flutter into the waste-paper basket,
+To-morrow should see us on our way to a new country and a new life. But
+you must be very sure indeed."
+
+"Is it because of me that you are staying here?" she asked.
+
+"Upon my honour, no," he assured her. "I must stay here a little longer,
+whatever it may mean for me. And so I am content to remain what I am to
+you at this minute. I ask from you only that you remain just what you
+are. But when the moment of my freedom comes, when my task here is
+finished and I turn to go, then I must come to you."
+
+She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open the
+window. The breeze swept through the room, flapping the curtains,
+blowing about loose articles into a strange confusion. She stood there
+for several moments, as though in search of some respite from the
+emotional atmosphere upon which she had turned her back. When she
+finally closed the window, her hair was in little strands about her
+face. Her eyes were soft and her lips quivering.
+
+"You make me feel," she said, taking his hand for a moment and looking
+at him almost piteously, "you make me feel everything except one thing."
+
+"Except one thing?" he repeated.
+
+"Can't you understand?" she continued, stretching out her hand with a
+quick, impulsive little movement. "I am here in Henry's house, his wife,
+the mistress of his household. All the years we've been married I have
+never thought of another man. I have never indulged in even the idlest
+flirtation. And now suddenly my life seems upside down. I feel as
+though, if Henry stood before me now, I would strike him on the cheek. I
+feel sore all over, and ashamed, but I don't know whether I have ceased
+to love him. I can't tell. Nothing seems to help me. I close my eyes
+and I try to think of that new world and that new life, and I know that
+there is nothing repulsive in it. I feel all the joy and the strength of
+being with you. And then there is Henry in the background. He seems to
+have had so much of my love."
+
+He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+encouragingly.
+
+"Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing," he said.
+"Just think these things out. It isn't really a matter for sorrow," he
+continued. "Love must always mean happiness--for the one who is loved."
+
+She leaned back in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her,
+her eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet. He sat by her side,
+fingering some of the things in her work basket. Once she held out her
+hand and seemed to find comfort in his clasp. He raised her fingers to
+his lips without any protest from her. She looked at him with a little
+smile.
+
+"You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine," she declared. "I can't see
+my way like those wonderful emancipated women."
+
+"Yet," he said thoughtfully, "the way to the simple things is so clear."
+
+Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of Nora
+and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked in for a
+game of billiards. Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the latter had
+returned to their game. His tone and manner now were completely changed.
+He seemed ill at ease and unhappy.
+
+"I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow," he told Philippa, "but
+I must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates. They all
+tell me that your husband has any number of charts of the coast. Do you
+think I could borrow one?"
+
+"Why, of course," she replied, "if we can find it."
+
+She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers as
+were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly. By the
+time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a little
+collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+
+"I don't know where else to look," she said. "You might go through those
+and see if they are of any use. What is it, Mills?" she added, turning
+to the door.
+
+Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at Sir
+Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour. He looked away towards his
+mistress, however, as he replied.
+
+"The young woman has called with reference to a situation as
+parlour-maid, your ladyship," he announced. "I have shown her into the
+sewing room." Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+
+"I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes," she promised Lessingham.
+"Just look through those till I come back."
+
+She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room. He stood for a
+moment listening. On the left-hand side, through the door which had
+been left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls and occasional
+peals of laughter. On the right-hand side there was silence. He moved
+swiftly across the room and closed the door leading into the billiard
+room, deposited on the sofa the charts which he had been carrying, and
+hurried back to the secretary. With a sickening feeling of overwhelming
+guilt, he drew from his pocket a key and opened, one by one, the drawers
+through which they had not searched. It took him barely five minutes to
+discover--nothing. With an air of relief he rearranged everything.
+When Philippa returned, he was sitting on the lounge, going through the
+charts which they had looked out together.
+
+"Well?" she asked.
+
+"There is nothing here," he decided, "which will help me very much. With
+your permission I will take this," he added, selecting one at random.
+
+She nodded and they replaced the others. Then she touched him on the
+arm.
+
+"Listen," she said, "are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+coming?"
+
+He listened for a moment.
+
+"I can't hear any one," he answered. "They've started a four-handed game
+of pool in the billiard room."
+
+She smiled.
+
+"Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret. See!"
+
+She touched the spring in the side of the secretary. The false back,
+with its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up. The large
+and very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so much of his
+time, was revealed. Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+
+"There!" she said. "That has been a great labour of love with Henry.
+It is the chart, on a great scale, from which he works. I don't know
+a thing about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry that you have
+seen it."
+
+He continued to examine the chart earnestly. Not a part of it escaped
+him. Then he turned back to Philippa.
+
+"Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?" he
+asked.
+
+"I don't exactly know where it is," she replied. "Every time Henry finds
+out anything new, he comes and works at it. I believe that very soon it
+will be perfect. Then he will start on another part of the coast."
+
+"This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?" Lessingham
+enquired.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I believe it is the fifth," she replied. "They all disappear when they
+are finished, but I have no idea where to. To me they seem to represent
+a shocking waste of time."
+
+Lessingham was suddenly taciturn. He held out his hand. "You are dining
+with us to-morrow night, remember," she said.
+
+"I am not likely to forget," he assured her.
+
+"And don't get drowned," she concluded. "I don't know any of these
+fishermen--I hate them all--but I'm told that Oates is the worst."
+
+"I think that we shall be quite all right," he assured her. "Thanks very
+much for finding me the charts. What I have seen will help me."
+
+Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+perfunctory. Lessingham was almost thankful to escape. There was an
+unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his heart.
+All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous quest had
+faded away. No sense of duty or patriotism could revive his drooping
+spirits. He felt himself suddenly an unclean and dishonoured being.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous wind
+of an uncertain morning settled down to worse things. It tore the spray
+from the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even against the
+French windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down the open spaces
+cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean artillery. A little
+group of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the railing and discussed
+the chances of Ben Oates bringing his boat in safely. Philippa, also,
+distracted by a curious anxiety, stood before the blurred window,
+gazing into what seemed almost a grey chaos. "Captain Griffiths, your
+ladyship."
+
+She turned around quickly at the announcement. Even an unwelcome caller
+at that moment was almost a relief to her.
+
+"How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+Griffiths," she exclaimed, as they shook hands. "Helen is over at the
+Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem most
+dolefully alone."
+
+Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in the
+way of enlivenment. He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than ever,
+and his tone was almost threatening.
+
+"I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston," he said. "I came
+specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter."
+
+Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There seemed
+to her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly conscious that
+there was a new danger to be faced, and that this man's attitude towards
+her was, for some reason or other, inimical. After the first shock,
+however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+
+"Well, you seem very mysterious," she observed. "I haven't broken any
+laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?"
+
+"So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort," the
+Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint. "My
+call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a friendly one."
+
+"How nice!" she sighed. "Then you'll have some tea, won't you?"
+
+"Not at present, if you please," he begged. "I have come to talk to you
+about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"Really?" Philippa exclaimed. "Whatever has that poor man been doing
+now."
+
+"Dreymarsh," her visitor proceeded, "having been constituted, during the
+last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and enquire
+into the business of any stranger who appears here. Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his friendship with
+you. I regret to state, however, that certain facts have come to my
+knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself may not in some
+measure have been deceived."
+
+"This sounds very ridiculous," Philippa interposed quietly.
+
+"A few weeks ago," Captain Griffith continued, "we received information
+that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by some person
+connected with the Secret Service of Germany. There is strong evidence
+that the person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+visitor at my father's house in Cheshire," Philippa observed, with faint
+sarcasm.
+
+"The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston," Captain
+Griffiths rejoined, "has, I must confess, only just occurred to me. The
+authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to, and no one of the
+name of Lessingham was there during any one of your brother's terms."
+
+Philippa took the blow well. She simply stared at her caller in a
+noncomprehending manner.
+
+"We have also information," he continued gravely, "from Wood Norton
+Hall--from your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston--that no college friend
+of your brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton."
+
+"Go on," Philippa begged, a little faintly. "Did I ever live there
+myself? Was Richard ever at Magdalen?"
+
+Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to
+finish and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+
+"I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of
+which I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his last
+habitation. He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced fashion. He
+practically declined to give me any account of himself."
+
+Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+
+"I suppose I must give you some tea," she said, "although you seem to
+have come here on purpose to make my head ache."
+
+"My object in coming here," Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little
+stiffly, "is to save you some measure of personal annoyance."
+
+"Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful," Philippa begged. "Of
+course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get to the
+bottom of it presently--Tell me what you think of the storm?" she added,
+as Mills entered with the tea tray. "Do you think it will get any worse,
+because I am terrified to death already?"
+
+"I am no judge of the weather here," he confessed. "I believe the
+fishermen are preparing for something unusual."
+
+She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing
+her duties as hostess. Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm and
+addressed him with an air of complete candour.
+
+"Now, Captain Griffiths," she began, "do listen to me. Just one moment
+of common sense, if you please. What do you suppose there could possibly
+be in our harmless seaside village to induce any one to risk his life by
+coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of Germany?"
+
+"Dreymarsh," Captain Griffiths replied, "was not made a prohibited area
+for nothing."
+
+"But, my dear man, be reasonable," Philippa persisted. "There are
+perhaps a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations along
+the cliff for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, and
+a couple of searchlights. There isn't a grocer's boy in the place who
+doesn't know all this. There's no concealment about it. You must
+admit that Germany doesn't need to send over a Secret Service agent to
+acquaint herself with these insignificant facts."
+
+Her visitor smiled very faintly. It was the first time he had relaxed
+even so far as this.
+
+"I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you,
+Lady Cranston," he said, "but I am not prepared to accept your statement
+that Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than the things
+which you have mentioned."
+
+There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now. The suggestion
+contained in her visitor's words had really left her in a state of
+wonder.
+
+"You are making my flesh creep!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean to say
+that we have secrets here?"
+
+"I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon the
+subject," he declared. "You will understand, I am sure, that I am not
+here in the character of an inquisitor. I simply thought it my duty, in
+view of the fact that you had made yourself the social sponsor for
+Mr. Lessingham, to place certain information before you, and to ask,
+unofficially, of course, if you have any explanation to give? You may
+even," he went on, hesitatingly, "appreciate the motives which led me to
+do so."
+
+"My dear man, what explanation could I have?" Philippa protested, "it is
+an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at Magdalen
+with my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood Norton. I know
+both these things of my own knowledge. The only possible explanation,
+therefore, is that you have been misinformed."
+
+"Or," Captain Griffiths ventured, "that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in those
+days passed under another name."
+
+"Another name?" Philippa faltered.
+
+"Some such name, perhaps," he continued, "as Bertram Maderstrom."
+
+There was a short silence. Captain Griffiths had leaned back in his
+chair and was caressing his upper lip. His eyes were fixed upon Philippa
+and Philippa saw nothing. Her little heel dug hard into the carpet. In a
+few seconds the room ceased to spin. Nevertheless, her voice sounded to
+her pitifully inadequate.
+
+"What an absurdity all this is!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Maderstrom," Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, "was, curiously
+enough, an intimate college friend of your brother's. He was also a
+visitor at Wood Norton Hall. At neither place is there any trace of
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham. Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady Cranston.
+Perhaps you have recognised the man and failed to remember his name. If
+so, now is the moment to declare it."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you," Philippa retorted, "but I have never
+met or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom--"
+
+"Baron Maderstrom," he interrupted.
+
+"Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I remember
+perfectly."
+
+"I am sorry," Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup and
+rising slowly to his feet. "We cannot help one another, then."
+
+"If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember perfectly,
+into a German baron whom I never heard of," Philippa declared boldly, "I
+am afraid that we can't."
+
+"Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman," Captain Griffiths observed.
+
+"Swedish or German, I know nothing of him," Philippa persisted.
+
+"There remains, then, nothing more to be said."
+
+"I am afraid not," Philippa agreed sweetly.
+
+"Under the circumstances," Captain Griffiths asked, "you will not, I am
+sure, expect me to dine to-night."
+
+"Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham," Philippa replied.
+
+Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible
+for that little storm of passion which for a moment transformed his
+appearance. He quickly recovered, however.
+
+"I may still," he concluded, moving towards the door, "be forced to
+present myself here in another capacity."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+visitor, stifled Philippa. Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf around
+her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to the railing,
+dragged herself along to where the fishermen were gathered together in a
+little group. The storm as yet showed no signs of abatement.
+
+"Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?" she enquired.
+
+An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+
+"There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!"
+
+"Will she get in?" Philippa asked eagerly.
+
+There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+
+"She's weathering it grand," the fisherman to whom she had first spoken,
+declared. "We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning on getting 'em
+ashore all right. Lucky for Ben that the gentleman along with him is a
+fine sailor. Look at that, mum!" he added in excitement. "See the way he
+brought her head round to it, just in time. Boys, they'll come in on the
+next one!"
+
+One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+wave-splashed beach. There were a few more minutes of breathless
+anxiety. Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight,
+hidden by a huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to the
+top of it, to hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and the
+surf and a great green mass of waters, and then finally, with a harsh
+crash of timbers and a shout from the fishermen, to be flung high and
+dry upon the stones. Philippa, clutching the iron railing, saw for a
+moment nothing but chaos. Her knees became weak. She was unable to move.
+There was a queer dizziness in her ears. The sound of voices sounded
+like part of an unreal nightmare. Then she was aware of a single figure
+climbing the steps towards her. There was blood trickling down his face
+from the wound in the forehead, and he was limping slightly.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham!" she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+
+He took an eager step towards her.
+
+"Philippa!" he exclaimed. "Why, what are you doing here?"
+
+"I was frightened," she faltered. "Are you hurt?"
+
+"Not in the least," he assured her. "We had a rough sail home, that's
+all, and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious. Come along,
+let me help you up the steps and out of this."
+
+She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the
+house. Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and Helen
+came hurrying to them from the background.
+
+"I went out to see the storm," Philippa explained weakly, "and I saw Mr.
+Lessingham's boat brought in."
+
+"And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once," Helen insisted. "I
+haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going to
+bind his head up."
+
+Philippa began to feel her strength returning. The horror which lay
+behind those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind. Mills
+had hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were preparing to
+follow. She stopped them.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "listen. Captain Griffiths has been here. He
+knows or guesses everything."
+
+"Everything?"
+
+Philippa nodded.
+
+"Helen must bind your head up, of course," she continued. "After that,
+think! What can we do? Captain Griffiths knows that there was no Hamar
+Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited Wood Norton, that
+there is some mystery about your arrival here, and he told me to my face
+that he believes you to be Bertram Maderstrom."
+
+"What a meddlesome fellow!" Lessingham grumbled, holding his
+handkerchief to his forehead.
+
+"Oh, please be serious!" Helen begged, looking up from the bandage which
+she was preparing. "This is horrible!"
+
+"Don't I know it!" Philippa groaned. "Mr. Lessingham, you must please
+try and escape from here. You can have the car, if you like. There must
+be some place where you can go and hide until you can get away from the
+country."
+
+"But I'm dining here to-night," Lessingham protested. "I'm not going to
+hide anywhere."
+
+The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+
+"Can't I make you understand!" Philippa exclaimed pathetically. "You're
+in danger here--really in danger!"
+
+Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+
+"Of course, I can quite understand," he said, "that Griffiths is
+suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have broken
+the law here, and I shall not make things any better by attempting an
+opera bouffe flight. Can I have my head tied up and come and talk to you
+about it later on?"
+
+"Oh, if you like," Philippa assented weakly. "I can't argue."
+
+She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes. When she
+came down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the library,
+with a piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the
+other. His head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed quite at his
+ease.
+
+"You know," he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her,
+"that man Griffiths doesn't like me. He never took to me from the first,
+I could see that. If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths. He is
+one of those mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very well do
+without."
+
+Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her
+bedroom, tried to be firm.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "you know that we are both your friends. Do
+listen, please. Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a position
+of authority. He has a very large power. I honestly believe that it is
+his intention to have you arrested--if not to-night, within a very few
+days."
+
+"I do not see how he can," Lessingham objected, helping himself to
+another piece of toast. "I have committed no crime here. I have played
+golf with all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and I have
+given the committee some excellent advice as to the two new holes. I
+have played bridge down at the club--we will call it bridge!--and I
+have kept my temper like an angel. I have dined at Mess and told them at
+least a dozen new stories. I have kept my blinds drawn at night, and I
+have not a wireless secreted up the chimney. I really cannot see what
+they could do to me."
+
+Philippa tried bluntness.
+
+"You have served in the German army, and you are living in a protected
+area under a false name," she declared.
+
+"Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say," he admitted,
+"but even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should do no
+good by running away. To be perfectly serious," he added, setting his
+cup down, "there is only one thing at the present moment which would
+take me out of Dreymarsh, and that is if you believe that my presence
+here would further compromise you and Miss Fairclough."
+
+Philippa was beginning to find her courage. "We're in it already, up to
+the neck," she observed. "I really don't see that anything matters so
+far as we are concerned."
+
+"In that case," he decided, "I shall have the honour of presenting
+myself at the usual time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before
+eight that evening. Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a model of
+simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that undefinable appeal to
+the mysterious which even the greatest artist frequently fails to create
+out of any form of colour. Some fancy had induced her to strip off her
+jewels at the last moment, and she wore no ornaments save a band of
+black velvet around her neck. Helen looked at her curiously.
+
+"Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?" she asked, as they
+stood together by the log fire.
+
+Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+
+"I don't know what I was thinking about, really," she confessed. "Is
+that the exact time, I wonder?"
+
+"Two minutes to eight," Helen replied.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual," Philippa murmured. "I wonder if
+Captain Griffiths would dare!"
+
+"We've done our best to warn him," Helen reminded her friend. "The man
+is simply pig-headed."
+
+"I can't help feeling that he's right," Philippa declared, "when he
+argues that they couldn't really prove anything against him."
+
+"Does that matter," Helen asked anxiously, "so long as he is an enemy,
+living under a false name here?"
+
+"You don't think they'd--they'd--"
+
+"Shoot him?" Helen whispered, lowering her voice. "They couldn't do
+that! They couldn't do that!"
+
+The clock began to chime. Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening,
+gave a little exclamation of relief.
+
+"I hear his voice!" she exclaimed. "Thank goodness!"
+
+Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's. A moment later
+Mills ushered in their guest. He was still wearing his bandage, but his
+colour had returned. He seemed, in fact, almost gay.
+
+"Nothing has happened, then?" Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon as
+the door was closed.
+
+"Nothing at all," he assured them. "Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+afraid of making a mistake."
+
+"So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine. Never mind, you'll have to
+take care of us both," she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+
+"I'll do my best," he promised, offering his arm.
+
+If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it
+seemed only to heighten the merriment of their little repast. Philippa
+had ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining room, the
+many appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded, the glow of
+the wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon the table, seemed
+in delicious contrast to the fury of the storm outside. They all three
+appeared completely successful in a strenuous effort to dismiss all
+disconcerting subjects from their minds. Lessingham talked chiefly of
+the East. He had travelled in Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, and India,
+and he had the unusual but striking gift of painting little word
+pictures of some of the scenes of his wanderings. It was half-past nine
+before they rose from the table, and Lessingham accompanied them into
+the library. With the advent of coffee, they were for the first time
+really alone. Lessingham sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a
+low chair close at hand.
+
+"I think," he said, "that I can venture now to tell you some news."
+
+Helen put down her work. Philippa looked at him in silence, and her eyes
+seemed to dilate.
+
+"I have hesitated to say anything about it," Lessingham went on,
+"because there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I believe
+that it is now finally arranged. I think that within the next week or
+ten days--perhaps a little before, perhaps a little later--your brother
+Richard will be set at liberty."
+
+"Dick? Dick coming home?" Philippa cried, springing up from her
+reclining position.
+
+"Dick?" Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap. "Mr.
+Lessingham, do you mean it? Is it possible?"
+
+"It is not only possible," Lessingham assured them, "but I believe that
+it will come to pass. I have had to exercise a little duplicity, but
+I fancy that it has been successful. I have insisted that without help
+from an influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot bring my labours here
+to a satisfactory conclusion, and I have named as the price of that
+help, Richard's absolute and immediate freedom. I heard only this
+morning that there would be no difficulty."
+
+Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+
+"I will come back in a few minutes," she promised, her voice a little
+broken.
+
+Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place.
+There were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a faint
+patch of colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite steady. She
+caught at his hands.
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear friend!" she said. "If only that little nightmare
+part of you did not exist. If only you could be just what you seem, and
+one could feel that you were there in our lives for always! I feel that
+I want to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you. What shall I
+call you?"
+
+"Bertram, please," he whispered.
+
+"Then Bertram, dear," she went on, "for my sake, because you have really
+become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of your danger,
+and because--see how honest I am--I am a little afraid of myself--will
+you go away? The thought of your danger is like a nightmare to me. It
+all seems so absurd and unreasonable--I mean that the danger which I
+fear should be hanging over you. But I think that there is just a little
+something back of your brain of which you have never spoken, which it
+was your duty to keep to yourself, and it is just that something which
+brings the danger."
+
+"I am not afraid for myself, Philippa," he told her. "I took a false
+step in life when I came here. What it was that attracted me I do not
+know. I think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst the
+clouds, and the starlight. It seemed such a wonderful beginning to any
+enterprise. And, Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the part which
+concerns you, it was a gorgeous prelude, and for the other--well, it
+just does not count because I have no fear. I have faith in my fortune,
+do you know that? I believe that I shall leave this place unharmed, but
+I believe that if I leave it without you, I shall go back to the worst
+hell in which a man could ever..."
+
+"Bertram," she pleaded, "think of it all. Even if I cared enough--and I
+don't--there is something unnatural about it. Doesn't it strike you as
+horrible? My brother, my cousins, my father, are all fighting the men of
+the nation whose cause you have espoused! There is a horrible, eternal
+cloud of hatred which it will take generations to get rid of, if ever it
+disappears. How can we two speak of love! What part of the world could
+we creep into where people would not shrink away from us? I may have
+lost a little of my heart to you, Bertram, I may miss you when you go
+away, I may waste weary hours thinking, but that is all. Oh, you know
+that it must be all!"
+
+"I do not," he answered stubbornly.
+
+"Oh, you must be reasonable," she begged, with a little break in her
+voice. "You know very well that I ought not to listen to you. I ought
+not to welcome you here. I ought to be strong and close my ears."
+
+"But you will not do that!"
+
+"No!" she faltered. "Please don't come any nearer. I--"
+
+She broke off suddenly. The struggle in her face was ended, her
+expression transformed. Her finger was held up as though to bid him
+listen. With her other hand she clutched the back of the couch. Her eyes
+were fixed upon the door. The little patch of wonderful colour faded
+from her cheeks.
+
+"Listen!" she cried, with a note of terror in her voice. "That was the
+front door! Some one has come! Can't you hear them?"
+
+Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket. She caught the glitter
+of something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a half-stifled moan.
+
+"Not before you, dear," he promised. "Please do not be afraid. If this
+is the end, leave me alone with Griffiths. I shall not hurt him. I
+shall not forget. And if by any chance," he added, "this is to be our
+farewell, Philippa, you will remember that I love you as the flowers of
+the world love their sun. Courage!"
+
+The door facing them was opened.
+
+"Captain Griffiths," Mills announced.
+
+Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers and
+Inspector Fisher. Griffiths came into the room alone, however, and
+waited until the door was closed before he spoke. He carried himself
+as awkwardly as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to have taken
+to itself a new expression. He had the air of a man indulging in some
+strange pleasure.
+
+"Lady Cranston," he said, "I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit here
+is official."
+
+"What is it?" she asked hoarsely.
+
+"I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I spoke to
+you this afternoon," he went on. "I am sorry to disturb you at such an
+hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a charge of espionage."
+
+Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+
+"A most objectionable word," he remarked.
+
+"A most villainous profession," Captain Griffiths retorted. "Thank
+heaven that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with its
+disciples."
+
+"This is all a hideous mistake," Philippa declared feverishly. "I assure
+you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that he was
+well-known to me years ago."
+
+"As the Baron Maderstrom! What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston, to
+induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not know, but
+the facts are very clear."
+
+"He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?" Lessingham remarked, turning to
+Philippa. "And as I gather that a portion of the British Army, assisted
+by the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside, perhaps I had
+better humour him."
+
+"It would be as well, sir," Captain Griffiths assented grimly. "I am
+glad to find you in the humour for jesting."
+
+Lessingham turned once more to Philippa. This time his tone was more
+serious.
+
+"Lady Cranston," he begged, "won't you please leave us?"
+
+"No!" she answered hysterically. "I know why you want me to, and I won't
+go! You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you. I will not
+leave the room, and you shall not--"
+
+His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat. She broke
+down in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+
+"If you have any weapon in your possession, sir," he said, "you had
+better hand it over to me."
+
+"Well, do you know," Lessingham replied, "I scarcely see the necessity.
+One thing I will promise you," he added, with a sudden flash in his
+eyes, "a single step nearer--a single step, mind--and you shall have
+as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the rest of your life.
+Remember that so long as you are reasonable I do not threaten you. Help
+me to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us."
+
+Captain Griffiths was out of his depths. He was not a coward, but he had
+no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's threat and
+in the flash of his eyes. While he hesitated, there was a knock upon the
+door. Mills came silently in. He carried a telegram upon a salver.
+
+"For you, sir," he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths. "An orderly
+has just brought it down."
+
+Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned. He tore it open,
+however, without a word. As he read, his long, upper teeth closed
+in upon his lip. So he stood there until two little drops of blood
+appeared.
+
+Then he turned to Mills.
+
+"There is no answer," he said.
+
+The man bowed and left the room. He walked slowly and he looked back
+from the doorway. It was scarcely possible for even so perfectly trained
+a servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+
+"Something tells me," Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the door
+was closed, "that that message concerns me."
+
+The Commandant made no immediate reply. He straightened out the telegram
+and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to be sure there
+was no possible mistake. Then he folded it up and placed it in his
+waistcoat pocket.
+
+"The notion of your arrest, sir," he said to Lessingham harshly, "is
+apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not digested
+my information. I am withdrawing my men for the present."
+
+"You're not going to arrest him?" Philippa cried.
+
+"I am not," Captain Griffiths answered. "But," he added, turning to
+Lessingham, "this is only a respite. I have more evidence behind all
+that I have offered. You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom, a German spy,
+living here in a prohibited area under a false name. That I know, and
+that I shall prove to those who have interfered with me in the execution
+of my duty. This is not the end."
+
+He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa. Lessingham
+looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his
+shoulders.
+
+"I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths," he declared.
+"There is no breeding about the fellow."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain Griffiths
+and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance. The crisis,
+with its bewildering denouement, had affected her curiously. Lessingham
+rose presently to his feet.
+
+"I wonder," he asked, "if I could have a whisky and soda?"
+
+She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+
+"You're not natural!" she cried. "Whisky and soda!"
+
+"Well, I don't know," he protested mildly, helping himself from the
+table in the background. "I rather thought I was being particularly
+British. When in doubt, take a drink. That is Richard all the world
+over, you know."
+
+She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+
+"I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!" she exclaimed.
+
+He crossed the room towards her.
+
+"Perhaps I am, dear," he confessed. "I want you just to sit up and lose
+that unnatural look. I am not really full of cheap bravado, but I am a
+philosopher. Something has happened to postpone--the end. Good luck to
+it, I say!"
+
+He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty. Philippa rose
+to her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+
+"I'll try and be reasonable too," she promised, resuming her seat. "I
+was right, you see. Captain Griffiths has discovered everything. Can
+you tell me what possible reason any one in London could have had for
+interference?"
+
+"I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?" he
+observed.
+
+"This is aging me terribly," Philippa declared, throwing herself back
+into her seat. "All my life I have hated mysteries. Here I am face to
+face with two absolutely insoluble ones. Captain Griffiths has assured
+me that there is here in Dreymarsh something of sufficient importance to
+account for the presence of a foreign spy. You have confirmed it. I have
+been torturing my brain about that for the last twenty-four hours. Now
+there happens something more inexplicable still. You are arrested, and
+you are not arrested. Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is
+forbidden to do his duty."
+
+"It seems puzzling, does it not?" Lessingham agreed. "I shouldn't worry
+about the first, but this last little episode takes some explaining."
+
+"If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,"
+Philippa sighed.
+
+"And something is going to happen," Lessingham declared, rising to his
+feet. "Did you hear that?"
+
+Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a gun
+from almost underneath the window. The room was suddenly lightened by a
+single vivid flash.
+
+"A mortar!" Lessingham exclaimed. "And that was a rocket, unless I'm
+mistaken."
+
+"The signal for the lifeboat!" Philippa announced. "I wonder if we can
+see anything."
+
+She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening of the
+door. Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+
+"Mummy, there's a wreck!" the former cried in excitement. "I heard
+something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the
+window, watching. I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling now
+for the other one."
+
+"It's quite true, Philippa," Helen declared. "We're going to try and
+fight our way down to the beach."
+
+"I'll go, too," Lessingham decided. "Perhaps I may be of use."
+
+"We'll all go," Philippa agreed. "Wait while I get my things on. What
+is it, Mills?" she added, as the door opened and the latter presented
+himself.
+
+"There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your
+ladyship," he announced. "They have just sent up from the beach to know
+if we can take some of the crew in. They are landing them as well as
+they can on the line."
+
+"Of course we can," was the prompt reply. "Tell them to send as many as
+they want to. We will find room for them, somehow. I'll go upstairs and
+see about the fires. You'll all come back?" she added, turning around.
+
+"We will all come back," Lessingham promised.
+
+They fought their way down to the beach. At first the storm completely
+deafened all sound. The lanterns, waved here and there by unseen hands,
+seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the only background was
+the raging of the storm. Then suddenly, with a startling hiss, another
+rocket clove its way through the darkness. They had an instantaneous but
+brilliant view of all that was happening,--saw the trawler lying on its
+side, apparently only a few yards from the shore, saw the line stretched
+to the beach, on which, even at that moment, a man was being drawn
+ashore, licked by the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair
+clearly visible. Then all was darkness again more complete than ever.
+They struggled down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of
+fishermen were hard at work with the line. Almost the first person
+they ran across was Jimmy Dumble. He was standing on the edge of the
+breakwater with a great lantern in his hand, superintending the line,
+and, as they drew near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could
+hear his voice above the storm. He was shouting towards the wreck, his
+hand to his mouth.
+
+"Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line. Do you
+hear?"
+
+There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+
+"Whom do you mean by 'master'?" he demanded. Dumble scarcely glanced at
+his interlocutor.
+
+"Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure," was the agitated answer. "These
+lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line won't stand
+for more than another one or two," he added, dropping his voice.
+
+Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself into a
+great drama before Lessingham's eyes. Sir Henry was on that ship as near
+as any man might wish to be to death.
+
+"'Ere's the next," Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass
+vigorously. "Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!"
+
+Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill
+fearful yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's
+hearing. Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach by
+Jimmy's side. The line had broken. The body of its suspended traveller
+had disappeared! And just then, strangely enough, for the first time for
+over an hour, the heavens opened in one great sheet of lightning,
+and they could see the figure of one man left on the ship, clinging
+desperately to the rigging.
+
+"Tie the line around me," Jimmy shouted. "Let her go. Get the other end
+on the windlass."
+
+They paid out the rope through their hands. Jimmy kicked off his boots
+and plunged into the cauldron. He swam barely a dozen strokes before he
+was caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about like a cork and
+flung back upon the beach, where he lay groaning. There was a little
+murmur amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean over him.
+
+"Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water," one of
+them declared.
+
+Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed it
+around.
+
+"Where are the young ladies?" he asked.
+
+"Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck," some
+one informed him.
+
+Lessingham stooped down. Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord from
+Jimmy's waist. He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots. Some
+helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line around his
+own waist.
+
+"We've sent for more rockets," one man shouted in his ear. "The man will
+be back in half an hour."
+
+Lessingham pushed them on one side. He stood on the edge of the beach
+and, borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity. Then suddenly
+he vanished. They looked after him. They could see nothing but the rope
+slipping past their feet, inch by inch. Sometimes it was stationary,
+sometimes it was drawn taut. The first great wave that came flung a yard
+or so of slack amongst them. Then, after the roar of its breaking had
+died away, they saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and
+the excitement began to thicken.
+
+"That 'un didn't get him, anyway," one of them muttered.
+
+"He'll go through the next, with luck," another declared hopefully.
+
+Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half stunned
+by the roar of the waters about him, still felt the exhilaration of
+that great struggle. He looked once into seas which seemed to touch the
+clouds, drew himself stiff, and plunged into the depths of a mountain of
+foaming waters, whose summit seemed to him like one of those grotesque
+and nightmare-distorted efforts of the opium-eating brain. Then the roar
+sounded all behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers.
+He swam to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain. It was Sir
+Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+
+"My God, that was a swim!" the latter declared, as he pulled his rescuer
+up, not in the least recognising him. "Let's have the end of that cord,
+quick! So!" he went on, paying it out through his fingers until the end
+of the rope appeared. "You'd better get your breath, young man, and then
+over you go. I'll follow."
+
+"I'm damned if I do!" was the vigorous reply. "You start off while I get
+my breath."
+
+They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray. Sir Henry held
+Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept overboard.
+
+"Get one arm through the chains, man," he shouted. "My God!" he added,
+peering through the gloom. "Lessingham!"
+
+"Well, don't stop to worry about that," was the fierce reply. "Let's get
+on with our job."
+
+Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+
+"Follow me when they wave the lantern twice," he directed. "If we either
+of us get the knock--well, thanks!"
+
+Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and went
+overboard into the darkness. Then, with one arm through the chains,
+he drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which Sir Henry had
+thrown upon the deck. Gradually it came within reach of his disengaged
+hand. He seized it, shook it out, and dived eagerly into the breast
+pocket. There were several small articles which he threw ruthlessly
+away, and then a square packet, wrapped in oilcloth, which bent to his
+fingers. Another breaking wave threw him on his back. One arm was still
+through the chain, the other gripped what some illuminating instinct
+had already convinced him was the chart! As soon as he had recovered
+his breath, a grim effort of humour parted his lips. He lay there for a
+moment and laughed till the spray, this time with a rush of green water
+underneath, very nearly swept him from his place.
+
+They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to his
+feet.
+
+He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and
+groped about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had
+fastened to a staple below the chains. Then he drew a long breath,
+gripped the rope and shouted. A second or two later he was back in the
+cauldron.
+
+As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea. Whatever
+happened, he must not lose consciousness. The packet was still there
+against the calf of his leg. It must be his own hands which removed his
+clothes. It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces, those half a
+dozen rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied a hundredfold.
+It was an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which patted him on the back
+and welcomed him, lanterns like the stars flashing everywhere around.
+He set his teeth and fought against the buzzing in his ears. He tried to
+speak, and his voice sounded like a weak, far away whisper.
+
+"I am all right," he kept on saying.
+
+Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms. His feet followed the
+mesmeric influence of their movement. Was he going into the clouds, he
+wondered? They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading to the gardens
+of Mainsail Haul. How did he get there? He had no idea. More movements
+of his feet, and then unexpected warmth. He looked around him. There
+were voices. He listened. The one voice? The one face bending over his,
+her eyes wet with tears, her whispers an incoherent stream of broken
+words. Then the warmth seemed to come back to his veins. He sat up and
+found himself on the couch in the library, the rain dripping from him in
+little pools, and he knew that he had succeeded. He had not fainted.
+
+"I am all right," he repeated. "What a mess I am making!"
+
+The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand which
+held a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+
+"Drink it all," she begged.
+
+He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf of his
+leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost steady.
+
+"There's a hot bath ready," Philippa told him; "some dry clothes, and a
+bedroom with a fire in. Do let Mills show you the way."
+
+He rose at once, prepared to follow her. His feet were not quite so
+steady as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable show.
+Mills, with a little apology, held out his arm. Philippa walked by his
+other side.
+
+"As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry clothes,"
+Philippa whispered, "please ring, or send Mills to let us know."
+
+He was even able to smile at her.
+
+"I am quite all right," he assured her once more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the empty
+breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang the bell.
+
+"Mills," she enquired, "is no one down?"
+
+"Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship," the man
+answered, "and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him."
+
+"And Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship," Mills continued, looking carefully
+behind him as though to be sure that the door was closed, "has
+disappeared."
+
+"Disappeared?" Philippa repeated. "What do you mean, Mills?"
+
+"I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship," Mills explained,
+"in a suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed--I
+should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock. I called
+him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty. The bed
+had not been slept in."
+
+"Was there no note or message?" Philippa asked incredulously.
+
+"Nothing, your ladyship. One of the maid servants believes that she
+heard the front door open at five o'clock this morning."
+
+"Ring up the hotel," Philippa instructed, "and see if he is there."
+
+Mills departed to execute his commission. Philippa stood looking out
+of the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the beach.
+There was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell from the day
+before. The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining brilliantly.
+Sir Henry, Helen, and Nora were strolling about the beach as though
+searching for something. About fifty yards out, the wrecked trawler
+was lying completely on its side, with the end of one funnel visible.
+Scattered groups of the villagers were examining it from the sands. In
+due course Mills returned.
+
+"The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship, beyond
+the fact that he did not return last night. They received a message
+from Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to say that their
+mechanic had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning to Norwich, where
+he had caught the mail train to London, The boy was to say that Mr.
+Lessingham would be back in a day or so."
+
+Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the
+beach. She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand to
+the others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+
+"Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?" Sir Henry observed.
+
+He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+response. Helen pointed to the wreck.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible, does it," she said, "that men's lives should
+have been lost in that little space. Two men were drowned, they say,
+through the breaking of the rope. They recovered the bodies this
+morning."
+
+"Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat," Sir
+Henry grumbled. "I was down here at daylight, looking for it."
+
+"Your coat!" Philippa repeated scornfully. "Fancy thinking of that, when
+you only just escaped with your life!"
+
+"But to tell you the truth, my dear," Sir Henry explained, "my
+pocketbook and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat. I
+can't think how I came to forget them. I think it was the surprise
+of seeing that fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like a
+drowned rat. Jove, what a pluck he must have!"
+
+
+"The fishermen can talk of nothing else," Nora put in excitedly. "Mummy,
+it was simply splendid! Helen and I had gone up with two of the rescued
+men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the rope round his
+waist and watch him plunge in."
+
+"How is he this morning?" Helen asked.
+
+"Gone," Philippa replied.
+
+They all looked at her in surprise.
+
+"Gone?" Sir Henry repeated. "What, back to the hotel, do you mean?"
+
+"His bed has not been slept in," Philippa told them. "He must have
+slipped away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car, and
+motored to Norwich. From there he went on to London. He has sent word
+that he will be back in a few days."
+
+"I hope to God he won't!" Sir Henry muttered.
+
+Philippa swung round upon him.
+
+"What do you mean by that?" she demanded. "Don't you want to thank him
+for saving your life?"
+
+"My dear, I certainly do," Sir Henry replied, "but just now--well, I am
+a little taken aback. Gone to London, eh? Tore away without warning
+in the middle of the night to London! And coming back, too--that's the
+strange part of it!"
+
+One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding
+food for much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden
+disappearance.
+
+"He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham," he added thoughtfully. "He
+must have--yes, by God, he must have--In that storm, too!"
+
+"If you could speak coherently, Henry," Philippa observed, "I should
+like to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham has
+deserted us so precipitately."
+
+Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him. He
+shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+
+"The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem," he said. "Of
+course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I have. Isn't
+it true that people have begun to make curious remarks about him?"
+
+"How did you know that, Henry?" Philippa demanded.
+
+"Well, one hears things," he replied. "I should gather, from what I
+heard, that his position here had become a little precarious. Hence his
+sudden disappearance."
+
+"But he is coming back again," Philippa reminded her husband.
+
+"Perhaps!"
+
+Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+behind with her. They walked side by side up the gravel path. Philippa
+kept her hands clasped behind her.
+
+"To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time," she began, "I feel
+very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but I must
+confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you lunching at
+the Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days ago, when you left
+here with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and also why you return here
+on a trawler which belongs to another part of the coast?"
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+"I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead," he observed
+good-humouredly. "If you wouldn't mind giving me another--well, to be
+on the safe side let us say eight days--I think I shall be able to offer
+you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory."
+
+"Thank you," Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; "I see no reason why
+you should not answer such simple questions at once."
+
+Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take
+his wife's arm.
+
+"Philippa, be a little brick," he begged. "I know I seem to have been
+playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a sort of
+reason for it."
+
+"What reason could there possibly be," she demanded, "which you could
+not confide in me?"
+
+He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again there was a new
+earnestness in his tone.
+
+"Philippa," he said, "I have been working for some time at a little
+scheme which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but which
+may lead to something which I hope will alter your opinion. You couldn't
+see your way clear to trust me a little longer, could you?" he begged,
+with rather a plaintive gleam in his blue eyes. "It would make it so
+much easier for me to say no more but just have you sit tight."
+
+"I wonder," she answered coldly, "if you realise how much I have
+suffered, sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to do
+something!"
+
+"My fishing excursions," he went on desperately, "have not been
+altogether a matter of sport."
+
+"I know that quite well," she replied. "You have been making that chart
+you promised your miserable fishermen. None of those things interest me,
+Henry. I fear--I am very much inclined to say that none of your doings
+interest me. Least of all," she went on, her voice quivering with
+passion, "do I appreciate in the least these mysterious appeals for my
+patience. I have some common sense, Henry."
+
+"You're a suspicious little beast," he told her.
+
+"Suspicious!" she scoffed. "What a word to use from a man who goes
+off fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days
+afterwards, with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!"
+
+"That was a trifle awkward," Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst of
+candour, "but it goes in with the rest, Philippa."
+
+"Then it can stay with the rest," she retorted, "exactly where I have
+placed it in my mind. Please understand me. Your conduct for the last
+twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between us. If this
+explanation that you promise comes--in time, and I feel like it, very
+well. Until it does, I am perfectly free, and you, as my husband, are
+non-existent. That is my reply, Henry, to your request for further
+indulgence."
+
+"Rather a foolish one, my dear," he answered, patting her shoulder, "but
+then you are rather a child, aren't you?"
+
+She swung away from him angrily.
+
+"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed. "I mean every word of what I have said.
+As for my being a child--well, you may be sorry some day that you have
+persisted in treating me like one."
+
+Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure. There
+was an unusual shade of trouble in his face. His love for and confidence
+in his wife had been so absolute that even her threats had seemed to him
+like little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to him out of the froth
+of her temper. Yet at that moment a darker thought crossed his mind.
+Lessingham, he realised, was not a rival, after all, to be despised. He
+was a man of courage and tact, even though Sir Henry, in his own mind,
+had labelled him as a fool. If indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh,
+what could it be for? How much had Philippa known about him? He stood
+there for a few moments in indecision. A great impulse had come to him
+to break his pledge, to tell her the truth. Then he made his disturbed
+way into the breakfast room.
+
+"Where's your mother, Nora?" he asked, as Helen took Philippa's place at
+the head of the table.
+
+"She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room." Nora explained.
+"The wind made her giddy."
+
+Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+
+"You going away again, Daddy?" Nora asked.
+
+"I am going to London this morning," he replied, a little absently.
+
+"To London?" Helen repeated. "Does Philippa know?"
+
+"I haven't told her yet."
+
+Helen turned towards Nora.
+
+"I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee,
+there's a dear," she suggested.
+
+Nora acquiesced at once. As soon as she had left the room, Helen leaned
+over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+
+"Don't go to London, Henry," she begged.
+
+"But my dear Helen, I must," he replied, a little curtly.
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you," she persisted. "You know, you've tried
+Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional state.
+She is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave her alone if
+I were you."
+
+Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he leaned
+towards her.
+
+"You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?" he asked
+bluntly.
+
+"No, I don't," Helen replied, "but I think she is more furious with you
+than you believe. For months you have acted--well, how shall I say?"
+
+"Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool. Go on."
+
+"She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,"
+Helen continued, "and you have given her none. You have treated her like
+something between a doll and a child. Philippa is as good and sweet as
+any woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to you that women
+are rather mysterious beings? They may sometimes do, out of a furious
+sense of being wrongly treated, out of a sort of aggravated pique, what
+they would never do for any other reason. If you must go, come back
+to-night, Henry. Come back, and if you are obstinate, and won't tell
+Philippa all that she has a right to know, tell her about that luncheon
+in town."
+
+Sir Henry frowned.
+
+"It's all very well, you know, Helen," he said, "but a woman ought to
+trust her husband."
+
+"I am your friend, remember," Helen replied, "and upon my word, I
+couldn't trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have done
+for the last twelve months."
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+"Well, that settles it, I suppose, then," he observed. "I'll have one
+more try and see what I can do with Philippa. Perhaps a hint of what's
+going on may satisfy her."
+
+He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at his
+wife's door. There was no reply. He tried the handle and found the door
+locked.
+
+"Are you there, Philippa?" he asked.
+
+"Yes!" she replied coldly.
+
+"I am going to London this morning. Can I have a few words with you
+first?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+
+"Don't be silly, Philippa," he persisted. "I may be away for four or
+five days."
+
+There was no answer. Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance
+from a newly added bathroom. He availed himself of it and found Philippa
+seated in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her breakfast. She
+raised her eyebrows at his entrance.
+
+"These are my apartments," she reminded him.
+
+"Don't be a little fool," he exclaimed impatiently.
+
+Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up her
+book, and became at once immersed in it.
+
+"You don't wish to talk to me, then?" he demanded.
+
+"I do not," she agreed. "You have had all the opportunities which any
+man should need, of explaining certain matters to me. My curiosity
+in them has ended; also my interest--in you. You say you are going to
+London. Very well. Pray do not hurry home on my account."
+
+Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake of a
+man arguing with a woman--he attempted to have the last word.
+
+"Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps so," Philippa assented sweetly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought--solitude. She had
+walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on the other
+side of a spur of the cliffs. Before her stretched a long and level
+plain, a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly beach. There was not a
+sign of any human being in sight, and of buildings only a quaint tower
+on the far horizon.
+
+She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down, her
+hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward. She had
+come out here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and transient her
+thoughts became. Her husband was always there in the background, but
+in those moments it was Lessingham who was the predominant figure. She
+remembered his earnestness, his tender solicitude for her, the courage
+which, when necessity demanded, had flamed up in him, a born and natural
+quality. She remembered the agony of those few minutes on the preceding
+day, when nothing but what still seemed a miracle had saved him. At one
+moment she felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back.
+At another, her heart ached to see him once more. She knew so well
+that if he came it would be for her sake, that he would come to ask her
+finally the question with which she had fenced. She knew, too, that his
+coming would be the moment of her life. She was so much of a woman, and
+the passionate craving of her sex to give love for love was there in her
+heart, almost omnipotent. And in the background there was that bitter
+desire to bring suffering upon the man who had treated her like a child,
+who had placed her in a false position with all other women, who had
+dawdled and idled away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every
+serious obligation. When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear,
+and yet, behind it all, there was that cold impulse of almost Victorian
+prudishness, the inheritance of a long line of virtuous women, a
+prudishness which she had once, when she had believed that it was part
+of her second nature, scoffed at as being the outcome of one of the
+finer forms of selfishness.
+
+She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision came no
+nearer to her. A late afternoon star shone weakly in the sky. A faint,
+vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in tangled wreaths upon
+the face of the sea. Only that line of sand seemed still clear-cut and
+distinct, and as she glanced along it her eyes were held by something
+approaching, something which seemed at first nothing but a black, moving
+speck, then gradually resolved itself into the semblance of a man on
+horseback, galloping furiously. She watched him as he drew nearer and
+nearer, the sand flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless,
+his eyes apparently fixed upon some distant spot. It was not until he
+had come within fifty yards of her that she recognised him. His horse
+shied at the sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a powerful
+wrist. Little specks of sand, churned up in the momentary stampede
+of hoofs, fell upon her skirt. For the rest, she watched the struggle
+composedly, a struggle which was over almost as soon as it was begun.
+Captain Griffiths leaned down from his trembling but subdued horse.
+
+"Lady Cranston!" he exclaimed in astonishment.
+
+"That's me," she replied, smiling up at him. "Have you been riding off
+your bad temper?"
+
+He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides. Back as far as one could
+see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+
+"Am I bad-tempered?" he asked.
+
+"Well," she observed, "I don't know you well enough to answer that
+question. I was simply thinking of yesterday evening."
+
+He slipped from his horse and stood before her. His long, severe face
+had seldom seemed more malevolent.
+
+"I had enough to make me bad-tempered," he declared. "I had tracked
+down a German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for
+arrest--expecting it, even--and then I got that wicked message."
+
+"What was that wicked message after all?" she enquired.
+
+"That doesn't matter," he answered. "It was from a quarter where they
+ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest. I have sent
+to the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying that they may
+change their minds."
+
+Philippa sighed.
+
+"If you hadn't received that telegram last night," she observed, "it
+seems to me that I should have been a widow to-day."
+
+He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+
+"Yes, I heard of that," he admitted. "I dare say if he hadn't gone,
+though, some one else would."
+
+"Would you have gone if you had been there?" she asked.
+
+"If you had told me to," he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+
+Philippa felt a little shiver. There was something ominous in the
+intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to impart
+to his tone. She rose to her feet.
+
+"Well," she said, "don't let me keep you here. I am getting cold."
+
+He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse. "I will walk with
+you, if I may," he proposed. She made no reply, and they set their faces
+homewards.
+
+"I hear Lessingham has left the place," he remarked, a little abruptly.
+
+"Oh, I expect he'll come back," Philippa replied.
+
+"How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with German
+spies?" he asked.
+
+"Don't be foolish--or impertinent," she enjoined. "You are making a
+ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham."
+
+He laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"No need for us to fence," he said. "You and I know who he is. What I
+do want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from the point
+there--four miles of hard galloping and one question--why are you his
+friend? What is he to you?"
+
+"Really, Captain Griffiths," she protested, looking up at him, "of what
+possible interest can that be to you?"
+
+"Well, it is, anyhow," he answered gruffly. "Anything that concerns you
+is of interest to me."
+
+Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what it
+all meant. She realised the significance of those apparently purposeless
+afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had to send for
+Helen to help her out; the significance of those long silences, the
+melancholy eyes which seemed to follow her movements. She felt an
+unaccountable desire to laugh, and then, at the first twitchings of her
+lips, she restrained herself. She knew that tragedy was stalking by her
+side.
+
+"I think, Captain Griffiths," she said gravely, "that you are talking
+nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it. Won't you please ride
+on?"
+
+He made no movement to mount his horse. He plodded along the soft sand
+by her side--a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed upon the
+ground.
+
+"Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard," he
+persisted.
+
+She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+
+"I was never so hard?" she repeated. "Do you imagine that I have ever
+for a single moment considered my demeanour towards you--you of all
+persons in the world? I simply don't remember when you have been there
+and when you haven't. I don't remember the humours in which I have been
+when we have conversed. All that you have said seems to me to be the
+most arrant nonsense."
+
+He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+
+"Thank you," he said bitterly, "I understand. Only let me tell you
+this," he went on, his whip poised in his hand. "You may have powerful
+friends who saved your--"
+
+He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that he had
+wished to say in his face.
+
+"My what?" she asked.
+
+His courage failed him.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," he proceeded, "from arrest. But if he shows his face
+here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him. I shall shoot him
+on sight and chance the consequences."
+
+"They'll hang you!" she declared savagely.
+
+He laughed at her.
+
+"Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy? They
+won't dare! They won't even dare to place me under arrest for an hour.
+Why, when the truth becomes known," he went on, his voice gaining
+courage as the justice of his case impressed itself upon him, "what do
+you suppose is going to happen to two women who took this fellow in and
+befriended him, introduced him under a false name to their friends, gave
+him the run of their house--this man whom they knew all the time was a
+German? You, Lady Cranston, chafing and scolding your husband by night
+and by day because he isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so
+patriotic that you cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you--the
+hostess, the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom! It
+will be a pretty tale when it's all told!"
+
+"I really think," Philippa asserted calmly, "that you are the most
+utterly impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met."
+
+His face was dangerous for a moment. They had not yet reached the
+promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+
+"Perhaps," he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, "I could make
+myself even more obnoxious."
+
+"Quite possibly," she replied, "only I want to tell you this. If you
+come a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you."
+
+"Your friend or your husband, eh?" he scoffed.
+
+She waved him on.
+
+"I think," she told him, "that either of them would be quite capable of
+ridding the world of a coward like you."
+
+"A coward?" he repeated.
+
+"Precisely! Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?"
+
+"I don't want to terrorise you," he said sulkily.
+
+"Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire to
+make yourself agreeable," she pointed out.
+
+He turned suddenly upon her.
+
+"I am a fool, I know," he declared bitterly. "I'm an awkward, nervous,
+miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in the Mess,
+turning the people against me I want to have like me, stumbling into
+every blunder a fool can. I'm the sort of man women make sport of, and
+you've done it for them cruelly, perfectly."
+
+"Captain Griffiths!" she protested. "When have I ever been anything but
+kind and courteous to you?"
+
+"It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy! There's a curse upon
+my tongue," he went on desperately. "I'm not like other men. I don't
+know how to say what I feel. I can't put it into words. Every one
+misunderstands me. You, too! Here I rode up to you this afternoon and
+my heart was beating for joy, and in five minutes I had made an enemy of
+you. Damn that fellow Lessingham! It is all his fault!"
+
+Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon his
+horse's flanks. The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off, riding
+at a furious gallop. Philippa watched him with immense relief. In the
+far distance she could see two little specks growing larger and larger.
+She hurried on towards them.
+
+"Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?" Nora demanded. "Why
+he passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman, and his face
+looked--well, what did it look like, Helen?"
+
+Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+
+"Like a man riding for his enemy," she declared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across the
+luncheon table.
+
+"I suppose one misses the child," Helen said.
+
+"I feel too depressed for words," Philippa admitted.
+
+"A few days ago," Helen reminded her companion, "we were getting all the
+excitement that was good for any one."
+
+"And a little more," Philippa agreed. "I don't know why things seem
+so flat now. We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has
+happened."
+
+"What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away," Helen continued, "and
+Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have reverted to
+the normal, haven't we? I wonder--if Mr. Lessingham has gone back."
+
+"I do not think so," Philippa murmured.
+
+Helen frowned slightly.
+
+"Personally," she said, with some emphasis, "I hope that he has."
+
+"If we are considering the personal point of view only," Philippa
+retorted, "I hope that he has not."
+
+Helen looked her disapproval.
+
+"I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire," she
+observed.
+
+"One never has until one has burned one's fingers," Philippa sighed.
+"I know perfectly well what is the matter with you," she continued
+severely. "You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's favourite
+dish."
+
+"I am not such a baby," Helen protested. "All the same, it does make one
+think. I wonder--"
+
+"I know exactly what you were going to say," Philippa interrupted. "You
+were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham would keep
+his promise."
+
+"Whether he would be able to," Helen corrected. "It does seem so
+impossible, doesn't it?"
+
+"So does Mr. Lessingham himself," Philippa reminded her. "It isn't
+exactly a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and well-bred
+young man step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room."
+
+"You really believe, then," Helen asked eagerly, "that he will be able
+to keep his promise?"
+
+Philippa nodded confidently.
+
+"Do you know," she said, "I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some means
+or another, would keep any promise he ever made. I am expecting to see
+Dick at any moment now, so you can get on with your lunch, dear, and not
+sit looking at the curry with tears in your eyes."
+
+"It isn't the curry so much as the chutney," Helen protested faintly.
+"He never would touch any other sort."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the bottle,"
+Philippa declared. "I have a feeling this morning that something is
+going to happen."
+
+"How long has Nora gone away for?" Helen enquired, after a moment's
+pause.
+
+"A fortnight or three weeks," Philippa answered. "Her grandmother wired
+that she would be glad to have her until Christmas."
+
+"Just why," Helen asked seriously, "have you sent her away?"
+
+Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she
+regretted Mills' absence from the room.
+
+"I thought it best," she said quietly. "You see, I am not quite sure
+what the immediate future of this menage is going to be."
+
+Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+
+"Dear," she sighed, "it worries me so to hear you talk like that."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it,
+that at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry. It
+isn't fair, you know."
+
+"To whom isn't it fair?" Philippa demanded.
+
+"To Mr. Lessingham."
+
+Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+
+"Perhaps," she admitted, "that is a point of view which I have not
+sufficiently considered."
+
+Helen pressed home her advantage.
+
+"I don't think you realise, Philippa," she said, "how madly in love with
+you the man is. In a perfectly ingenuous way, too. No one could help
+seeing it."
+
+"Then where does the unfairness come in?" Philippa asked. "It is within
+my power to give him all that he wants."
+
+"But you wouldn't do it, Philippa. You know that you wouldn't!" Helen
+objected. "You may play with the idea in your mind, but that's just as
+far as you'd ever get."
+
+
+Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face. "I disagree with you,
+Helen," she said. Helen set down the glass which she had been in the act
+of raising to her lips. It was her first really serious intimation of
+the tragedy which hovered over her future sister-in-law's life. Somehow
+or other, Philippa had seemed, even to her, so far removed from that
+strenuous world of over-drugged, over-excited feminine decadence, to
+whom the changing of a husband or a lover is merely an incident in
+the day's excitements. Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike
+beauty, her love of the wholesome ways of life, and her strong
+affections, represented other things. Now, for the first time, Helen was
+really afraid, afraid for her friend.
+
+"But you couldn't ever--you wouldn't leave Henry!"
+
+Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+
+"That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing," she confided.
+
+Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced. Their
+conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+
+Then the wonderful thing happened. The windows of the dining room faced
+the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a motor car turn
+in at the gate and stop at the front door. It was obviously a hired
+car, as the driver was not in livery, but the tall, mulled-up figure
+in unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front seat was for the moment a
+mystery to them. Only Helen seemed to have some wonderful premonition of
+the truth, a premonition which she was afraid to admit even to herself.
+Her hand began to shake. Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+
+"You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!" she exclaimed. "Who on
+earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?"
+
+Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+agitation. She sprang to her feet.
+
+"Helen, you don't imagine--" she gasped. "Listen!"
+
+There was a voice in the hail--a familiar voice, though strained a
+little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent. And
+then--Major Richard Felstead!
+
+"Dick!" Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms. "Oh, Dick!
+Dick!"
+
+It was an incoherent, breathless moment. Somehow or other, Philippa
+found herself sharing her brother's embrace. Then the fire of questions
+and answers was presently interrupted by Mills, triumphantly bearing in
+a fresh dish of curry.
+
+"What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?" he asked.
+
+Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+
+"Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!" he
+said. "It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the day, isn't
+it, Philippa, but can I have some champagne?"
+
+"You can have the whole cellarful," Philippa assured him joyously. "Be
+sure you bring the best, Mills."
+
+"The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship," was the murmured reply.
+
+Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they
+found themselves seated once more at the table. They sat one on
+either side of him, watching his glass and his plate. By degrees their
+questions and his answers became more intelligible.
+
+"When did you get here?" they wanted to know.
+
+"I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning," he told them; "came
+across from Holland. I hired a car and drove straight here."
+
+"When did you know you were coming home?" Helen asked.
+
+"Only two days ago," he replied. "I never was so surprised in my life.
+Even now I can't realise my good luck. I can't see what I've done. The
+last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream. Jove!" he
+went on, as he drank his wine, "I never thought I should be such a pig
+as to care so much for eating and drinking!"
+
+"And think what weeks of it you have before you?" Helen explained,
+clapping her hands. "Philippa and I will have a new interest in life--to
+make you fat."
+
+He laughed.
+
+"It won't be very difficult," he promised them. "I had several months of
+semi-starvation before the miracle happened. It was all just the chance
+of having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been serving in the German
+Army--Bertram Maderstrom was his name. You remember him, Philippa? He
+was a Swede in those days."
+
+"What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been so
+faithful!" Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+
+"He's a real good sort," Felstead declared enthusiastically, "although
+Heaven knows why he's turned German! He worked like a slave for me. I
+dare say he didn't find it so difficult to get me better quarters and a
+servant, and decent food, but when they told me that I was free--well,
+it nearly knocked me silly."
+
+"The dear fellow!" Philippa murmured pensively.
+
+"Do you remember him, either of you?" Felstead continued. "Rather
+good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman."
+
+"I--seem to remember," Philippa admitted.
+
+"The name sounds familiar," Helen echoed. "Do have some more chutney,
+Dick."
+
+"Thanks! What a pig I am making of myself!" he observed cheerfully.
+"You girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom, but the
+whole business beats me so completely. Of course, we were great pals, in
+a way, but I never thought that I was the apple of his eye, or anything
+of that sort. How he got the influence, too, I can't imagine. And oh!
+I knew there was something else I was going to ask you girls,"
+Felstead went on. "Have you ever had a letter, or rather a letter each,
+uncensored? Just a line or two? I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I
+should not have been allowed to do in the ordinary prison letters."
+
+Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the quick
+glance which passed between the two women.
+
+"Yes, we had them, Dick," Philippa told him. "It was one afternoon--it
+doesn't seem so very long ago. And oh, how thankful we were!"
+
+Felstead nodded.
+
+"He got them across all right, then. Tell me, did they come through
+Holland? What was the postmark?"
+
+"The postmark," Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully. "You heard what
+Dick asked, Helen? The postmark?"
+
+"I don't think there was one," Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+Philippa.
+
+Felstead set down his glass.
+
+"No postmark? You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose? They were posted
+in England, eh?"
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+"They came to us, Dick," she said, "by hand."
+
+Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished. He turned round in his chair
+towards Philippa.
+
+"By hand?" he repeated. "Do you mean to say that they were actually
+brought here by hand?"
+
+Perhaps something in his manner warned them. Philippa laughed as she
+bent over his chair.
+
+"We will tell you how they came, presently," she declared, "but
+not until you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that
+champagne, and had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has been
+decanting so carefully. After that we will see. Just now I have only one
+feeling, and I know that Helen has it, too. Nothing else matters except
+that we have you home again."
+
+Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his and
+kissed her.
+
+"It's so wonderful to be at home!" he exclaimed apologetically. "But I
+must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive. I went out to the
+war with a certain amount of respect for the Germans. I have come back
+loathing them like vermin. I spent--but I won't go on."
+
+Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+
+"I beg your ladyship's pardon," he said, as he filled Felstead's glass,
+"but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library, waiting to see
+you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without significance.
+For the first time he became conscious, however, of something which
+seemed almost like a secret understanding between his sister and his
+fianc�e.
+
+"Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he will
+kindly wait," Philippa instructed.
+
+"Who is Mr. Lessingham?" Richard enquired, as soon as the door had
+closed behind Mills. "Seems a queer time to call."
+
+Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood," the
+latter replied. "You will probably make his acquaintance before long.
+Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night."
+
+"Sounds exciting," Richard observed. "What form of destruction was Henry
+courting?"
+
+"There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm," Philippa explained. "You
+can see it from all the front windows. Henry was on board, returning
+from one of his fishing excursions. They were trying to find Dumble's
+anchorage and were driven in on to that low ridge of rock. A rope broke,
+or something, they had no more rockets, and Mr. Lessingham swam out with
+the line."
+
+"Sounds like a plucky chap," Richard admitted.
+
+Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+
+"I expect he has come to wish us good-by," she said. "I'll leave you
+with Helen, Dick. Don't let her overfeed you. And you know where the
+cigars are, Helen. Take Dick into the gun room afterwards. You'll have
+it all to yourselves and there is a fire there."
+
+Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she was
+glad to have some reasonable excuse. She held out both her hands to
+Lessingham.
+
+"Dick is back--just arrived!" she exclaimed. "I can't tell you how happy
+we are, and how grateful!"
+
+Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+
+"I am glad," he said simply. "Do you mean that he is in the house here,
+now?"
+
+"He is in the dining room with Helen."
+
+Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+
+"Don't you think," he suggested, "that it would be better to keep us
+apart?"
+
+"I was wondering," she confessed.
+
+"Have you told him about my bringing the letters?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"We nearly did. Then I stopped--I wasn't sure."
+
+"You were wise," he said.
+
+"Are you wise?" she asked him quickly.
+
+"In coming back here?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Captain Griffiths knows everything," she reminded him. "He is simply
+furious because your arrest was interfered with. I really believe that
+he is dangerous."
+
+Lessingham was unmoved.
+
+"I had to come back," he said simply.
+
+"Why did you go away so suddenly?"
+
+"Well, I had to do that, too," he replied, "only the governing causes
+were very different. We will speak, if you do not mind, only of the
+cause which has brought me back. That I believe you know already."
+
+Philippa was curiously afraid. She looked towards the door as though
+with some vague hope of escape. She realised that the necessity for
+decision had arrived.
+
+"Philippa," he went on, "do you see what this is?"
+
+He handed her two folded slips of paper. She started. At the top of one
+she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+
+"What are they?" she asked. "What does it mean?"
+
+"They are passports for America," he told her.
+
+"For--for me?" she faltered.
+
+"For you and me."
+
+They slipped from her fingers. He picked them up from the carpet. Her
+face was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+
+"I know so well how you are feeling," he said humbly. "I know how
+terrible a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near. You are
+so different from the other women who might do this thing. It is so much
+harder for you than for them."
+
+She lifted her head. There was still something of the look of a scared
+child in her face.
+
+"Don't imagine me better than I am," she begged. "I am not really
+different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort of
+thing has ever come into my life."
+
+"I know. You see," he went on, a little wistfully, "you have not taken
+me, as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa. You know that I
+love you as a man loves only once. It sounds like an empty phrase to say
+it, but if you will give me your life to take care of, I shall only have
+one thought--to make you happy. Could I succeed? That is what you have
+to ask yourself. You are not happy now. Do you think that, if you stay
+on here, the future is likely to be any better for you?"
+
+She shook her head drearily.
+
+"I believe," she confessed, "that I have reached the very limit of my
+endurance."
+
+He came a little nearer. His hands rested upon her shoulders very
+lightly, yet they seemed like some enveloping chain. More than ever in
+those few moments she realised the spiritual qualities of his face.
+His eyes were aglow. His voice, a little broken with emotion, was
+wonderfully tender. He looked at her as though she were some precious
+and sacred thing.
+
+"I am rich," he said, "and there are few parts of the world where we
+could not live. We could find our way to the islands, like your great
+writer Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands full of colour,
+and wonderful birds, and strange blue skies; islands where the peace of
+the tropics dulls memory, and time beats only in the heart. The world is
+a great place, Philippa, and there are corners where the sordid crime of
+this ghastly butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and
+the taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and
+moon are still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon the
+sapphire seas."
+
+"It sounds like a fairy tale," she murmured, with a half pathetic smile.
+
+"Love always fashions life like a fairy tale," he replied.
+
+She stood perfectly still.
+
+"You must have my answer now, at this moment?" she asked at last.
+
+"There are yet some hours," he told her. "I have a very powerful
+automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon. If we leave here at
+ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon. Everything
+has been made very easy for me. And fortune, too, is with us--your
+vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in London. You see,
+you have the whole afternoon for thought. I want you only for your
+happiness. At ten o'clock I shall come here. If you are coming with me,
+you must be ready then. You understand?"
+
+"I understand," she assented, under her breath. "And now," she went
+on, raising her eyes, "somehow I think that you are right. It would be
+better for you and Dick not to meet."
+
+"I am sure of it," he agreed. "I shall come for my answer at ten
+o'clock. I wonder--"
+
+He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her face.
+There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass, even,
+for affection, and yet something which, behind it all, chilled his
+confidence. He left his sentence uncompleted and turned towards the
+door. Suddenly she called him back. She held up her finger. Her whole
+expression had changed. She was alarmed.
+
+"Wait!" she begged. "I can hear Dick's voice. Wait till he has crossed
+the hail."
+
+They both stood, for a moment, quite silent. Then they heard a little
+protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from Richard. The
+door was thrown open.
+
+"You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?" her brother
+asked. "We're not--My God!"
+
+There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the threshold,
+the picture of distress.
+
+"I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa."
+
+Richard took a quick step forward. His hands were outstretched.
+
+"Bertram!" he exclaimed. "Is this a miracle? You here with my sister?"
+
+Lessingham held out his hand. Suddenly Richard dropped his. His
+expression had become sterner.
+
+"I don't understand," he said simply. "Somebody please explain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon themselves
+the onus of speech. Richard's amazement seemed to increase upon
+reflection.
+
+"Maderstrom!" he exclaimed. "Bertram! What in the name of all that's
+diabolical are you doing here?"
+
+"I am just a derelict," Lessingham explained, with a faint smile. "Glad
+to see you, Richard. You are a day earlier than I expected."
+
+"You knew that I was coming, then?" Richard demanded.
+
+"Naturally," Lessingham replied. "I had the great pleasure of arranging
+for your release."
+
+"Look here," Richard went on, "I'm groping about a bit. I don't
+understand. Forgive me if I run off the track. I'm not forgetting our
+friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came and found me
+at Wittenburg. But for all that, you have served in the German Army and
+are an enemy, and I want to know what you are doing here, in England, in
+my brother-in-law's house."
+
+"No particular harm, Richard, I promise you," Lessingham replied mildly.
+
+"You are here under a false name!"
+
+"Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind," the other assented. "I prefer my
+own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would ensure me a very
+warm welcome over here just now. Besides," he added, with a glance
+at Philippa, "I have to consider the friends whose hospitality I have
+enjoyed."
+
+In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard. His tone
+became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+
+"Maderstrom," he said, "we met last under different circumstances. I
+will admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an honourable
+imprisonment. I am not so sure that yours is an honourable freedom."
+
+Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+
+"Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!" she
+begged.
+
+"You would never have lived through it," Helen echoed.
+
+"You are talking to Mr. Lessingham," Philippa protested, "as though he
+were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your life."
+
+Richard waved them away.
+
+"You must leave this to us," he insisted. "Maderstrom and I will be
+able to understand one another, at any rate. What are you doing in this
+house--in England? What is your mission here?"
+
+"Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished," Lessingham said
+gravely. "At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country
+to-night."
+
+"Accomplished?" Richard repeated. "What the devil do you mean?
+Accomplished? Are you playing the spy in this country?"
+
+"You would probably consider my mission espionage," Lessingham admitted.
+
+"And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?"
+
+"I have."
+
+Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Dick," she pleaded,
+"please listen. Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this district, ever
+since he landed in England. What possible harm could he do? We haven't
+a single secret to be learned. Everybody knows where our few guns are.
+Everybody knows where our soldiers are quartered. We haven't a harbour
+or any secret fortifications. We haven't any shipping information which
+it would be of the least use signalling anywhere. Mr. Lessingham has
+spent his time amongst trifles here. Take Helen away somewhere and
+forget that you have seen him in the house. Remember that he has saved
+Henry's life as well as yours."
+
+"I invite no consideration upon that account," Lessingham declared. "All
+that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted to do,
+for my old friend. Your release was different. I am forced to admit
+that it was the price paid for my sojourn here. I will only ask you to
+remember that the bargain was made without your knowledge, and that you
+are in no way responsible for it."
+
+"A price," Richard pronounced fiercely, "which I refuse to pay!"
+
+Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"The alternative," he confessed, "is in your hands."
+
+Richard moved towards the telephone.
+
+"I am sorry, Maderstrom," he said, "but my duty is clear. Who is
+Commandant here, Philippa?"
+
+Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone. There was a queer,
+angry patch of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were on fire.
+
+"Richard," she exclaimed, "you shall not do this from my house! I forbid
+you!"
+
+"Do what?"
+
+"Give information. Do you know what it would mean if they believed you?"
+
+"Death," he answered. "Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he came to
+this country under a false name."
+
+"Perfectly," Lessingham admitted.
+
+"But I won't have it!" Philippa protested. "He has become our friend.
+Day by day we have grown to like him better and better. He has saved
+your life, Dick. He has brought you back to us. Think what it is that
+you purpose!"
+
+"It is what every soldier has to face," Richard declared.
+
+"You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!" Philippa cried
+desperately. "The war is in your brains, I think. You would carry it
+from the battlefields into your daily life. Because two great countries
+are at war, is everything to go by--chivalry?--all the finer, sweeter
+feelings of life? If you two met on the battlefield, it would be
+different. Here in my drawing-room, I will not have this black demon of
+the war dragged in as an excuse for murder! Take Dick away, Helen!" she
+begged. "Mr. Lessingham is leaving to-night. I will pledge my word that
+until then he remains a harmless citizen."
+
+"Women don't understand these things, Philippa--" Richard began.
+
+"Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!" Philippa
+interrupted fiercely. "You have but one idea--to strike--the narrow
+idea of men that breeds warfare. I tell you that if ever universal peace
+comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror of this lust for blood,
+this criminal outrage against civilisation, it is the women who will
+become the teachers, because amongst your instincts the brutish ones of
+force are the first to leap to the surface at the slightest provocation.
+We women see further, we know more. I swear to you, Richard, that if you
+interfere I will never forgive you as long as I live!"
+
+Richard stared at his sister in amazement. There seemed to be some new
+spirit born within her. Throughout all their days he had never known her
+so much in earnest, so passionately insistent. He looked from her to the
+man whom she sought to protect, and who answered, unasked, the thoughts
+that were in his mind.
+
+"Whatever harm I may have been able to do," Lessingham announced, "is
+finished. I leave this place to-night, probably for ever. As for the
+Commandant," he went on with a faint smile, "he is already upon my
+track. There is nothing you can tell him about me which he does not
+know. It is just a matter of hours, the toss of a coin, whether I get
+away or not."
+
+"They've found you out, then?" Richard exclaimed.
+
+"Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago," Lessingham
+acknowledged. "Your Commandant here is at the present moment in London
+for the sole purpose of denouncing me."
+
+"And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?" Richard observed
+incredulously. "I'm hanged if I can see through this!"
+
+"You see," Lessingham explained gently. "I am a fatalist!"
+
+It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room. He looked back
+from the door.
+
+"Maderstrom," he said, "you know quite well how personally I feel
+towards you. I am grateful for what you have done for me, even though I
+am beginning to understand your motives. But as regards the other things
+we are both soldiers. I am going to talk to Helen for a time. I want to
+understand a little more than I do at present."
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+"Let me help you," he begged. "Here is the issue in plain words. All
+that I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any case for
+the sake of our friendship. Your freedom would probably never have been
+granted to me but for my mission, although even that I might have tried
+to arrange. I brought your letters here, and I traded them with your
+sister and Miss Fairclough for the shelter of their hospitality and
+their guarantees. Now you know just where friendship ended and the other
+things began. Do what you believe to be your duty."
+
+Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him. Lessingham
+looked down into Philippa's face.
+
+"You are more wonderful even than I thought," he continued softly. "You
+say so little and you live so near the truth. It is those of us who feel
+as you do--who understand--to whom this war is so terrible."
+
+"I want to ask you one question before I send you away," she told him.
+"This journey to America?"
+
+"It is a mission on behalf of Germany," he explained, "but it is, after
+all, an open one. I have friends--highly placed friends--in my own
+country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the war. It is through
+them that I am able to turn my back upon Europe. I have done my share
+of fighting," he went on sadly, "and the horror of it will never quite
+leave me. I think that no one has ever charged me with shirking my duty,
+and yet the sheer, black ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal
+inutility, have got into my blood so that I think I would rather pass
+out of the world in some simple way than find myself back again in that
+debauch of blood. Is this cowardice, Philippa?"
+
+She looked at him with shining eyes.
+
+"There isn't any one in the world," she said, "who could call you a
+coward. Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you, that at
+least I know."
+
+He kissed her fingers.
+
+"At ten o'clock," he began--
+
+"But listen," she interrupted. "Apart from anything which Dick might
+do, you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you really have
+accomplished something. Why not go now, at this moment? Why wait? These
+few hours may make all the difference."
+
+He smiled.
+
+"They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life," he answered.
+"That is for you."
+
+He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room. Philippa
+moved to the window and watched him until he had disappeared. Then very
+slowly she left the room, walked up the stairs, made her way to her own
+little suite of apartments, and locked the door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that evening
+at Mainsail Haul. Philippa was at times unusually silent, but Helen had
+expanded in the joy of her great happiness. Richard, shaved and with
+his hair cut, attired once more in the garb of civilisation, seemed
+a different person. Even in these few hours the lines about his mouth
+seemed less pronounced. They talked freely of Maderstrom.
+
+"A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem," Richard declared, balancing his wine
+glass between his fingers, "a problem, too, which I can't say I have
+solved altogether yet. The only thing is that if he is really going
+to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter drift out of my
+mind."
+
+"It is so much better," Helen agreed. "Try as hard as ever I can, I
+cannot picture his doing any harm to anybody. And as for any information
+he may have gained here, well, I think that we can safely let him take
+it back to Germany."
+
+"He was always," Richard continued reminiscently, "a sort of cross
+between a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman. There was never
+anything of the practical man of affairs about him. He was scrupulously
+honourable, and almost a purist in his outlook upon life. I have met
+a great many Germans," Richard went on, "and I've killed a few, thank
+God!--but he is about as unlike the ordinary type as any one I ever met.
+The only pity is that he ever served his time with them."
+
+Philippa had been listening attentively. She was more than ever silent
+after her brother's little appreciation of his friend. Richard glanced
+at her good-humouredly.
+
+"You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+Philippa," he observed. "One would think that you were going on a
+journey."
+
+She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious
+eyes.
+
+"I may go for a walk," she said, "and leave you two young people to talk
+secrets. I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights."
+
+"When is Henry coming back?" her brother enquired.
+
+Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+
+"I have no idea," she confessed. "He comes and goes as the whim seizes
+him, and I very seldom know where he is. One week it is whiting and
+another codling. Lately he seems to have shown some partiality for
+London life."
+
+Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+
+"You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?"
+
+"Nothing whatever."
+
+"But what excuse does he give--or rather I should say reason?" Richard
+persisted.
+
+"He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an office,"
+Philippa replied. "That is what he says. His point of view is so
+impossible that I can not even discuss it with him."
+
+"It's the rummest go I ever came across," Richard remarked
+reminiscently. "I should have said that old Henry would have been up and
+at 'em at the Admiralty before the first gun was fired."
+
+"On the contrary," Philippa rejoined, "he took advantage of the war to
+hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after hostilities had
+commenced."
+
+"It's a rum go," Richard repeated. "I can't fancy Henry as a skulker.
+Forgive me, Philippa," he added.
+
+"You are entirely forgiven," she assured him drily.
+
+"He comes of such a fine fighting stock," Richard mused. "I suppose his
+health is all right?"
+
+"His health," Philippa declared, "is marvellous. I should think he is
+one of the strongest men I know."
+
+Her brother patted her hand.
+
+"You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl," he said
+affectionately. "It's no good doing that, you know. You wait and let me
+have a talk with Henry."
+
+"I think," she replied, "that nearly everything possible has already
+been said to him."
+
+"Perhaps you've put his back up a bit," Richard suggested, "and he may
+really be on the lookout for something all the time."
+
+"It has been a long search!" Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm. "Let
+us talk about something else."
+
+They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made their
+plans for the week--Richard must report at the War Office at once.
+
+Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close. It was
+at Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment over
+his port. She kept her arm through her friend's as they crossed the hall
+into the drawing-room, and closed the door behind them. Philippa stood
+upon the hearth rug. Already her mouth had come together in a straight
+line. Her eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+
+"I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen," she began, "and I
+warn you that it will be of no use."
+
+Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+
+"Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?" she asked.
+
+"I am," was the calm response. "I made up my mind this afternoon. We are
+leaving to-night."
+
+Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+
+"Motoring?" she enquired.
+
+"Naturally," Philippa replied. "You know there are no trains leaving
+here to-night."
+
+"You'll have a cold ride," Helen remarked. "I should take your heavy fur
+coat."
+
+Philippa stared at her companion.
+
+"You don't seem much upset, Helen!"
+
+"I think," Helen declared, looking up, "that nothing that has ever
+happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I can see that
+you have reasoned it all out, and there is not a single argument I could
+use which you haven't already discounted. It is your life, Philippa, not
+mine."
+
+"Since you are so philosophical," Philippa observed, "let me ask
+you--should you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?"
+
+"I should not," was the firm reply.
+
+Philippa laughed heartily.
+
+"Oh, I know what you are going to say!" Helen continued quickly. "You'll
+tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental. I think in your heart
+you rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard. You would call it
+cowlike, or something of that sort. There is a difference between us,
+Philippa, and that is why I am afraid to argue with you."
+
+"What should you do," Philippa demanded, "if Richard failed you in some
+great thing?"
+
+"I might suffer," Helen confessed, "but my love would be there all the
+same. Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I should
+never be able to see with those who judged him hardly."
+
+"You think, then," Philippa persisted, "that I ought still to remain
+Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst the
+pastimes of his life--when he feels inclined, for instance, to wander
+from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my complexion, or
+when he settles down at home for a few days after a fortnight's sport on
+the sea and expects me to tell him the war news?"
+
+"I don't think that I should do that," Helen admitted quietly, "but I am
+quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I should be punishing myself too much."
+
+Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+
+"Helen," she said, "you are not such a fool as you try to make me think.
+Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my mind? Can't you
+realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring, it will punish Henry
+more?"
+
+"I see," Helen observed. "You are running away with Mr. Lessingham to
+annoy Henry?"
+
+"Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!" Philippa laughed sardonically. "He has
+terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to him. He'll be
+remarkably sheepish for some time to come. He may even feel a few little
+stabs. When I have time, I am going to write him a letter which he can
+keep for the rest of his life. It won't please him!"
+
+"Where are you--and Mr. Lessingham going to live?" Helen enquired.
+
+"In America, to start with. I've always longed to go to the States."
+
+"What shall you do," Helen continued, "if you don't get out of the
+country safely?"
+
+"Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall," Philippa replied, "and
+he seems a person of many expedients. Of course, if we didn't, I should
+go back to Cheshire. I should have gone back there, anyway, before now,
+if Mr. Lessingham hadn't come."
+
+"Well, it all seems very simple," Helen admitted. "I think Mr.
+Lessingham is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder if
+you didn't now and then almost imagine that you were happy."
+
+"You seem to be taking my going very coolly," Philippa remarked.
+
+"I told you how I felt about it just now," Helen reminded her. "Your
+going is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing larger and
+larger, day by day. I think that, in his way, Dick will suffer just as
+much as Henry. We shall all be utterly miserable."
+
+"Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?" Philippa demanded.
+"You sit there talking about it as though I were going on an ordinary
+country-house visit."
+
+Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled with
+tears.
+
+"Philippa dear," she said, "if I thought that all the tears that were
+ever shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's heart, could
+have any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now and implore you to
+give up this idea. But I think--you won't be angry with me, dear?--I
+think you would go just the same."
+
+"You seem to think that I am obstinate," Philippa complained.
+
+"You see, you are temperamental, dear," Helen reminded her. "You have a
+complex nature. I know very well that you need the daily love that Henry
+doesn't seem to have been willing to give you lately, and I couldn't
+stop your turning towards the sun, you know. Only--all the time there's
+that terrible anxiety--are you quite sure it is the sun?"
+
+"You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?" Philippa asked.
+
+"I do indeed," Helen replied. "I am not quite sure, though, that I
+believe in you."
+
+Philippa was a little startled.
+
+"Well, I never!" she exclaimed. "Exactly what do you mean by that,
+Helen?"
+
+"I am not quite sure," Helen continued, "that when the moment has really
+come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched, and your
+feet have left this world in which you are now, I am not quite sure that
+you will find all that you seek."
+
+"You think he doesn't love me?"
+
+"I am not convinced," Helen replied calmly, "that you love him."
+
+"Why, you idiot," Philippa declared feverishly, "of course I love him!
+I think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I ever knew,
+and as to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he were a Fiji
+Islander or a Chinese."
+
+Helen nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I agree with you," she said, "but listen. You know that I haven't
+uttered a single word to dissuade you. Well, then, grant me just one
+thing. Before you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham the truth,
+whatever it may be, the truth which you haven't told me. It very likely
+won't make any difference. Two people as nice as you and he, who are
+going to join their lives, generally do, I believe, find the things they
+seek. Still, tell him."
+
+Philippa made no reply. Richard opened the door and lingered upon the
+threshold. Helen rose to her feet.
+
+"I am coming, Dick," she called out cheerfully. "There's a gorgeous fire
+in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just the time I
+have been looking forward to all day. You'll tell me things, won't you?"
+
+She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to him,
+her face full of the one happiness. He passed his arm around her waist.
+
+"I'll try, dear," he said. "You won't be lonely, Philippa?"
+
+"I'll come and disturb you when I am," she promised.
+
+The door closed. She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to their
+footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he had
+just descended, glanced at the huge tyres and the tins of petrol lashed
+on behind.
+
+"Nothing more you want, chauffeur?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing, sir," was the almost inaudible reply.
+
+"You have the route map?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles."
+
+Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the drive
+of Mainsail Haul. Decidedly it was the moment of his life. He was
+hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths. A few hours now
+was all the start he could reasonably expect. He was face to face with a
+very real and serious danger, which he could no longer ignore, and from
+which escape was all the time becoming more difficult. And yet all
+the emotionalism of this climax was centred elsewhere. It was from
+Philippa's lips that he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer
+which would fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in
+his rush through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent as to
+its result.
+
+He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of suspended
+animation, which knew no hope and feared no disappointment. Just before
+he reached the front door, the postern gate in the wall on his left-hand
+side opened, and Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat,
+framed in the faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of
+seabounded space. He moved eagerly towards her.
+
+"I heard the car," she whispered. "Come and sit down for a moment. It
+isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the sea.
+I came out," she went on, as he walked obediently by her side, "because
+the house somehow stifled me."
+
+She led him to a seat. Below, the long waves were breaking through upon
+the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air. The village
+which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless--there was, indeed, a
+curious absence of sound, except when the incoming waves broke upon the
+rocks and ground the pebbles together in their long, backward swish.
+Very soon the sleeping country, now wrapped in shadows, would take form
+and outline in the light of the rising moon; hedges would divide the
+square fields, the black woods would take shape and the hills their
+mystic solemnity. But those few minutes were minutes of suspense.
+Lessingham was to some extent conscious of their queer, allegorical
+significance.
+
+"I have come," he reminded her quite steadily, "for my answer."
+
+She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched her
+cloak. She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+
+"You see," she told him, "here I am."
+
+His face was suddenly transformed. She was almost afraid of the effect
+of her words. She found herself struggling in his arms.
+
+"Not yet," she begged. "Please remember where we are."
+
+He released her reluctantly. A few yards away, they could hear the soft
+purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the passing
+moments. He caught her by the hand.
+
+"Come," he whispered passionately. "Every moment is precious."
+
+She hesitated no longer. The open postern gate seemed to him suddenly to
+lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid life. He was to
+be one of those favoured few to whom was given the divine prize. And
+then he stopped short, even while she walked willingly by his side. He
+knew so well the need for haste. The gentle murmur of that engine was
+inviting him all the while. Yet he knew there was one thing more which
+must be said.
+
+"Philippa," he began, "you know what we are doing? We can escape, I
+believe. My flight is all wonderfully arranged. But there will be no
+coming back. It will be all over when our car passes over the hills
+there. You will not regret? You care enough even for this supreme
+sacrifice?"
+
+"I shall never reproach you as long as I live," she promised. "I have
+made up my mind to come, and I am ready."
+
+"But it is because you care?" he pleaded anxiously.
+
+"It is because I care, for one reason."
+
+"In the great way?" he persisted. "In the only way?"
+
+She hesitated. He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his. He saw her
+frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+
+"Don't ask me quite that," she begged breathlessly. "Be content to know
+that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come."
+
+He felt the chill of impending disaster. He closed the little gate
+through which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back to
+it. In that faint light which seemed to creep over the world before the
+moon itself was revealed, she seemed to him at that moment the fairest,
+the most desirable thing on earth. Her face was upturned towards his,
+half pathetic, half protesting against the revelation which he was
+forcing from her.
+
+"Listen, Philippa," he said, "Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing. I
+put it on one side. It did not seem to be possible. Now I must ask you a
+question. You have some other motive, have you not, for choosing to come
+away with me? It is not only because you love me better than any one
+else in the world, as I do you, and therefore that we belong to one
+another and it is right and good that we should spend our lives in one
+another's company? There is something else, is there not, at the root of
+your determination? Some ally?"
+
+It was a strange moment for Philippa. Nothing had altered within her,
+and yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at her
+emotions, bringing a sob into her throat.
+
+"You mean--Henry?" she faltered.
+
+"I mean your husband," he assented.
+
+She was suddenly passionately angry with herself. It seemed to her that
+the days of childishness were back. She was behaving like an imbecile
+whilst he played the great game.
+
+"You see," he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, "this is one
+of those moments in both our lives when anything except the exact truth
+would mean shipwreck. You still love your husband?"
+
+"I am such a fool!" she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+
+"You were willing to go away with me," he continued mercilessly, "partly
+because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out of revenge,
+and just a little because you liked me. Is that not so?"
+
+Her head pressed upon his arm. She nodded. It was just that convulsive
+movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair and its plain
+black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his hopes. She was
+just a child once more--and she trusted him.
+
+"Very well, then," he said, "just let me think--for a moment."
+
+She understood enough not to raise her head. Lessingham was gazing out
+through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from which
+the moon was rising. Already the pain had begun, and yet with it was
+that queer sense of exaltation which comes with sacrifice.
+
+"We have been very nearly foolish," he told her, with grave kindliness.
+"It is well, perhaps, that we were in time. Those windows which lead
+into your library,--through which I first came to you, by-the-by,--" he
+added, with a strange, reminiscent little sigh, "are they open?"
+
+"Yes!" she whispered.
+
+"Come, then," he invited. "Before I leave there is something I want to
+make clear to you."
+
+They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little
+terraced walk. Philippa opened the window and closed it again behind
+them. The room was empty. Lessingham, watching her closely, almost
+groaned as he saw the wonderful relief in her face. She threw off the
+cloak, and he groaned again as he remembered how nearly it had been his
+task to remove it. In her plain travelling dress, she turned and looked
+at him very pathetically.
+
+"You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?" he enquired.
+
+"A newspaper? Why, yes, the Times," she answered, a little surprised.
+
+He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it under
+the lamplight. Presently he called to her. His forefinger rested upon a
+certain column.
+
+"Read this," he directed.
+
+She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+
+Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for special
+services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral.
+
+"What does it mean?" she asked feverishly. "Henry? A D.S.O. for Henry
+for special services?"
+
+"It means," he told her, with a forced smile, "that your husband is, as
+you put it in your expressive language, a fraud."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet. Lessingham led her to
+a chair. From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the motor horn,
+calling to its dilatory passenger.
+
+"I can not, of course, explain everything to you," he began, in a tone
+of unusual restraint, "but I do know that for the last two years your
+husband has been responsible to the Admiralty for most of the mine
+fields around your east coast. To begin with, his stay in Scotland was
+a sham. He was most of the time with the fleet and round the coasts. His
+fishing excursions from here have been of the same order, only more so.
+All the places of importance, from here to the mouth of the Thames, have
+been mined, or rather the approaches to them have been mined, under
+his instructions. My mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh--do
+not shrink from me if you can help it--was to obtain a copy of his mine
+protection scheme of a certain town on the east coast."
+
+"Why should I shrink from you?" she murmured. "This is all too
+wonderful! What a little beast Henry must think me!" she added, with
+truly feminine and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+
+"You and Miss Fairclough," Lessingham went on, "have rather scoffed at
+my presence here on behalf of our Secret Service. It seemed to you both
+very ridiculous. Now you understand."
+
+"It makes no difference," Philippa protested tearfully. "You always told
+us the truth."
+
+"And I shall continue to do so," Lessingham assured her. "I am not a
+clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune favoured
+me the night your husband was shipwrecked. I succeeded in stealing from
+him, on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of the mine field which I
+was sent over to procure."
+
+"Of course you had to do it if you could," Philippa sobbed. "I think it
+was very clever of you."
+
+He smiled.
+
+"There are others who might look at the matter differently," he said. "I
+am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but I must
+have your answer to take away with me. If you had known all the time
+that your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you thought him, was
+really doing splendid work for his country, you would not have listened
+to me for one moment, would you? You would not have let me grow to love
+you?"
+
+She clutched his hands.
+
+"You are the dearest man in the world," she exclaimed, her lips still
+quivering, "but, as you say, you know the answer. I was always in love
+with Henry. It was because I loved him that I was so furious. I liked
+you so much that it was mean of me ever to think of--of what so nearly
+happened."
+
+"So nearly happened!" he repeated, with a sudden access of the bitterest
+self-pity.
+
+Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a
+little more impatient, broke the silence. Philippa was filled with an
+unreasoning terror.
+
+"You must go!" she implored. "You must go this minute! If they were to
+take you, I couldn't bear it. And that man Griffiths--he has sworn that
+if he can not get the Government authority, he will shoot you!"
+
+"Griffiths has gone to London," he reminded her.
+
+"Yes, but he may be back by this train," she cried, glancing at the
+clock, "and I have a strange sort of fancy--I have had it all day--that
+Henry might come, too. It is overdue now. Any one might arrive here. Oh,
+please, for my sake, hurry away!" she begged, the tears streaming from
+her eyes. "If anything should happen, I could never forgive myself. It
+is because you have been so dear, so true and honourable, that all this
+time has been wasted. If it were to cost you your life!"
+
+
+She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a
+paroxysm. She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to the
+door. And then she stopped for a moment to listen. Her eyes became
+distended. Her lips were parted. She shook as though with an ague.
+
+"It is too late!" she faltered hysterically. "I can hear Henry's voice!
+Quick! Come to the window. You must get out that way and through the
+postern gate."
+
+"Your husband will have seen the car," he protested. "And besides, there
+is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat."
+
+"I shall tell him everything," she declared wildly. "Nothing matters
+except that you escape. Oh, hurry! I can hear Henry talking to Jimmy
+Dumble--for God's sake--"
+
+The words died away upon her lips. The door had been opened and closed
+again immediately. There was the quick turn of the lock, sounding like
+the click of fate. Sir Henry, well inside the room, nodded to them both
+affably.
+
+"Well, Philippa? You weren't expecting me, eh? Hullo, Lessingham! Not
+gone yet? Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?"
+
+Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+
+"Perhaps," he admitted, "a trifle too fine."
+
+Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm. Philippa had thrown herself into
+his arms. Her fingers were locked around his neck. Her lips, her eyes,
+were pleading with him.
+
+"Henry! Henry, you must forgive me! I never knew--I never dreamed what
+you were really doing. I shall never forgive myself, but you--you will
+be generous."
+
+"That's all right, dear," he promised, stooping down to kiss her.
+"Partly my fault, of course. I had to humour those old ladies down at
+Whitehall who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless idiot. You
+see," he went on, glancing towards Lessingham, "they were always afraid
+that my steps might be dogged by spies, if my position were generally
+known."
+
+Philippa did not relinquish her attitude. She was still clinging to her
+husband. She refused to let him go.
+
+"Henry," she begged, "oh, listen to me! I have so much to confess, so
+much of which I am ashamed! And yet, with it all, I want to entreat--to
+implore one great favour from you."
+
+Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+
+"Is it one I can grant?" he asked gravely.
+
+"If you want me ever to be happy again, you will," she sobbed. "For
+Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape."
+
+Lessingham took a quick step forward. He had the air of one who has
+reached the limits of his endurance.
+
+"You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know," he said, "but I desire no
+intervention."
+
+Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from him.
+There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment. His mouth
+had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw seemed more
+apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there was a ring of
+authority in his tone.
+
+"Come," he said, "let us understand one another, Philippa, and you had
+better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham. I can promise you that your chances
+of escape will not be diminished by my taking up these few minutes of
+your time. Philippa," he went on, turning back to her, "you have always
+posed as being an exceedingly patriotic Englishwoman, yet it seems to
+me that you have made a bargain with this man, knowing full well that he
+was in the service of Germany, to give him shelter and hospitality here,
+access to my house and protection amongst your friends, in return for
+certain favours shown towards your brother."
+
+Philippa was speechless. It was a view of the matter which she and Helen
+had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+
+"But, Henry," she protested, "his stay here seemed so harmless. You
+yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh. There is
+nothing to discover. There is nothing going on here which the whole
+world might not know."
+
+"That was never my plea," Lessingham intervened.
+
+"Nor is it the truth," Sir Henry added sternly.
+
+"The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to gain
+access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could, certain plans
+and charts prepared by me."
+
+Philippa began to tremble. She seemed bereft of words.
+
+"He told me this," she faltered. "He told me not half an hour ago."
+
+There was a tapping at the door. Sir Henry moved towards it but did not
+turn the key.
+
+"Who is that?" he asked.
+
+"Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir," Mills announced. "He
+has seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed to come in."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room. Philippa made
+eager signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows. Lessingham,
+however, shook his head.
+
+"I prefer," he said gently, "to finish my conversation with your
+husband."'
+
+There was another and more insistent summons from outside. This time it
+was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+
+"Sir Henry Cranston," he called out, "I am here with authority. I beg to
+be admitted."
+
+"Where is your escort?"
+
+"In the hall."
+
+"If I let you come in," Sir Henry continued, "will you come alone?"
+
+"I should prefer it," was the eager reply. "I wish to make this business
+as little unpleasant to--to everybody as possible."
+
+Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted
+Griffiths. The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham. He would
+have hastened at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand upon his
+arm.
+
+"You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments," he
+insisted. "This is a private conference. Your business with the Baron
+Maderstrom can be adjusted later."
+
+"It is my duty," Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, "to arrest that man
+as a spy. I have authority, granted me this morning in London."
+
+"Quite so," Sir Henry observed, "but we are in the midst of a very
+interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude. Your turn will
+come later, Captain Griffiths."
+
+"I can countenance no discussion with such men as that," Griffiths
+declared scornfully. "I am here in the execution of my duty, and I
+resent any interference with it."
+
+"No one wishes to interfere with you," Sir Henry assured him, "but until
+I say the word you will obey my orders."
+
+"So far as I am concerned," Lessingham intervened, "I wish it to be
+understood that I offer no defence."
+
+"You have no defence," Sir Henry reminded him suavely. "I gather that
+not only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket in the
+midst of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have capped this
+exploit with a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife."
+
+
+Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself. His eyes glowed.
+His long fingers twitched. He kept edging a little nearer to Lessingham.
+
+"Both charges," the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes,
+"are true."
+
+Then Philippa found herself. She saw the sudden flash in her husband's
+eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face. She stepped once more forward.
+
+"Henry," she insisted, "you must listen to what I have to say."
+
+"We have had enough words," Griffiths interposed savagely.
+
+Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+
+"I am listening, Philippa," he said calmly.
+
+"It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr. Lessingham
+to-night," she told him deliberately.
+
+"The devil it was!" Sir Henry muttered.
+
+"As for the reason, you know it," she continued, her tone full of
+courage. "I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all the
+same I was hardly treated. I was made the scapegoat of your stupid
+promise. You kept me in ignorance of things a wife should know. You even
+encouraged me to believe you a coward, when a single word from you
+would have changed everything. Therefore, I say that it is you who are
+responsible for what I nearly did, and what I should have done but for
+him--listen, Henry--but for him!"
+
+"But for him," her husband repeated curiously.
+
+"It was Mr. Lessingham," she declared, "who opened my eyes concerning
+you. It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger.
+Look at my coat there. My bag is on that table. I was ready to leave
+with him to-night. Before we went, he insisted on telling me everything
+about you. He could have escaped, and I was willing to go with him.
+Instead, he spent those precious minutes telling me the truth about you.
+That was the end."
+
+"Lady Cranston omits to add," Lessingham put in, "that before I did
+so she told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm
+friendliness--that her love was given to her husband, and her husband
+only."
+
+"How long is this to go on?" Griffiths asked harshly. "I have
+the authority here and the power to take that man. These domestic
+explanations have nothing to do with the case."
+
+"Excuse me," Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, "they have a great
+deal to do with it."
+
+"I am Commandant of this place--" Griffiths commenced.
+
+"And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute," Sir
+Henry reminded him sternly.
+
+There was a moment's tense silence. Griffiths set his teeth hard, but
+his hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+
+"I am now," Sir Henry continued, "going to announce to you a piece
+of news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known. During
+last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed to cross
+the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of considerable
+importance to us."
+
+Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain. He had the
+air of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry continued, "three-quarters of the squadron
+also found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter met
+our own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not return."
+
+Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet. One could almost fancy
+that Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned towards him.
+
+"The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself," he said,
+"which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+specially prepared for you. You see, our own Secret Service is not
+altogether asleep. Those very safe and inviting-looking channels for
+British and Allied traffic--I marked them very clearly, didn't I?--were
+where I'd laid my mines. The channels which your cruisers so carefully
+avoided were the only safe avenues. So you see why it is, Maderstrom,
+that I have no grudge against you."
+
+Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man. There was
+a look of dull horror in his eyes.
+
+"Is this the truth?" he gasped.
+
+"It is the truth," Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+
+"Does this conclude the explanations?" Captain Griffiths demanded
+impatiently. "Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry. As regards this
+felon--"
+
+Sir Henry held up his hand.
+
+"Maderstrom's fate," he said, "is mine to deal with and not yours,
+Captain Griffiths."
+
+Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was
+standing only a few feet from her. She threw herself upon his arm and
+dragged down the revolver which he had raised. Sir Henry, with a shout
+of fury, was upon them at once. He took Griffiths by the throat and
+threw him upon the sofa. The revolver clattered harmlessly on to the
+carpet.
+
+"His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen," he thundered. "You know
+that I possess superior authority here."
+
+"That man shall not escape!" Griffiths shouted.
+
+He struggled for his whistle. Sir Henry snatched it from him and picked
+up the revolver from the carpet.
+
+"Look here, Griffiths," he remonstrated severely, "one single move
+in opposition to my wishes will cost you your career. Let there be
+no misunderstanding about it. That man will not be arrested by you
+to-night."
+
+Griffiths staggered to his feet. He was half cowed, half furious.
+
+"You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?" he demanded thickly.
+"The man is a proved traitor. If you assist him to escape, you are
+subject to penalties--"
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+"Captain Griffiths," he interrupted, "I am not ignorant of my position
+in this matter. Believe me, your last chance of retaining your position
+here is to remember that you have had specific orders to yield to my
+authority in all matters. Kindly leave this room and take your soldiers
+back to their quarters."
+
+Griffiths hesitated for a single moment. He had the appearance of a man
+half demented by a passion which could find no outlet. Then he left the
+room, without salute, without a glance to the right or to the left. Out
+in the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh voice of command.
+The hall door was opened and closed behind the sound of retreating
+footsteps.
+
+"Sir Henry," Lessingham reminded him, "I have not asked for your
+intervention."
+
+"My dear fellow, you wouldn't," was the prompt reply. "As for the little
+trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it too much to
+heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent you here."
+
+"The fault of the people who sent me here," Lessingham repeated. "I
+scarcely understand."
+
+"It's simple enough," Sir Henry continued. "You see, you are about as
+fit to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective. You
+possess the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts of a
+gentleman.--Come, come," he went on, "we have nothing more to say to one
+another. Open that window and take the narrow path down to the beach.
+Jimmy Dumble is waiting for you at the gate. He will row you out to a
+Dutch trawler which is lying even now off the point."
+
+"You mean me to get away?" Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+
+"Believe me, it will cost nothing," Sir Henry assured him. "I was not
+bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme authority
+here. He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights in aiding your
+escape."
+
+Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing. She gave him
+her hands.
+
+"Dear friend," she begged, "so wonderful a friend as you have been,
+don't refuse this last thing."
+
+"Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom," Sir Henry said. "Remember that you
+can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by playing
+the Quixote."
+
+"Besides," Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, "it is, after
+all, only an exchange. You have saved Henry's life, set Richard free,
+and brought us happiness. Why should you hesitate to accept your own
+liberty?"
+
+Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light out at
+sea.
+
+"There's your trawler," he pointed out, "and remember the tide will turn
+in half an hour. I don't wish to hurry you."
+
+Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+
+"I shall think of you both always," he said simply. "You are very
+wonderful people."
+
+He turned towards the window. Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat from the
+table by his side.
+
+"Better take your hat," he suggested.
+
+Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+
+"You knew from the first?" he asked.
+
+"From the very first," Sir Henry assured him. "Don't look so
+confounded," he went on consolingly. "Remember that espionage is the
+only profession in which it is an honour to fail."
+
+Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned back
+into the room. The tenderness in his own face, however, and a little
+catch in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve which had
+grown up between them.
+
+"My dear little woman!" he murmured. "My little sweetheart! You don't
+know how I've ached to explain everything to you--including the Russian
+ladies."
+
+"Explain them at once, sir!" Philippa insisted, pretending to draw her
+face away for a moment.
+
+"They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral, Draskieff,
+who was sent over to report upon our method of mine laying," he told
+her.
+
+"You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow or
+the next day."
+
+"Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!" Philippa exclaimed ruefully. "I
+imagined--all sorts of things. But, Henry dear," she went on, "do you
+know that we have a great surprise for you--here in the house?"
+
+"No surprise, dear," he assured her, shaking his head. "I knew the very
+hour that Richard left Wittenberg. And here he is, by Jove!"
+
+Richard and Helen entered together. Philippa could not even wait for the
+conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting which passed
+between the two men.
+
+"Listen to me, both of you!" she cried incoherently. "Helen, you
+especially! You never heard anything so wonderful in your life! They
+weren't fishing excursions at all. There weren't any whiting. Henry was
+laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the German fleet! It's
+all in the Times this morning. He's got a D.S.O.--Henry has--and he's a
+Rear-Admiral! Oh, Helen, I want to cry!"
+
+The two women wandered into a far corner of the room. Richard wrung his
+brother-in-law's hand.
+
+"Philippa isn't exactly coherent," he remarked, "but it sounds all
+right."
+
+"You see," Sir Henry explained, "I've been mine laying ever since the
+war started. I always had ideas of my own about mine fields, as you may
+remember. I started with Scotland, and then they moved me down here.
+The Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and they insisted upon my
+keeping my job secret. It led to a little trouble with Philippa, but I
+think we are through with all that.--I suppose you know that those two
+young women have been engaged in a regular conspiracy, Dick?"
+
+"I know a little," Richard replied gravely, "and I'm sure you will
+believe that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd had any
+idea what they were up to."
+
+"I'm sure you wouldn't," Sir Henry agreed. "Anyway, it led to no harm."
+
+"Maderstrom, then," Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+apprehension of the affair, "was over here to spy upon you?"
+
+"That's the ticket," Sir Henry assented.
+
+Richard frowned.
+
+"And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!"
+
+"Don't you worry about that," his brother-in-law begged. "They must have
+known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do any harm."
+
+"Where is he now?" Richard asked eagerly. "Helen insisted upon keeping
+me out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours. The Commandant
+has been up here after him, hasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear! I don't like the
+fellow."
+
+"And Maderstrom?"
+
+"The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry observed. "Well, to tell you
+the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for in the
+history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom."
+
+"You, too?" Richard exclaimed. "Why, every one seems crazy about the
+fellow."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I remember him in your college days, Dick. He was a gentleman and a
+good sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German. He did his bit of
+soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the war, got a
+knock and volunteered for the Secret Service. They sent him over here.
+The fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare say you know, they
+let him down from the observation car of a Zeppelin. He finds his
+way here all right, makes his silly little bargain with our dear but
+gullible womenkind, and sets himself to watch--to watch me, mind. The
+whole affair is too ridiculously transparent. For a time he can't bring
+himself even to touch my papers here, although, as it happens, they
+wouldn't have done him the least bit of good. It was only the stress
+and excitement of the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the
+chart which I had so carefully prepared for him. I really think, if
+he hadn't done that, I should have had to slip it into his pocket or
+absolutely force it upon him somehow. He sends it off like a lamb and
+behold the result! We've crippled the German Navy for the rest of the
+war."
+
+"It was a faked chart, then, of course?" Richard demanded breathlessly.
+
+"And quite the cleverest I ever prepared," Sir Henry acknowledged. "I
+can assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself, if he'd
+got hold of it."
+
+"But where is Maderstrom now, sir?" Richard asked.
+
+Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the
+last few moments, had softly taken her place. Her eyes were watching
+a green light bobbing up and down in the distance. Suddenly she gave a
+little exclamation.
+
+"It's moving!" she cried. "He's off!"
+
+"He's safe on a Dutch trawler," Sir Henry declared. "And I think," he
+added, moving towards the sideboard, "it's time you and I had a drink
+together, Dick."
+
+They helped themselves to whisky and soda. There were still many
+explanations to be given. Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa stood
+with her eyes turned seawards. The green light was dimmer now, and the
+low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over the glittering track
+of moonlight. She gave a little start as it came into sight. There was
+a sob in her throat, tears burning in her eyes. Her fingers clutched the
+curtains almost passionately. She stood there watching until her eyes
+ached. Then she felt an arm around her waist and her husband's whisper
+in her ear.
+
+"I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?"
+
+She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his extended
+arms. Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+
+"You know," she murmured.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
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+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+
+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+Release Date: November 25, 2008 [EBook #1931]
+Last Updated: March 9, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By E. Phillips Oppenheim
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER XXVIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER XXX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER XXXI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0032"> CHAPTER XXXII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0033"> CHAPTER XXXIII </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never heard a sound,&rdquo; the younger of the afternoon callers admitted,
+      getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his low chair. &ldquo;No
+      more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough. Done splendidly, thanks. No, I went
+      to bed last night soon after eleven&mdash;the Colonel had been route
+      marching us all off our legs&mdash;and I never awoke until reveille this
+      morning. Sleep of the just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly sell,
+      all the same! You hear anything of it, sir?&rdquo; he asked, turning to his
+      companion, who was seated a few feet away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths shook his head. He was a man considerably older than his
+      questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair streaked with
+      grey. His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a soldier, curiously
+      sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which was considerable, he was
+      awkward, at times almost uncouth. His voice was hard and unsympathetic,
+      and his contributions to the tea-table talk had been almost negligible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was up until two o'clock, as it happened,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;but I knew
+      nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice officially.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her absent
+      hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the circumstances
+      of the case entitled her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it distinctly,&rdquo; she declared; &ldquo;in fact it woke me up. I hung out
+      of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly as though it
+      were over the golf links.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young subaltern sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rotten luck I have with these things,&rdquo; he confided. &ldquo;That's three times
+      they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one. This time they say
+      that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming down. Of course, you've
+      heard of the observation car found on Dutchman's Common this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you see it?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a chance,&rdquo; was the gloomy reply. &ldquo;It was put on two covered trucks
+      and sent up to London by the first train. Captain Griffiths can tell you
+      what it was like, I dare say. You were down there, weren't you, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I superintended its removal,&rdquo; the latter informed them. &ldquo;It was a very
+      uninteresting affair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any bombs in it?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a sign of one. Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and a
+      telephone. It seems to have got caught in some trees and been dragged
+      off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How exciting!&rdquo; the girl murmured. &ldquo;I suppose there wasn't any one in it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that these observation cars, although they are
+      attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night raids.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to have seen it, all the same,&rdquo; Helen confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would have been disappointed,&rdquo; her informant assured her.
+      &ldquo;By-the-by,&rdquo; he added, a little awkwardly, &ldquo;are you not expecting Lady
+      Cranston back this evening?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am expecting her every moment. The car has gone down to the station to
+      meet her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+      undemonstrative satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair with the air of
+      one who is content to wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you heard, Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; his younger companion enquired, a
+      little diffidently, &ldquo;whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen Fairclough looked away. There was a slight mist before her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a letter this morning,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;She seems to have heard
+      nothing at all encouraging so far.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a line,&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;It's two months now since we last had a
+      letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well,&rdquo; the young man
+      observed sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It all seems very cruel,&rdquo; Helen agreed. &ldquo;He wasn't really fit to go back,
+      but the Board passed him because they were so short of officers and he
+      kept worrying them. He was so afraid he'd get moved to another battalion.
+      Then he was taken prisoner in that horrible Pervais affair, and sent to
+      the worst camp in Germany. Since then, of course, Philippa and I have had
+      a wretched time, worrying.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?&rdquo; Griffiths
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And my only fiancé,&rdquo; she replied, with a little grimace. &ldquo;However, don't
+      let us talk about our troubles any more,&rdquo; she continued, with an effort at
+      a lighter tone. &ldquo;You'll find some cigarettes on that table, Mr. Harrison.
+      I can't think where Nora is. I expect she has persuaded some one to take
+      her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's Common.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The road all the way is like a circus,&rdquo; the young soldier observed, &ldquo;and
+      there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval airmen were
+      all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths wasn't far behind
+      them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers, sir,&rdquo; he concluded,
+      turning to his neighbour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As Commandant of the place,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths replied, &ldquo;I naturally had
+      to have the Common searched. With the exception of the observation car,
+      however, I think that I am betraying no confidences in telling you that we
+      discovered nothing of interest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was flying
+      so low?&rdquo; Helen enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis,&rdquo; the Commandant assented. &ldquo;Two
+      patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her. An old
+      man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a long, black
+      cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost deafened by the noise of
+      the engines. Personally, I cannot believe that they would come down so low
+      unless she was in some trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was suddenly
+      thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady, very much
+      befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long plaits of the
+      schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand she carried a man's
+      Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in, Arthur,&rdquo; she shouted to a young subaltern who was hovering in
+      the background. &ldquo;Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy! Just look, Mr.
+      Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a bush, not twenty yards
+      from where the observation car came down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear child,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;this is nothing but an ordinary hat!
+      People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things like that. How do you do,
+      Mr. Somerfield?&rdquo; she added, smiling at the young man who had followed Nora
+      into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't they!&rdquo; the latter retorted, with an air of superior knowledge.
+      &ldquo;Just look here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned down the lining and showed it to them. &ldquo;What do you make of
+      that?&rdquo; she asked triumphantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Read it out,&rdquo; Nora insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen obeyed:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+               &ldquo;Schmidt,
+                    Berlin,
+                         Unter den Linden, 127.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds German,&rdquo; she admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a trophy, all right,&rdquo; Nora declared. &ldquo;One of the crew&mdash;probably
+      the Commander&mdash;must have come on board in a hurry and changed into
+      uniform after they had started.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my painful duty, Miss Nora,&rdquo; Harrison announced solemnly, &ldquo;to
+      inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles of
+      whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's Common, which
+      might possibly have belonged to any one in the Zeppelin, must be sent at
+      once to the War Office.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; Nora scoffed. &ldquo;The War Office aren't going to have my hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Duty,&rdquo; the young man began&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,&rdquo; Nora
+      interrupted, &ldquo;but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw it into the
+      fire sooner than give it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      ventured thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing so important as hats,&rdquo; Harrison put in. &ldquo;You see they fit&mdash;somebody.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. &ldquo;I'd listen to anything
+      Captain Griffiths had to say,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;but you boys who are
+      learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit. There's nothing
+      in your textbook about hats. If you're going to make yourselves
+      disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the regiment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay. Nora took a
+      chocolate from a box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be merciful, Miss Nora!&rdquo; Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't break the regiment up altogether,&rdquo; Somerfield begged, with a little
+      catch in his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All very well for you two to be funny,&rdquo; Nora went on, revisiting the
+      chocolate box, &ldquo;but you've heard about the Seaforths coming, haven't you?
+      I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every woman does,&rdquo; Helen admitted, smiling. &ldquo;I suppose the child really
+      can keep the hat, can't she?&rdquo; she added, turning to the Commandant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Officially the matter is outside my cognizance,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;I shall
+      have nothing to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young men exchanged glances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A hat,&rdquo; Somerfield ruminated, &ldquo;especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely an
+      appurtenance of warfare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object in
+      question. Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall take the whole responsibility,&rdquo; he decided magnanimously, &ldquo;of
+      saying nothing about the matter. We can't afford to quarrel with Miss
+      Nora, can we, Somerfield?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not on your life,&rdquo; that young man agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sensible boys!&rdquo; Nora pronounced graciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them in their
+      folly. You can take me as far as the post-office when you go, Arthur,&rdquo; she
+      continued, turning to the fortunate possessor of the side-car, &ldquo;and we'll
+      have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if you like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?&rdquo; Helen invited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; the man replied; &ldquo;we had tea some
+      time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora suddenly held up her finger. &ldquo;Isn't that the car?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Why,
+      it must be mummy, here already. Yes, I can hear her voice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he announced solemnly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+      looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful. She had
+      masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long railway journey,
+      deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost porcelain-like complexion, and a
+      sensitive, delightfully shaped mouth. Her figure was small and dainty, and
+      just at that moment she had an appearance of helplessness which was almost
+      childlike. Nora, after a vigorous embrace, led her stepmother towards a
+      chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come and sit by the fire, Mummy,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;You look tired and cold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests. She was still
+      wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was unmistakable.
+      Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since her entrance, wheeled
+      an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into which she sank with a murmured
+      word of thanks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?&rdquo; Helen enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head. Her eyes met her friend's for a moment&mdash;it
+      was only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual sorrow seemed
+      curiously revealed in that unspoken question and answer. The two young
+      subalterns prepared to take their leave. Nora, kneeling down, stroked her
+      stepmother's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No news at all, then?&rdquo; Helen faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None,&rdquo; was the weary reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any amount of news here, Mummy,&rdquo; Nora intervened cheerfully, &ldquo;and heaps
+      of excitement. We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last night, and
+      she lost her observation car. Mr. Somerfield took me up there this
+      afternoon, and I found a German hat. No one else got a thing, and, would
+      you believe it, those children over there tried to take it away from me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect you are keeping the hat, dear,&rdquo; she observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should say so!&rdquo; Nora assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting to
+      take their leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must come and dine one night this week, both of you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;My
+      husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm sure he will
+      be glad to have you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted,&rdquo; Harrison
+      declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather!&rdquo; his companion echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+      Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+      Philippa's chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she said, smiling pleasantly
+      up at him. &ldquo;Must you hurry away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns,&rdquo; he answered,
+      resuming his seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do!&rdquo; Philippa begged him. &ldquo;I have had such a miserable time in town. You
+      can't think how restful it is to be back here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; he observed, &ldquo;that your journey has not been successful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been completely unsuccessful,&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;I have not been able
+      to hear a word about my brother. I am so sorry for poor Helen, too. They
+      were only engaged, you know, a few days before he left for the front this
+      last time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met Major Felstead,&rdquo; he remarked, &ldquo;but every one who has seems to
+      like him very much. He was doing so well, too, up to that last unfortunate
+      affair, wasn't he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick is a dear,&rdquo; Philippa declared. &ldquo;I never knew any one with so many
+      friends. He would have been commanding his battalion now, if only he were
+      free. His colonel wrote and told me so himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish there were something I could do,&rdquo; Griffiths murmured, a little
+      awkwardly. &ldquo;It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nobody can do anything,&rdquo; she bemoaned. &ldquo;That is the unfortunate part of
+      it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was when
+      he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which he had no
+      idea what to do with.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?&rdquo; he
+      asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+      unpleasant voice. She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps one morning later,&rdquo; she replied, a little vaguely. &ldquo;I haven't any
+      heart for anything just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out into the
+      twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things which he had
+      meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten them. Philippa, to
+      whom his departure had been, as it always was, a relief, was already
+      leaning forward in her chair with her arm around Helen's neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought that extraordinary man would never go,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;and I
+      was longing to send for you, Helen. London has been such a dreary chapter
+      of disappointments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a sickening time you must have had, dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was horrid,&rdquo; Philippa assented sadly, &ldquo;but you know Henry is no use at
+      all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone. I have been to
+      every friend at the War Office, and every friend who has friends there. I
+      have made every sort of enquiry, and I know just as much now as I did when
+      I left here&mdash;that Richard was a prisoner at Wittenberg the last time
+      they heard, and that they have received no notification whatever
+      concerning him for the last two months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen glanced at the calendar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is just two months to-day,&rdquo; she said mournfully, &ldquo;since we heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then,&rdquo; Philippa sighed, &ldquo;he hadn't received a single one of our
+      parcels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen rose suddenly to her feet. She was a tall, fair girl of the best
+      Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every promise, indeed,
+      of a fuller and more gracious development in the years to come. She was
+      barely twenty-two years old, and, as is common with girls of her
+      complexion, seemed younger. Her bright, intelligent face was, above all,
+      good-humoured. Just at that moment, however, there was a flush of
+      passionate anger in her cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes me feel almost beside myself,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;this hideous
+      incapacity for doing anything! Here we are living in luxury, without a
+      single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on earth to both of us,
+      is being starved and goaded to death in a foul German prison!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear,&rdquo; Philippa
+      remonstrated. &ldquo;What is it, Mills?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band, bowed as
+      he arranged it upon a side table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+      ladyship,&rdquo; he announced, &ldquo;and some hot buttered toast. Cook has sent some
+      of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally fancies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very kind of you, Mills,&rdquo; Philippa said, with rather a wan little
+      smile. &ldquo;I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad. You might take
+      my coat, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her slim,
+      elegant little body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I light up, your ladyship?&rdquo; Mills enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You might light a lamp,&rdquo; Philippa directed, &ldquo;but don't draw the blinds
+      until lighting-up time. After the noise of London,&rdquo; she went on, turning
+      to Helen, &ldquo;I always think that the faint sound of the sea is so restful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to his
+      mistress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We should be glad to hear, your ladyship,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if there is any news
+      of Major Felstead?&rdquo; Philippa shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills! Still, we must hope for the best.
+      I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as we imagine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must hope not, your ladyship,&rdquo; was the somewhat dismal reply. &ldquo;Shall I
+      fasten the windows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills,&rdquo; Philippa directed.
+      &ldquo;I am not at home, if any one should call. See that we are undisturbed for
+      a little time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, your ladyship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone. Philippa held
+      out her arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, darling, come and be nice to me,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;Let us both pretend
+      that no news is good news. Oh, I know what you are suffering, but remember
+      that even if Dick is your lover, he is my dear, only brother&mdash;my twin
+      brother, too. We have been so much to each other all our lives. He'll
+      stick it out, dear, if any human being can. We shall have him back with us
+      some day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he is hungry,&rdquo; Helen sobbed. &ldquo;I can't bear to think of his being
+      hungry. Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like,&rdquo; Philippa
+      murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He always used to love one about this time,&rdquo; Helen faltered, glancing at
+      the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And cigarettes!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed. &ldquo;I wonder whether they give him
+      anything to smoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nasty German tobacco, if they do,&rdquo; Helen rejoined indignantly. &ldquo;And to
+      think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his favourite
+      Egyptians!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side. Their arms were
+      intertwined, their cheeks touching. One of those strange, feminine
+      silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while under its
+      thrall. Then, almost at the same moment, a queer awakening came for both
+      of them. Helen's arm was stiffened. Philippa turned her head, but her eyes
+      were filled with incredulous fear. A little current of cool air was
+      blowing through the room. The French windows stood half open, and with his
+      back to them, a man who had apparently entered the room from the gardens
+      and passed noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing by the door,
+      listening. They heard him turn the key. Then, in a businesslike manner, he
+      returned to the windows and closed them, the eyes of the two women
+      following him all the time. Satisfied, apparently, with his precautions,
+      he turned towards them just as an expression of indignant enquiry broke
+      from Philippa's lips. Helen sprang to her feet, and Philippa gripped the
+      sides of her chair. The newcomer advanced a few steps nearer to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual silence was,
+      that in those few seconds they jointly conceived definite and lasting
+      impressions of the man who was to become, during the next few weeks, an
+      object of the deepest concern to both of them. The intruder was slightly
+      built, of little more than medium height, of dark complexion, with an
+      almost imperceptible moustache of military pattern, black hair dishevelled
+      with the wind, and eyes of almost peculiar brightness. He carried himself
+      with an assurance which was somewhat remarkable considering the condition
+      of his torn and mud stained clothes, the very quality of which was almost
+      undistinguishable. They both, curiously enough, formed the same
+      instinctive conviction that, notwithstanding his tramplike appearance and
+      his burglarious entrance, this was not a person to be greatly feared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and opened
+      the conversation with some ceremony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ladies,&rdquo; he began, with a low bow, &ldquo;in the first place let me offer my
+      most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance to your house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him. The firelight played
+      upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness from her
+      face. Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had almost the
+      appearance of a framed cameo. Her voice was quite steady, although its
+      inflection betrayed some indignation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+      extraordinary behaviour?&rdquo; she demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my earnest intention to do so without delay,&rdquo; he assured her, his
+      eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa. &ldquo;Kindly pardon me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell, had
+      made a stealthy attempt to slip past him. Her eyes flashed as she felt his
+      fingers upon her arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dare you attempt to stop me!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; he remonstrated, &ldquo;in the interests of all of
+      us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+      conversation. I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure of
+      addressing Miss Fairclough?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in its way,
+      impressive yet irritating. Helen appeared bereft of words and retreated to
+      her place almost mildly. Philippa's very delicate eyebrows were drawn
+      together in a slight frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are acquainted with our names, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; was the suave reply. &ldquo;You, I presume, are Lady Cranston? I
+      may be permitted to add,&rdquo; he went on, looking at her steadfastly, &ldquo;that
+      the description from which I recognise you does you less than justice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent,&rdquo; Philippa told
+      him coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders. There was a slight smile upon his lips and his
+      eyes twinkled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+      circumstances of our meeting. Permit me to offer you what I trust you will
+      accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A letter of introduction,&rdquo; Philippa repeated, glancing at his disordered
+      clothes, &ldquo;and you come in through the window!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; the intruder assured her, &ldquo;it was the only way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you will tell me, then,&rdquo; Philippa demanded, her anger gradually
+      giving way to bewilderment, &ldquo;what is wrong with my front door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For all I know, dear lady,&rdquo; the newcomer confessed, &ldquo;yours may be an
+      excellent front door. I would ask you, however, to consider my appearance.
+      I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of my journey in
+      somewhat ignominious fashion. My clothes&mdash;they were quite nice
+      clothes, too, when I started,&rdquo; he added, looking down at himself ruefully&mdash;&ldquo;have
+      suffered. And, as you perceive, I have lost my hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hat?&rdquo; Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging
+      to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes, and
+      these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an
+      explanation which I thought better avoided. I make myself quite clear, I
+      trust?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clear?&rdquo; Philippa murmured helplessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clear?&rdquo; Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean, of course,&rdquo; their visitor explained, &ldquo;so far as regards my
+      choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the
+      bell. The intruder, however, barred her way. She looked up into his face
+      and found it difficult to maintain her indignation. His expression,
+      besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a respectful admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you please let me pass?&rdquo; she insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I am afraid that it is your intention to ring the
+      bell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it is,&rdquo; she admitted. &ldquo;Don't dare to prevent me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madam, I do not wish to prevent you,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;A few moments'
+      delay&mdash;that is all I plead for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you explain at once, sir,&rdquo; Philippa demanded, &ldquo;what you mean by
+      forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and by
+      locking that door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am most anxious to do so,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;I am correct, of
+      course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston&mdash;and you Miss
+      Fairclough?&rdquo; he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them. &ldquo;A very great
+      pleasure! I recognised you both quite easily, you see, from your
+      descriptions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From our descriptions?&rdquo; Philippa repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The newcomer bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated, of your
+      brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fiancé, Miss Fairclough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard?&rdquo; Philippa almost shrieked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen Dick?&rdquo; Helen gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes. He
+      handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My letters of introduction,&rdquo; he explained, with a little sigh of relief.
+      &ldquo;I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to have some tea. I
+      am almost starving.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, I beg,&rdquo; their visitor interposed. &ldquo;I have established, I
+      trust, my credentials. May I remind you that I was compelled to ensure the
+      safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by locking that door.
+      Are you likely to be disturbed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no! No chance at all,&rdquo; Philippa assured him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we are, we'll explain,&rdquo; Helen promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; the intruder begged, &ldquo;perhaps you will excuse me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew the
+      curtains carefully across the French windows. Afterwards he made his way
+      towards the tea-table. A little throbbing cry had broken from Helen's
+      lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;it's from Dick! It's Dick's handwriting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's reply was incoherent. She was tearing open her own envelope.
+      With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these communications seized a
+      sandwich in one hand and poured himself out some tea with the other. He
+      ate and drank with the restraint of good-breeding, but with a voracity
+      which gave point to his plea of starvation. A few yards away, the
+      breathless silence between the two women had given place to an almost
+      hysterical series of disjointed exclamations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's from Dick!&rdquo; Helen repeated. &ldquo;It's his own dear handwriting. How
+      shaky it is! He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know&mdash;I know,&rdquo; Philippa murmured tremulously. &ldquo;Our parcels have
+      been discovered, and he got them all at once. Just fancy, Helen, he's
+      really not so ill, after all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They drew a little closer together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You read yours out first,&rdquo; Helen proposed, &ldquo;and then I'll read mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa nodded. Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  MY DEAREST SISTER,
+
+  I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+  really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+  but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+  friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+  heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+  that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+  me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+  promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+
+  You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+  man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+
+  Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+  all the difference.
+
+  My love to you and to Henry.
+                                 Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
+
+  P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+  scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+  hope he came out all right.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her teeth
+      as though determined to ignore it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Isn't it wonderful!&rdquo; she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with glowing
+      eyes. &ldquo;Now yours, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen's voice trembled as she read. Her eyes, too, at times were misty:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  DEAREST,
+
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+
+                                               Always your lover,
+                                                       DICK.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      There were a few moments of significant silence. The girls were leaning
+      together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads almost
+      touching. Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and drink. He rose
+      at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and coughed. They started,
+      suddenly remembering his presence. Philippa turned impulsively towards him
+      with outstretched hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't tell you how thankful we are to you,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Both of us,&rdquo; Helen echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+      tea-table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You permit?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; Philippa assented eagerly. &ldquo;You will find some matches on the
+      tray there. Do please help yourself. I am afraid that I must have seemed
+      very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing. Won't you have some
+      fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like some more sandwiches?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing more at present, thank you,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;If you do not mind, I
+      would rather continue our conversation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These letters are wonderful,&rdquo; Philippa told him gratefully. &ldquo;You know
+      from whom they come, of course. Dick is my twin brother, and until the war
+      we had scarcely ever been parted. Miss Fairclough here is engaged to be
+      married to him. It is quite two months since we had a line, and I myself
+      have been in London for the last three days, three very weary days, making
+      enquiries everywhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very happy,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to have brought you such good news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose itself upon
+      the two women. They remembered the locked door, the secrecy of their
+      visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?&rdquo; Philippa
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham,&rdquo; was the suave reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the present?&rdquo; Philippa repeated. &ldquo;You have perhaps, some explanations
+      to make,&rdquo; she went on, with some hesitation; &ldquo;the condition of your
+      clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With your permission.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment,&rdquo; Helen intervened eagerly. &ldquo;Is it possible, Mr. Lessingham,
+      that you have seen Major Felstead lately?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough. I am happy to tell you
+      that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite reasonably well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came over to
+      their visitor's side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This was taken just before he went out the first time,&rdquo; she continued.
+      &ldquo;Is he anything like that now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must expect,&rdquo; he warned her, &ldquo;that prison and hospital have had their
+      effect upon him. He was gaining strength every day, however, when I left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa held out her hand. She had been looking curiously at their
+      visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us about
+      Dick,&rdquo; she insisted. &ldquo;First there are some questions which I must ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed slightly and drew himself up. For a moment it seemed as though
+      they were entering upon a duel&mdash;the slight, beautiful woman and the
+      man in rags.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just now,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+      brother, fifty-six hours ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is so,&rdquo; he assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is impossible!&rdquo; she pointed out. &ldquo;My brother is a prisoner of war
+      in Germany.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+      conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp. Let us talk about him,
+      shall we?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you mad,&rdquo; Helen demanded, &ldquo;or are you trying to confuse us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear young lady!&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;Why suppose such a thing? I was
+      flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were, under the
+      circumstances, perfectly rational.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you are talking nonsense,&rdquo; Philippa insisted. &ldquo;You say that you saw
+      Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago. You cannot mean us to believe that
+      fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you,&rdquo; he agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it isn't possible!&rdquo; Helen gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite, I assure you,&rdquo; he continued; &ldquo;in fact, we should have been here
+      before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along the coast.
+      There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here, which we were credibly
+      informed had once been fired without the slightest accident.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's raving!&rdquo; she decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He isn't!&rdquo; Helen cried, with sudden divination. &ldquo;Is that your hat?&rdquo; she
+      asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; he admitted with a smile, &ldquo;but I do not think that I will claim
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham extended his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Softly, please,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;You have, I gather, arrived at the truth,
+      but for the moment shall it be our secret? I made an exceedingly
+      uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the Zeppelin which
+      passed over Dutchman's Common last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; Philippa cried, &ldquo;you are a German!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune,&rdquo; Lessingham confessed. &ldquo;Do
+      you think that none other than Germans ride in Zeppelins?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation. The conversation,
+      never without its emotional tendencies, at once changed its character.
+      Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat lurking all the time in her
+      tone and manner, became its guiding spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We may enquire your name?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the Baron Maderstrom,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;For the purpose of my
+      brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the name of Mr.
+      Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; Philippa repeated. &ldquo;You were at Magdalen with my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For three terms,&rdquo; he assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have visited at Wood Norton. It was only an accident, then, that I
+      did not meet you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; he answered, with a bow. &ldquo;I received the most charming
+      hospitality there from your father and mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you are the friend,&rdquo; Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his hands,
+      &ldquo;of whom Dick speaks in his letter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+      Felstead,&rdquo; was the grave admission. &ldquo;He and I, during our college days,
+      were more than ordinarily intimate. I saw his name in one of the lists of
+      prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa brushed her
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please let me speak,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You have brought us these letters from
+      Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you did not risk
+      your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply as his ambassador.
+      There is something beyond this in your visit to this country. You may be a
+      Swede, but is it not true that at the present moment you are in the
+      service of an enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are entirely right,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask of us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration,&rdquo; Lessingham assured
+      her. &ldquo;I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for those which I have
+      rendered and those which I may yet render to your brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A suit of your brother's clothes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and a room in which to
+      change. The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to your
+      ingenuity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my wish,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;to remain in this neighbourhood for a
+      short time&mdash;perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month. I should value
+      your introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of such hospitality
+      as may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond a doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment's silence. Philippa's face had become almost stony. She
+      took a step towards the telephone. Lessingham, however, held out his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your purpose?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to ring up the Commandant here,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;and explain
+      your presence in this house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An heroic impulse,&rdquo; he observed, &ldquo;but too impulsive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; she retorted. &ldquo;Will you let me pass?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you,&rdquo; he suggested. &ldquo;I am here
+      at your mercy. I promise you that under no circumstances will I attempt
+      any measure of violence. From any fear of that, I trust my name and my
+      friendship with your brother will be sufficient guarantee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Continue, then,&rdquo; Philippa assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case,&rdquo; he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed. &ldquo;We must, Philippa! Please!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall have your ten minutes,&rdquo; Philippa conceded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+      hearth-rug, his hands behind him. He addressed himself to Philippa. It was
+      Philippa who had become his judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will claim nothing from you,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;for the services which I have
+      rendered to Richard. Our friendship was a real thing, and, finding him in
+      such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances, have done all that
+      I have done. I am well paid for this by the thanks which you have already
+      proffered me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No thanks&mdash;nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+      recompense,&rdquo; Helen declared energetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me speak for a moment of the future,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;Supposing you
+      ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here? Well, that
+      will be the end of me, without a doubt. You will have done what seemed to
+      you to be the right thing, and I hope that that consciousness will sustain
+      you, for, believe me, though it may not be at my will, your brother's life
+      will most certainly answer for mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a slight pause. A sob broke from Helen's throat. Even Philippa's
+      lip quivered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;if that sounds like a threat. It was not so
+      meant. It is the simple truth. Let me hurry on to the future. I ask so
+      little of you. It is my duty to live in this spot for one month. What harm
+      can I do? You have no great concentration of soldiers here, no docks, no
+      fortifications, no industry. And in return for the slight service of
+      allowing me to remain here unmolested, I pledge my word that Richard shall
+      be set at liberty and shall be here with you within two months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted with
+      eagerness. She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her whole attitude
+      an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, you will not hesitate? You cannot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must,&rdquo; Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation. &ldquo;I love Dick
+      more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen, we have to
+      remember, before everything, that we are English women. We have to put our
+      human feelings behind us. We are learning every day to make sacrifices.
+      You, too, must learn, dear. My answer to you, Baron Maderstrom&mdash;or
+      Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call yourself&mdash;is no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, you are mad!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed passionately. &ldquo;Didn't I have to
+      realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully, the day after we
+      were engaged? Haven't I realised the duty of cheerfulness and sacrifice
+      through all these weary months? But there is a limit to these things,
+      Philippa, a sense of proportion which must be taken into account. It's
+      Dick's life which is in the balance against some intangible thing, nothing
+      that we could ever reproach ourselves with, nothing that could bring real
+      harm upon any one. Oh, I love my country, too, but I want Dick! I should
+      feel like his murderess all my life, if I didn't consent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It occurs to me,&rdquo; Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa, &ldquo;that
+      Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?&rdquo; Philippa
+      demanded, with a little break in her voice. &ldquo;Richard is my twin brother,
+      he is the dearest thing in life to me. Can't you realise, though, that
+      what you ask of us is treason?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It really doesn't amount to that,&rdquo; Lessingham assured her. &ldquo;In my own
+      heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand. No object
+      that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is worth the life of a
+      man like Richard Felstead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he's right!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed. &ldquo;Think, Philippa! What is there here
+      which the whole world might not know? There are no secrets in Dreymarsh.
+      We are miles away from everywhere. For my sake, Philippa, I implore you
+      not to be unreasonable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In plain words,&rdquo; Lessingham intervened, &ldquo;do not be quixotic, Lady
+      Cranston. There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life on the
+      other. You see, the scales do not balance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't you realise, though,&rdquo; Philippa answered, &ldquo;what that idea means? It
+      is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs from a principle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are principles against love?&rdquo; Helen demanded, almost fiercely. &ldquo;A
+      sister may prate about them, Philippa. A wife couldn't. I'd sacrifice
+      every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect, myself and all
+      that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a brief, throbbing silence. Helen was feverishly clutching
+      Philippa's hand. Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face into
+      which he gazed. There were no women like this in his own country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear lady,&rdquo; he said, and for the first time his own voice shook, &ldquo;I
+      abandon my arguments. I beg you to act as you think best for your own
+      future happiness. The chances of life or death are not great things for
+      either men like your brother or for me. I would not purchase my end, nor
+      he his life, at the expense of your suffering. You see, I stand on one
+      side. The telephone is there for your use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shan't use it!&rdquo; Helen cried passionately. &ldquo;Phillipa, you shan't!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone out of
+      her face. Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth was twitching
+      with emotion. She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, I can't! I can't!&rdquo; she sobbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's breakdown was only momentary. With a few brusque words she
+      brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered equanimity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be practical,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;we have no time to lose. I will go and get
+      a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take Mr. Lessingham
+      into the gun room. Afterwards, perhaps you will have time to ring up the
+      hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham took a quick step towards her,&mdash;almost as though he were
+      about to make some impetuous withdrawal. Philippa turned and met his
+      almost pleading gaze. Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+      self-abnegation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am in command of the situation,&rdquo; she continued, a little more lightly.
+      &ldquo;Every one must please obey me. I shan't be more than five minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the door for
+      her. He stood for a moment looking at the place where she had vanished.
+      Then he turned round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Major Felstead's description,&rdquo; he said quietly, &ldquo;did not do his sister
+      justice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa is a dear,&rdquo; Helen declared enthusiastically. &ldquo;Just for a moment,
+      though, I was terrified. She has a wonderful will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long has she been married?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About six years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are there&mdash;any children?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Six years!&rdquo; Lessingham repeated. &ldquo;Why, she seems no more than a child.
+      Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sixteen years,&rdquo; Helen told him. &ldquo;Philippa is twenty-nine. And now, don't
+      be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me. I want to show you
+      where to change your clothes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a small
+      apartment across the passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you'll wait in there,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;I'll bring the clothes to you
+      directly they come. I am going to telephone now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So many thanks,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I should like a pleasant bedroom and
+      sitting room, and a bathroom if possible. My luggage you will find already
+      there. A friend in London has seen to that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very thorough, aren't you?&rdquo; she remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are,&rdquo; he
+      replied. &ldquo;One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the mightiest
+      chain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Number three, please,&rdquo; she began. &ldquo;Are you the hotel? The manager? Good!
+      I am speaking for Lady Cranston. She wishes a sitting-room, bedroom and
+      bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving to-day&mdash;a Mr.
+      Hamar Lessingham. You have his luggage already, I believe. Please do the
+      best you can for him.&mdash;Certainly.&mdash;Thank you very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She set down the receiver. The door was quickly opened and shut. Philippa
+      reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you've brought his grey suit,&rdquo; Helen cried in dismay, &ldquo;the one he
+      looks so well in!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be an idiot,&rdquo; Philippa scoffed. &ldquo;I had to bring the first I could
+      find. Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's sake see that he
+      hurries! Henry's train is due, and he may be here at any moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll tell him,&rdquo; Helen promised. &ldquo;I'll smuggle him out of the back way, if
+      you like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!&rdquo; she
+      observed. &ldquo;No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes, but, if
+      the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and introduce him. Henry
+      isn't likely to notice anything,&rdquo; she added, a little bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+      Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?&rdquo; the former asked
+      anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know,&rdquo; Philippa replied, without turning her head. &ldquo;I don't know
+      what may come of it, Helen. I have a queer sort of feeling about that
+      man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen sighed. &ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; she confessed, &ldquo;I am the narrowest person on
+      earth. I can think of one thing, and one thing only. If Mr. Lessingham
+      keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a month, perhaps six weeks&mdash;certainly
+      soon!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will keep his word,&rdquo; Philippa said quietly. &ldquo;He is that sort of man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door on the other side of the room was softly opened. Lessingham's
+      head appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I have a necktie?&rdquo; he asked diffidently. Philippa stretched out her
+      hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better give him this,&rdquo; she said, handing it over to Helen. &ldquo;It is one of
+      Henry's which I was mending.&mdash;Stop!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She put up her finger. They all listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The car!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet. &ldquo;That is Henry!
+      Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;and wait until he is
+      ready. Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller, and bring him in
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door. In a moment it was
+      thrown open. Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went to meet him, Mummy,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;No uniform&mdash;isn't it a
+      shame!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife. There was a
+      shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather hesitating
+      approach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I had to make a
+      call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street. Any luck?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she said earnestly, &ldquo;do you know I am so much more anxious to
+      hear your news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mine will keep,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;What about Richard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I spent the whole of my time making enquiries,&rdquo; she sighed, &ldquo;and every
+      one was fruitless. I failed to get the least satisfaction from any one at
+      the War Office. They know nothing, have heard nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm ever so sorry to hear it,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared sympathetically. &ldquo;You
+      mustn't worry too much, though, dear. Where's Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is in the gun room with a caller.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With a caller?&rdquo; Nora exclaimed. &ldquo;Is it any one from the Depot? I must go
+      and see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You needn't trouble,&rdquo; her stepmother replied. &ldquo;Here they are, coming in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and Hamar
+      Lessingham and Helen entered together. Lessingham was entirely at his
+      ease,&mdash;their conversation, indeed, seemed almost engrossing. He came
+      at once across the room on realising Sir Henry's presence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham&mdash;my husband,&rdquo; Philippa said. &ldquo;Mr.
+      Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and he have
+      been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two men shook hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I found time also to examine your Leech prints,&rdquo; Lessingham remarked.
+      &ldquo;You have some very admirable examples.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;One or
+      two of them are very good, I believe. Are you staying in these parts long,
+      Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps for a week or two,&rdquo; was the somewhat indifferent reply. &ldquo;I am
+      told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I have come down
+      here to pull up again after a slight illness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A dreary spot just now,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed, &ldquo;but the air's all right.
+      Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have done a little of it,&rdquo; the visitor confessed. Sir Henry's face lit
+      up. He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mind telling you,&rdquo; he confided as he cut the string, &ldquo;that I
+      don't think there's another sport like it in the world. I have tried most
+      of them, too. When I was a boy I was all for shooting, perhaps because I
+      could never get enough. Then I had a season or two at Melton, though I was
+      never much of a horseman. But for real, unadulterated excitement, for
+      sport that licks everything else into a cocked hat, give me a strong sea
+      rod, a couple of traces, just enough sea to keep on the bottom all the
+      time, and the codling biting. Look here, did you ever see a mackerel
+      spinner like that?&rdquo; he added, drawing one out of the parcel which he had
+      untied. &ldquo;Look at it, all of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers. Philippa, a little
+      ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a newspaper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of sport
+      just now,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained good-humouredly. &ldquo;All the same I argue that
+      one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right, Dad!&rdquo; Nora agreed. &ldquo;We must carry on, as the Colonel says.
+      All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval uniform, with lots
+      of gold braid on your sleeve. I think they might have made you an admiral,
+      Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the spinner
+      which Lessingham was holding, &ldquo;that that is a consideration which didn't
+      seem to weigh with them much. Look at the glitter of it,&rdquo; he went on,
+      taking up another of the spinners. &ldquo;You see, it's got a double swivel, and
+      they guarantee six hundred revolutions a minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must plead ignorance,&rdquo; Lessingham regretted, &ldquo;of everything connected
+      with mackerel spinning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's fine sport for a change,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared. &ldquo;The only thing is
+      that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars in.
+      By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa? Have you heard whether
+      there are any mackerel in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mackerel!&rdquo; she repeated sarcastically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any objection to the fish, dear?&rdquo; Sir Henry enquired blandly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa made no reply. Her husband frowned and turned towards Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he complained a little irritably, &ldquo;my wife doesn't approve of
+      my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but, hang it
+      all, what are you to do when you reach my age? Thinks I ought to be a
+      special constable, don't you, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she asked, without looking
+      up from her paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See something more of you, I hope,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked hospitably, as he
+      conducted his guest to the door. &ldquo;Where are you staying here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At the hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not understand that there was more than one,&rdquo; Lessingham replied.
+      &ldquo;I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa
+      observed, turning towards him. &ldquo;Why do you ask such an absurd question,
+      Henry? The 'Grand' is full of soldiers. Come and see us whenever you feel
+      inclined, Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; were
+      the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and soda.
+      Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though waiting
+      patiently for his return. Helen and Nora had already obeyed the summons of
+      the dressing bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, I want to hear your news,&rdquo; she insisted. He threw himself into an
+      easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's workbasket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's that tie of mine you were mending?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Is it finished
+      yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is upstairs somewhere,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;No, I have not finished it. Why
+      do you ask? You have plenty, haven't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drawers full,&rdquo; he admitted cheerfully. &ldquo;Half of them I can never wear,
+      though. I like that black and white fellow. Your friend Lessingham was
+      wearing one exactly like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems to have the family taste in clothes,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, stroking
+      his chin. &ldquo;That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the same pattern as the
+      suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw him in mufti.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They probably go to the same tailor,&rdquo; Philippa remarked equably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry abandoned the subject. He was once more engrossed in an
+      examination of the mackerel spinners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble,&rdquo; he ventured presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa turned and looked at him. Her eyes were usually very sweet and
+      soft and her mouth delightful. Just at that moment, however, there were
+      new and very firm lines in her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she said sternly, &ldquo;you are purposely fencing with me. Mr.
+      Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and goings, are
+      not what I want to hear or talk about. You went to London, unwillingly
+      enough, to keep your promise to me. I want to know whether you have
+      succeeded in getting anything from the Admiralty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear,&rdquo; he answered with a little
+      chuckle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?&rdquo; she persisted.
+      &ldquo;You may have been out of the service too long for them to start you with
+      a modern ship, but surely they could have given you an auxiliary cruiser,
+      or a secondary command of some sort?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;My name's on a
+      list, they said&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that list!&rdquo; Philippa interrupted angrily. &ldquo;Henry, I really can't bear
+      it. Couldn't they find you anything on land?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear girl,&rdquo; he replied a little testily, &ldquo;what sort of a figure should
+      I cut in an office! No one can read my writing, and I couldn't add up a
+      column of figures to save my life. What is it?&rdquo; he added, as the door
+      opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dumble is here to see you, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show him in at once,&rdquo; his master directed with alacrity. &ldquo;Come in,
+      Jimmy,&rdquo; he went on, raising his voice. &ldquo;I've got something to show you
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together. She swept past her
+      husband on her way to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope you will be so good,&rdquo; she said, looking back, &ldquo;as to spare me half
+      an hour of your valuable time this evening. This is a subject which I must
+      discuss with you further at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As urgent as all that, eh?&rdquo; Sir Henry replied, stopping to light a
+      cigarette. &ldquo;Righto! You can have the whole of my evening, dear, with the
+      greatest of pleasure.&mdash;Now then, Jimmy!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity for
+      silence. He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his hat in his
+      hand. Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did not for a moment
+      address his visitor. There was a subtle but unmistakable change in his
+      appearance as he stood with his hands in his pockets, and a frown on his
+      forehead, whistling softly to himself, his eyes fixed upon the door
+      through which his wife had vanished. He swung round at last towards the
+      telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, aye, sir!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry took up the receiver. He dropped his voice a little, although it
+      was none the less distinct.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Number one&mdash;police-station, please.&mdash;Hullo there! The inspector
+      about?&mdash;That you, Inspector?&mdash;Sir Henry Cranston speaking. Could
+      you just step round?&mdash;Good! Tell them to show you straight into the
+      library. You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights, eh? Thank
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Jimmy,&rdquo; he enquired, &ldquo;all serene down in the village, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke as
+      shouldn't be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A lazy lot they are,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They don't look far beyond the end of their noses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't,&rdquo; was the cautious reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are right, Jimmy,&rdquo; he admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with ideas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble,&rdquo; Dumble declared.
+      &ldquo;He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know he put Grice's
+      lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday week, but that don't
+      amount to anything. He was dead drunk for three days afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy,&rdquo; he confided, as he threw
+      open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the further wall. &ldquo;No
+      strangers about, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a sign of one, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?&rdquo; his visitor asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think it is necessary,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied. &ldquo;They've all gone up
+      to change. Now listen to me, Jimmy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He leaned forward and touched a spring. The false back of the cabinet,
+      with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks and tackle, slowly
+      rolled back. Before them stood a huge chart, wonderfully executed in red,
+      white and yellow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's a marvellous piece of work, sir,&rdquo; the fisherman observed
+      admiringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Best thing I ever did in my life,&rdquo; Sir Henry agreed. &ldquo;Now see here,
+      Jimmy. We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat, according to the
+      wind. We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass Dead Man's Rock on the
+      left side of the waterway, and keep straight on until we get Budden Wood
+      on the church tower. You follow me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, aye, sir!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We make for the headland from there. You see, we shall be outside the
+      Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up. Put all the fishing
+      tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait. We must never lose sight of
+      the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our lives is to catch fish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right, sir,&rdquo; was the hearty assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then,&rdquo; Sir Henry decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The tide'll be on the flow by that time,&rdquo; Jimmy observed, &ldquo;and we'll get
+      off from the staith breakwater. That do be a fine piece of work and no
+      mistake,&rdquo; he added, as the false back of the cabinet glided slowly to its
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I've
+      got the seaweed on that, pretty well. You'll take a drop of whisky on your
+      way out?&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Mills will look after you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you kindly, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The inspector is here to see you, sir,&rdquo; he announced. &ldquo;He did mention
+      something about the lights. I'm sure we've all been most careful. Even her
+      ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show the inspector in,&rdquo; Sir Henry directed, &ldquo;and I'll hear what he has to
+      say. And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a cigar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wishing you good night, sir,&rdquo; the latter said, as he followed Mills.
+      &ldquo;I'll be punctual in the morning. Looks to me as though we might have good
+      sport.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy,&rdquo; his employer replied cheerfully. &ldquo;Come
+      in, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+      attention. Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door. He
+      remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector,&rdquo; he observed, sitting on the
+      edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette. &ldquo;Any fresh
+      arrivals?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, sir,&rdquo; the man reported, &ldquo;of any consequence that I can see. There
+      are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady for the
+      Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night. There was a
+      commercial traveller came in the first train this morning, but he went on
+      during the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm! What about a Mr. Lessingham&mdash;a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't heard of him, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not this evening, sir. I met the Midland and Great Northern train in
+      myself. Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I came the other way myself,&rdquo; Sir Henry reflected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now you come to mention the matter, sir,&rdquo; the inspector continued, &ldquo;I was
+      up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about addressed to
+      a name somewhat similar to that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Probably sent on in advance, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There could be no other way, sir,&rdquo; the inspector replied, &ldquo;unless the
+      registration paper has been mislaid. I'll step up to the hotel this
+      evening and make sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll oblige me very much, if you will. By Jove,&rdquo; Sir Henry added,
+      looking towards the door, &ldquo;I'd no idea it was so late!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black net gown,
+      was standing in the doorway. She looked at the inspector, and for a moment
+      the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is anything the matter?&rdquo; she asked breathlessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing in the world, my dear,&rdquo; her husband assured her. &ldquo;I am
+      frightfully sorry I'm so late. Jimmy stayed some time, and then the
+      inspector here looked in about our lights. Just a little more care in this
+      room at night, he thinks. We'll see to it, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much obliged, sir,&rdquo; the man replied. &ldquo;Sorry to be under the
+      necessity of mentioning it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll find your own way out, won't you?&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I'm a little late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspector saluted and withdrew. Sir Henry glanced round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't be ten minutes, Philippa,&rdquo; he promised. &ldquo;I had no idea it was so
+      late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come here one moment, please,&rdquo; she insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small table
+      near which she had paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, dear?&rdquo; he enquired. &ldquo;We are going to leave our talk till
+      after dinner, aren't we?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked him in the face. There was an anxious light in her eyes, and
+      she was certainly not herself. &ldquo;Of course! I only wanted to know&mdash;it
+      seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to the inspector,
+      as I came into the room. Are you sure that it was the lights he came
+      around about? There isn't anything else wrong, is there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What else could there be?&rdquo; he asked wonderingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she replied, with well-simulated indifference. &ldquo;I was
+      only asking you whether there was anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do hurry, please. I have a new cook and she asked
+      particularly whether we were punctual people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Six minutes will see me through it,&rdquo; Sir Henry promised, making for the
+      door. &ldquo;Come to think of it, I missed my lunch. I think I'll manage it in
+      five.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening. The new
+      cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having dined
+      exceedingly well. He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before a blazing wood
+      fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of cigarettes, and his
+      wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few feet away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite a remarkable change in Helen,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;She was in the depths
+      of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems positively
+      cheerful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen varies a great deal,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found her
+      more depressed than ever,&rdquo; Sir Henry went on. &ldquo;She hoped so much from your
+      trip to London, and you apparently accomplished nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you have had no letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's natural
+      inconsistency.&mdash;Philippa, dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad to be at home. I am glad to see you sitting there. I know you
+      are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch at me. Won't
+      you launch it and let's get it over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned to face
+      her husband. He made a little grimace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't look so severe,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;You frighten me before you begin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but my face probably reflects my feelings. I am
+      hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's a good start, anyway,&rdquo; he groaned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have been married six years,&rdquo; Philippa went on, &ldquo;and I admit at once
+      that I have been very happy. Then the war came. You know quite well,
+      Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very fond of you, yet it
+      never occurred to me for a moment but that, like every other woman, I
+      should have to lose my husband for a time.&mdash;Stop, please,&rdquo; she
+      insisted, as he showed signs of interrupting. &ldquo;I know quite well that it
+      was through my persuasions you retired so early, but in those days there
+      was no thought of war, and I always had it in my mind that if trouble came
+      you would find your way back to where you belonged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear child, that is all very well,&rdquo; Sir Henry protested, &ldquo;but
+      it's not so easy to get back again. You know very well that I went up to
+      the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the war started.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and what happened?&rdquo; Philippa demanded. &ldquo;You were, in a measure,
+      shelved. You were put on a list and told that you would hear from them&mdash;a
+      sort of Micawber-like situation with which you were perfectly satisfied.
+      Then you took that moor up in Scotland and disappeared for nearly six
+      months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was supplying the starving population with food,&rdquo; he reminded her
+      genially. &ldquo;We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market, not to
+      speak of the salmon. We had some very fair golf, too, some of the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your diversions!&rdquo;
+       Philippa said scornfully. &ldquo;Sometimes,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;I wonder whether
+      you are quite responsible, Henry. How you can even talk of these things
+      when every man of your age and strength is fighting one way or another for
+      his country, seems marvellous to me. Do you realise that we are fighting
+      for our very existence? Do you realise that my own father, who is fifteen
+      years older than you, is in the firing line? This is a small place, of
+      course, but there isn't a man left in it of your age, with your physique,
+      who has had the slightest experience in either service, who isn't doing
+      something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't do more than send in applications,&rdquo; he grumbled. &ldquo;Be reasonable,
+      my dear Philippa. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to find a job
+      for a sailor who has been out of it as long as I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all did in
+      London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there is generally
+      a polite little silence. No one believes it. I don't believe it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned in his chair. His cigar was burning now idly between his
+      fingers. His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't,&rdquo; she reiterated. &ldquo;You can be angry, if you will&mdash;in
+      fact I think I should prefer you to be angry. You take no pains at the
+      Admiralty. You just go there and come away again, once a year or something
+      like that. Why, if I were you, I wouldn't leave the place until they'd
+      found me something&mdash;indoors or outdoors, what does it matter so long
+      as your hand is on the wheel and you are doing your little for your
+      country? But you&mdash;what do you care? You went to town to get a job&mdash;and
+      you come back with new mackerel spinners! You are off fishing to-morrow
+      morning with Jimmy Dumble. Somewhere up in the North Sea, to-day and
+      to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives for their country.
+      What do you care? You will sit there smoking your pipe and catching dabs!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?&rdquo; her husband said
+      quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to be,&rdquo; she retorted. &ldquo;I should like you to feel that I am. In any
+      case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall hold with you on
+      the subject.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, thank God for that, anyway!&rdquo; he observed, strolling to the
+      chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack. &ldquo;I think you've said about
+      enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't finished,&rdquo; she told him ominously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over,&rdquo; he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you're impossible!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed bitterly. &ldquo;Listen. I give you
+      one chance more. Tell me the truth? Is there anything in your health of
+      which I do not know? Is there any possible explanation of your
+      extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason or other, you have kept to
+      yourself? Give me your whole confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough. He stood looking down at her
+      a little wistfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; he told her, &ldquo;I have nothing to say except this. You are my
+      very precious wife. I have loved you and trusted you since the day of our
+      marriage. I am content to go on loving and trusting you, even though
+      things should come under my notice which I do not understand. Can't you
+      accept me the same way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Accept you the same way? How can I! There is nothing in my life to
+      compare in any way with the tragedy of your&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence. He waited
+      patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of my what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa compromised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lethargy,&rdquo; she pronounced triumphantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An excellent word,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too mild a one, but you are my husband,&rdquo; she remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That reminds me,&rdquo; he said quietly. &ldquo;You are my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;but I am also a woman, and there are limits to
+      my endurance. If you can give me no explanation of your behaviour, Henry,
+      if you really have no intention of changing it, then there is only one
+      course left open for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds rather alarming&mdash;what is it?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa lifted her head a little. This was the pronouncement towards
+      which she had been leading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From to-day,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;I cease to be your wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he was
+      filling his pipe. He turned and looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cease to be your wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you manage that?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't jest,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;It hurts me so. What I mean is surely plain
+      enough. I will continue to live under your roof if you wish it, or I am
+      perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton. I will continue to bear your
+      name because I must, but the other ties between us are finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't mean this, Philippa,&rdquo; he said gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I do mean it,&rdquo; she insisted. &ldquo;I mean every word I have spoken. So far
+      as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a knock at the door. Mills entered with a note upon a salver.
+      Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife, and tore open the
+      envelope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will be no answer, Mills,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man withdrew. Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+  SIR,
+
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+
+                                           Respectfully yours,
+                                              JOHN HAYLOCK.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your note of interest?&rdquo; Philippa enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a sense, yes,&rdquo; he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat pocket. &ldquo;I
+      presume we can consider our late subject of conversation finished with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing more to say,&rdquo; she pronounced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then,&rdquo; her husband agreed, &ldquo;let us select another topic. This
+      time, supposing I choose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had taken up her work. Her fingers ceased their labours, but she
+      did not look up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About Mr. Hamar Lessingham,&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;Rather a limited subject, I
+      am afraid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not so sure,&rdquo; he said thoughtfully. &ldquo;For instance, who is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Does it matter? He was at college with
+      Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton. That is all that we
+      know. Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any reasonable
+      hospitality?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not disputing it,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured her. &ldquo;On the face of it, it
+      seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him. On the other
+      hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his coming here
+      just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower over her
+      work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the first place,&rdquo; her husband continued, &ldquo;how did he arrive here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For all I know,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;he may have walked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A little unlikely. Still, he didn't come from London by either of the
+      evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for him until
+      about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to the hotel. So,
+      you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief he did get here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I took his rooms?&rdquo; Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch at her
+      heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some one from here rang up, didn't they?&rdquo; Sir Henry went on carelessly.
+      &ldquo;I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you hear that?&rdquo; she demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no doubt,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;that the whole subject of Mr. Hamar
+      Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing. Yet he does seem to have arrived
+      here under a little halo of coincidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that,&rdquo; Philippa remarked; &ldquo;in
+      fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing in the
+      world. After all, although one scarcely remembers that since the war, this
+      is a health resort, and the man has been ill.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right,&rdquo; Sir Henry agreed. &ldquo;You are not going to bed, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had folded up her work. She stood for a moment upon the
+      hearth-rug. The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+      disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I say just one word more,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;about our previous&mdash;our
+      only serious subject of conversation? I have tried my best since we were
+      married, Henry, to make you happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know quite well,&rdquo; he assured her, &ldquo;that you have succeeded.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Grant me one favour, then,&rdquo; she pleaded. &ldquo;Give up your fishing expedition
+      to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let me write to Lord
+      Rayton. I am sure he would do something for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course he'd do something!&rdquo; Her husband groaned. &ldquo;I should get a
+      censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;than
+      go on living the life you are living now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't,&rdquo; he declared
+      bluntly. &ldquo;What on earth use should I be in a land appointment? Why, no one
+      could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely out of date.
+      Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refuse to let me write, then?&rdquo; she persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absolutely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wouldn't miss it for anything,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, I've finished,&rdquo; she declared, holding out her hand to keep him
+      away from her. &ldquo;I've finished with you entirely. I would rather be married
+      to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his country than to you. What
+      I have said, I mean. Don't come near me. Don't try to touch me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She swept past him on her way to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not even a good-night kiss?&rdquo; he asked, stooping down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked him in the eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not a child,&rdquo; she said scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He closed the door after her. For a moment he remained as though undecided
+      whether to follow or not. His face had softened with her absence. Finally,
+      however, he turned away with a little shrug of the shoulders, threw
+      himself into his easy-chair and began to smoke furiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The telephone bell disturbed his reflection. He rose at once and took up
+      the receiver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh. Trunk call? All right, I am here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cranston?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speaking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right. The message is Odino Berry, you understand? O-d-i-n-o
+      b-e-r-r-y.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got it,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied. &ldquo;Good night!&rdquo; He hung up the receiver,
+      crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers, and produced a
+      black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock. He drew a key from his
+      watch chain, opened the book, and ran his fingers down the O's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Odino,&rdquo; he muttered to himself. &ldquo;Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+      information from Berlin.' Now Berry.&rdquo; He turned back. &ldquo;'You are being
+      watched by an enemy secret service agent.'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk. Then he strolled
+      over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and soda from the
+      tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have trustworthy information from Berlin,&rdquo; he repeated to himself,
+      &ldquo;that you are being watched by an enemy secret service agent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa insisted, &ldquo;exactly what are you
+      thinking of? You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below that
+      I've climbed up on purpose to ask you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham held out his hand to steady her. They were standing on a sharp
+      spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces, thrashing into
+      little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which the twilight was
+      already resting. For a moment or two neither of them could speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was thinking of my country,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;I was looking through the
+      shadows there, right across the North Sea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Germany?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Further away&mdash;to Sweden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;You looked as though you were posing for a
+      statue of some one in exile,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;Come, let us go a little
+      lower down&mdash;unless you want to stay here and be blown to pieces.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was on my way back to the hotel,&rdquo; he answered quickly, as he followed
+      her lead, &ldquo;but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little lonely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;is your own fault. I asked you to come to Mainsail
+      Haul whenever you felt inclined.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived,&rdquo; he remarked
+      with a smile, &ldquo;you might, perhaps, by this time have had a little too much
+      of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;I quite expected you yesterday
+      afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been doing.
+      So you were thinking about&mdash;over there?&rdquo; she added, moving her head
+      seawards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;and
+      the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I should like to hear about the first half,&rdquo; she insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;there are times when even now this war seems
+      to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading about, some
+      wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable poets. I can't
+      believe that millions of the flower of Germany's manhood and yours have
+      perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly. And France&mdash;poor decimated
+      France!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Germany started the war, you know,&rdquo; she reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did she?&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I sometimes wonder. Even now I fancy, if the
+      official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side, with their
+      own case stated from their own point of view, even you might feel a little
+      confused about that. Still, I am going to be very honest with you. I think
+      myself that Germany wanted war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you are, then,&rdquo; she declared triumphantly. &ldquo;The whole thing is her
+      responsibility.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not quite go so far as that,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;You see, the world is
+      governed by great natural laws. As a snowball grows larger with rolling,
+      so it takes up more room. As a child grows out of its infant clothes, it
+      needs the vestments of a youth and then a man. And so with Germany. She
+      grew and grew until the country could not hold her children, until her
+      banks could not contain her money, until she stretched her arms out on
+      every side and felt herself stifled. Germany came late into the world and
+      found it parcelled out, but had she not a right to her place? She made
+      herself great. She needed space.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Philippa observed, &ldquo;you couldn't suppose that other nations were
+      going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their possessions,
+      could you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps not,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;And yet, you see, the immutable law comes in
+      here. The stronger must possess&mdash;not only the stronger by arms, mind,
+      but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in science, by
+      utilitarianism. The really cruel part, the part I was thinking of then, as
+      I looked out across the sea, is that this crude and miserable resort to
+      arms should be necessary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as you,&rdquo;
+       Philippa sighed, &ldquo;one feels that there might be some hope for the future!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not alone,&rdquo; he assured her, &ldquo;but, you see, all over Germany there is
+      spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen&mdash;devotion
+      to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser. Independent thought has
+      made Germany great in science, in political economy, in economics. But
+      independent thought is never turned towards her political destinies. Those
+      are shaped for her. For good or for evil her children have learnt
+      obedience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were descending the hillside now. At their feet lay the little town,
+      black and silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have helped me to understand a little,&rdquo; Philippa said. &ldquo;You put
+      things so gently and yet so clearly. Now tell me, will you not, how it is
+      that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for Germany?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is very simple,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;My mother was a German, and when she
+      died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a very
+      considerable fortune. These I could never have inherited unless I had
+      chosen to do my military service in Germany. My family is an impoverished
+      one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent upon me. Under the
+      circumstances, hesitation on my part was impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But when the war came?&rdquo; she queried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at her in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was there left for me then?&rdquo; he demanded. &ldquo;Naturally I heard nothing
+      but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey. I was in that mad rush
+      through Belgium. I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else I should have followed
+      hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat of yours. As it was, I lay for
+      many months in hospital. I joined again&mdash;shall I confess it?&mdash;almost
+      unwillingly. The bloodthirstiness of it all sickened me. I fought at
+      Ypres, but I think that it was something of the courage of despair, of
+      black misery. I was wounded again and decorated. I suppose I shall never
+      be fit for the front again. I tried to turn to account some of my
+      knowledge of England and English life. Then they sent me here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, of all places in the world!&rdquo; Philippa repeated wonderingly. &ldquo;Just
+      look at us! We have a single line of railway, a perfectly straightforward
+      system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers being trained, no
+      mysteries, no industries&mdash;nothing. What terrible scheme are you at
+      work upon, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Between you and me,&rdquo; he confided, &ldquo;I am not at all sure that I am not
+      here on a fool's errand&mdash;at least I thought so when I arrived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced up at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why not now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly away.
+      There was a moment's queer, strained silence. Before them loomed up the
+      outline of Mainsail Haul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will come in and have some tea, won't you?&rdquo; she invited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I may. Believe me,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;it has only been a certain diffidence
+      that has kept me away so long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no reply, and they entered the house together. They found Helen
+      and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having tea in the
+      drawing-room. Lessingham slipped very easily into the pleasant little
+      circle. If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners, and a sense of humour
+      which every now and then displayed itself, were most attractive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir,&rdquo; Harrison
+      asked him. &ldquo;He was at Magdalen a few years after Major Felstead, and I am
+      sure you'd find plenty to talk about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite sure that we should,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;May I come,
+      perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous efforts
+      to lead an absolutely quiet life here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whenever you like, sir. We sha'n't be able to show you anything very wild
+      in the way of dissipation. Vintage port and a decent cigar are the only
+      changes we can make for guests.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit with her
+      in a distant corner of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew there was something I wanted to say to you,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;but
+      somehow or other I forgot when I met you. My husband was very much struck
+      with Helen's improved spirits. Don't you think that we had better tell
+      him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major Felstead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary way,&rdquo;
+       he advised. &ldquo;I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of your husband,
+      that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible that he might have
+      associated them with me if you had mentioned them the other night. When is
+      he coming back?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never know,&rdquo; Philippa answered with a sigh. &ldquo;Perhaps to-night, perhaps
+      in a week. It depends upon what sport he is having. You are not smoking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I find your husband,&rdquo; he said quietly, &ldquo;rather an interesting type. We
+      have no one like that in Germany. He almost puzzles me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one,&rdquo; she
+      complained bitterly. &ldquo;He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted to
+      amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him. Why do you look
+      at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping something back?
+      I am not, I can assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I was wondering,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;how you really felt towards a
+      husband whose outlook was so unnatural.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; she said softly, &ldquo;I feel, somehow or other, although we
+      have known one another such a short time, as though we were friends, and
+      yet that is a question which I could not answer. A woman must always have
+      some secrets, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A man may try sometimes to preserve his,&rdquo; he sighed, &ldquo;but a woman is
+      clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks. She welcomed Helen's
+      approach almost eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A woman must first feel the will,&rdquo; she murmured, without glancing at him.
+      &ldquo;Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come and dine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion,&rdquo; Lessingham begged
+      eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't the least idea of doing so,&rdquo; Helen laughed, &ldquo;so long as I may
+      have&mdash;say just ten minutes to talk about Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a bargain,&rdquo; he promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall be quite alone,&rdquo; Philippa warned him, &ldquo;unless Henry arrives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the great attraction of your invitation,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At eight o'clock, then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the piano
+      before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival. Then she
+      glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room&mdash;awkward, unwieldly,
+      nervous as usual. He entered as though in a hurry, and there was nothing
+      in his manner to denote that he had spent the last few hours making up his
+      mind to this visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he said,
+      watching the closing of the door. &ldquo;I will not take up more than five
+      minutes of your time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; Philippa
+      said hospitably. &ldquo;Do sit down, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he continued
+      apologetically. &ldquo;The fact of it is, however, that as Commandant here it is
+      my duty to examine the bona fides of any strangers in the place. There is
+      a gentleman named Lessingham staying at the hotel, who I understand gave
+      your name as reference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent, as
+      she gazed up at her visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham was at
+      college with my brother, and one of his best friends. He has shot down at
+      my father's place in Cheshire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My only brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      declared. &ldquo;I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+      Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about any
+      one down here,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;It really is a very harmless neighbourhood,
+      isn't it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There isn't much going on, certainly,&rdquo; the Commandant admitted. &ldquo;Very
+      dull the place seems at times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now be perfectly frank,&rdquo; Philippa begged him. &ldquo;Is there a single fact of
+      importance which could be learnt in this place, worth communicating to the
+      enemy? Is the danger of espionage here worth a moment's consideration?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, &ldquo;is not a
+      question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to Helen,
+      who had just entered the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths! He is making me feel
+      quite creepy. There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants to know all
+      about Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?&rdquo; she
+      observed, as she shook hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can do more,&rdquo; Philippa declared. &ldquo;We can help him to judge for
+      himself. We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain Griffiths. Do
+      stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice sound hoarser and
+      more unpleasant. &ldquo;It is most kind of you, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you will
+      give me another opportunity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sha'n't think of it,&rdquo; Philippa insisted. &ldquo;You must stay and dine
+      to-night. We shall be a partie carríe, for Nora goes to bed directly after
+      dinner. I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set an extra place,&rdquo; she
+      added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+      complacency. He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced, with
+      very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in every way a
+      success. Towards its close, Philippa became a little thoughtful. She
+      glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was sitting by her side, almost
+      in admiration. His conversation, gay at times, always polished, was
+      interlarded continually with those little social reminiscences inevitable
+      amongst men moving in a certain circle of English society. Apparently
+      Richard Felstead was not the only one of his college friends with whom he
+      had kept in touch. The last remnants of Captain Griffiths' suspicions
+      seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although his manner
+      became in no way more genial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?&rdquo; Philippa asked her
+      favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out a bridge table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One adapts one's methods to one's adversary,&rdquo; he murmured, with a smile,
+      &ldquo;Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional suspicions.
+      The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance with the ordinary
+      English sports, is quite sufficient with a man like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room. Philippa
+      raised her eyes to her companion's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You become more of a mystery than ever,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;You are making me
+      even curious. Tell me really why you have paid us this visit from the
+      clouds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question. For a moment
+      the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed. His eyes
+      glowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In search of new things,&rdquo; he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guns? Fortifications?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A spirit of mischief possessed her. Lessingham's manner was baffling and
+      yet provocative. For a moment the political possibilities of his presence
+      faded away from her mind. She had an intense desire to break through his
+      reserve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't you tell me&mdash;why you came?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could tell you more easily,&rdquo; he answered in a low tone, &ldquo;why it will be
+      the most miserable day of my life when I leave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How delightful to be flirted with again!&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;And I thought all
+      German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone compliments.
+      Still, your secret, sir, please? That is what I want to know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will have just a little patience!&rdquo; he begged, leaning so close to
+      her that their heads almost touched, &ldquo;I promise that I will not leave this
+      place before I tell it to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his. She knew perfectly
+      well what she ought to have done and she was singularly indisposed to do
+      it. It was a most piquant adventure, after all, and it almost helped her
+      to forget the trouble which had been sitting so heavily in her heart.
+      Still avoiding his eyes, she called the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are quite ready for bridge,&rdquo; she announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They played four or five rubbers. Lessingham was by far the most expert
+      player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners. The two men stood
+      together for a moment or two at the sideboard, helping themselves to
+      whisky and soda. Griffiths had become more taciturn than ever, and even
+      Philippa was forced to admit that the latter part of the evening had
+      scarcely been a success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; Griffiths asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; was the calm reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are head and shoulders above our class down here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good of you to say so,&rdquo; Lessingham replied courteously. &ldquo;I held good
+      cards to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and keeping his
+      eyes fixed upon his companion, &ldquo;what the German substitute for bridge is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; Lessingham echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a nation,&rdquo; his questioner proceeded, &ldquo;they probably don't waste as
+      much time on cards as we do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent. He
+      strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa. She, for her part, was
+      watching Captain Griffiths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So many thanks, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; Lessingham murmured, &ldquo;for your
+      hospitality.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what about that secret?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, there are two,&rdquo; he answered, looking down at her. &ldquo;One I shall
+      most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the one secret
+      which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself. As for the other&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated. There was something almost like pain in his face. She broke
+      in hastily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not call you away to ask about either. I happened to notice Captain
+      Griffiths just now. Do you know that he is watching you very closely?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had an idea of it,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted indifferently. &ldquo;He is rather a
+      clumsy person, is he not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will be careful?&rdquo; she begged earnestly. &ldquo;Remember, won't you, that
+      Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if anything should
+      come out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing shall,&rdquo; he promised her. &ldquo;I think you know, do you not, that,
+      whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to protect you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly reprove
+      his boldness. She had even to struggle to keep her tone as careless as her
+      words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really are a delightful person!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;How long is it since
+      you descended from the clouds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes I think that I am there still,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but I have known
+      you about seventy-six hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What precision?&rdquo; she laughed. &ldquo;It's a national characteristic, isn't it?
+      Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she continued, as she observed his approach, &ldquo;if you
+      really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with you. He is making fun of
+      me. I don't allow even Dick's friends to do that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must both come again very soon,&rdquo; their hostess concluded, as she
+      shook hands. &ldquo;I enjoyed our bridge immensely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden idea
+      seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths. He turned back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By-the-by, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;have you heard anything from your
+      brother?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head sadly. Helen, who, unlike her friend, had not had
+      the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur dramatic stage,
+      turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a word,&rdquo; was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad luck!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston. Good night once more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This time their departure was uninterrupted. Helen removed her
+      handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at the
+      closed door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you believe,&rdquo; Helen asked seriously, &ldquo;that Captain Griffiths has any
+      suspicions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he has, who cares?&rdquo; she replied, a little defiantly. &ldquo;The very idea of
+      a duel of wits between those two men is laughable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps so,&rdquo; Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+      customary walks. The crystalline October sunshine, in which every distant
+      tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed to gain a new
+      clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed fields, the yellowing
+      bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees, while the west wind, which
+      had strewn the sea with white-flecked waves, brought down the leaves to
+      form a carpet for their feet, and played strange music along the
+      wood-crested slope. In the broken land through which they made their way,
+      a land of trees and moorland, with here and there a cultivated patch, the
+      yellow gorse still glowed in unexpected corners; queer, scentless flowers
+      made splashes of colour in the hedgerows; a rabbit scurried sometimes
+      across their path; a cock pheasant, after a moment's amazed stare, lowered
+      his head and rushed for unnecessary shelter. The longer they looked
+      upwards, the bluer seemed the sky. The grass beneath their feet was as
+      green and soft as in springtime. Driven by the wind, here and there a
+      white-winged gull sailed over their heads,&mdash;a cloud of them rested
+      upon a freshly turned little square of ploughed land between two woods. A
+      flight of pigeons, like torn leaves tossed about by the wind, circled and
+      drifted above them. Philippa seated herself upon the trunk of a fallen
+      tree and gazed contentedly about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be perfectly
+      happy,&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;I am sure my hair must look awful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I decline to say the correct thing,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I will only remind
+      you that there will be no one here to look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not so sure,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;These are the woods which the
+      special constables haunt by day and by night. They gaze up every tree
+      trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind hedges and watch
+      for mysterious flashes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; Helen enquired,
+      lazily. &ldquo;I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the equipment of
+      the melodramatic spy. As to Zeppelins, don't you remember he told us that
+      he hated them and was terrified of bombs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; Philippa remonstrated, &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet,&mdash;&rdquo; Helen began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head,&rdquo; Philippa
+      interrupted. &ldquo;Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I believe that
+      Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come over here to see
+      if I am really like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He does behave rather like that,&rdquo; her companion admitted drily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen,&rdquo; she said severely, &ldquo;don't be a cat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour,&rdquo; Helen went on,
+      picking up a pine cone and examining it, &ldquo;I might astonish you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have an evil mind,&rdquo; Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette case.
+      &ldquo;What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes forgets to talk
+      about Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The poor man doesn't get much chance,&rdquo; Helen retorted, watching the blue
+      smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+      &ldquo;Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Literature&mdash;English and German,&rdquo; Philippa murmured demurely. &ldquo;Mr.
+      Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our English
+      poets than any man I have met for years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Once more, don't be a cat,&rdquo; Philippa enjoined. &ldquo;If you want me to confess
+      it, I will own up at once. You know what a simple little thing I am. I
+      admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a most interesting
+      companion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean,&rdquo; her friend observed drily &ldquo;the Baron Maderstrom.&rdquo; Philippa
+      looked around and frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are most indiscreet, Helen,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I have learnt something
+      of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you that all spoken
+      or written words are dangerous. There is a thoroughly British squirrel in
+      that tree overhead, and I am sure he heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose the sunshine has got into your head,&rdquo; Helen groaned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+      right,&rdquo; Philippa assented. &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+      depressed. Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast this
+      morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or to-morrow.
+      They must have landed somewhere down the coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a most undutiful wife,&rdquo; Helen pronounced severely. &ldquo;I am sure
+      Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little irresponsible, and it
+      is almost pathetic to remember how much you were in love with him, a year
+      or two ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was before the war,&rdquo; she sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand him,&rdquo;
+       Helen said thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt,&rdquo; Philippa assented, &ldquo;but you'd find the not understanding him a
+      little more galling, if you were his wife. You see, I didn't know that I
+      was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; Helen reflected, &ldquo;how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get on
+      when they see more of one another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really don't care,&rdquo; Philippa observed indifferently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I used to notice sometimes&mdash;that was soon after you were married,&rdquo;
+       Helen continued, &ldquo;that Henry was just a little inclined to be jealous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea. There was a queer little smile
+      upon her lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if he still is,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I'll give him something to be jealous
+      about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor Mr. Lessingham!&rdquo; Helen murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;I don't think you'll find that he'll
+      be in the least sorry for himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may be in earnest,&rdquo; Helen reminded her friend. &ldquo;You can be horribly
+      attractive when you like, you know, Philippa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa smiled sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is just possible,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that I may be in earnest myself. I've
+      quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a helpless
+      creature without a little admiration.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen rose suddenly to her feet. Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+      approaching through the wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really aren't respectable, Philippa,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;Throw away your
+      cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up. Some one is coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa only moved her head lazily. The sunlight, which came down in a
+      thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell straight upon
+      her rather pale, defiant little face, with its unexpressed evasive charm,
+      and seemed to find a new depth of colour in the red-gold of her disordered
+      hair. Her slim, perfect body was stretched almost at full length, one leg
+      drawn a little up, her hands carelessly drooping towards the grass. The
+      cigarette was still burning in the corner of her lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I decline,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;to throw away my cigarette for any one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Least of all, I trust,&rdquo; a familiar voice interposed, &ldquo;for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+      resentfully at Lessingham. He was wearing a brown tweed knickerbocker
+      suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever are you doing up here,&rdquo; she demanded, &ldquo;and do you know anything
+      about our game laws? You can't come out into the woods here and shoot
+      things just because you feel like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is quite all right,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;Your neighbour, Mr. Windover,
+      to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring my gun out this
+      morning and try and get a woodcock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gracious! You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?&rdquo; Philippa
+      demanded, looking around. Lessingham shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His car came for him at the other side of the wood,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;He
+      was wanted to go on the Bench. I elected to walk home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the woodcock?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I adore woodcock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was lying
+      amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin feathers under
+      the silk band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There,&rdquo; he said, handing it to her, &ldquo;the first woodcock of the season. We
+      got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope that you would like
+      it. I shall leave it with the estimable Mills, on my return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must come and share it,&rdquo; Philippa insisted. &ldquo;Those boys of Nora's are
+      coming in to dinner. Your gift shall be the piece de resistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then may I dine another night?&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;This place encourages in me
+      the grossest of appetites.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;You will never see that woodcock again. I
+      shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow. I ordered dinner before I came
+      out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise that you shall not go
+      away hungry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?&rdquo; he asked,
+      dropping his voice for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned and studied him. Helen, who had strolled a few yards away, was
+      knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some gorgeously coloured
+      leaves from a solitary bramble bush. Lessingham had thrown his cap onto
+      the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the unusual colour in his cheeks
+      were both, in their way, becoming. His loose but well-fitting country
+      clothes, his tie and soft collar, were all well-chosen and suitable. She
+      admired his high forehead and his firm, rather proud mouth. His eyes as
+      well as his tone were full of seriousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away across
+      that terrible North Sea,&rdquo; she laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do,&rdquo; he
+      whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She picked up her hat and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I think things are quite complicated enough as they
+      are. I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your mission here and
+      your real identity. I simply could not include a flirtation amongst my
+      excitements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never flirted,&rdquo; he assured her gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wise man,&rdquo; she pronounced, rising to her feet. &ldquo;Come, let us go and help
+      Helen pick leaves. She is scratching her fingers terribly, and I'm sure
+      you have a knife. A dear, economical creature, Helen,&rdquo; she added, as they
+      strolled along. &ldquo;I am perfectly certain that those are destined to adorn
+      my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums at sixpence each, you can't
+      imagine how welcome they are. Come, produce the knife, Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+      homeward. Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of the
+      wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+      storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful fields,
+      the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling stretch of green
+      turf on the crown of the cliffs. Beyond was the foam-flecked blue sea,
+      dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would one believe,&rdquo; she asked satirically, &ldquo;that there should be scope
+      here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a&mdash;Mr.
+      Lessingham!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember that I was sent,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;The error, if error there be,
+      is not mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And after all,&rdquo; Helen reminded them both, &ldquo;think how easily one may be
+      misled by appearances. You couldn't imagine anything more honest than the
+      faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees about, yet do you know,
+      Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by burglars last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seriously?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without a doubt. Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to thieves.
+      They could get in anywhere. Last night they chose the French windows and
+      seem to have made themselves at home in the library.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I trust,&rdquo; Lessingham said, &ldquo;that they did not take anything of value?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They took nothing at all,&rdquo; Philippa sighed. &ldquo;That is the humiliating part
+      of it. They evidently didn't like our things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?&rdquo;
+       Lessingham enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So practical!&rdquo; Philippa murmured. &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I heard some one
+      moving about, and I rang the alarm bell. Mills was downstairs almost
+      directly and we heard some one running down the drive. The French windows
+      were open, a chair was overturned in the library, and a drawer in my
+      husband's desk was wide open.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The proof,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted, &ldquo;is overwhelming. You were visited by a
+      burglar. Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry hasn't anything of value in the world,&rdquo; Philippa replied drily,
+      &ldquo;except his securities, and they are at the bank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without going so far as to contradict you,&rdquo; Lessingham observed, with a
+      smile, &ldquo;I still venture to disagree!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they had
+      been weighing, admiringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see that, Mills? You see that, Jimmy?&rdquo; he pointed out. &ldquo;Six and
+      three-quarter pounds! I was right almost to an ounce. He's a fine fellow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very extraordinary fish, sir,&rdquo; the butler observed. &ldquo;Will you allow me
+      to take your oilskins? Dinner was served nearly an hour ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Listen. Don't say a word about my arrival
+      to your mistress at present. I have some writing to do. Bring me a glass
+      of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can do so without being
+      missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some whisky and soda.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what about your own dinner, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll have a tray in the gun room,&rdquo; his master decided, &ldquo;say in twenty
+      minutes' time. And, Mills, who did you say were dining?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir&mdash;Mr. Harrison and Mr.
+      Sinclair&mdash;and Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lessingham, eh?&rdquo; Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before his
+      writing-table. &ldquo;Mills,&rdquo; he added, in a confidential whisper, &ldquo;what port
+      did you serve?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not the vintage, sir,&rdquo; he announced with emphasis. &ldquo;Some very excellent
+      wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons. The young gentlemen
+      like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're a jewel, Mills,&rdquo; his master declared. &ldquo;Now you understand&mdash;an
+      aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and not a word
+      about my being here. Good night, Jimmy. Sorry we were too late for the
+      mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same. You'll have a day or
+      two's rest ashore now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, aye, sir!&rdquo; Dumble replied. &ldquo;We got in just in time. There's
+      something more than a squall coming up nor'ards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry listened for a moment. The French windows shook, the rain beat
+      against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly audible from
+      outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We timed that excellently,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;Come up and have a chat
+      to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll be round before eleven, sir,&rdquo; the fisherman promised, with a grin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door. Then he leaned forward for
+      several moments. He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned from a
+      week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he loved best.
+      The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather than increased.
+      There were black lines under his eyes which seemed to speak of sleepless
+      nights, and a beard of several days' growth was upon his chin. He drank
+      the cocktail which Mills presently brought him, at a gulp, and watched
+      with satisfaction while the mixer was vigorously shaken and a second one
+      poured out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've had a rough time, Mills,&rdquo; he observed, as he set down the glass.
+      &ldquo;Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry to hear it, sir,&rdquo; was the respectful reply. &ldquo;If I may be
+      allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am tired,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;I think, if I tried, I could go to
+      sleep now for twenty-four hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters, that
+      there is no post out tonight, sir,&rdquo; Mills proceeded. &ldquo;I have prepared a
+      warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Capital!&rdquo; Sir Henry exclaimed. &ldquo;It isn't a letter that's bothering me,
+      though, Mills. There are just a few geographical notes I want to make. You
+      know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of the coast round here.
+      That fellow Groocock&mdash;Jimmy Dumble's uncle&mdash;very nearly lost his
+      motor boat last week through trusting to the old one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just so, sir,&rdquo; Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass upon
+      his tray. &ldquo;If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the dining room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right,&rdquo; his master assented. &ldquo;They won't be out just yet, will
+      they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir&mdash;not
+      before that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently. Directly the door was closed he
+      rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his fishing
+      cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring. With the aid
+      of a little electric torch which he took from his pocket, he studied
+      particularly a certain portion of the giant chart, made some measurements
+      with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and closed it up again with an
+      air of satisfaction. Then he resumed his seat, drew a folded slip of paper
+      from his breast pocket, a chart from another, turned up the lamp and began
+      to write. His face, as he stooped low, escaped the soft shade and was for
+      a moment almost ghastly. Every now and then he turned and made some
+      calculations on the blotting-paper by his side. At last he leaned back
+      with a little sigh of relief. He had barely done so before the door behind
+      him was opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+      drawing-room?&rdquo; Nora asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In here, I think,&rdquo; he heard Philippa reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they both came in, followed by Helen. Nora was the first to see him
+      and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, here's Dad!&rdquo; she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+      &ldquo;Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are having
+      dinner! When did you get back? What a fish!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came forward to
+      meet his wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;Well, Philippa, how are you?
+      Pleased to see me, I hope? Another new frock, I believe, and in war time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fancy your remembering that it was war time!&rdquo; she answered, standing very
+      still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nasty one for me,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed good-humouredly. &ldquo;How well you're
+      looking, Helen! Any news of Dick yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+      success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing fresh,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, no news may be good news,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked consolingly.
+      &ldquo;Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again! This morning has
+      been the only patch of decent weather we've had.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This morning was lovely,&rdquo; Helen assented. &ldquo;Philippa and I went and sat up
+      in the woods.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her husband
+      critically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have some men dining,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;They will be out in a few minutes.
+      Don't you think you had better go and make yourself presentable? You smell
+      of fish, and you look as though you hadn't shaved for a week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guilty, my dear,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;Mills is just getting me something
+      to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a bath and change my
+      clothes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And shave, Dad,&rdquo; Nora reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And shave, you young pest,&rdquo; her father agreed, patting her on the
+      shoulder. &ldquo;Run away and play billiards with Helen. I want to talk to your
+      mother until my dinner's ready.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora acquiesced promptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up. Or perhaps you'd like to
+      play shell out?&rdquo; she proposed. &ldquo;Arthur Sinclair says I have improved in my
+      potting more than any one he ever knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them. Then he returned and
+      seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side. She glanced up at him as
+      though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards her work-basket,
+      took up some knitting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really think I should change at once, if I were you,&rdquo; she suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently. I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a word or
+      two with you first. I've been away for nearly a fortnight, haven't I?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have,&rdquo; Philippa assented. &ldquo;Perhaps that is the reason why I feel that
+      I haven't very much to say to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds just a trifle hard,&rdquo; he said slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am hard sometimes,&rdquo; Philippa confessed. &ldquo;You know that quite well.
+      There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart at all, nor any
+      sympathy; when every sensation I might have had seems shrivelled up inside
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me, Philippa?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had every warning,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;I tried to make you understand
+      exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you went away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I remember,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I'm afraid, dear, you think I am a
+      worthless sort of a fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch. She bent lower still over her
+      knitting. There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her mouth was
+      unrecognisable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?&rdquo; her husband remarked
+      presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Philippa assented, &ldquo;he is dining to-night. You will probably see
+      him in a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+      remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're so keen about that sort of thing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what about
+      Lessingham? He is not soldiering or anything, is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;He walks with a slight limp and
+      admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us very much
+      about himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder you haven't tackled him,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued. &ldquo;You're such an
+      ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing his bit of
+      butchery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is a very delightful friend, whose stay here
+      every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative stranger. I feel
+      no responsibility as to his actions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you do as to mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of the
+      lounge. He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining room beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm!&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Has he been here often while I've been away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As often as he chose,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;He has become very popular in
+      the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest here at
+      any time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is here most days. We are always rather disappointed when he doesn't
+      come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's the attraction?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa smiled. It was the smile which those who knew her best, feared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she confided, &ldquo;I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I think
+      that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but Dick and
+      their college days. I am rather inclined to fancy that it must be me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, indeed!&rdquo; he grunted. &ldquo;Are you aware that you are a married woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced up from her work. Her eyebrows were raised, and her
+      expression was one of mild surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How queer that you should remind me of it!&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I am afraid
+      that the sea air disturbs your memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, damn!&rdquo; he exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked to the door. His guests were still lingering over their wine. He
+      could hear their voices more distinctly than ever. Then he came back to
+      the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, old girl,&rdquo; he pleaded, &ldquo;don't let us quarrel. I have had such a
+      hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the dirtiest seas
+      I've ever known at this time of the year. For five days I hadn't a dry
+      stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once. We were all in the
+      water together, and there was a nasty green wave that looked like a
+      mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat bending over us as though
+      it meant to squeeze our ribs in. It looked like ten to one against us,
+      Phil, and I got a worse chill than the sea ever gave me when I thought
+      that I shouldn't see you again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laid down her knitting. She looked searchingly into her husband's
+      face. She was very far from indifferent to his altered tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that sounds very terrible, but why do you run such
+      risks&mdash;unworthily? Do you think that I couldn't give you all that you
+      want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with a story like
+      this and I knew that you had been facing death righteously and honourably
+      for your country's sake? Why, Henry, there isn't a man in the world could
+      have such a welcome as I could give you. Do you think I am cold? Of course
+      you don't! Do you think I want to feel as I have done this last fortnight
+      towards you? Why, it's misery! It makes me feel inclined to commit any
+      folly, any madness, to get rid of it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her husband hesitated. A frown had darkened his face. He had the air of
+      one who is on the eve of a confession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;you know that when I go out on these fishing
+      expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+      anxious to prepare for the fishermen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry! I'm as sick with them as I
+      am with you. You can see twenty or thirty of them any morning, lounging
+      about the quay, strapping young fellows who shelter themselves behind the
+      plea of privileged employment. We are notorious down here for our
+      skulkers, and you&mdash;you who should be the one man to set them an
+      example, are as bad as they are. You deliberately encourage them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face darkened and
+      his eyes flashed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Skulkers?&rdquo; he repeated furiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes! Don't you like the word?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come. He
+      laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box, and
+      lit it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?&rdquo; he observed, thrusting his
+      hands into his jacket pockets strolling away. &ldquo;If one doesn't feel the
+      call&mdash;well, there you are, you see. Jove, that's a fine fish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood admiring the codling upon the scales. Philippa continued her
+      work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us,&rdquo; she told him
+      calmly, &ldquo;please let me remind you again that we have guests for dinner.
+      Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely becoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned away and came back towards her. As he passed the lamp, she
+      started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you're wet,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;wet through!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I am,&rdquo; he admitted, feeling his sleeve, &ldquo;but to tell you the
+      truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten it. Here
+      come our guests, before I have had time to escape. I can hear your friend
+      Lessingham's voice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle. Sir
+      Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No idea that you were back, sir,&rdquo; Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly. &ldquo;I turned up about three
+      quarters of an hour ago,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;just too late to join you at
+      dinner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad luck, sir,&rdquo; Sinclair remarked. &ldquo;I hope that you had good sport?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so bad,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;We had to go far enough for it, though.
+      What do you think of that for an October codling?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They all approached the scales and admired the fish. Sir Henry stood with
+      his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+      delightfully hospitable a place,&rdquo; was the somewhat measured reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?&rdquo; Sir Henry
+      continued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a very small way,&rdquo; Lessingham acknowledged. &ldquo;I have been out once or
+      twice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With Ben Oates, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that was the man's name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham. Whatever made you choose Ben
+      Oates? He is a most disgraceful person.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was entirely by accident,&rdquo; Lessingham explained. &ldquo;I met him on the
+      front. It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather pressing in his
+      invitation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed. &ldquo;From what
+      Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken you in entirely
+      the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We had a small catch,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;I really went more for the
+      sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The coast itself,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked, &ldquo;is rather an interesting one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should imagine so,&rdquo; Lessingham assented. &ldquo;Mr. Ben Oates, indeed, told
+      me some wonderful stories about it. He spoke of broad channels down which
+      a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of the land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is quite right, too,&rdquo; his host agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's a lot of deep water about here. The whole of the coast is very
+      curious in that way. What the&mdash;what the dickens is this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a Homburg hat
+      from the far side of a table of curios. Philippa glanced up at his
+      exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's Nora's trophy,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;I told her to take it up to her
+      own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nora's trophy?&rdquo; Sir Henry repeated. &ldquo;Why, it's nothing but an ordinary
+      man's hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir,&rdquo; Harrison pointed out.
+      &ldquo;Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+      observation car was found there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry held out the hat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in this
+      sort of headgear, does she?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you'll just look inside the lining, sir,&rdquo; Sinclair suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly. &ldquo;By Jove, it's a German hat,
+      all right!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Doesn't look a bad shape, either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tried it on. There was a little peal of laughter from the men. Philippa
+      had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch. Sir Henry looked
+      at himself in the looking-glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's funny,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;I shouldn't have thought it would have
+      been so much too small for me. Here, just try how you'd look in it, Mr.
+      Lessingham,&rdquo; he added, handing it across to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+      carefully on his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't feel particularly comfortable,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That may be,&rdquo; Sir Henry suggested, &ldquo;because you have it on wrong side
+      foremost. If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would find it a very
+      good fit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham at once obeyed. Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Look at that, Philippa. Might have been made
+      for him, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from his
+      head with some casual observation. He was entirely at his ease. His host
+      turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths, sir,&rdquo; the latter announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you, Griffiths?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Glad to see you. Excuse my costume,
+      but I am just back from a fishing expedition. We are all admiring Mr.
+      Lessingham in his magic hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others, and
+      turned towards Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham,&rdquo; Sir Henry begged.
+      &ldquo;You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's slipper. The hat
+      which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's Common fits our friend like
+      a glove. I never thought the Germans made such good hats, did you,
+      Griffiths?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I always thought they imported their felt hats,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      acknowledged. &ldquo;Is that really the one with the German name inside, which
+      Miss Nora brought home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the genuine article,&rdquo; Lessingham assented, taking it from his
+      head and passing it on to the newcomer. &ldquo;Notwithstanding the name inside,
+      I should still believe that it was an English hat. It feels too
+      comfortable for anything else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully. He drew
+      out the lining and looked all the way round. Suddenly he gave vent to a
+      little exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here are the owner's initials,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;rather faint but still
+      distinguishable,&mdash;B. M. Hm! There's no doubt about its being a German
+      hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;B. M.,&rdquo; Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder. &ldquo;How very
+      interesting! B. M.,&rdquo; he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had recommenced
+      her knitting. &ldquo;Is it my fancy, or is there something a little familiar
+      about that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure that I have no idea,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;It conveys nothing to
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a brief but apparently pointless silence. Philippa's needles
+      flashed through her wool with easy regularity. Lessingham appeared to be
+      sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed concerning the hat. Sir
+      Henry was standing with knitted brows, in the obvious attitude of a man
+      seeking to remember something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;B. M.,&rdquo; he murmured softly to himself. &ldquo;There was some one I've known or
+      heard of in England&mdash;What's that, Mills?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your dinner is served, sir,&rdquo; Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+      announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible owner. He
+      threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed a new interest
+      in life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jove, I'm ravenous!&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;You'll excuse me, won't you? Mills,
+      see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes&mdash;in the billiard
+      room, I should think. You'll find the young people there. I'll come in and
+      have a game of pills later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry at once
+      from the room. Lessingham, however, lingered. He stood with his hands
+      behind him, looking at the closed door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+       Philippa asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I may,&rdquo; he answered, without changing his position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see ghosts through that door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; he said, as he seated himself by her side, &ldquo;there are times
+      when I find your husband quite interesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa leaned back in her place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+      towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must confess,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that sometimes your husband puzzles me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not nearly so much as he puzzles me,&rdquo; Philippa retorted, a little
+      bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More or less, but never quite to this extent. The thing has become an
+      obsession with him lately. If you are really going to stay and talk with
+      me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband? Just now the subject is
+      rather a painful one with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can quite understand that,&rdquo; Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of Captain Griffiths?&rdquo; she asked, a little abruptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have thought nothing more about him. Should I? Is he of any real
+      importance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is military commandant here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my track,&rdquo; he
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was,&rdquo; Philippa said
+      drily. &ldquo;I have told you that he came and asked about you the other night,
+      when he dined here. He seemed perfectly satisfied then, but he is here
+      again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits anywhere in an ordinary
+      way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you uneasy about me?&rdquo; Lessingham enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not sure,&rdquo; she answered frankly. &ldquo;Sometimes I am almost terrified
+      and would give anything to hear that you were on your way home. And at
+      other times I realise that you are really very clever, that nothing is
+      likely to happen to you, and that the place will seem duller than ever
+      when you do go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is very kind of you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In any case, I fear that my holiday
+      will soon be coming to an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your holiday?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;Is that what you call it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been little else,&rdquo; he replied indifferently. &ldquo;There is nothing to
+      be learnt here of the slightest military significance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We told you that when you arrived,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was perhaps foolish not to believe you,&rdquo; he acknowledged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in failure,
+      after all!&rdquo; she went on, a moment or two later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Failure? No, I should not call it failure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have really made some discoveries, then?&rdquo; she enquired dubiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have made the greatest discovery in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered, her
+      eyes fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me! In this quiet spot?&rdquo; she sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it Helen or me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa!&rdquo; he protested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyebrows were more raised than ever. Her mouth had lost its alluring
+      curve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Lessingham!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Have I ever given you the right
+      to call me by my Christian name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my country,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;we do not wait to ask. We take.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rank Prussianism,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I really think you had better go back
+      there. You are adopting their methods.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may have to at any moment,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;or to some more distant
+      country still. I want something to take back with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You want a keepsake, of course,&rdquo; Philippa declared, looking around the
+      room. &ldquo;You can have my photograph&mdash;the one over there. Helen will
+      give you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her. She is just as
+      grateful to you about Richard as I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But from you,&rdquo; he said earnestly, &ldquo;I want more than gratitude.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, how persistent you are!&rdquo; Philippa murmured. &ldquo;Are you really
+      determined to make love to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don't mock me!&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;What I am saying to you comes from my
+      heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed at him quietly. There was just a little break in her
+      voice, however.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be absurd!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing absurd about it,&rdquo; he replied, with a note of sadness in
+      his tone. &ldquo;I felt it from the moment we met. I struggled against it, but I
+      have felt it growing day by day. I came here with my mind filled with
+      different purposes. I had no thought of amusing myself, no thought of
+      seeking here the happiness which up till now I seem to have missed. I came
+      as a servant because I was sent, a mechanical being. You have changed
+      everything. For you I feel what I have never felt for any woman before. I
+      place before you my career, my freedom, my honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa sighed very softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mind ringing the bell?&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bell?&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;What for?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want Helen to hear you,&rdquo; she confided, with a wonderful little smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, don't mock me,&rdquo; he pleaded. &ldquo;If this is only amusement to you,
+      tell me so and let me go away. It is the first time in my life that a
+      woman has come between me and my work. I am no longer master of myself. I
+      am obsessed with you. I want nothing else in life but your love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face. The banter which
+      had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon as her
+      defensive weapon, was suddenly useless. Lessingham had created an
+      atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you in earnest?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God knows I am!&rdquo; he insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&mdash;you care for me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So much,&rdquo; he answered passionately, &ldquo;that for your sake I would sacrifice
+      my honour, my country, my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I've only known you for such a short time,&rdquo; Philippa protested, &ldquo;and
+      you're an enemy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I discard my birth. I renounce my adopted country,&rdquo; he declared fiercely.
+      &ldquo;You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition and patriotism.
+      You have filled it with one thing only&mdash;a great, consuming love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you forgotten my husband?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should have
+      dared to speak? Ask yourself how you can continue to live with him? You
+      can call him which you will. Both are equally disgraceful. Your heart
+      knows the truth. He is either a coward or a philanderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white. Her eyes flashed. His words had
+      stung her to the quick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A coward?&rdquo; she repeated furiously. &ldquo;You dare to call Henry that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet. He moved restlessly about the room.
+      His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do!&rdquo; he pronounced. &ldquo;Philippa, look at this matter without prejudice.
+      Do you believe that there is a single man of any country, of your
+      husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the seas for fish
+      whilst his country's blood is being drained dry? Who would weigh a
+      codling,&rdquo; he added, pointing scornfully to the scales, &ldquo;whilst the funeral
+      march of heroes is beating throughout the world? The thing is insensate,
+      impossible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's head drooped. Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't!&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;I have suffered so much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; he begged, with a sudden change of voice. &ldquo;If I am mistaken
+      in your husband&mdash;and there is always the chance&mdash;I am sorry. I
+      will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him, but I can only
+      judge from what I have seen and from that there is no one in the world who
+      would not agree with me that your husband is unworthy of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, please stop!&rdquo; Philippa cried. &ldquo;Stop at once!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham came back to his place by her side. His voice was still
+      shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, forgive me,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;If you only knew how it hurts to see
+      you like this! Yet I must speak. There is just once in every man's
+      lifetime when he must tell the truth. That time has come with me&mdash;I
+      love you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So does my husband,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,&rdquo;
+       Lessingham continued. &ldquo;He sets your wishes at defiance. He who should be
+      an example in a small place like this, is only an object of contempt in
+      the neighbourhood. Even I, who have only lived here for so short a time,
+      have caught the burden of what people say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa wiped her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please, do you mind,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;not saying anything more about Henry.
+      You are only reminding me of things which I try all the time to forget.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; Lessingham answered wistfully, &ldquo;I am only too content to
+      ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you are the
+      woman who has changed my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child who
+      has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you must not&mdash;you must not talk to me like this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His hand closed upon hers. It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold, yet
+      passive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;I have the one unalterable right, and I am
+      willing to pay the great price.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The right of loving you&mdash;the right of loving you better than any
+      woman in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly aware, to
+      the emotion of the moment. A door behind them had opened. Philippa's
+      quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps. Lessingham rose
+      deliberately to his feet. In his heart he welcomed the interruption. This
+      might, perhaps, be the decisive moment. Sir Henry was strolling towards
+      them. His manner and his tone, however, were alike good-natured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he announced.
+      &ldquo;Sinclair has been sent for&mdash;a night route march, or some such horror&mdash;and
+      they want you to make a four.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham hesitated. He had a passionate inclination to face the
+      situation, to tell this man the truth. Sir Henry's courteous indifference,
+      however, was like a harrier. He recognised the inevitable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I am rather out of practice,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I shall be
+      delighted to do my best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers. For a mild-mannered
+      and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That fellow was making love to you,&rdquo; he said bluntly, as soon as the door
+      was closed behind Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was doing it very nicely, too,&rdquo; she admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean to say that you let him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I listened to what he had to say,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;It didn't occur to
+      you, I suppose,&rdquo; her husband remarked, with somewhat strained sarcasm,
+      &ldquo;that you were another man's wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am doing my best to forget that fact,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see! And he is to help you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall turn the fellow out of the house,&rdquo; he declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why don't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side. &ldquo;Look here, Philippa,
+      don't let's wrangle,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I'm afraid you'll have to make up your
+      mind to see a good deal less of your friend Lessingham, anyway.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's brows were knitted. She was conscious of a vague uneasiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really? And why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For one thing,&rdquo; her husband explained, &ldquo;because I don't intend to have
+      him hanging about my house during my absence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The best way to prevent that would be not to go away,&rdquo; Philippa
+      suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, in all probability,&rdquo; he announced guardedly, &ldquo;I am not going away
+      again&mdash;at least not just yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's manner suddenly changed. She laid down her work. Her hand
+      rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing excursions
+      of yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the present I am,&rdquo; he assured her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And are you going to do something&mdash;some work, I mean?&rdquo; she asked
+      breathlessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after you,&rdquo;
+       he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's face fell. Her manner became notably colder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very wise,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is a most fascinating
+      person. We are all half in love with him&mdash;even Helen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fellow must have a way with him,&rdquo; Sir Henry conceded grudgingly. &ldquo;As
+      a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless they have
+      immediate connections in the neighbourhood. Even Griffiths, who since they
+      made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions, seems inclined to accept
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths dined here the other night,&rdquo; Philippa remarked, &ldquo;and I
+      noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt,&rdquo; Sir Henry began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course he is,&rdquo; Philippa interrupted. &ldquo;Helen likes him quite as much as
+      I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does he make love to Helen, too?&rdquo; Sir Henry ventured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't talk nonsense!&rdquo; Philippa retorted. &ldquo;He isn't that sort of a man at
+      all. If he has made love to me, he has done so because I have encouraged
+      him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and took a
+      cigarette from an open box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite time I stayed at home, I can see. All the same, the fellow's rather
+      a puzzle. I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making such an easy
+      conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for her flirtations,
+      and a young woman who is madly in love with another man. He hasn't&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hasn't what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He hasn't,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he had been
+      holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, &ldquo;been in the position of
+      being able to render you or Helen any service, has he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't understand you,&rdquo; Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's nothing to understand,&rdquo; Sir Henry went on. &ldquo;I was simply trying
+      to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think you need go any further than the fact,&rdquo; Philippa observed,
+      &ldquo;that he is well-bred, charming and companionable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Incidentally,&rdquo; Sir Henry queried, &ldquo;do you happen to have come across any
+      one here who ever heard of him before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't remember any one,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;He was at college with
+      Richard, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen,&rdquo; he
+      admitted. &ldquo;And by-the-by, that reminds me,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I never saw such
+      a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen. A few weeks ago you
+      were fretting yourselves to death about Dick. Now you don't seem to
+      mention him, you both of you look as though you hadn't a care in the
+      world, and yet you say you haven't heard from him. Upon my word, this is
+      getting to be a house of mysteries!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive. What is
+      there mysterious about me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ignominious life,&rdquo; was the cold reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jove, I got it that time!&rdquo; he groaned,&mdash;&ldquo;got it in the neck! But
+      didn't I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then prove it,&rdquo; Philippa pleaded. &ldquo;Let me write to Rayton and beg him to
+      use his influence to get you something to do. I am sure you would be
+      happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would make to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing,&rdquo; he confided. &ldquo;You
+      know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war. They'd make me
+      take some one's place at home behind a desk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But even if they did,&rdquo; she protested, &ldquo;even if they put you in a coal
+      cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping your
+      country? Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry made a wry face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear,&rdquo; he
+      grumbled. &ldquo;However&mdash;now what the dickens is the matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but Jimmy
+      Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo? What is it, Jimmy?&rdquo; his patron demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beg your pardon, sir,&rdquo; was the almost incoherent reply. &ldquo;I've run all the
+      way up, and there's a rare wind blowing. There's one of our&mdash;our
+      trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green and six yellow
+      balls.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whiting, by God!&rdquo; Sir Henry exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whiting!&rdquo; Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust. &ldquo;What does this mean,
+      Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be a shoal,&rdquo; her husband explained. &ldquo;It means that we've got to
+      get amongst them quick. Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She there all right, sir,&rdquo; was the somewhat doubtful reply, &ldquo;but us'll
+      have a rare job to get away, sir. That there nor'easter is blowing great
+      guns again and it's a cruel tide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to get out somehow,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared. &ldquo;Mills, my oilskins
+      and flask at once. I sha'n't change a thing, but you might bring a
+      cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills withdrew, a little dazed. Philippa, whose fingers were clenched
+      together, found her tongue at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry!&rdquo; she exclaimed furiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, my dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to tell me that after your promise,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;after
+      what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for another fishing
+      expedition?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whiting, my dear,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained. &ldquo;One can't possibly miss whiting.
+      Where the devil are my keys?&mdash;Here they are. Now then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+      rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed to be
+      a couple of charts in oilskin cases. All the time the wind was shaking the
+      windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the panes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy,&rdquo; Sir Henry invited, as he
+      buttoned up his coat. &ldquo;You'll need it all presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you kindly, sir,&rdquo; Jimmy replied. &ldquo;I am thinking that we'll both
+      need a drink before we're through this night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of half
+      and half. Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+      indignantly, once more found words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, you are incorrigible!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Listen to me if you please.
+      I insist upon it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her. &ldquo;Philippa, I really
+      can't stop now,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;But you must! You shall!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;You
+      shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before you go. What I said the
+      other day I repeat a thousandfold now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door. The
+      fisherman made an awkward exit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A thousandfold,&rdquo; Philippa repeated passionately. &ldquo;You hear, Henry? I do
+      not consider myself any more your wife. If I am here when you return, it
+      will be simply because I find it convenient. Your conduct is disgraceful
+      and unmanly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear girl!&rdquo; he remonstrated. &ldquo;I may be back in twenty-four&mdash;possibly
+      twelve hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a matter of indifference to me when you return,&rdquo; was the curt
+      reply. &ldquo;I have finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was thrown open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your oilskins, sir, and flask,&rdquo; Mills announced, hurrying in, a little
+      breathless. &ldquo;You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it scarcely seems a
+      fit night to leave home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Got to be done this once, Mills,&rdquo; his master replied, struggling into his
+      coat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in. Nora, who
+      was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, where's Dad going?&rdquo; she cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It appears,&rdquo; Philippa explained sarcastically, &ldquo;that a shoal of whiting
+      has arrived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very uncertain fish, whiting,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed, &ldquo;here to-day and gone
+      to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir,&rdquo; Harrison remarked
+      doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jimmy will see to that,&rdquo; was the confident reply. &ldquo;I expect we shall be
+      amongst them at daybreak. Good-by, everybody! Good-by, Philippa!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes sought his wife's in vain. She had turned towards Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I want
+      you to show me that new Patience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be delighted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned slowly away. For a moment his face darkened as his eyes
+      met Lessingham's. He seemed about to speak but changed his mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, good-by, every one,&rdquo; he called out. &ldquo;I shall be back before
+      midnight if we don't get out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if you do?&rdquo; Nora cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we do, Heaven help the whiting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!&rdquo; Philippa
+      declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean by coming to a place like this?&rdquo; Lessingham queried, looking
+      around the crowded restaurant. &ldquo;We are not, in that case, the only
+      sinners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't mean the mere fact of being here,&rdquo; Philippa explained, &ldquo;but
+      being here with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot,&rdquo; he said gloomily, &ldquo;that I was such a black sheep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be silly,&rdquo; she admonished. &ldquo;You're nothing of the sort. But, of
+      course, we are skating on rather thin ice. If I had Henry to consider in
+      any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should be more careful.
+      As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately. Dreymarsh has got upon
+      my nerves. The things that I thought most of in life seem to have crumbled
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ought I to be sorry?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;I am not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why are you so unsympathetic?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild,&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped before
+      their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a glance at Philippa,
+      moved away with him to the little space reserved for the dancers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a chaperon I am!&rdquo; Philippa sighed. &ldquo;I scarcely know anything about
+      the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's regiment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not hear it,&rdquo; Lessingham observed, &ldquo;but I feel deeply grateful to
+      him. It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to you alone like this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems incredible that we have talked so long,&rdquo; Philippa said, glancing
+      at the watch upon her wrist. &ldquo;I really feel now that I know all about you&mdash;your
+      school days, your college days, and your soldiering. You have been very
+      frank, haven't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing to conceal&mdash;from you,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;If there is
+      anything more you want to know&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing,&rdquo; she interrupted uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are wise,&rdquo; he reflected, &ldquo;and yet some day, you know, you
+      will have to hear it all, over and over again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not be made love to in a restaurant,&rdquo; she declared firmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are so particular as to localities,&rdquo; he complained. &ldquo;You could not
+      see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider a
+      suitable environment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;And
+      there is some one there who wants to speak to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before their
+      table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death. He remained
+      perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly to be drawn from his
+      cheeks. Yet the newcomer himself seemed in no way terrifying. He was tall
+      and largely built, clean-shaven, and with the humourous mouth of an
+      Irishman or an American. Neither was there anything threatening in his
+      speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad to run up against you, Lessingham,&rdquo; he said, holding out his hand.
+      &ldquo;Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very,&rdquo; Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a dream.
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend&mdash;Mr.
+      Hayter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in trivial
+      conversation. Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must be joining my friends,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Look in and see me sometime,
+      Lessingham&mdash;Number 72, Milan Court. You know what a nightbird I am.
+      Perhaps you will call and have a final drink with me when you have
+      finished here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be very glad,&rdquo; Lessingham promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to judge
+      by his interrupted progress. Lady Cranston looked at her companion. She
+      was puzzled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that a recent acquaintance,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;as he addressed you by the
+      name of Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; was the quiet reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't wish to talk about him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little party
+      presently broke up. Lessingham drove the two women to their hotel in Dover
+      Street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've had a most delightful evening,&rdquo; Philippa assured him, as they said
+      good night. &ldquo;You are coming round to see us in the morning, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I may,&rdquo; Lessingham assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night. She had
+      nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I sit down for a few moments?&rdquo; she asked, a little nervously. &ldquo;Your
+      fire is so much better than mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before which she
+      was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace. She felt a forewarning
+      of what was coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, dear,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Have you enjoyed your evening?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much, in a way,&rdquo; was the somewhat hesitating reply. &ldquo;Of course,
+      nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice to talk with
+      some one who knows him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Agreeable conversation,&rdquo; Philippa remarked didactically, &ldquo;is one of the
+      greatest pleasures in life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew up an
+      easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose you know that he's in love with you?&rdquo; Helen began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope he is a little, my dear,&rdquo; was the smiling reply. &ldquo;I'm sure I've
+      tried my best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't you talk seriously?&rdquo; Helen pleaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't altogether see the necessity,&rdquo; Philippa protested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do, and I'll tell you why,&rdquo; Helen answered. &ldquo;I don't think Mr.
+      Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed. I think
+      that he is in deadly earnest about you. I think that he was in deadly
+      earnest from the first. You don't really care for him, do you, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking of,&rdquo;
+       was the quiet reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then please send him away,&rdquo; Helen begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, how can I?&rdquo; Philippa objected. &ldquo;He has done us an immense
+      service, and he can't disobey his orders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't want him to go away, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was silent for several moments. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;I don't
+      think that I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't care for Henry any more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as much as ever,&rdquo; was the somewhat bitter reply. &ldquo;That's what I
+      resent so much. I should like Henry to believe that he had killed every
+      spark of love in me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair. She felt that
+      she was going to be very daring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any idea at the back of your mind, dear,&rdquo; she asked &ldquo;of making
+      use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How hatefully downright you are!&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I don't know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;if you have any such idea in your mind, I
+      think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham. You know perfectly well that
+      anything else between you and him would be impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be ridiculous!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed vigorously. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham may
+      have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has attached
+      himself to a country which no English man or woman will be able to think
+      of without shuddering, for many years to come. You can't dream of cutting
+      yourself adrift from your friends and your home and your country! It's too
+      unnatural! I'm not even arguing with you, Philippa. You couldn't do it!
+      I'm wholly concerned with Mr. Lessingham. I cannot forget what we owe him.
+      I think it would be hatefully cruel of you to spoil his life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary. She made a little
+      grimace. She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You underrate my charm, Helen,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I really believe that I
+      could make his life instead of spoiling it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you would pay the price?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair. There
+      was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sometimes think,&rdquo; she said calmly, &ldquo;that I would pay any price in the
+      world to make Henry understand how I feel. There, now run along, dear.
+      You're full of good intentions, and don't think it horrid of me, but
+      nothing that you could say would make any difference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wouldn't do anything rash?&rdquo; Helen pleaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise that
+      I'll send cards out first. Whatever I do, impulse will probably decide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impulse!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? I trust mine. Can't you?&rdquo; Philippa added, with a little shrug of
+      the shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes,&rdquo; Helen sighed, &ldquo;they are such wild horses, you know. They lead
+      one to such terrible places.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And sometimes,&rdquo; Philippa replied, &ldquo;they find their way into the heaven
+      where our soberer thoughts could never take us. Good night, dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan Court,
+      was a very altered personage. He extended no welcoming salutation to his
+      midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;is your task finished that you are in London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My task,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, &ldquo;might just as well never have been entered
+      upon. The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an ordinary sport-loving
+      Englishman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really! You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and that is
+      your impression of him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; Lessingham assented. &ldquo;He has been away sea-fishing, half the
+      time, but I have searched his house thoroughly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Searched his papers, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every one I could find, and hated the job. There are a good many charts
+      of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderful!&rdquo; Hayter scoffed. &ldquo;My young friend, you may yet find
+      distinction in some other walk of life. Our secret service, I fancy, will
+      very soon be able to dispense with your energies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I with your secret service,&rdquo; Lessingham agreed heartily. &ldquo;I dare say
+      there may be some branches of it in which existence is tolerable. That,
+      however, does not apply to the task upon which I have been engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been completely duped,&rdquo; Hayter told him calmly, &ldquo;and the
+      information you have sent us is valueless. Sir Henry Cranston, instead of
+      being the type of man whom you have described, is one of the greatest
+      experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the English Admiralty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham laughed shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;is perfectly absurd.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; Hayter repeated, with emphasis, &ldquo;the precise truth. Sir Henry
+      Cranton's fishing excursions are myths. He is simply transferred from his
+      fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of so-called mine sweepers, from
+      which he conducts his operations. Nearly every one of the most important
+      towns on the east coast are protected by minefields of his design.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham was dumbfounded. His companion's manner was singularly
+      convincing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?&rdquo; he
+      protested. &ldquo;Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him because
+      she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood gossips over
+      his slackness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled,&rdquo; Hayter retorted. &ldquo;There are
+      one or two who know, however.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are one or two,&rdquo; Lessingham observed grimly, &ldquo;who are beginning to
+      suspect me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is a pity,&rdquo; Hayter admitted, &ldquo;because it will be necessary for you
+      to return to Dreymarsh at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Return to Dreymarsh at once? But Cranston is away. There is nothing for
+      me to do there in his absence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night,&rdquo; was the confident reply.
+      &ldquo;He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of a town on the
+      east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to bombard. We must have
+      that chart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you possibly get me relieved?&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;The fact is&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We could not, and we will not,&rdquo; Hayter interrupted fiercely. &ldquo;Unless you
+      wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a coward, you will go
+      through with the work which has been allotted to you. Your earlier
+      mistakes will be forgiven if that chart is in my hands by Friday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how do you know that he will have it?&rdquo; Lessingham protested.
+      &ldquo;Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the minefields
+      you speak of, I should think the last thing he would do would be to bring
+      the chart back to Dreymarsh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do,&rdquo; Hayter assured
+      his listener. &ldquo;He is bringing it back for the inspection of one of the
+      commissioners for the east coast defense, who is to meet him at his house.
+      And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom, that you will have very little
+      time. For some reason or other, Cranston is dissatisfied with the secrecy
+      under which he has been compelled to work, and has applied to the
+      Admiralty for recognition of his position. Immediately this is given, I
+      gather that his house will be inaccessible to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire. His
+      thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear. Cranston
+      was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be. Philippa's whole
+      point of view might well be changed by this discovery&mdash;especially now
+      that Cranston had made up his mind to assert himself for his wife's sake.
+      There was an icy fear in his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You understand,&rdquo; Hayter persisted coldly, &ldquo;what it is you have to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly. I shall return by the afternoon train,&rdquo; was the despairing
+      reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you succeed,&rdquo; Hayter continued, &ldquo;I shall see that you get the usual
+      acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your transfer to
+      another branch of the service. I am not questioning your patriotism or
+      your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the man for this work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; Lessingham said. &ldquo;I am not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not my affair,&rdquo; Hayter proceeded, &ldquo;to enquire too closely into the
+      means used by our agents in carrying out our designs. That I find you in
+      London in company with the wife of the man whom you are appointed to
+      watch, may be a fact capable of the most complete and satisfactory
+      explanation. I ask no questions. I only remind you that your country, even
+      though it be only your adopted country, demands from you, as from all
+      others in her service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by the
+      claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour. Have I said enough?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have said as much as it is wise for you to say,&rdquo; Lessingham replied,
+      his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is all, then,&rdquo; the other concluded. &ldquo;You know where to send or bring
+      the chart when you have it? If you bring it yourself, it is possible that
+      something which you may regard as a reward, will be offered to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet. His farewell to Hayter was
+      cold and lifeless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with a sense
+      of intolerable depression. The streets through which he passed were sombre
+      and unlit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to their
+      homes. There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere. An intense and
+      gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted thoroughfares.
+      Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like shadows. Policemen lurked in
+      the shadows of the houses. The few vehicles left crawled about with
+      insufficient lights. Even the warning horns of the taxicab men sounded
+      furtive and repressed. Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt
+      curiously in sympathy with his environment. Hayter's news brought him face
+      to face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the dominant
+      factor in his life. For the first time he knew what love was. He felt the
+      wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities, the strange idealism called
+      so unexpectedly into being. He recognized the vagaries of Philippa's
+      disposition, and yet, during the last few days, he had convinced himself
+      that she was beginning to care. Her strained relations with her husband
+      had been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards the acceptance of
+      his proffered devotion. Now he told himself with eager hopefulness that
+      some portion of it, however minute, must be for his own sake. The
+      relations between husband and wife, he reminded himself, must, at any
+      rate, have been strained during the last few months, or Cranston would
+      never have been able to keep his secret. In his gloomy passage through
+      this land of ill omens, however, he shivered a little as he thought of the
+      other possibility&mdash;tortured himself with imagining what might happen
+      during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the truth. A sense
+      of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed to lift him into
+      some lofty state of aloofness, from which he could look down and despise
+      himself, the poor, tired plodder wearing the heavy chains of duty. There
+      was a life so much more wonderful, just the other side of the clouds, a
+      very short distance away, a life of alluring and passionate happiness.
+      Should he ever find the courage, he wondered, to escape from the treadmill
+      and go in search of it? Duty, for the last two years, had taken him by the
+      hand and led him along a pathway of shame. He had never been a hypocrite
+      about the war. He was one of those who had acknowledged from the first
+      that Germany had set forth, with the sword in her hand, on a war of
+      conquest. His own inherited martial spirit had vaguely approved; he, too,
+      in those earlier days, had felt the sunlight upon his rapier. Later had
+      come the enlightenment, the turbulent waves of doubt, the nightmare of a
+      nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in his own soul. It was in a
+      depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser degree by millions of those whose
+      ranks he had joined, that he felt this passionate craving for escape into
+      a world which took count of other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented himself at
+      the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall porter to take a
+      seat in the lounge. Philippa entered, a few minutes later, her eyes and
+      cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise she had been taking, her slim
+      figure most becomingly arrayed in grey cloth and chinchilla.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lost Helen in Harrod's,&rdquo; she announced, &ldquo;but I know she's lunching with
+      friends, so it really doesn't matter. You'll have to take care of me, Mr.
+      Lessingham, until the train goes, if you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For even longer than that, if you will,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed. &ldquo;More pretty speeches? I don't think I'm equal to them before
+      luncheon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This time I am literal,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;I am coming back to Dreymarsh
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him. Philippa's
+      expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm so glad,&rdquo; she assured him. &ldquo;Do you know, I was thinking only as I
+      came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first little
+      impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the fire. She turned
+      towards him gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After all, do you think you are wise?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Of course, I don't
+      think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but you know
+      Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and&mdash;well, you're safely away
+      now. You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful altogether,&rdquo; she
+      went on, &ldquo;that I couldn't bear it if trouble were to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I know what is at the back of your mind,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You think
+      that I am coming back entirely on your account. As it happens, this is not
+      so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;you have satisfied yourself that there is no
+      field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought that I had,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;It seems that I am wrong. I have had
+      orders to return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Orders to return?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;From whom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, I ought not to have asked that,&rdquo; she proceeded hastily, &ldquo;but
+      it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions and messages
+      from Germany, here in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany,&rdquo; he reminded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So they say,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;but one doesn't come into contact with it.
+      So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With you, if I may?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; she agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced at the clock. &ldquo;We might almost be starting for lunch,&rdquo; he
+      suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded. &ldquo;As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+      morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to the
+      Carlton. Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham walked with
+      his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?&rdquo; she asked him. &ldquo;There
+      must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for instance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nine years makes a lot of difference,&rdquo; he reminded her, &ldquo;and besides, I
+      have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition really
+      takes place. So long as I do not look into any one's face, I feel quite
+      safe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than the
+      Carlton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes no difference,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;My credentials have been
+      wonderfully established for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm so glad,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;I know it's most unfashionable, but I do
+      like these big places. If ever I had my way, I should like to live in
+      London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living in the country
+      and being just an hotel dweller in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if New York would not do?&rdquo; he ventured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect I should like New York,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave here I
+      shall go to the United States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him and turned suddenly away. They arrived just then at
+      their destination, and the moment passed. Lessingham left his companion in
+      the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to secure his table and
+      order lunch. When he came back, he found Philippa sitting very upright and
+      with a significant glitter in her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look over there,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;by the palm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He followed the direction which she indicated. A man was standing against
+      one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously a foreigner,
+      wrapped in wonderful furs. There was something familiar about his figure
+      and the slight droop of his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, it's Sir Henry!&rdquo; Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My husband,&rdquo; Philippa faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+      shortsightedness. He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham and his
+      wife without recognition or any sign of flinching. At that distance it was
+      impossible to see the tightening of his lips and the steely flash in his
+      blue eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whiting seem to have brought him a long way,&rdquo; Philippa said, with an
+      unnatural little laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I go and speak to him?&rdquo; Lessingham asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For heaven's sake, no!&rdquo; she insisted. &ldquo;Don't leave me. I wouldn't have
+      him come near me for anything in the world. It is only a few weeks ago
+      that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said that he hated the
+      place. You don't know&mdash;the woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She looks like a foreigner,&rdquo; was all he could say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take me in to lunch at once,&rdquo; Philippa begged, rising abruptly to her
+      feet. &ldquo;This is really the last straw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry was
+      standing. He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with his
+      companion, and did not even turn around. Philippa's little face seemed to
+      have hardened as she took her seat. Only her eyes were still unnaturally
+      bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am so sorry if this has annoyed you,&rdquo; Lessingham regretted. &ldquo;You would
+      not care to go elsewhere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? Go anywhere else?&rdquo; she exclaimed scornfully. &ldquo;Thank you, I am
+      perfectly satisfied here. And with my companion,&rdquo; she added, with a
+      brilliant little smile. &ldquo;Now tell me about New York. Have you ever been
+      there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;At present the dream of my life is to go there with
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if you really care,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Men get so much into the habit
+      of saying that sort of thing to women. Sometimes it seems to me they must
+      do a great deal of mischief. But you&mdash;Is that really your wish?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life,&rdquo; he
+      declared, with his face aglow, &ldquo;for its realization.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you would be a deserter from your country,&rdquo; she pointed out. &ldquo;You
+      would never be able to return. Your estates would be confiscated. You
+      would be homeless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Home,&rdquo; he said softly, &ldquo;is where one's heart takes one. Home is just
+      where love is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft. Then she
+      began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare notes of countries
+      which they had both visited, even of people whom they had met. They were
+      obliged to leave early to catch their train. As they passed down the
+      crowded restaurant they once more found themselves within a few feet of
+      Sir Henry. His back was turned to them, and he was apparently ignorant of
+      their near presence. The party had become a partie Carríe, another man,
+      and a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, &ldquo;I am behaving
+      like an idiot. I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what I think of him,
+      or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion. We lose so much,
+      don't we, by stifling our instincts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the next few minutes,&rdquo; he replied, glancing at his watch, &ldquo;I think we
+      had better concentrate our attention upon catching our train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare. Grover,
+      however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for them,
+      ensconced in a corner. She accepted the news of Lessingham's return with
+      resignation. Philippa became thoughtful as they drew towards the close of
+      their journey and the slow, frosty twilight began to creep down upon the
+      land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose we don't really know what war is,&rdquo; she observed, looking out of
+      the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with a background
+      of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church. &ldquo;The people are safe
+      in their homes. You must appreciate what that means, Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I do,&rdquo; he answered gravely. &ldquo;I have seen the earth torn and
+      dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel. A few
+      blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful village stood; men
+      and women running about like lunatics stricken with a mortal fear. And all
+      the time a red glow on the horizon, a blood-red glow, and little specks of
+      grey or brown lying all over the fields; even the cattle racing round in
+      terror. And every now and then the cry of Death! You are fortunate in
+      England.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa leaned forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you believe that our turn will come?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Do you believe that
+      the wave will break over our country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who can tell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, no, but answer me,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;Is it possible for you to land an
+      army here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that all things are possible to the military
+      genius of Germany. The only question is whether it is worth while. Germans
+      are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know. I rather doubt it. There is
+      nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so much as the news of a
+      German invasion of Great Britain. On the other hand, there is a great
+      party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one, which is continually
+      reminding the Government that, without Great Britain as a market, Germany
+      would never recover from the financial strain of the war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is all too impersonal,&rdquo; Philippa objected. &ldquo;Do you, in your heart,
+      believe that the time might come when in the night we should hear the guns
+      booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad soldiers forming up on
+      the beach and scaling our cliffs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will not be yet,&rdquo; he pronounced. &ldquo;It has been thought of. Once it
+      was almost attempted. Just at present, no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+      landing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;I can even go a little further. I can tell you
+      that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected place, in an
+      unexpected fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at first-hand,&rdquo;
+       Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner. &ldquo;I suppose we are
+      really two disgraceful women, Helen and I&mdash;traitors and all the rest
+      of it. Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he were one of our best
+      friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I refuse to be called an enemy,&rdquo; Lessingham protested. &ldquo;There are times
+      when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality. I am just a
+      human being, born into the same world and warmed by the same sun as you.
+      Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow creatures.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreymarsh once more,&rdquo; Philippa announced, looking out of the window. &ldquo;And
+      you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham. Come round and see us
+      after dinner&mdash;if it doesn't interfere with your work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; he murmured under his breath. &ldquo;Thank you very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very blank
+      expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty Square. He was
+      alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the walls of which were so
+      hung with charts that it had almost the appearance of a schoolroom
+      prepared for an advanced geography class. The table from which he had
+      risen was covered with an amazing number of scientific appliances, some
+      samples of rock and sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the outlook,
+      turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself confronted by an elderly
+      gentleman of cheerful appearance, who at that moment had entered the room.
+      From the fact that he had done so without knocking, it was obvious that he
+      was an intimate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my gloomy friend,&rdquo; the newcomer demanded, &ldquo;what's wrong with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor. He pushed a chair
+      towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box of cigars
+      upon his desk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your little Laranagas,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Try one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, then, get at it, Henry,&rdquo; he enjoined. &ldquo;I've a Board in half-an-hour,
+      and three dispatches to read before I go in. What's your trouble?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Rayton,&rdquo; was the firm reply, &ldquo;I want to chuck this infernal
+      hole-and-corner business. I tell you I've worked it threadbare at
+      Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The newcomer grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor chap!&rdquo; he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards. &ldquo;You're
+      in a nasty mess, you know, Henry. Did I tell you that I had a letter from
+      your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't find you a job?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the joke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all very well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we are on the point of a separation,
+      or something of the sort. I'll admit it was all right at first to run the
+      thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted up by now. Why, according
+      to your own reports, they know all about me on the other side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a doubt about it,&rdquo; the other agreed. &ldquo;I'm not sure that you haven't
+      got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm quite sure of it,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied grimly. &ldquo;The brute was lunching
+      with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would have it, I was
+      landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and sister-in-law. You're breaking
+      up the happy home, that's what you're doing, Rayton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing. He laughed
+      until the tears stood in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should love to have seen Philippa's face,&rdquo; he chuckled, &ldquo;when she
+      walked into the restaurant and saw you there! You're supposed to be off on
+      a fishing expedition, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went out after whiting,&rdquo; Sir Henry groaned, &ldquo;and I'd just promised to
+      chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway,&rdquo; his visitor promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be an ass!&rdquo; Sir Henry exclaimed irritably. &ldquo;I don't want the fellow
+      touched at present. Why, he's been a sort of persona grata at my house.
+      Hangs around there all the time when I'm away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should say,&rdquo;
+       was the cheerful reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and Miss
+      Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!&rdquo; Sir Henry retorted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot that,&rdquo; his friend confessed ruminatively. &ldquo;He's a gentlemanly
+      sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy. What do you want done
+      with him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave him for me to deal with,&rdquo; Sir Henry insisted. &ldquo;I have a little
+      scheme on hand in which he is concerned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems,&rdquo; he reminded his friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't run any risks,&rdquo; Sir Henry promised. &ldquo;I just want him left there,
+      that's all. And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from you. I quite
+      agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the time when I was up in
+      Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer with the people who count.
+      Every one in Germany knows that I'm a mine-field specialist, so I don't
+      see why the dickens I should pose any longer as a sort of half-baked
+      idiot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical disclosure
+      of your greatness,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;Poor Philippa will fall upon her knees.
+      You will be the hero of the village, which will probably present you with
+      some little article of plate. You've a good time coming, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk sense, there's a good fellow,&rdquo; the other begged. &ldquo;You go and see the
+      Chief and put it to him. There isn't a single reason why I shouldn't own
+      up now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll see what I can do,&rdquo; Rayton promised, &ldquo;but what about this fellow
+      Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there? There's a chap
+      named Griffiths&mdash;Commandant, isn't he?&mdash;been writing us about
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't have Lessingham touched,&rdquo; Sir Henry insisted. &ldquo;He can't do any
+      particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a drawing of mine
+      down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Henry, old fellow,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I do sympathise with you up to a
+      certain point. I tell you what I'll do. I shall have to answer Philippa's
+      letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if she is as clever a little
+      woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint. Of course,&rdquo; he went on
+      ruminatively, &ldquo;it is rather a misfortune that the Princess Ollaneff and
+      her sister are such jolly good-looking women. Makes it look a little
+      fishy, doesn't it? What I mean to say is, it's a far cry from fishing for
+      whiting in the North Sea to lunching with a beautiful princess at the
+      Carlton&mdash;when you think your wife's down in Norfolk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw open the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;You get back
+      and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of voices
+      in the corridor, and departed. The door had scarcely been closed when two
+      younger men presented themselves&mdash;Miles Ensol, Sir Henry's secretary,
+      a typical-looking young sailor minus his left arm; and a pale-faced,
+      clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian clothes. Sir Henry shook
+      hands with the latter and pointed to the easy-chair which his previous
+      visitor had just vacated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Welcome back again, Horridge,&rdquo; he said cordially. &ldquo;Miles, I'll ring when
+      I want you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; the secretary replied. &ldquo;There's a fisherman from Norfolk
+      downstairs, when you're at liberty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll see him presently. Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+      Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that eavesdropping extends to these
+      premises, or that our voices could reach outside. Still, a ha'porth of
+      prevention, eh? Have a cigar, Horridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look as though they'd put you through it,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His visitor smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we were out for
+      twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff. You know what the weather's
+      been like in the North Sea. Before that, the last word of writing I saw on
+      German soil was a placard, offering a reward of five thousand marks for my
+      detention, with a disgustingly lifelike photograph at the top. I had about
+      fifty yards of quay to walk in broad daylight, and every other man I
+      passed turned to stare after me. It gives you the cold shivers down your
+      back when you daren't look round to see if you're being followed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle of
+      whisky and a syphon of soda water. His visitor nodded approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary,&rdquo; he
+      observed. &ldquo;My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my life. Do
+      you mind, sir, if I lock the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go ahead,&rdquo; Sir Henry assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room. Horridge resumed
+      his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly. For a moment or two he
+      shook as though he had an ague. Then, just as suddenly as it had come upon
+      him, the fit passed. He drained the contents of the tumbler at a gulp, set
+      it down empty by his side, and stretched out his hand for a cigar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The end of my journey didn't help matters any,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I daren't
+      even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually by a tramp
+      steamer from Newcastle to London with coals. I hadn't been on board more
+      than an hour before a submarine which had been following overhauled us. I
+      thought it was all up then, but the fog lifted, and we found ourselves
+      almost in the midst of a squadron of destroyers from Harwich. I made
+      another transfer, and they landed me in time to catch the early morning
+      train from Felixstowe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did they get the submarine?&rdquo; his listener asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get it!&rdquo; the other repeated, with a smile. &ldquo;They blew it into scrap
+      metal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plenty of movement in your life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've run the gauntlet over there once too often,&rdquo; Horridge said grimly.
+      &ldquo;Just look at me now, Sir Henry. I'm twenty-nine years old, and it's only
+      two years and a half since I was invalided out of the navy and took this
+      job on. The last person I asked to guess my age put me down at fifty. What
+      should you have said?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Somewhere near it,&rdquo; was the candid admission. &ldquo;Never mind, Horridge,
+      you've done your bit. You shall pass on your experience to a new hand,
+      take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few months. Now
+      let's get on with it. You know what I want to hear about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're there, sir,&rdquo; he announced, &ldquo;coaled to the scuppers, every man
+      standing to stations and steam up. There's the list.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fast cruiser squadron,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Hm! Three new ships we haven't
+      any note of. No transports, then, Horridge?'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a sign of one, sir,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;They're after a bombardment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+      certain port on the east coast. Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're sure?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a certainty,&rdquo; Horridge replied. &ldquo;I've been on three of those ships.
+      I've dined with four of the officers. They're under sealed orders, and the
+      crew believes that they're going to escort out half a dozen commerce
+      destroyers. But I have the truth. That's their objective,&rdquo; Horridge
+      repeated, touching once more the spot upon the map, &ldquo;and they are waiting
+      just for one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what they're waiting for,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Perhaps if they'd a Herr
+      Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before now. As it is&mdash;well,
+      I'm not sure,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;It seems a pity to disappoint them, doesn't
+      it? I'd love to give them a run for their money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Horridge smiled faintly. He knew a good deal about his companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're spoiling for it, sir,&rdquo; he admitted. Sir Henry spoke down a
+      telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room,&rdquo; his chief directed, &ldquo;and one of
+      our confidential typists. You can make out your report at your leisure,&rdquo;
+       he went on. &ldquo;Come in and see me when it's all finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, sir,&rdquo; Horridge replied, rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry held out his hand. He looked with something like wonder at the
+      nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain air of
+      briskness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horridge,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wish I had your pluck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any, sir,&rdquo;
+       was the quiet reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the scene of
+      his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the moorland,
+      seawards. Above him, the sky was covered with little masses of quickly
+      scudding clouds. A fugitive and watery sunshine shone feebly upon a
+      wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape. He found a certain grim
+      satisfaction in comparing the disorderliness of the day with the tumult in
+      his own life. He felt that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater than
+      his capacity, for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable. And
+      behind him was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a few
+      hours ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+      decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation. Great
+      events wait upon you. The object of your search is necessary for our
+      imminent operations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him. Captain Griffiths, on a great
+      bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the roadside, and then
+      pulled up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back again, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment. Then he approached a
+      little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When the fancy takes me,&rdquo; was the equable reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you come out to see our new guns?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no idea,&rdquo; Lessingham answered indifferently, &ldquo;that you had any.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from the
+      south of England,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The secret of their coming and their locality
+      has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for the last week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They most of them spotted the guns,&rdquo; his companion continued, &ldquo;but not
+      many of them have found the searchlights yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems a little late in the year,&rdquo; Lessingham observed, &ldquo;to be making
+      preparations against Zeppelins.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, they cross here pretty often, you know,&rdquo; Griffiths reminded him.
+      &ldquo;It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to grief on
+      this common. We picked up their observation car not fifty yards from where
+      you are sitting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember hearing about it,&rdquo; Lessingham acknowledged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By-the-by,&rdquo; the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck, &ldquo;didn't
+      you arrive that evening or the evening after?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Liverpool Street or King's Cross? The King's Cross train was very nearly
+      held up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't come by train at all,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, glancing for a moment
+      into the clouds, &ldquo;And now I come to think of it, it must have been the
+      evening after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fine county for motoring,&rdquo; Griffiths continued, stroking his horse's
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The roads I have been on seem very good,&rdquo; was the somewhat bored
+      admission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You haven't a car of your own here, have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments. Then
+      he turned once more towards his companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you are aware that I am Commandant here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, &ldquo;that Lady Cranston told me so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty, therefore,&rdquo; Griffiths went on, &ldquo;to take a little more than
+      ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this time of the year.
+      The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston is, of course, an
+      entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence here. At the same time,
+      there is certain information concerning strangers of which we keep a
+      record, and in your case there is a line or two which we have not been
+      able to fill up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I can be of any service,&rdquo; Lessingham murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely,&rdquo; the other interrupted. &ldquo;I knew you would feel like that. Now
+      your arrival here&mdash;we have the date, I think&mdash;October 6th. As
+      you have just remarked, you didn't come by train. How did you come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that a question which you ask me to answer&mdash;officially?&rdquo; he
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not putting official questions to you at all,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;nor am I
+      cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the circumstances, simply
+      because your friendship with the Cranstons is, of course, a guarantee as
+      to your position. But on the other hand, I think it would be reasonable if
+      you were to answer my question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are right,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;As you can tell by finding me here
+      this afternoon, I am a great walker. I arrived&mdash;on foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; Griffiths reflected. &ldquo;The other question which we usually ask is,
+      where was your last stopping place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stopping place?&rdquo; Lessingham murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?&rdquo; Griffiths
+      persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful memory.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I did not sleep at all,&rdquo; he complained. &ldquo;It was one of the worst
+      nights which I have ever spent in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said with clumsy sarcasm, &ldquo;I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+      Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered my
+      questions. I won't bother you any more just at present. Shall I see you
+      to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston has asked me to dine,&rdquo; was the somewhat reserved reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His inquisitor nodded and cantered away. Lessingham looked after him until
+      he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh and walked
+      steadily into the lowering afternoon. Twilight was falling as he reached
+      Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some callers, to whom
+      she promptly introduced him. Lessingham gathered, almost in the first few
+      minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was becoming a subject of comment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think,&rdquo; a lady by
+      whose side he found himself observed. &ldquo;You perhaps didn't hear my name&mdash;Mrs.
+      Johnson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I congratulate you upon your husband,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;I remember
+      him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I revoked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;He must have taken a fancy to you, then. As a
+      rule, they rather complain about him at bridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I formed the impression,&rdquo; Lessingham continued, &ldquo;that he was rather a
+      better player than the majority of the performers there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady, smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He thinks so, at any rate,&rdquo; she conceded. &ldquo;Didn't he tell me that you
+      were invalided home from the front?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite sure that it was not mentioned,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We walked home
+      together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of the golf
+      and some shooting in the neighbourhood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+      suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing. There was a little
+      commotion. Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to help collect the
+      fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper in his ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be careful. That woman is a cat. Stay and talk to me. Please don't
+      bother, Mr. Lessingham. Won't you ring the bell instead?&rdquo; she continued,
+      raising her voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs. Johnson's
+      inviting smile as he returned. Philippa made room for him by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;of
+      the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and both had
+      just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity. You never played, did you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No such luck. In any case, Richard would have been in well before me. I
+      always maintained that he was the first of our googlie bowlers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?&rdquo; another caller remarked in
+      mild wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends,&rdquo; Philippa explained.
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+      disappointment. The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance in
+      Dreymarsh was practically strangled. Mrs. Johnson, however, fired a
+      parting shot as she rose to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+      Lessingham?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was busy with her adieux. Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she persisted. &ldquo;You must forgive
+      my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military affairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham bowed courteously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all,&rdquo; he said coolly, &ldquo;but
+      as a matter of fact I am in the Guards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable. Her good-by to
+      Lessingham was most affable. She walked up the road with the vicar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Vicar,&rdquo; she said severely, &ldquo;that for a small place, Dreymarsh is
+      becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew. Every one has
+      been saying all sorts of unkind things about that charming Mr. Lessingham,
+      and there you are&mdash;Major Felstead's friend and a Guardsman! Somehow
+      or other, I felt that he belonged to one of the crack regiments. I shall
+      certainly ask him to dinner one night next week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The vicar nodded benignly. He had the utmost respect for Mrs. Johnson's
+      cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to which the object of
+      their discussion had attained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time,&rdquo; he pronounced,
+      with ample condescension. &ldquo;I noticed him in church last Sunday morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed
+      pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers. &ldquo;The
+      Guards, indeed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I told the dear lady the truth. You will find my name
+      well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the Prussian Guards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw herself back in her chair and laughed. &ldquo;How amusing it would be
+      if it weren't all so terrible! You really are a perfect political Raffles.
+      Do you know that this afternoon you have absolutely reestablished
+      yourself? Mr. Johnson will probably call on you to-morrow&mdash;they may
+      even ask you to dine&mdash;the vicar will write and ask for a
+      subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you to play golf with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not turn my head,&rdquo; he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the same,&rdquo; Philippa continued, more gravely, &ldquo;I shall never have a
+      moment's peace whilst you are in the place. I was thinking about you last
+      night. I don't believe I have ever realised before how terrible it would
+      be if you really were discovered. What would they do to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever they might do,&rdquo; he replied, a little wearily, &ldquo;I must obey
+      orders. My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told that I might
+      go, I should find it hard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you know,&rdquo; he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You men are so strange,&rdquo; she went on, after a moment's pause. &ldquo;You give
+      us so little time to know you, you show us so little of yourselves and you
+      expect so much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We offer everything,&rdquo; he reminded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to avoid platitudes,&rdquo; she said thoughtfully, &ldquo;but is love quite
+      the same thing for a man as for a woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes it is more,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;Sometimes love, for a
+      woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the blending of
+      all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that he has learned
+      from books and from life. Sometimes a man can see no further and needs to
+      look no further.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger. There was something in her
+      heart of which she had never before been conscious, some music, some
+      strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or the words themselves.
+      It was madness, she told herself breathlessly. She was in love with her
+      husband, if any one. She could not have lost all feeling for him so soon.
+      She clasped her hands tightly. Lessingham seemed conscious of his
+      advantage, and leaned towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I were not offering you my whole life,&rdquo; he pleaded, &ldquo;believe me, I
+      would not open my lips. If I were thinking of episodes, I would throw
+      myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even your fingers. But
+      you, and you alone, could fill the place in my life which I have always
+      prayed might be filled, not for a year or even a decade of years, but for
+      eternity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but you forget!&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember so much,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that I know it is hard for you to
+      speak. There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your fingers shrink
+      from tearing them asunder. If it were not for this, Philippa&mdash;hear
+      the speech of a renegade&mdash;my mandate should be torn in pieces. My
+      instructions should flutter into the waste-paper basket, To-morrow should
+      see us on our way to a new country and a new life. But you must be very
+      sure indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it because of me that you are staying here?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my honour, no,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;I must stay here a little longer,
+      whatever it may mean for me. And so I am content to remain what I am to
+      you at this minute. I ask from you only that you remain just what you are.
+      But when the moment of my freedom comes, when my task here is finished and
+      I turn to go, then I must come to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open the
+      window. The breeze swept through the room, flapping the curtains, blowing
+      about loose articles into a strange confusion. She stood there for several
+      moments, as though in search of some respite from the emotional atmosphere
+      upon which she had turned her back. When she finally closed the window,
+      her hair was in little strands about her face. Her eyes were soft and her
+      lips quivering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make me feel,&rdquo; she said, taking his hand for a moment and looking at
+      him almost piteously, &ldquo;you make me feel everything except one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except one thing?&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't you understand?&rdquo; she continued, stretching out her hand with a
+      quick, impulsive little movement. &ldquo;I am here in Henry's house, his wife,
+      the mistress of his household. All the years we've been married I have
+      never thought of another man. I have never indulged in even the idlest
+      flirtation. And now suddenly my life seems upside down. I feel as though,
+      if Henry stood before me now, I would strike him on the cheek. I feel sore
+      all over, and ashamed, but I don't know whether I have ceased to love him.
+      I can't tell. Nothing seems to help me. I close my eyes and I try to think
+      of that new world and that new life, and I know that there is nothing
+      repulsive in it. I feel all the joy and the strength of being with you.
+      And then there is Henry in the background. He seems to have had so much of
+      my love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+      encouragingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just
+      think these things out. It isn't really a matter for sorrow,&rdquo; he
+      continued. &ldquo;Love must always mean happiness&mdash;for the one who is
+      loved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She leaned back in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her, her
+      eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet. He sat by her side, fingering
+      some of the things in her work basket. Once she held out her hand and
+      seemed to find comfort in his clasp. He raised her fingers to his lips
+      without any protest from her. She looked at him with a little smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I can't see my
+      way like those wonderful emancipated women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; he said thoughtfully, &ldquo;the way to the simple things is so clear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of Nora
+      and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked in for a game
+      of billiards. Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the latter had returned
+      to their game. His tone and manner now were completely changed. He seemed
+      ill at ease and unhappy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow,&rdquo; he told Philippa, &ldquo;but I
+      must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates. They all tell
+      me that your husband has any number of charts of the coast. Do you think I
+      could borrow one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;if we can find it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers as
+      were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly. By the
+      time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a little
+      collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know where else to look,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You might go through those
+      and see if they are of any use. What is it, Mills?&rdquo; she added, turning to
+      the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at Sir
+      Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour. He looked away towards his
+      mistress, however, as he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The young woman has called with reference to a situation as parlour-maid,
+      your ladyship,&rdquo; he announced. &ldquo;I have shown her into the sewing room.&rdquo;
+       Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes,&rdquo; she promised Lessingham.
+      &ldquo;Just look through those till I come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room. He stood for a
+      moment listening. On the left-hand side, through the door which had been
+      left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls and occasional peals
+      of laughter. On the right-hand side there was silence. He moved swiftly
+      across the room and closed the door leading into the billiard room,
+      deposited on the sofa the charts which he had been carrying, and hurried
+      back to the secretary. With a sickening feeling of overwhelming guilt, he
+      drew from his pocket a key and opened, one by one, the drawers through
+      which they had not searched. It took him barely five minutes to discover&mdash;nothing.
+      With an air of relief he rearranged everything. When Philippa returned, he
+      was sitting on the lounge, going through the charts which they had looked
+      out together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing here,&rdquo; he decided, &ldquo;which will help me very much. With
+      your permission I will take this,&rdquo; he added, selecting one at random.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded and they replaced the others. Then she touched him on the arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+      coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He listened for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't hear any one,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;They've started a four-handed game
+      of pool in the billiard room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret. See!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She touched the spring in the side of the secretary. The false back, with
+      its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up. The large and
+      very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so much of his time,
+      was revealed. Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;That has been a great labour of love with Henry. It is
+      the chart, on a great scale, from which he works. I don't know a thing
+      about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry that you have seen it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to examine the chart earnestly. Not a part of it escaped him.
+      Then he turned back to Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't exactly know where it is,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Every time Henry finds
+      out anything new, he comes and works at it. I believe that very soon it
+      will be perfect. Then he will start on another part of the coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?&rdquo; Lessingham
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe it is the fifth,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;They all disappear when they
+      are finished, but I have no idea where to. To me they seem to represent a
+      shocking waste of time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham was suddenly taciturn. He held out his hand. &ldquo;You are dining
+      with us to-morrow night, remember,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not likely to forget,&rdquo; he assured her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And don't get drowned,&rdquo; she concluded. &ldquo;I don't know any of these
+      fishermen&mdash;I hate them all&mdash;but I'm told that Oates is the
+      worst.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that we shall be quite all right,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;Thanks very
+      much for finding me the charts. What I have seen will help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+      perfunctory. Lessingham was almost thankful to escape. There was an
+      unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his heart.
+      All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous quest had faded
+      away. No sense of duty or patriotism could revive his drooping spirits. He
+      felt himself suddenly an unclean and dishonoured being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous wind of
+      an uncertain morning settled down to worse things. It tore the spray from
+      the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even against the French
+      windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down the open spaces
+      cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean artillery. A little group
+      of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the railing and discussed the chances
+      of Ben Oates bringing his boat in safely. Philippa, also, distracted by a
+      curious anxiety, stood before the blurred window, gazing into what seemed
+      almost a grey chaos. &ldquo;Captain Griffiths, your ladyship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned around quickly at the announcement. Even an unwelcome caller at
+      that moment was almost a relief to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+      Griffiths,&rdquo; she exclaimed, as they shook hands. &ldquo;Helen is over at the
+      Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem most
+      dolefully alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in the way
+      of enlivenment. He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than ever, and his
+      tone was almost threatening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I came
+      specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There seemed to
+      her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly conscious that
+      there was a new danger to be faced, and that this man's attitude towards
+      her was, for some reason or other, inimical. After the first shock,
+      however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you seem very mysterious,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;I haven't broken any
+      laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort,&rdquo; the
+      Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint. &ldquo;My
+      call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a friendly one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How nice!&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;Then you'll have some tea, won't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at present, if you please,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I have come to talk to you
+      about Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed. &ldquo;Whatever has that poor man been doing now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreymarsh,&rdquo; her visitor proceeded, &ldquo;having been constituted, during the
+      last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and enquire
+      into the business of any stranger who appears here. Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+      has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his friendship with
+      you. I regret to state, however, that certain facts have come to my
+      knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself may not in some
+      measure have been deceived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This sounds very ridiculous,&rdquo; Philippa interposed quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A few weeks ago,&rdquo; Captain Griffith continued, &ldquo;we received information
+      that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by some person connected
+      with the Secret Service of Germany. There is strong evidence that the
+      person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+      visitor at my father's house in Cheshire,&rdquo; Philippa observed, with faint
+      sarcasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; Captain
+      Griffiths rejoined, &ldquo;has, I must confess, only just occurred to me. The
+      authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to, and no one of the
+      name of Lessingham was there during any one of your brother's terms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa took the blow well. She simply stared at her caller in a
+      noncomprehending manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have also information,&rdquo; he continued gravely, &ldquo;from Wood Norton Hall&mdash;from
+      your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston&mdash;that no college friend of your
+      brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on,&rdquo; Philippa begged, a little faintly. &ldquo;Did I ever live there myself?
+      Was Richard ever at Magdalen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to finish
+      and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of which
+      I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his last
+      habitation. He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced fashion. He
+      practically declined to give me any account of himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose I must give you some tea,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;although you seem to have
+      come here on purpose to make my head ache.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My object in coming here,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little stiffly,
+      &ldquo;is to save you some measure of personal annoyance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful,&rdquo; Philippa begged. &ldquo;Of
+      course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get to the
+      bottom of it presently&mdash;Tell me what you think of the storm?&rdquo; she
+      added, as Mills entered with the tea tray. &ldquo;Do you think it will get any
+      worse, because I am terrified to death already?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am no judge of the weather here,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;I believe the
+      fishermen are preparing for something unusual.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing her
+      duties as hostess. Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm and addressed
+      him with an air of complete candour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;do listen to me. Just one moment of
+      common sense, if you please. What do you suppose there could possibly be
+      in our harmless seaside village to induce any one to risk his life by
+      coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of Germany?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreymarsh,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths replied, &ldquo;was not made a prohibited area
+      for nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear man, be reasonable,&rdquo; Philippa persisted. &ldquo;There are perhaps
+      a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations along the cliff
+      for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, and a couple of
+      searchlights. There isn't a grocer's boy in the place who doesn't know all
+      this. There's no concealment about it. You must admit that Germany doesn't
+      need to send over a Secret Service agent to acquaint herself with these
+      insignificant facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her visitor smiled very faintly. It was the first time he had relaxed even
+      so far as this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you, Lady
+      Cranston,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I am not prepared to accept your statement that
+      Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than the things which you
+      have mentioned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now. The suggestion
+      contained in her visitor's words had really left her in a state of wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are making my flesh creep!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;You don't mean to say
+      that we have secrets here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon the
+      subject,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;You will understand, I am sure, that I am not here
+      in the character of an inquisitor. I simply thought it my duty, in view of
+      the fact that you had made yourself the social sponsor for Mr. Lessingham,
+      to place certain information before you, and to ask, unofficially, of
+      course, if you have any explanation to give? You may even,&rdquo; he went on,
+      hesitatingly, &ldquo;appreciate the motives which led me to do so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear man, what explanation could I have?&rdquo; Philippa protested, &ldquo;it is
+      an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at Magdalen with
+      my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood Norton. I know both these
+      things of my own knowledge. The only possible explanation, therefore, is
+      that you have been misinformed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths ventured, &ldquo;that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in those days
+      passed under another name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another name?&rdquo; Philippa faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some such name, perhaps,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;as Bertram Maderstrom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a short silence. Captain Griffiths had leaned back in his chair
+      and was caressing his upper lip. His eyes were fixed upon Philippa and
+      Philippa saw nothing. Her little heel dug hard into the carpet. In a few
+      seconds the room ceased to spin. Nevertheless, her voice sounded to her
+      pitifully inadequate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What an absurdity all this is!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, &ldquo;was, curiously enough,
+      an intimate college friend of your brother's. He was also a visitor at
+      Wood Norton Hall. At neither place is there any trace of Mr. Hamar
+      Lessingham. Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you
+      have recognised the man and failed to remember his name. If so, now is the
+      moment to declare it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much obliged to you,&rdquo; Philippa retorted, &ldquo;but I have never met
+      or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Baron Maderstrom,&rdquo; he interrupted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I remember
+      perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup and
+      rising slowly to his feet. &ldquo;We cannot help one another, then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember perfectly,
+      into a German baron whom I never heard of,&rdquo; Philippa declared boldly, &ldquo;I
+      am afraid that we can't.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swedish or German, I know nothing of him,&rdquo; Philippa persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There remains, then, nothing more to be said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid not,&rdquo; Philippa agreed sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Under the circumstances,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths asked, &ldquo;you will not, I am
+      sure, expect me to dine to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+      whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible for that
+      little storm of passion which for a moment transformed his appearance. He
+      quickly recovered, however.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may still,&rdquo; he concluded, moving towards the door, &ldquo;be forced to
+      present myself here in another capacity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+      visitor, stifled Philippa. Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf around
+      her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to the railing,
+      dragged herself along to where the fishermen were gathered together in a
+      little group. The storm as yet showed no signs of abatement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will she get in?&rdquo; Philippa asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's weathering it grand,&rdquo; the fisherman to whom she had first spoken,
+      declared. &ldquo;We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning on getting 'em
+      ashore all right. Lucky for Ben that the gentleman along with him is a
+      fine sailor. Look at that, mum!&rdquo; he added in excitement. &ldquo;See the way he
+      brought her head round to it, just in time. Boys, they'll come in on the
+      next one!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+      wave-splashed beach. There were a few more minutes of breathless anxiety.
+      Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight, hidden by a
+      huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to the top of it, to
+      hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and the surf and a great
+      green mass of waters, and then finally, with a harsh crash of timbers and
+      a shout from the fishermen, to be flung high and dry upon the stones.
+      Philippa, clutching the iron railing, saw for a moment nothing but chaos.
+      Her knees became weak. She was unable to move. There was a queer dizziness
+      in her ears. The sound of voices sounded like part of an unreal nightmare.
+      Then she was aware of a single figure climbing the steps towards her.
+      There was blood trickling down his face from the wound in the forehead,
+      and he was limping slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham!&rdquo; she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took an eager step towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Why, what are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was frightened,&rdquo; she faltered. &ldquo;Are you hurt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;We had a rough sail home, that's all,
+      and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious. Come along, let me
+      help you up the steps and out of this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the house.
+      Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and Helen came
+      hurrying to them from the background.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went out to see the storm,&rdquo; Philippa explained weakly, &ldquo;and I saw Mr.
+      Lessingham's boat brought in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once,&rdquo; Helen insisted. &ldquo;I
+      haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going to bind
+      his head up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa began to feel her strength returning. The horror which lay behind
+      those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind. Mills had
+      hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were preparing to follow.
+      She stopped them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;listen. Captain Griffiths has been here. He
+      knows or guesses everything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen must bind your head up, of course,&rdquo; she continued. &ldquo;After that,
+      think! What can we do? Captain Griffiths knows that there was no Hamar
+      Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited Wood Norton, that
+      there is some mystery about your arrival here, and he told me to my face
+      that he believes you to be Bertram Maderstrom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a meddlesome fellow!&rdquo; Lessingham grumbled, holding his handkerchief
+      to his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, please be serious!&rdquo; Helen begged, looking up from the bandage which
+      she was preparing. &ldquo;This is horrible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't I know it!&rdquo; Philippa groaned. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham, you must please try
+      and escape from here. You can have the car, if you like. There must be
+      some place where you can go and hide until you can get away from the
+      country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I'm dining here to-night,&rdquo; Lessingham protested. &ldquo;I'm not going to
+      hide anywhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't I make you understand!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed pathetically. &ldquo;You're in
+      danger here&mdash;really in danger!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, I can quite understand,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that Griffiths is
+      suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have broken
+      the law here, and I shall not make things any better by attempting an
+      opera bouffe flight. Can I have my head tied up and come and talk to you
+      about it later on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, if you like,&rdquo; Philippa assented weakly. &ldquo;I can't argue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes. When she came
+      down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the library, with a
+      piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. His
+      head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed quite at his ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know,&rdquo; he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her, &ldquo;that
+      man Griffiths doesn't like me. He never took to me from the first, I could
+      see that. If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths. He is one of those
+      mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very well do without.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her bedroom,
+      tried to be firm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you know that we are both your friends. Do
+      listen, please. Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a position of
+      authority. He has a very large power. I honestly believe that it is his
+      intention to have you arrested&mdash;if not to-night, within a very few
+      days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not see how he can,&rdquo; Lessingham objected, helping himself to another
+      piece of toast. &ldquo;I have committed no crime here. I have played golf with
+      all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and I have given the
+      committee some excellent advice as to the two new holes. I have played
+      bridge down at the club&mdash;we will call it bridge!&mdash;and I have
+      kept my temper like an angel. I have dined at Mess and told them at least
+      a dozen new stories. I have kept my blinds drawn at night, and I have not
+      a wireless secreted up the chimney. I really cannot see what they could do
+      to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa tried bluntness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have served in the German army, and you are living in a protected
+      area under a false name,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;but
+      even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should do no good by
+      running away. To be perfectly serious,&rdquo; he added, setting his cup down,
+      &ldquo;there is only one thing at the present moment which would take me out of
+      Dreymarsh, and that is if you believe that my presence here would further
+      compromise you and Miss Fairclough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was beginning to find her courage. &ldquo;We're in it already, up to
+      the neck,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;I really don't see that anything matters so far
+      as we are concerned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; he decided, &ldquo;I shall have the honour of presenting myself
+      at the usual time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before eight
+      that evening. Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a model of
+      simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that undefinable appeal to
+      the mysterious which even the greatest artist frequently fails to create
+      out of any form of colour. Some fancy had induced her to strip off her
+      jewels at the last moment, and she wore no ornaments save a band of black
+      velvet around her neck. Helen looked at her curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?&rdquo; she asked, as they stood
+      together by the log fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know what I was thinking about, really,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;Is that
+      the exact time, I wonder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two minutes to eight,&rdquo; Helen replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual,&rdquo; Philippa murmured. &ldquo;I wonder if
+      Captain Griffiths would dare!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've done our best to warn him,&rdquo; Helen reminded her friend. &ldquo;The man is
+      simply pig-headed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't help feeling that he's right,&rdquo; Philippa declared, &ldquo;when he argues
+      that they couldn't really prove anything against him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does that matter,&rdquo; Helen asked anxiously, &ldquo;so long as he is an enemy,
+      living under a false name here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't think they'd&mdash;they'd&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shoot him?&rdquo; Helen whispered, lowering her voice. &ldquo;They couldn't do that!
+      They couldn't do that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The clock began to chime. Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening, gave
+      a little exclamation of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear his voice!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Thank goodness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's. A moment later
+      Mills ushered in their guest. He was still wearing his bandage, but his
+      colour had returned. He seemed, in fact, almost gay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing has happened, then?&rdquo; Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon as the
+      door was closed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all,&rdquo; he assured them. &ldquo;Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+      afraid of making a mistake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine. Never mind, you'll have to take
+      care of us both,&rdquo; she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll do my best,&rdquo; he promised, offering his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it seemed
+      only to heighten the merriment of their little repast. Philippa had
+      ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining room, the many
+      appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded, the glow of the
+      wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon the table, seemed in
+      delicious contrast to the fury of the storm outside. They all three
+      appeared completely successful in a strenuous effort to dismiss all
+      disconcerting subjects from their minds. Lessingham talked chiefly of the
+      East. He had travelled in Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, and India, and he
+      had the unusual but striking gift of painting little word pictures of some
+      of the scenes of his wanderings. It was half-past nine before they rose
+      from the table, and Lessingham accompanied them into the library. With the
+      advent of coffee, they were for the first time really alone. Lessingham
+      sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a low chair close at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I can venture now to tell you some news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen put down her work. Philippa looked at him in silence, and her eyes
+      seemed to dilate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have hesitated to say anything about it,&rdquo; Lessingham went on, &ldquo;because
+      there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I believe that it is
+      now finally arranged. I think that within the next week or ten days&mdash;perhaps
+      a little before, perhaps a little later&mdash;your brother Richard will be
+      set at liberty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick? Dick coming home?&rdquo; Philippa cried, springing up from her reclining
+      position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick?&rdquo; Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap. &ldquo;Mr.
+      Lessingham, do you mean it? Is it possible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not only possible,&rdquo; Lessingham assured them, &ldquo;but I believe that it
+      will come to pass. I have had to exercise a little duplicity, but I fancy
+      that it has been successful. I have insisted that without help from an
+      influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot bring my labours here to a
+      satisfactory conclusion, and I have named as the price of that help,
+      Richard's absolute and immediate freedom. I heard only this morning that
+      there would be no difficulty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will come back in a few minutes,&rdquo; she promised, her voice a little
+      broken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place. There
+      were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a faint patch of
+      colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite steady. She caught at
+      his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my dear, dear friend!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;If only that little nightmare part
+      of you did not exist. If only you could be just what you seem, and one
+      could feel that you were there in our lives for always! I feel that I want
+      to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you. What shall I call
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bertram, please,&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then Bertram, dear,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;for my sake, because you have really
+      become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of your danger,
+      and because&mdash;see how honest I am&mdash;I am a little afraid of myself&mdash;will
+      you go away? The thought of your danger is like a nightmare to me. It all
+      seems so absurd and unreasonable&mdash;I mean that the danger which I fear
+      should be hanging over you. But I think that there is just a little
+      something back of your brain of which you have never spoken, which it was
+      your duty to keep to yourself, and it is just that something which brings
+      the danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not afraid for myself, Philippa,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I took a false step
+      in life when I came here. What it was that attracted me I do not know. I
+      think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst the clouds, and the
+      starlight. It seemed such a wonderful beginning to any enterprise. And,
+      Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the part which concerns you, it
+      was a gorgeous prelude, and for the other&mdash;well, it just does not
+      count because I have no fear. I have faith in my fortune, do you know
+      that? I believe that I shall leave this place unharmed, but I believe that
+      if I leave it without you, I shall go back to the worst hell in which a
+      man could ever...&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bertram,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;think of it all. Even if I cared enough&mdash;and
+      I don't&mdash;there is something unnatural about it. Doesn't it strike you
+      as horrible? My brother, my cousins, my father, are all fighting the men
+      of the nation whose cause you have espoused! There is a horrible, eternal
+      cloud of hatred which it will take generations to get rid of, if ever it
+      disappears. How can we two speak of love! What part of the world could we
+      creep into where people would not shrink away from us? I may have lost a
+      little of my heart to you, Bertram, I may miss you when you go away, I may
+      waste weary hours thinking, but that is all. Oh, you know that it must be
+      all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not,&rdquo; he answered stubbornly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you must be reasonable,&rdquo; she begged, with a little break in her
+      voice. &ldquo;You know very well that I ought not to listen to you. I ought not
+      to welcome you here. I ought to be strong and close my ears.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you will not do that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; she faltered. &ldquo;Please don't come any nearer. I&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She broke off suddenly. The struggle in her face was ended, her expression
+      transformed. Her finger was held up as though to bid him listen. With her
+      other hand she clutched the back of the couch. Her eyes were fixed upon
+      the door. The little patch of wonderful colour faded from her cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen!&rdquo; she cried, with a note of terror in her voice. &ldquo;That was the
+      front door! Some one has come! Can't you hear them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket. She caught the glitter of
+      something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a half-stifled moan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not before you, dear,&rdquo; he promised. &ldquo;Please do not be afraid. If this is
+      the end, leave me alone with Griffiths. I shall not hurt him. I shall not
+      forget. And if by any chance,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;this is to be our farewell,
+      Philippa, you will remember that I love you as the flowers of the world
+      love their sun. Courage!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door facing them was opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; Mills announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers and
+      Inspector Fisher. Griffiths came into the room alone, however, and waited
+      until the door was closed before he spoke. He carried himself as awkwardly
+      as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to have taken to itself a new
+      expression. He had the air of a man indulging in some strange pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit here
+      is official.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; she asked hoarsely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I spoke to
+      you this afternoon,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I am sorry to disturb you at such an
+      hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a charge of espionage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A most objectionable word,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A most villainous profession,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths retorted. &ldquo;Thank heaven
+      that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with its
+      disciples.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is all a hideous mistake,&rdquo; Philippa declared feverishly. &ldquo;I assure
+      you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that he was
+      well-known to me years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As the Baron Maderstrom! What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston, to
+      induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not know, but
+      the facts are very clear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?&rdquo; Lessingham remarked, turning to
+      Philippa. &ldquo;And as I gather that a portion of the British Army, assisted by
+      the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside, perhaps I had better
+      humour him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be as well, sir,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths assented grimly. &ldquo;I am glad
+      to find you in the humour for jesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham turned once more to Philippa. This time his tone was more
+      serious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he begged, &ldquo;won't you please leave us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; she answered hysterically. &ldquo;I know why you want me to, and I won't
+      go! You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you. I will not
+      leave the room, and you shall not&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat. She broke down
+      in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you have any weapon in your possession, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you had better
+      hand it over to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, do you know,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, &ldquo;I scarcely see the necessity.
+      One thing I will promise you,&rdquo; he added, with a sudden flash in his eyes,
+      &ldquo;a single step nearer&mdash;a single step, mind&mdash;and you shall have
+      as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the rest of your life.
+      Remember that so long as you are reasonable I do not threaten you. Help me
+      to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths was out of his depths. He was not a coward, but he had
+      no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's threat and
+      in the flash of his eyes. While he hesitated, there was a knock upon the
+      door. Mills came silently in. He carried a telegram upon a salver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For you, sir,&rdquo; he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths. &ldquo;An orderly
+      has just brought it down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned. He tore it open,
+      however, without a word. As he read, his long, upper teeth closed in upon
+      his lip. So he stood there until two little drops of blood appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he turned to Mills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no answer,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man bowed and left the room. He walked slowly and he looked back from
+      the doorway. It was scarcely possible for even so perfectly trained a
+      servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something tells me,&rdquo; Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the door was
+      closed, &ldquo;that that message concerns me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Commandant made no immediate reply. He straightened out the telegram
+      and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to be sure there was
+      no possible mistake. Then he folded it up and placed it in his waistcoat
+      pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The notion of your arrest, sir,&rdquo; he said to Lessingham harshly, &ldquo;is
+      apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not digested my
+      information. I am withdrawing my men for the present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not going to arrest him?&rdquo; Philippa cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths answered. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; he added, turning to
+      Lessingham, &ldquo;this is only a respite. I have more evidence behind all that
+      I have offered. You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom, a German spy, living
+      here in a prohibited area under a false name. That I know, and that I
+      shall prove to those who have interfered with me in the execution of my
+      duty. This is not the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa. Lessingham
+      looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his
+      shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; he declared.
+      &ldquo;There is no breeding about the fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain Griffiths
+      and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance. The crisis,
+      with its bewildering denouement, had affected her curiously. Lessingham
+      rose presently to his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;if I could have a whisky and soda?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not natural!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;Whisky and soda!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't know,&rdquo; he protested mildly, helping himself from the table
+      in the background. &ldquo;I rather thought I was being particularly British.
+      When in doubt, take a drink. That is Richard all the world over, you
+      know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He crossed the room towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I am, dear,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;I want you just to sit up and lose
+      that unnatural look. I am not really full of cheap bravado, but I am a
+      philosopher. Something has happened to postpone&mdash;the end. Good luck
+      to it, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty. Philippa rose to
+      her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll try and be reasonable too,&rdquo; she promised, resuming her seat. &ldquo;I was
+      right, you see. Captain Griffiths has discovered everything. Can you tell
+      me what possible reason any one in London could have had for
+      interference?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?&rdquo; he
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is aging me terribly,&rdquo; Philippa declared, throwing herself back into
+      her seat. &ldquo;All my life I have hated mysteries. Here I am face to face with
+      two absolutely insoluble ones. Captain Griffiths has assured me that there
+      is here in Dreymarsh something of sufficient importance to account for the
+      presence of a foreign spy. You have confirmed it. I have been torturing my
+      brain about that for the last twenty-four hours. Now there happens
+      something more inexplicable still. You are arrested, and you are not
+      arrested. Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is forbidden to do
+      his duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems puzzling, does it not?&rdquo; Lessingham agreed. &ldquo;I shouldn't worry
+      about the first, but this last little episode takes some explaining.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,&rdquo;
+       Philippa sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And something is going to happen,&rdquo; Lessingham declared, rising to his
+      feet. &ldquo;Did you hear that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a gun from
+      almost underneath the window. The room was suddenly lightened by a single
+      vivid flash.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A mortar!&rdquo; Lessingham exclaimed. &ldquo;And that was a rocket, unless I'm
+      mistaken.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The signal for the lifeboat!&rdquo; Philippa announced. &ldquo;I wonder if we can see
+      anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening of the
+      door. Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mummy, there's a wreck!&rdquo; the former cried in excitement. &ldquo;I heard
+      something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the window,
+      watching. I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling now for the
+      other one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's quite true, Philippa,&rdquo; Helen declared. &ldquo;We're going to try and fight
+      our way down to the beach.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll go, too,&rdquo; Lessingham decided. &ldquo;Perhaps I may be of use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll all go,&rdquo; Philippa agreed. &ldquo;Wait while I get my things on. What is
+      it, Mills?&rdquo; she added, as the door opened and the latter presented
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your ladyship,&rdquo;
+       he announced. &ldquo;They have just sent up from the beach to know if we can
+      take some of the crew in. They are landing them as well as they can on the
+      line.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course we can,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;Tell them to send as many as
+      they want to. We will find room for them, somehow. I'll go upstairs and
+      see about the fires. You'll all come back?&rdquo; she added, turning around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will all come back,&rdquo; Lessingham promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They fought their way down to the beach. At first the storm completely
+      deafened all sound. The lanterns, waved here and there by unseen hands,
+      seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the only background was the
+      raging of the storm. Then suddenly, with a startling hiss, another rocket
+      clove its way through the darkness. They had an instantaneous but
+      brilliant view of all that was happening,&mdash;saw the trawler lying on
+      its side, apparently only a few yards from the shore, saw the line
+      stretched to the beach, on which, even at that moment, a man was being
+      drawn ashore, licked by the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair
+      clearly visible. Then all was darkness again more complete than ever. They
+      struggled down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of fishermen
+      were hard at work with the line. Almost the first person they ran across
+      was Jimmy Dumble. He was standing on the edge of the breakwater with a
+      great lantern in his hand, superintending the line, and, as they drew
+      near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could hear his voice above
+      the storm. He was shouting towards the wreck, his hand to his mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line. Do you
+      hear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+      Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom do you mean by 'master'?&rdquo; he demanded. Dumble scarcely glanced at
+      his interlocutor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure,&rdquo; was the agitated answer. &ldquo;These
+      lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line won't stand
+      for more than another one or two,&rdquo; he added, dropping his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself into a
+      great drama before Lessingham's eyes. Sir Henry was on that ship as near
+      as any man might wish to be to death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Ere's the next,&rdquo; Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass vigorously.
+      &ldquo;Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill fearful
+      yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's hearing.
+      Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach by Jimmy's side.
+      The line had broken. The body of its suspended traveller had disappeared!
+      And just then, strangely enough, for the first time for over an hour, the
+      heavens opened in one great sheet of lightning, and they could see the
+      figure of one man left on the ship, clinging desperately to the rigging.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tie the line around me,&rdquo; Jimmy shouted. &ldquo;Let her go. Get the other end on
+      the windlass.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They paid out the rope through their hands. Jimmy kicked off his boots and
+      plunged into the cauldron. He swam barely a dozen strokes before he was
+      caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about like a cork and flung
+      back upon the beach, where he lay groaning. There was a little murmur
+      amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean over him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water,&rdquo; one of them
+      declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed it
+      around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are the young ladies?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck,&rdquo; some
+      one informed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham stooped down. Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord from
+      Jimmy's waist. He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots. Some
+      helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line around his
+      own waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've sent for more rockets,&rdquo; one man shouted in his ear. &ldquo;The man will
+      be back in half an hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham pushed them on one side. He stood on the edge of the beach and,
+      borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity. Then suddenly he
+      vanished. They looked after him. They could see nothing but the rope
+      slipping past their feet, inch by inch. Sometimes it was stationary,
+      sometimes it was drawn taut. The first great wave that came flung a yard
+      or so of slack amongst them. Then, after the roar of its breaking had died
+      away, they saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and the
+      excitement began to thicken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That 'un didn't get him, anyway,&rdquo; one of them muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll go through the next, with luck,&rdquo; another declared hopefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half stunned by
+      the roar of the waters about him, still felt the exhilaration of that
+      great struggle. He looked once into seas which seemed to touch the clouds,
+      drew himself stiff, and plunged into the depths of a mountain of foaming
+      waters, whose summit seemed to him like one of those grotesque and
+      nightmare-distorted efforts of the opium-eating brain. Then the roar
+      sounded all behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers. He
+      swam to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain. It was Sir
+      Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God, that was a swim!&rdquo; the latter declared, as he pulled his rescuer
+      up, not in the least recognising him. &ldquo;Let's have the end of that cord,
+      quick! So!&rdquo; he went on, paying it out through his fingers until the end of
+      the rope appeared. &ldquo;You'd better get your breath, young man, and then over
+      you go. I'll follow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm damned if I do!&rdquo; was the vigorous reply. &ldquo;You start off while I get
+      my breath.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray. Sir Henry held
+      Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept overboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get one arm through the chains, man,&rdquo; he shouted. &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; he added,
+      peering through the gloom. &ldquo;Lessingham!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, don't stop to worry about that,&rdquo; was the fierce reply. &ldquo;Let's get
+      on with our job.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Follow me when they wave the lantern twice,&rdquo; he directed. &ldquo;If we either
+      of us get the knock&mdash;well, thanks!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and went
+      overboard into the darkness. Then, with one arm through the chains, he
+      drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which Sir Henry had thrown
+      upon the deck. Gradually it came within reach of his disengaged hand. He
+      seized it, shook it out, and dived eagerly into the breast pocket. There
+      were several small articles which he threw ruthlessly away, and then a
+      square packet, wrapped in oilcloth, which bent to his fingers. Another
+      breaking wave threw him on his back. One arm was still through the chain,
+      the other gripped what some illuminating instinct had already convinced
+      him was the chart! As soon as he had recovered his breath, a grim effort
+      of humour parted his lips. He lay there for a moment and laughed till the
+      spray, this time with a rush of green water underneath, very nearly swept
+      him from his place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to his
+      feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and groped
+      about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had fastened to a
+      staple below the chains. Then he drew a long breath, gripped the rope and
+      shouted. A second or two later he was back in the cauldron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea. Whatever
+      happened, he must not lose consciousness. The packet was still there
+      against the calf of his leg. It must be his own hands which removed his
+      clothes. It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces, those half a dozen
+      rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied a hundredfold. It was
+      an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which patted him on the back and
+      welcomed him, lanterns like the stars flashing everywhere around. He set
+      his teeth and fought against the buzzing in his ears. He tried to speak,
+      and his voice sounded like a weak, far away whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all right,&rdquo; he kept on saying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms. His feet followed the
+      mesmeric influence of their movement. Was he going into the clouds, he
+      wondered? They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading to the gardens of
+      Mainsail Haul. How did he get there? He had no idea. More movements of his
+      feet, and then unexpected warmth. He looked around him. There were voices.
+      He listened. The one voice? The one face bending over his, her eyes wet
+      with tears, her whispers an incoherent stream of broken words. Then the
+      warmth seemed to come back to his veins. He sat up and found himself on
+      the couch in the library, the rain dripping from him in little pools, and
+      he knew that he had succeeded. He had not fainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all right,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;What a mess I am making!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand which held
+      a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drink it all,&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+      through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf of his
+      leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost steady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's a hot bath ready,&rdquo; Philippa told him; &ldquo;some dry clothes, and a
+      bedroom with a fire in. Do let Mills show you the way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose at once, prepared to follow her. His feet were not quite so steady
+      as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable show. Mills, with
+      a little apology, held out his arm. Philippa walked by his other side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry clothes,&rdquo;
+       Philippa whispered, &ldquo;please ring, or send Mills to let us know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was even able to smile at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite all right,&rdquo; he assured her once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the empty
+      breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mills,&rdquo; she enquired, &ldquo;is no one down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship,&rdquo; the man answered,
+      &ldquo;and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship,&rdquo; Mills continued, looking carefully behind
+      him as though to be sure that the door was closed, &ldquo;has disappeared.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Disappeared?&rdquo; Philippa repeated. &ldquo;What do you mean, Mills?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship,&rdquo; Mills explained, &ldquo;in a
+      suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed&mdash;I
+      should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock. I called
+      him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty. The bed had
+      not been slept in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was there no note or message?&rdquo; Philippa asked incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, your ladyship. One of the maid servants believes that she heard
+      the front door open at five o'clock this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ring up the hotel,&rdquo; Philippa instructed, &ldquo;and see if he is there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills departed to execute his commission. Philippa stood looking out of
+      the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the beach. There
+      was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell from the day before.
+      The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining brilliantly. Sir Henry,
+      Helen, and Nora were strolling about the beach as though searching for
+      something. About fifty yards out, the wrecked trawler was lying completely
+      on its side, with the end of one funnel visible. Scattered groups of the
+      villagers were examining it from the sands. In due course Mills returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship, beyond
+      the fact that he did not return last night. They received a message from
+      Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to say that their mechanic
+      had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning to Norwich, where he had
+      caught the mail train to London, The boy was to say that Mr. Lessingham
+      would be back in a day or so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the beach.
+      She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand to the
+      others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?&rdquo; Sir Henry observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+      response. Helen pointed to the wreck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't seem possible, does it,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that men's lives should
+      have been lost in that little space. Two men were drowned, they say,
+      through the breaking of the rope. They recovered the bodies this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat,&rdquo; Sir
+      Henry grumbled. &ldquo;I was down here at daylight, looking for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your coat!&rdquo; Philippa repeated scornfully. &ldquo;Fancy thinking of that, when
+      you only just escaped with your life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But to tell you the truth, my dear,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained, &ldquo;my pocketbook
+      and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat. I can't think
+      how I came to forget them. I think it was the surprise of seeing that
+      fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like a drowned rat. Jove,
+      what a pluck he must have!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fishermen can talk of nothing else,&rdquo; Nora put in excitedly. &ldquo;Mummy,
+      it was simply splendid! Helen and I had gone up with two of the rescued
+      men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the rope round his
+      waist and watch him plunge in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is he this morning?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone,&rdquo; Philippa replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They all looked at her in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone?&rdquo; Sir Henry repeated. &ldquo;What, back to the hotel, do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His bed has not been slept in,&rdquo; Philippa told them. &ldquo;He must have slipped
+      away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car, and motored
+      to Norwich. From there he went on to London. He has sent word that he will
+      be back in a few days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope to God he won't!&rdquo; Sir Henry muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa swung round upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by that?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;Don't you want to thank him for
+      saving your life?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, I certainly do,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied, &ldquo;but just now&mdash;well, I
+      am a little taken aback. Gone to London, eh? Tore away without warning in
+      the middle of the night to London! And coming back, too&mdash;that's the
+      strange part of it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding food for
+      much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden disappearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham,&rdquo; he added thoughtfully. &ldquo;He
+      must have&mdash;yes, by God, he must have&mdash;In that storm, too!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you could speak coherently, Henry,&rdquo; Philippa observed, &ldquo;I should like
+      to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham has
+      deserted us so precipitately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him. He
+      shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Of
+      course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I have. Isn't
+      it true that people have begun to make curious remarks about him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did you know that, Henry?&rdquo; Philippa demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, one hears things,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I should gather, from what I heard,
+      that his position here had become a little precarious. Hence his sudden
+      disappearance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he is coming back again,&rdquo; Philippa reminded her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+      behind with her. They walked side by side up the gravel path. Philippa
+      kept her hands clasped behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;I feel
+      very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but I must
+      confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you lunching at the
+      Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days ago, when you left here
+      with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and also why you return here on a
+      trawler which belongs to another part of the coast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry made a grimace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead,&rdquo; he observed
+      good-humouredly. &ldquo;If you wouldn't mind giving me another&mdash;well, to be
+      on the safe side let us say eight days&mdash;I think I shall be able to
+      offer you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; &ldquo;I see no reason why
+      you should not answer such simple questions at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take his
+      wife's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, be a little brick,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I know I seem to have been
+      playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a sort of
+      reason for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What reason could there possibly be,&rdquo; she demanded, &ldquo;which you could not
+      confide in me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again there was a new
+      earnestness in his tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have been working for some time at a little scheme
+      which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but which may lead to
+      something which I hope will alter your opinion. You couldn't see your way
+      clear to trust me a little longer, could you?&rdquo; he begged, with rather a
+      plaintive gleam in his blue eyes. &ldquo;It would make it so much easier for me
+      to say no more but just have you sit tight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; she answered coldly, &ldquo;if you realise how much I have suffered,
+      sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to do something!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My fishing excursions,&rdquo; he went on desperately, &ldquo;have not been altogether
+      a matter of sport.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that quite well,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;You have been making that chart
+      you promised your miserable fishermen. None of those things interest me,
+      Henry. I fear&mdash;I am very much inclined to say that none of your
+      doings interest me. Least of all,&rdquo; she went on, her voice quivering with
+      passion, &ldquo;do I appreciate in the least these mysterious appeals for my
+      patience. I have some common sense, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're a suspicious little beast,&rdquo; he told her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suspicious!&rdquo; she scoffed. &ldquo;What a word to use from a man who goes off
+      fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days afterwards,
+      with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was a trifle awkward,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst of
+      candour, &ldquo;but it goes in with the rest, Philippa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it can stay with the rest,&rdquo; she retorted, &ldquo;exactly where I have
+      placed it in my mind. Please understand me. Your conduct for the last
+      twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between us. If this
+      explanation that you promise comes&mdash;in time, and I feel like it, very
+      well. Until it does, I am perfectly free, and you, as my husband, are
+      non-existent. That is my reply, Henry, to your request for further
+      indulgence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather a foolish one, my dear,&rdquo; he answered, patting her shoulder, &ldquo;but
+      then you are rather a child, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She swung away from him angrily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't touch me!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;I mean every word of what I have said.
+      As for my being a child&mdash;well, you may be sorry some day that you
+      have persisted in treating me like one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure. There was
+      an unusual shade of trouble in his face. His love for and confidence in
+      his wife had been so absolute that even her threats had seemed to him like
+      little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to him out of the froth of her
+      temper. Yet at that moment a darker thought crossed his mind. Lessingham,
+      he realised, was not a rival, after all, to be despised. He was a man of
+      courage and tact, even though Sir Henry, in his own mind, had labelled him
+      as a fool. If indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh, what could it be
+      for? How much had Philippa known about him? He stood there for a few
+      moments in indecision. A great impulse had come to him to break his
+      pledge, to tell her the truth. Then he made his disturbed way into the
+      breakfast room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's your mother, Nora?&rdquo; he asked, as Helen took Philippa's place at
+      the head of the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room.&rdquo; Nora explained.
+      &ldquo;The wind made her giddy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You going away again, Daddy?&rdquo; Nora asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to London this morning,&rdquo; he replied, a little absently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To London?&rdquo; Helen repeated. &ldquo;Does Philippa know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't told her yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen turned towards Nora.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee, there's
+      a dear,&rdquo; she suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora acquiesced at once. As soon as she had left the room, Helen leaned
+      over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't go to London, Henry,&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But my dear Helen, I must,&rdquo; he replied, a little curtly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn't if I were you,&rdquo; she persisted. &ldquo;You know, you've tried
+      Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional state. She
+      is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave her alone if I
+      were you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he leaned
+      towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?&rdquo; he asked
+      bluntly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don't,&rdquo; Helen replied, &ldquo;but I think she is more furious with you
+      than you believe. For months you have acted&mdash;well, how shall I say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool. Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,&rdquo; Helen
+      continued, &ldquo;and you have given her none. You have treated her like
+      something between a doll and a child. Philippa is as good and sweet as any
+      woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to you that women are
+      rather mysterious beings? They may sometimes do, out of a furious sense of
+      being wrongly treated, out of a sort of aggravated pique, what they would
+      never do for any other reason. If you must go, come back to-night, Henry.
+      Come back, and if you are obstinate, and won't tell Philippa all that she
+      has a right to know, tell her about that luncheon in town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's all very well, you know, Helen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but a woman ought to
+      trust her husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am your friend, remember,&rdquo; Helen replied, &ldquo;and upon my word, I couldn't
+      trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have done for the
+      last twelve months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry made a grimace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that settles it, I suppose, then,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;I'll have one more
+      try and see what I can do with Philippa. Perhaps a hint of what's going on
+      may satisfy her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at his
+      wife's door. There was no reply. He tried the handle and found the door
+      locked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you there, Philippa?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; she replied coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to London this morning. Can I have a few words with you
+      first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be silly, Philippa,&rdquo; he persisted. &ldquo;I may be away for four or five
+      days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no answer. Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance from a
+      newly added bathroom. He availed himself of it and found Philippa seated
+      in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her breakfast. She raised her
+      eyebrows at his entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are my apartments,&rdquo; she reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be a little fool,&rdquo; he exclaimed impatiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up her
+      book, and became at once immersed in it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't wish to talk to me, then?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not,&rdquo; she agreed. &ldquo;You have had all the opportunities which any man
+      should need, of explaining certain matters to me. My curiosity in them has
+      ended; also my interest&mdash;in you. You say you are going to London.
+      Very well. Pray do not hurry home on my account.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake of a
+      man arguing with a woman&mdash;he attempted to have the last word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps so,&rdquo; Philippa assented sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought&mdash;solitude. She
+      had walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on the other
+      side of a spur of the cliffs. Before her stretched a long and level plain,
+      a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly beach. There was not a sign of any
+      human being in sight, and of buildings only a quaint tower on the far
+      horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down, her
+      hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward. She had come out
+      here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and transient her thoughts
+      became. Her husband was always there in the background, but in those
+      moments it was Lessingham who was the predominant figure. She remembered
+      his earnestness, his tender solicitude for her, the courage which, when
+      necessity demanded, had flamed up in him, a born and natural quality. She
+      remembered the agony of those few minutes on the preceding day, when
+      nothing but what still seemed a miracle had saved him. At one moment she
+      felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back. At another,
+      her heart ached to see him once more. She knew so well that if he came it
+      would be for her sake, that he would come to ask her finally the question
+      with which she had fenced. She knew, too, that his coming would be the
+      moment of her life. She was so much of a woman, and the passionate craving
+      of her sex to give love for love was there in her heart, almost
+      omnipotent. And in the background there was that bitter desire to bring
+      suffering upon the man who had treated her like a child, who had placed
+      her in a false position with all other women, who had dawdled and idled
+      away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every serious obligation.
+      When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear, and yet, behind it all,
+      there was that cold impulse of almost Victorian prudishness, the
+      inheritance of a long line of virtuous women, a prudishness which she had
+      once, when she had believed that it was part of her second nature, scoffed
+      at as being the outcome of one of the finer forms of selfishness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision came no
+      nearer to her. A late afternoon star shone weakly in the sky. A faint,
+      vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in tangled wreaths upon the
+      face of the sea. Only that line of sand seemed still clear-cut and
+      distinct, and as she glanced along it her eyes were held by something
+      approaching, something which seemed at first nothing but a black, moving
+      speck, then gradually resolved itself into the semblance of a man on
+      horseback, galloping furiously. She watched him as he drew nearer and
+      nearer, the sand flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless, his
+      eyes apparently fixed upon some distant spot. It was not until he had come
+      within fifty yards of her that she recognised him. His horse shied at the
+      sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a powerful wrist. Little
+      specks of sand, churned up in the momentary stampede of hoofs, fell upon
+      her skirt. For the rest, she watched the struggle composedly, a struggle
+      which was over almost as soon as it was begun. Captain Griffiths leaned
+      down from his trembling but subdued horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston!&rdquo; he exclaimed in astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's me,&rdquo; she replied, smiling up at him. &ldquo;Have you been riding off
+      your bad temper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides. Back as far as one could
+      see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I bad-tempered?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she observed, &ldquo;I don't know you well enough to answer that
+      question. I was simply thinking of yesterday evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He slipped from his horse and stood before her. His long, severe face had
+      seldom seemed more malevolent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had enough to make me bad-tempered,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;I had tracked down a
+      German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for arrest&mdash;expecting
+      it, even&mdash;and then I got that wicked message.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was that wicked message after all?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That doesn't matter,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;It was from a quarter where they
+      ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest. I have sent to
+      the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying that they may change
+      their minds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you hadn't received that telegram last night,&rdquo; she observed, &ldquo;it seems
+      to me that I should have been a widow to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I heard of that,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I dare say if he hadn't gone,
+      though, some one else would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you have gone if you had been there?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you had told me to,&rdquo; he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa felt a little shiver. There was something ominous in the
+      intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to impart to
+      his tone. She rose to her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;don't let me keep you here. I am getting cold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse. &ldquo;I will walk with you,
+      if I may,&rdquo; he proposed. She made no reply, and they set their faces
+      homewards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear Lessingham has left the place,&rdquo; he remarked, a little abruptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I expect he'll come back,&rdquo; Philippa replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with German
+      spies?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be foolish&mdash;or impertinent,&rdquo; she enjoined. &ldquo;You are making a
+      ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He laughed unpleasantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No need for us to fence,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You and I know who he is. What I do
+      want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from the point there&mdash;four
+      miles of hard galloping and one question&mdash;why are you his friend?
+      What is he to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she protested, looking up at him, &ldquo;of what
+      possible interest can that be to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it is, anyhow,&rdquo; he answered gruffly. &ldquo;Anything that concerns you is
+      of interest to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what it all
+      meant. She realised the significance of those apparently purposeless
+      afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had to send for Helen
+      to help her out; the significance of those long silences, the melancholy
+      eyes which seemed to follow her movements. She felt an unaccountable
+      desire to laugh, and then, at the first twitchings of her lips, she
+      restrained herself. She knew that tragedy was stalking by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she said gravely, &ldquo;that you are talking
+      nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it. Won't you please ride
+      on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made no movement to mount his horse. He plodded along the soft sand by
+      her side&mdash;a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed upon the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard,&rdquo; he persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was never so hard?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;Do you imagine that I have ever for
+      a single moment considered my demeanour towards you&mdash;you of all
+      persons in the world? I simply don't remember when you have been there and
+      when you haven't. I don't remember the humours in which I have been when
+      we have conversed. All that you have said seems to me to be the most
+      arrant nonsense.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; he said bitterly, &ldquo;I understand. Only let me tell you this,&rdquo;
+       he went on, his whip poised in his hand. &ldquo;You may have powerful friends
+      who saved your&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that he had
+      wished to say in his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My what?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His courage failed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he proceeded, &ldquo;from arrest. But if he shows his face
+      here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him. I shall shoot him
+      on sight and chance the consequences.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They'll hang you!&rdquo; she declared savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He laughed at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy? They
+      won't dare! They won't even dare to place me under arrest for an hour.
+      Why, when the truth becomes known,&rdquo; he went on, his voice gaining courage
+      as the justice of his case impressed itself upon him, &ldquo;what do you suppose
+      is going to happen to two women who took this fellow in and befriended
+      him, introduced him under a false name to their friends, gave him the run
+      of their house&mdash;this man whom they knew all the time was a German?
+      You, Lady Cranston, chafing and scolding your husband by night and by day
+      because he isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so patriotic that
+      you cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you&mdash;the hostess,
+      the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom! It will be a
+      pretty tale when it's all told!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really think,&rdquo; Philippa asserted calmly, &ldquo;that you are the most utterly
+      impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face was dangerous for a moment. They had not yet reached the
+      promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, &ldquo;I could make myself
+      even more obnoxious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite possibly,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;only I want to tell you this. If you come
+      a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your friend or your husband, eh?&rdquo; he scoffed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waved him on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;that either of them would be quite capable of
+      ridding the world of a coward like you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A coward?&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely! Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't want to terrorise you,&rdquo; he said sulkily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire to make
+      yourself agreeable,&rdquo; she pointed out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned suddenly upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a fool, I know,&rdquo; he declared bitterly. &ldquo;I'm an awkward, nervous,
+      miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in the Mess, turning
+      the people against me I want to have like me, stumbling into every blunder
+      a fool can. I'm the sort of man women make sport of, and you've done it
+      for them cruelly, perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths!&rdquo; she protested. &ldquo;When have I ever been anything but
+      kind and courteous to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy! There's a curse upon my
+      tongue,&rdquo; he went on desperately. &ldquo;I'm not like other men. I don't know how
+      to say what I feel. I can't put it into words. Every one misunderstands
+      me. You, too! Here I rode up to you this afternoon and my heart was
+      beating for joy, and in five minutes I had made an enemy of you. Damn that
+      fellow Lessingham! It is all his fault!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon his
+      horse's flanks. The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off, riding at
+      a furious gallop. Philippa watched him with immense relief. In the far
+      distance she could see two little specks growing larger and larger. She
+      hurried on towards them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?&rdquo; Nora demanded. &ldquo;Why he
+      passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman, and his face
+      looked&mdash;well, what did it look like, Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like a man riding for his enemy,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across the
+      luncheon table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose one misses the child,&rdquo; Helen said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel too depressed for words,&rdquo; Philippa admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A few days ago,&rdquo; Helen reminded her companion, &ldquo;we were getting all the
+      excitement that was good for any one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a little more,&rdquo; Philippa agreed. &ldquo;I don't know why things seem so
+      flat now. We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;and
+      Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have reverted to
+      the normal, haven't we? I wonder&mdash;if Mr. Lessingham has gone back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not think so,&rdquo; Philippa murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen frowned slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Personally,&rdquo; she said, with some emphasis, &ldquo;I hope that he has.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we are considering the personal point of view only,&rdquo; Philippa
+      retorted, &ldquo;I hope that he has not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen looked her disapproval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire,&rdquo; she
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One never has until one has burned one's fingers,&rdquo; Philippa sighed. &ldquo;I
+      know perfectly well what is the matter with you,&rdquo; she continued severely.
+      &ldquo;You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's favourite dish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not such a baby,&rdquo; Helen protested. &ldquo;All the same, it does make one
+      think. I wonder&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know exactly what you were going to say,&rdquo; Philippa interrupted. &ldquo;You
+      were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham would keep his
+      promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whether he would be able to,&rdquo; Helen corrected. &ldquo;It does seem so
+      impossible, doesn't it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So does Mr. Lessingham himself,&rdquo; Philippa reminded her. &ldquo;It isn't exactly
+      a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and well-bred young man
+      step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really believe, then,&rdquo; Helen asked eagerly, &ldquo;that he will be able to
+      keep his promise?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa nodded confidently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some means or
+      another, would keep any promise he ever made. I am expecting to see Dick
+      at any moment now, so you can get on with your lunch, dear, and not sit
+      looking at the curry with tears in your eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't the curry so much as the chutney,&rdquo; Helen protested faintly. &ldquo;He
+      never would touch any other sort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the bottle,&rdquo;
+       Philippa declared. &ldquo;I have a feeling this morning that something is going
+      to happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long has Nora gone away for?&rdquo; Helen enquired, after a moment's pause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A fortnight or three weeks,&rdquo; Philippa answered. &ldquo;Her grandmother wired
+      that she would be glad to have her until Christmas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just why,&rdquo; Helen asked seriously, &ldquo;have you sent her away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she regretted
+      Mills' absence from the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it best,&rdquo; she said quietly. &ldquo;You see, I am not quite sure what
+      the immediate future of this menage is going to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear,&rdquo; she sighed, &ldquo;it worries me so to hear you talk like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it, that
+      at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry. It isn't fair,
+      you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To whom isn't it fair?&rdquo; Philippa demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;that is a point of view which I have not
+      sufficiently considered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen pressed home her advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think you realise, Philippa,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;how madly in love with
+      you the man is. In a perfectly ingenuous way, too. No one could help
+      seeing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then where does the unfairness come in?&rdquo; Philippa asked. &ldquo;It is within my
+      power to give him all that he wants.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you wouldn't do it, Philippa. You know that you wouldn't!&rdquo; Helen
+      objected. &ldquo;You may play with the idea in your mind, but that's just as far
+      as you'd ever get.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face. &ldquo;I disagree with you,
+      Helen,&rdquo; she said. Helen set down the glass which she had been in the act
+      of raising to her lips. It was her first really serious intimation of the
+      tragedy which hovered over her future sister-in-law's life. Somehow or
+      other, Philippa had seemed, even to her, so far removed from that
+      strenuous world of over-drugged, over-excited feminine decadence, to whom
+      the changing of a husband or a lover is merely an incident in the day's
+      excitements. Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike beauty, her
+      love of the wholesome ways of life, and her strong affections, represented
+      other things. Now, for the first time, Helen was really afraid, afraid for
+      her friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you couldn't ever&mdash;you wouldn't leave Henry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing,&rdquo; she confided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced. Their
+      conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the wonderful thing happened. The windows of the dining room faced
+      the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a motor car turn
+      in at the gate and stop at the front door. It was obviously a hired car,
+      as the driver was not in livery, but the tall, mulled-up figure in
+      unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front seat was for the moment a
+      mystery to them. Only Helen seemed to have some wonderful premonition of
+      the truth, a premonition which she was afraid to admit even to herself.
+      Her hand began to shake. Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Who on
+      earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+      agitation. She sprang to her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, you don't imagine&mdash;&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;Listen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a voice in the hail&mdash;a familiar voice, though strained a
+      little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent. And
+      then&mdash;Major Richard Felstead!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick!&rdquo; Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms. &ldquo;Oh, Dick!
+      Dick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an incoherent, breathless moment. Somehow or other, Philippa found
+      herself sharing her brother's embrace. Then the fire of questions and
+      answers was presently interrupted by Mills, triumphantly bearing in a
+      fresh dish of curry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the day, isn't it,
+      Philippa, but can I have some champagne?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can have the whole cellarful,&rdquo; Philippa assured him joyously. &ldquo;Be
+      sure you bring the best, Mills.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship,&rdquo; was the murmured reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they found
+      themselves seated once more at the table. They sat one on either side of
+      him, watching his glass and his plate. By degrees their questions and his
+      answers became more intelligible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When did you get here?&rdquo; they wanted to know.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning,&rdquo; he told them; &ldquo;came
+      across from Holland. I hired a car and drove straight here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When did you know you were coming home?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only two days ago,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I never was so surprised in my life.
+      Even now I can't realise my good luck. I can't see what I've done. The
+      last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream. Jove!&rdquo; he went
+      on, as he drank his wine, &ldquo;I never thought I should be such a pig as to
+      care so much for eating and drinking!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And think what weeks of it you have before you?&rdquo; Helen explained,
+      clapping her hands. &ldquo;Philippa and I will have a new interest in life&mdash;to
+      make you fat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It won't be very difficult,&rdquo; he promised them. &ldquo;I had several months of
+      semi-starvation before the miracle happened. It was all just the chance of
+      having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been serving in the German Army&mdash;Bertram
+      Maderstrom was his name. You remember him, Philippa? He was a Swede in
+      those days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been so
+      faithful!&rdquo; Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's a real good sort,&rdquo; Felstead declared enthusiastically, &ldquo;although
+      Heaven knows why he's turned German! He worked like a slave for me. I dare
+      say he didn't find it so difficult to get me better quarters and a
+      servant, and decent food, but when they told me that I was free&mdash;well,
+      it nearly knocked me silly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dear fellow!&rdquo; Philippa murmured pensively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you remember him, either of you?&rdquo; Felstead continued. &ldquo;Rather
+      good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&mdash;seem to remember,&rdquo; Philippa admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The name sounds familiar,&rdquo; Helen echoed. &ldquo;Do have some more chutney,
+      Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks! What a pig I am making of myself!&rdquo; he observed cheerfully. &ldquo;You
+      girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom, but the whole
+      business beats me so completely. Of course, we were great pals, in a way,
+      but I never thought that I was the apple of his eye, or anything of that
+      sort. How he got the influence, too, I can't imagine. And oh! I knew there
+      was something else I was going to ask you girls,&rdquo; Felstead went on. &ldquo;Have
+      you ever had a letter, or rather a letter each, uncensored? Just a line or
+      two? I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I should not have been allowed
+      to do in the ordinary prison letters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the quick
+      glance which passed between the two women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we had them, Dick,&rdquo; Philippa told him. &ldquo;It was one afternoon&mdash;it
+      doesn't seem so very long ago. And oh, how thankful we were!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He got them across all right, then. Tell me, did they come through
+      Holland? What was the postmark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The postmark,&rdquo; Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully. &ldquo;You heard what
+      Dick asked, Helen? The postmark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think there was one,&rdquo; Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+      Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead set down his glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No postmark? You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose? They were posted in
+      England, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They came to us, Dick,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;by hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished. He turned round in his chair
+      towards Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By hand?&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;Do you mean to say that they were actually
+      brought here by hand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps something in his manner warned them. Philippa laughed as she bent
+      over his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will tell you how they came, presently,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;but not until
+      you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that champagne, and
+      had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has been decanting so
+      carefully. After that we will see. Just now I have only one feeling, and I
+      know that Helen has it, too. Nothing else matters except that we have you
+      home again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his and
+      kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's so wonderful to be at home!&rdquo; he exclaimed apologetically. &ldquo;But I
+      must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive. I went out to the war
+      with a certain amount of respect for the Germans. I have come back
+      loathing them like vermin. I spent&mdash;but I won't go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your ladyship's pardon,&rdquo; he said, as he filled Felstead's glass,
+      &ldquo;but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library, waiting to see
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without significance.
+      For the first time he became conscious, however, of something which seemed
+      almost like a secret understanding between his sister and his fiancée.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he will
+      kindly wait,&rdquo; Philippa instructed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; Richard enquired, as soon as the door had closed
+      behind Mills. &ldquo;Seems a queer time to call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood,&rdquo; the latter
+      replied. &ldquo;You will probably make his acquaintance before long.
+      Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sounds exciting,&rdquo; Richard observed. &ldquo;What form of destruction was Henry
+      courting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm,&rdquo; Philippa explained. &ldquo;You
+      can see it from all the front windows. Henry was on board, returning from
+      one of his fishing excursions. They were trying to find Dumble's anchorage
+      and were driven in on to that low ridge of rock. A rope broke, or
+      something, they had no more rockets, and Mr. Lessingham swam out with the
+      line.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sounds like a plucky chap,&rdquo; Richard admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect he has come to wish us good-by,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I'll leave you with
+      Helen, Dick. Don't let her overfeed you. And you know where the cigars
+      are, Helen. Take Dick into the gun room afterwards. You'll have it all to
+      yourselves and there is a fire there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she was
+      glad to have some reasonable excuse. She held out both her hands to
+      Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick is back&mdash;just arrived!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;I can't tell you how
+      happy we are, and how grateful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; he said simply. &ldquo;Do you mean that he is in the house here,
+      now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is in the dining room with Helen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think,&rdquo; he suggested, &ldquo;that it would be better to keep us
+      apart?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was wondering,&rdquo; she confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you told him about my bringing the letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We nearly did. Then I stopped&mdash;I wasn't sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were wise,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you wise?&rdquo; she asked him quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In coming back here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths knows everything,&rdquo; she reminded him. &ldquo;He is simply
+      furious because your arrest was interfered with. I really believe that he
+      is dangerous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham was unmoved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had to come back,&rdquo; he said simply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you go away so suddenly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I had to do that, too,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;only the governing causes were
+      very different. We will speak, if you do not mind, only of the cause which
+      has brought me back. That I believe you know already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was curiously afraid. She looked towards the door as though with
+      some vague hope of escape. She realised that the necessity for decision
+      had arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;do you see what this is?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He handed her two folded slips of paper. She started. At the top of one
+      she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are they?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are passports for America,&rdquo; he told her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For&mdash;for me?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For you and me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They slipped from her fingers. He picked them up from the carpet. Her face
+      was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know so well how you are feeling,&rdquo; he said humbly. &ldquo;I know how terrible
+      a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near. You are so different
+      from the other women who might do this thing. It is so much harder for you
+      than for them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She lifted her head. There was still something of the look of a scared
+      child in her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't imagine me better than I am,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;I am not really
+      different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort of
+      thing has ever come into my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know. You see,&rdquo; he went on, a little wistfully, &ldquo;you have not taken me,
+      as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa. You know that I love you
+      as a man loves only once. It sounds like an empty phrase to say it, but if
+      you will give me your life to take care of, I shall only have one thought&mdash;to
+      make you happy. Could I succeed? That is what you have to ask yourself.
+      You are not happy now. Do you think that, if you stay on here, the future
+      is likely to be any better for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head drearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; she confessed, &ldquo;that I have reached the very limit of my
+      endurance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He came a little nearer. His hands rested upon her shoulders very lightly,
+      yet they seemed like some enveloping chain. More than ever in those few
+      moments she realised the spiritual qualities of his face. His eyes were
+      aglow. His voice, a little broken with emotion, was wonderfully tender. He
+      looked at her as though she were some precious and sacred thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am rich,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and there are few parts of the world where we could
+      not live. We could find our way to the islands, like your great writer
+      Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands full of colour, and
+      wonderful birds, and strange blue skies; islands where the peace of the
+      tropics dulls memory, and time beats only in the heart. The world is a
+      great place, Philippa, and there are corners where the sordid crime of
+      this ghastly butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and the
+      taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and moon are
+      still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon the sapphire
+      seas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It sounds like a fairy tale,&rdquo; she murmured, with a half pathetic smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Love always fashions life like a fairy tale,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood perfectly still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have my answer now, at this moment?&rdquo; she asked at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are yet some hours,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I have a very powerful
+      automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon. If we leave here at
+      ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon. Everything has
+      been made very easy for me. And fortune, too, is with us&mdash;your
+      vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in London. You see, you have
+      the whole afternoon for thought. I want you only for your happiness. At
+      ten o'clock I shall come here. If you are coming with me, you must be
+      ready then. You understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; she assented, under her breath. &ldquo;And now,&rdquo; she went on,
+      raising her eyes, &ldquo;somehow I think that you are right. It would be better
+      for you and Dick not to meet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure of it,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;I shall come for my answer at ten o'clock.
+      I wonder&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her face.
+      There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass, even, for
+      affection, and yet something which, behind it all, chilled his confidence.
+      He left his sentence uncompleted and turned towards the door. Suddenly she
+      called him back. She held up her finger. Her whole expression had changed.
+      She was alarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait!&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;I can hear Dick's voice. Wait till he has crossed the
+      hail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They both stood, for a moment, quite silent. Then they heard a little
+      protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from Richard. The
+      door was thrown open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?&rdquo; her brother
+      asked. &ldquo;We're not&mdash;My God!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the threshold,
+      the picture of distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard took a quick step forward. His hands were outstretched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bertram!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Is this a miracle? You here with my sister?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham held out his hand. Suddenly Richard dropped his. His expression
+      had become sterner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't understand,&rdquo; he said simply. &ldquo;Somebody please explain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon themselves the
+      onus of speech. Richard's amazement seemed to increase upon reflection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Bertram! What in the name of all that's
+      diabolical are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am just a derelict,&rdquo; Lessingham explained, with a faint smile. &ldquo;Glad to
+      see you, Richard. You are a day earlier than I expected.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You knew that I was coming, then?&rdquo; Richard demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;I had the great pleasure of arranging
+      for your release.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; Richard went on, &ldquo;I'm groping about a bit. I don't
+      understand. Forgive me if I run off the track. I'm not forgetting our
+      friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came and found me
+      at Wittenburg. But for all that, you have served in the German Army and
+      are an enemy, and I want to know what you are doing here, in England, in
+      my brother-in-law's house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No particular harm, Richard, I promise you,&rdquo; Lessingham replied mildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are here under a false name!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind,&rdquo; the other assented. &ldquo;I prefer my
+      own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would ensure me a very
+      warm welcome over here just now. Besides,&rdquo; he added, with a glance at
+      Philippa, &ldquo;I have to consider the friends whose hospitality I have
+      enjoyed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard. His tone
+      became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we met last under different circumstances. I will
+      admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an honourable
+      imprisonment. I am not so sure that yours is an honourable freedom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!&rdquo; she
+      begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would never have lived through it,&rdquo; Helen echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are talking to Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa protested, &ldquo;as though he
+      were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard waved them away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must leave this to us,&rdquo; he insisted. &ldquo;Maderstrom and I will be able
+      to understand one another, at any rate. What are you doing in this house&mdash;in
+      England? What is your mission here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished,&rdquo; Lessingham said gravely.
+      &ldquo;At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Accomplished?&rdquo; Richard repeated. &ldquo;What the devil do you mean?
+      Accomplished? Are you playing the spy in this country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would probably consider my mission espionage,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck. &ldquo;Dick,&rdquo; she pleaded,
+      &ldquo;please listen. Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this district, ever since
+      he landed in England. What possible harm could he do? We haven't a single
+      secret to be learned. Everybody knows where our few guns are. Everybody
+      knows where our soldiers are quartered. We haven't a harbour or any secret
+      fortifications. We haven't any shipping information which it would be of
+      the least use signalling anywhere. Mr. Lessingham has spent his time
+      amongst trifles here. Take Helen away somewhere and forget that you have
+      seen him in the house. Remember that he has saved Henry's life as well as
+      yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I invite no consideration upon that account,&rdquo; Lessingham declared. &ldquo;All
+      that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted to do, for
+      my old friend. Your release was different. I am forced to admit that it
+      was the price paid for my sojourn here. I will only ask you to remember
+      that the bargain was made without your knowledge, and that you are in no
+      way responsible for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A price,&rdquo; Richard pronounced fiercely, &ldquo;which I refuse to pay!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The alternative,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;is in your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard moved towards the telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Maderstrom,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but my duty is clear. Who is
+      Commandant here, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone. There was a queer,
+      angry patch of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;you shall not do this from my house! I forbid
+      you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give information. Do you know what it would mean if they believed you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Death,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he came to
+      this country under a false name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I won't have it!&rdquo; Philippa protested. &ldquo;He has become our friend. Day
+      by day we have grown to like him better and better. He has saved your
+      life, Dick. He has brought you back to us. Think what it is that you
+      purpose!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is what every soldier has to face,&rdquo; Richard declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!&rdquo; Philippa cried
+      desperately. &ldquo;The war is in your brains, I think. You would carry it from
+      the battlefields into your daily life. Because two great countries are at
+      war, is everything to go by&mdash;chivalry?&mdash;all the finer, sweeter
+      feelings of life? If you two met on the battlefield, it would be
+      different. Here in my drawing-room, I will not have this black demon of
+      the war dragged in as an excuse for murder! Take Dick away, Helen!&rdquo; she
+      begged. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is leaving to-night. I will pledge my word that
+      until then he remains a harmless citizen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Women don't understand these things, Philippa&mdash;&rdquo; Richard began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!&rdquo; Philippa
+      interrupted fiercely. &ldquo;You have but one idea&mdash;to strike&mdash;the
+      narrow idea of men that breeds warfare. I tell you that if ever universal
+      peace comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror of this lust for
+      blood, this criminal outrage against civilisation, it is the women who
+      will become the teachers, because amongst your instincts the brutish ones
+      of force are the first to leap to the surface at the slightest
+      provocation. We women see further, we know more. I swear to you, Richard,
+      that if you interfere I will never forgive you as long as I live!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard stared at his sister in amazement. There seemed to be some new
+      spirit born within her. Throughout all their days he had never known her
+      so much in earnest, so passionately insistent. He looked from her to the
+      man whom she sought to protect, and who answered, unasked, the thoughts
+      that were in his mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever harm I may have been able to do,&rdquo; Lessingham announced, &ldquo;is
+      finished. I leave this place to-night, probably for ever. As for the
+      Commandant,&rdquo; he went on with a faint smile, &ldquo;he is already upon my track.
+      There is nothing you can tell him about me which he does not know. It is
+      just a matter of hours, the toss of a coin, whether I get away or not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've found you out, then?&rdquo; Richard exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago,&rdquo; Lessingham acknowledged.
+      &ldquo;Your Commandant here is at the present moment in London for the sole
+      purpose of denouncing me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?&rdquo; Richard observed
+      incredulously. &ldquo;I'm hanged if I can see through this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; Lessingham explained gently. &ldquo;I am a fatalist!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room. He looked back from
+      the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you know quite well how personally I feel towards
+      you. I am grateful for what you have done for me, even though I am
+      beginning to understand your motives. But as regards the other things we
+      are both soldiers. I am going to talk to Helen for a time. I want to
+      understand a little more than I do at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me help you,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;Here is the issue in plain words. All that
+      I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any case for the sake
+      of our friendship. Your freedom would probably never have been granted to
+      me but for my mission, although even that I might have tried to arrange. I
+      brought your letters here, and I traded them with your sister and Miss
+      Fairclough for the shelter of their hospitality and their guarantees. Now
+      you know just where friendship ended and the other things began. Do what
+      you believe to be your duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him. Lessingham looked
+      down into Philippa's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are more wonderful even than I thought,&rdquo; he continued softly. &ldquo;You
+      say so little and you live so near the truth. It is those of us who feel
+      as you do&mdash;who understand&mdash;to whom this war is so terrible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to ask you one question before I send you away,&rdquo; she told him.
+      &ldquo;This journey to America?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a mission on behalf of Germany,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;but it is, after
+      all, an open one. I have friends&mdash;highly placed friends&mdash;in my
+      own country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the war. It is through
+      them that I am able to turn my back upon Europe. I have done my share of
+      fighting,&rdquo; he went on sadly, &ldquo;and the horror of it will never quite leave
+      me. I think that no one has ever charged me with shirking my duty, and yet
+      the sheer, black ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal
+      inutility, have got into my blood so that I think I would rather pass out
+      of the world in some simple way than find myself back again in that
+      debauch of blood. Is this cowardice, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him with shining eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There isn't any one in the world,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;who could call you a
+      coward. Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you, that at
+      least I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He kissed her fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At ten o'clock,&rdquo; he began&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But listen,&rdquo; she interrupted. &ldquo;Apart from anything which Dick might do,
+      you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you really have
+      accomplished something. Why not go now, at this moment? Why wait? These
+      few hours may make all the difference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;That
+      is for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room. Philippa
+      moved to the window and watched him until he had disappeared. Then very
+      slowly she left the room, walked up the stairs, made her way to her own
+      little suite of apartments, and locked the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that evening at
+      Mainsail Haul. Philippa was at times unusually silent, but Helen had
+      expanded in the joy of her great happiness. Richard, shaved and with his
+      hair cut, attired once more in the garb of civilisation, seemed a
+      different person. Even in these few hours the lines about his mouth seemed
+      less pronounced. They talked freely of Maderstrom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem,&rdquo; Richard declared, balancing his wine
+      glass between his fingers, &ldquo;a problem, too, which I can't say I have
+      solved altogether yet. The only thing is that if he is really going
+      to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter drift out of my
+      mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so much better,&rdquo; Helen agreed. &ldquo;Try as hard as ever I can, I cannot
+      picture his doing any harm to anybody. And as for any information he may
+      have gained here, well, I think that we can safely let him take it back to
+      Germany.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was always,&rdquo; Richard continued reminiscently, &ldquo;a sort of cross between
+      a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman. There was never anything of the
+      practical man of affairs about him. He was scrupulously honourable, and
+      almost a purist in his outlook upon life. I have met a great many
+      Germans,&rdquo; Richard went on, &ldquo;and I've killed a few, thank God!&mdash;but he
+      is about as unlike the ordinary type as any one I ever met. The only pity
+      is that he ever served his time with them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had been listening attentively. She was more than ever silent
+      after her brother's little appreciation of his friend. Richard glanced at
+      her good-humouredly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+      Philippa,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;One would think that you were going on a
+      journey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may go for a walk,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and leave you two young people to talk
+      secrets. I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When is Henry coming back?&rdquo; her brother enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;He comes and goes as the whim seizes
+      him, and I very seldom know where he is. One week it is whiting and
+      another codling. Lately he seems to have shown some partiality for London
+      life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing whatever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what excuse does he give&mdash;or rather I should say reason?&rdquo;
+       Richard persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an office,&rdquo;
+       Philippa replied. &ldquo;That is what he says. His point of view is so
+      impossible that I can not even discuss it with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the rummest go I ever came across,&rdquo; Richard remarked reminiscently.
+      &ldquo;I should have said that old Henry would have been up and at 'em at the
+      Admiralty before the first gun was fired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; Philippa rejoined, &ldquo;he took advantage of the war to
+      hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after hostilities had
+      commenced.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a rum go,&rdquo; Richard repeated. &ldquo;I can't fancy Henry as a skulker.
+      Forgive me, Philippa,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are entirely forgiven,&rdquo; she assured him drily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He comes of such a fine fighting stock,&rdquo; Richard mused. &ldquo;I suppose his
+      health is all right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His health,&rdquo; Philippa declared, &ldquo;is marvellous. I should think he is one
+      of the strongest men I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her brother patted her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl,&rdquo; he said
+      affectionately. &ldquo;It's no good doing that, you know. You wait and let me
+      have a talk with Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;that nearly everything possible has already been
+      said to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you've put his back up a bit,&rdquo; Richard suggested, &ldquo;and he may
+      really be on the lookout for something all the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been a long search!&rdquo; Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm. &ldquo;Let
+      us talk about something else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made their
+      plans for the week&mdash;Richard must report at the War Office at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close. It was at
+      Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment over his
+      port. She kept her arm through her friend's as they crossed the hall into
+      the drawing-room, and closed the door behind them. Philippa stood upon the
+      hearth rug. Already her mouth had come together in a straight line. Her
+      eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;and I warn
+      you that it will be of no use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am,&rdquo; was the calm response. &ldquo;I made up my mind this afternoon. We are
+      leaving to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Motoring?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;You know there are no trains leaving here
+      to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll have a cold ride,&rdquo; Helen remarked. &ldquo;I should take your heavy fur
+      coat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa stared at her companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't seem much upset, Helen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; Helen declared, looking up, &ldquo;that nothing that has ever
+      happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I can see that you
+      have reasoned it all out, and there is not a single argument I could use
+      which you haven't already discounted. It is your life, Philippa, not
+      mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since you are so philosophical,&rdquo; Philippa observed, &ldquo;let me ask you&mdash;should
+      you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not,&rdquo; was the firm reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed heartily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know what you are going to say!&rdquo; Helen continued quickly. &ldquo;You'll
+      tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental. I think in your heart you
+      rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard. You would call it cowlike,
+      or something of that sort. There is a difference between us, Philippa, and
+      that is why I am afraid to argue with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What should you do,&rdquo; Philippa demanded, &ldquo;if Richard failed you in some
+      great thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I might suffer,&rdquo; Helen confessed, &ldquo;but my love would be there all the
+      same. Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I should never
+      be able to see with those who judged him hardly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think, then,&rdquo; Philippa persisted, &ldquo;that I ought still to remain
+      Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst the
+      pastimes of his life&mdash;when he feels inclined, for instance, to wander
+      from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my complexion, or when
+      he settles down at home for a few days after a fortnight's sport on the
+      sea and expects me to tell him the war news?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think that I should do that,&rdquo; Helen admitted quietly, &ldquo;but I am
+      quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I should be punishing myself too much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you are not such a fool as you try to make me think.
+      Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my mind? Can't you
+      realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring, it will punish Henry
+      more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; Helen observed. &ldquo;You are running away with Mr. Lessingham to
+      annoy Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!&rdquo; Philippa laughed sardonically. &ldquo;He has
+      terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to him. He'll be
+      remarkably sheepish for some time to come. He may even feel a few little
+      stabs. When I have time, I am going to write him a letter which he can
+      keep for the rest of his life. It won't please him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you&mdash;and Mr. Lessingham going to live?&rdquo; Helen enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In America, to start with. I've always longed to go to the States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall you do,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;if you don't get out of the country
+      safely?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall,&rdquo; Philippa replied, &ldquo;and he
+      seems a person of many expedients. Of course, if we didn't, I should go
+      back to Cheshire. I should have gone back there, anyway, before now, if
+      Mr. Lessingham hadn't come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it all seems very simple,&rdquo; Helen admitted. &ldquo;I think Mr. Lessingham
+      is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder if you didn't now
+      and then almost imagine that you were happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to be taking my going very coolly,&rdquo; Philippa remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you how I felt about it just now,&rdquo; Helen reminded her. &ldquo;Your going
+      is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing larger and larger,
+      day by day. I think that, in his way, Dick will suffer just as much as
+      Henry. We shall all be utterly miserable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?&rdquo; Philippa demanded.
+      &ldquo;You sit there talking about it as though I were going on an ordinary
+      country-house visit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled with
+      tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;if I thought that all the tears that were ever
+      shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's heart, could have
+      any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now and implore you to give up
+      this idea. But I think&mdash;you won't be angry with me, dear?&mdash;I
+      think you would go just the same.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to think that I am obstinate,&rdquo; Philippa complained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, you are temperamental, dear,&rdquo; Helen reminded her. &ldquo;You have a
+      complex nature. I know very well that you need the daily love that Henry
+      doesn't seem to have been willing to give you lately, and I couldn't stop
+      your turning towards the sun, you know. Only&mdash;all the time there's
+      that terrible anxiety&mdash;are you quite sure it is the sun?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?&rdquo; Philippa asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do indeed,&rdquo; Helen replied. &ldquo;I am not quite sure, though, that I believe
+      in you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was a little startled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I never!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Exactly what do you mean by that, Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not quite sure,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;that when the moment has really
+      come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched, and your feet
+      have left this world in which you are now, I am not quite sure that you
+      will find all that you seek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think he doesn't love me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not convinced,&rdquo; Helen replied calmly, &ldquo;that you love him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you idiot,&rdquo; Philippa declared feverishly, &ldquo;of course I love him! I
+      think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I ever knew, and as
+      to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he were a Fiji Islander or
+      a Chinese.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen nodded sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but listen. You know that I haven't uttered
+      a single word to dissuade you. Well, then, grant me just one thing. Before
+      you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham the truth, whatever it may
+      be, the truth which you haven't told me. It very likely won't make any
+      difference. Two people as nice as you and he, who are going to join their
+      lives, generally do, I believe, find the things they seek. Still, tell
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa made no reply. Richard opened the door and lingered upon the
+      threshold. Helen rose to her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am coming, Dick,&rdquo; she called out cheerfully. &ldquo;There's a gorgeous fire
+      in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just the time I
+      have been looking forward to all day. You'll tell me things, won't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to him, her
+      face full of the one happiness. He passed his arm around her waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll try, dear,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You won't be lonely, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll come and disturb you when I am,&rdquo; she promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door closed. She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to their
+      footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he had
+      just descended, glanced at the huge tyres and the tins of petrol lashed on
+      behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing more you want, chauffeur?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, sir,&rdquo; was the almost inaudible reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have the route map?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the drive of
+      Mainsail Haul. Decidedly it was the moment of his life. He was
+      hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths. A few hours now was
+      all the start he could reasonably expect. He was face to face with a very
+      real and serious danger, which he could no longer ignore, and from which
+      escape was all the time becoming more difficult. And yet all the
+      emotionalism of this climax was centred elsewhere. It was from Philippa's
+      lips that he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer which would
+      fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in his rush
+      through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent as to its
+      result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of suspended
+      animation, which knew no hope and feared no disappointment. Just before he
+      reached the front door, the postern gate in the wall on his left-hand side
+      opened, and Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat, framed in
+      the faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of seabounded
+      space. He moved eagerly towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard the car,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;Come and sit down for a moment. It
+      isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the sea. I
+      came out,&rdquo; she went on, as he walked obediently by her side, &ldquo;because the
+      house somehow stifled me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She led him to a seat. Below, the long waves were breaking through upon
+      the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air. The village
+      which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless&mdash;there was, indeed, a
+      curious absence of sound, except when the incoming waves broke upon the
+      rocks and ground the pebbles together in their long, backward swish. Very
+      soon the sleeping country, now wrapped in shadows, would take form and
+      outline in the light of the rising moon; hedges would divide the square
+      fields, the black woods would take shape and the hills their mystic
+      solemnity. But those few minutes were minutes of suspense. Lessingham was
+      to some extent conscious of their queer, allegorical significance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have come,&rdquo; he reminded her quite steadily, &ldquo;for my answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched her
+      cloak. She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;here I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face was suddenly transformed. She was almost afraid of the effect of
+      her words. She found herself struggling in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;Please remember where we are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He released her reluctantly. A few yards away, they could hear the soft
+      purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the passing
+      moments. He caught her by the hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; he whispered passionately. &ldquo;Every moment is precious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated no longer. The open postern gate seemed to him suddenly to
+      lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid life. He was to be
+      one of those favoured few to whom was given the divine prize. And then he
+      stopped short, even while she walked willingly by his side. He knew so
+      well the need for haste. The gentle murmur of that engine was inviting him
+      all the while. Yet he knew there was one thing more which must be said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;you know what we are doing? We can escape, I
+      believe. My flight is all wonderfully arranged. But there will be no
+      coming back. It will be all over when our car passes over the hills there.
+      You will not regret? You care enough even for this supreme sacrifice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall never reproach you as long as I live,&rdquo; she promised. &ldquo;I have made
+      up my mind to come, and I am ready.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is because you care?&rdquo; he pleaded anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is because I care, for one reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the great way?&rdquo; he persisted. &ldquo;In the only way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated. He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his. He saw her
+      frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't ask me quite that,&rdquo; she begged breathlessly. &ldquo;Be content to know
+      that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt the chill of impending disaster. He closed the little gate through
+      which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back to it. In that
+      faint light which seemed to creep over the world before the moon itself
+      was revealed, she seemed to him at that moment the fairest, the most
+      desirable thing on earth. Her face was upturned towards his, half
+      pathetic, half protesting against the revelation which he was forcing from
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, Philippa,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing. I
+      put it on one side. It did not seem to be possible. Now I must ask you a
+      question. You have some other motive, have you not, for choosing to come
+      away with me? It is not only because you love me better than any one else
+      in the world, as I do you, and therefore that we belong to one another and
+      it is right and good that we should spend our lives in one another's
+      company? There is something else, is there not, at the root of your
+      determination? Some ally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a strange moment for Philippa. Nothing had altered within her, and
+      yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at her emotions,
+      bringing a sob into her throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;Henry?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean your husband,&rdquo; he assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was suddenly passionately angry with herself. It seemed to her that
+      the days of childishness were back. She was behaving like an imbecile
+      whilst he played the great game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, &ldquo;this is one of
+      those moments in both our lives when anything except the exact truth would
+      mean shipwreck. You still love your husband?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am such a fool!&rdquo; she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were willing to go away with me,&rdquo; he continued mercilessly, &ldquo;partly
+      because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out of revenge, and
+      just a little because you liked me. Is that not so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her head pressed upon his arm. She nodded. It was just that convulsive
+      movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair and its plain
+      black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his hopes. She was just
+      a child once more&mdash;and she trusted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;just let me think&mdash;for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She understood enough not to raise her head. Lessingham was gazing out
+      through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from which the
+      moon was rising. Already the pain had begun, and yet with it was that
+      queer sense of exaltation which comes with sacrifice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have been very nearly foolish,&rdquo; he told her, with grave kindliness.
+      &ldquo;It is well, perhaps, that we were in time. Those windows which lead into
+      your library,&mdash;through which I first came to you, by-the-by,&mdash;&rdquo;
+       he added, with a strange, reminiscent little sigh, &ldquo;are they open?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; she whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, then,&rdquo; he invited. &ldquo;Before I leave there is something I want to
+      make clear to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little terraced
+      walk. Philippa opened the window and closed it again behind them. The room
+      was empty. Lessingham, watching her closely, almost groaned as he saw the
+      wonderful relief in her face. She threw off the cloak, and he groaned
+      again as he remembered how nearly it had been his task to remove it. In
+      her plain travelling dress, she turned and looked at him very
+      pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A newspaper? Why, yes, the Times,&rdquo; she answered, a little surprised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it under the
+      lamplight. Presently he called to her. His forefinger rested upon a
+      certain column.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Read this,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for special
+      services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo; she asked feverishly. &ldquo;Henry? A D.S.O. for Henry for
+      special services?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means,&rdquo; he told her, with a forced smile, &ldquo;that your husband is, as
+      you put it in your expressive language, a fraud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet. Lessingham led her to a
+      chair. From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the motor horn,
+      calling to its dilatory passenger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can not, of course, explain everything to you,&rdquo; he began, in a tone of
+      unusual restraint, &ldquo;but I do know that for the last two years your husband
+      has been responsible to the Admiralty for most of the mine fields around
+      your east coast. To begin with, his stay in Scotland was a sham. He was
+      most of the time with the fleet and round the coasts. His fishing
+      excursions from here have been of the same order, only more so. All the
+      places of importance, from here to the mouth of the Thames, have been
+      mined, or rather the approaches to them have been mined, under his
+      instructions. My mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh&mdash;do not
+      shrink from me if you can help it&mdash;was to obtain a copy of his mine
+      protection scheme of a certain town on the east coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I shrink from you?&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;This is all too wonderful!
+      What a little beast Henry must think me!&rdquo; she added, with truly feminine
+      and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You and Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; Lessingham went on, &ldquo;have rather scoffed at my
+      presence here on behalf of our Secret Service. It seemed to you both very
+      ridiculous. Now you understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes no difference,&rdquo; Philippa protested tearfully. &ldquo;You always told
+      us the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I shall continue to do so,&rdquo; Lessingham assured her. &ldquo;I am not a
+      clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune favoured me
+      the night your husband was shipwrecked. I succeeded in stealing from him,
+      on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of the mine field which I was sent
+      over to procure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you had to do it if you could,&rdquo; Philippa sobbed. &ldquo;I think it
+      was very clever of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are others who might look at the matter differently,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I
+      am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but I must
+      have your answer to take away with me. If you had known all the time that
+      your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you thought him, was really
+      doing splendid work for his country, you would not have listened to me for
+      one moment, would you? You would not have let me grow to love you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clutched his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are the dearest man in the world,&rdquo; she exclaimed, her lips still
+      quivering, &ldquo;but, as you say, you know the answer. I was always in love
+      with Henry. It was because I loved him that I was so furious. I liked you
+      so much that it was mean of me ever to think of&mdash;of what so nearly
+      happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So nearly happened!&rdquo; he repeated, with a sudden access of the bitterest
+      self-pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a little more
+      impatient, broke the silence. Philippa was filled with an unreasoning
+      terror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must go!&rdquo; she implored. &ldquo;You must go this minute! If they were to
+      take you, I couldn't bear it. And that man Griffiths&mdash;he has sworn
+      that if he can not get the Government authority, he will shoot you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Griffiths has gone to London,&rdquo; he reminded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but he may be back by this train,&rdquo; she cried, glancing at the clock,
+      &ldquo;and I have a strange sort of fancy&mdash;I have had it all day&mdash;that
+      Henry might come, too. It is overdue now. Any one might arrive here. Oh,
+      please, for my sake, hurry away!&rdquo; she begged, the tears streaming from her
+      eyes. &ldquo;If anything should happen, I could never forgive myself. It is
+      because you have been so dear, so true and honourable, that all this time
+      has been wasted. If it were to cost you your life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a paroxysm.
+      She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to the door. And then
+      she stopped for a moment to listen. Her eyes became distended. Her lips
+      were parted. She shook as though with an ague.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too late!&rdquo; she faltered hysterically. &ldquo;I can hear Henry's voice!
+      Quick! Come to the window. You must get out that way and through the
+      postern gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your husband will have seen the car,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;And besides, there
+      is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall tell him everything,&rdquo; she declared wildly. &ldquo;Nothing matters
+      except that you escape. Oh, hurry! I can hear Henry talking to Jimmy
+      Dumble&mdash;for God's sake&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The words died away upon her lips. The door had been opened and closed
+      again immediately. There was the quick turn of the lock, sounding like the
+      click of fate. Sir Henry, well inside the room, nodded to them both
+      affably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Philippa? You weren't expecting me, eh? Hullo, Lessingham! Not gone
+      yet? Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;a trifle too fine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm. Philippa had thrown herself into
+      his arms. Her fingers were locked around his neck. Her lips, her eyes,
+      were pleading with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry! Henry, you must forgive me! I never knew&mdash;I never dreamed
+      what you were really doing. I shall never forgive myself, but you&mdash;you
+      will be generous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right, dear,&rdquo; he promised, stooping down to kiss her. &ldquo;Partly
+      my fault, of course. I had to humour those old ladies down at Whitehall
+      who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless idiot. You see,&rdquo; he went
+      on, glancing towards Lessingham, &ldquo;they were always afraid that my steps
+      might be dogged by spies, if my position were generally known.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa did not relinquish her attitude. She was still clinging to her
+      husband. She refused to let him go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;oh, listen to me! I have so much to confess, so much
+      of which I am ashamed! And yet, with it all, I want to entreat&mdash;to
+      implore one great favour from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it one I can grant?&rdquo; he asked gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you want me ever to be happy again, you will,&rdquo; she sobbed. &ldquo;For
+      Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham took a quick step forward. He had the air of one who has
+      reached the limits of his endurance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I desire no
+      intervention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from him.
+      There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment. His mouth
+      had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw seemed more
+      apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there was a ring of
+      authority in his tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;let us understand one another, Philippa, and you had
+      better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham. I can promise you that your chances of
+      escape will not be diminished by my taking up these few minutes of your
+      time. Philippa,&rdquo; he went on, turning back to her, &ldquo;you have always posed
+      as being an exceedingly patriotic Englishwoman, yet it seems to me that
+      you have made a bargain with this man, knowing full well that he was in
+      the service of Germany, to give him shelter and hospitality here, access
+      to my house and protection amongst your friends, in return for certain
+      favours shown towards your brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was speechless. It was a view of the matter which she and Helen
+      had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Henry,&rdquo; she protested, &ldquo;his stay here seemed so harmless. You
+      yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh. There is
+      nothing to discover. There is nothing going on here which the whole world
+      might not know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was never my plea,&rdquo; Lessingham intervened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor is it the truth,&rdquo; Sir Henry added sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to gain
+      access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could, certain plans
+      and charts prepared by me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa began to tremble. She seemed bereft of words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He told me this,&rdquo; she faltered. &ldquo;He told me not half an hour ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a tapping at the door. Sir Henry moved towards it but did not
+      turn the key.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir,&rdquo; Mills announced. &ldquo;He has
+      seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed to come in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room. Philippa made eager
+      signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows. Lessingham, however,
+      shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I prefer,&rdquo; he said gently, &ldquo;to finish my conversation with your
+      husband.&rdquo;'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was another and more insistent summons from outside. This time it
+      was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry Cranston,&rdquo; he called out, &ldquo;I am here with authority. I beg to
+      be admitted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is your escort?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I let you come in,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, &ldquo;will you come alone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should prefer it,&rdquo; was the eager reply. &ldquo;I wish to make this business
+      as little unpleasant to&mdash;to everybody as possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted Griffiths.
+      The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham. He would have hastened
+      at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand upon his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments,&rdquo; he insisted.
+      &ldquo;This is a private conference. Your business with the Baron Maderstrom can
+      be adjusted later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty,&rdquo; Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, &ldquo;to arrest that man as
+      a spy. I have authority, granted me this morning in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed, &ldquo;but we are in the midst of a very
+      interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude. Your turn will
+      come later, Captain Griffiths.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can countenance no discussion with such men as that,&rdquo; Griffiths
+      declared scornfully. &ldquo;I am here in the execution of my duty, and I resent
+      any interference with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one wishes to interfere with you,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him, &ldquo;but until I
+      say the word you will obey my orders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I am concerned,&rdquo; Lessingham intervened, &ldquo;I wish it to be
+      understood that I offer no defence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have no defence,&rdquo; Sir Henry reminded him suavely. &ldquo;I gather that not
+      only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket in the midst
+      of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have capped this exploit with
+      a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself. His eyes glowed. His
+      long fingers twitched. He kept edging a little nearer to Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Both charges,&rdquo; the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes, &ldquo;are
+      true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Philippa found herself. She saw the sudden flash in her husband's
+      eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face. She stepped once more forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she insisted, &ldquo;you must listen to what I have to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had enough words,&rdquo; Griffiths interposed savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am listening, Philippa,&rdquo; he said calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr. Lessingham
+      to-night,&rdquo; she told him deliberately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The devil it was!&rdquo; Sir Henry muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As for the reason, you know it,&rdquo; she continued, her tone full of courage.
+      &ldquo;I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all the same I was
+      hardly treated. I was made the scapegoat of your stupid promise. You kept
+      me in ignorance of things a wife should know. You even encouraged me to
+      believe you a coward, when a single word from you would have changed
+      everything. Therefore, I say that it is you who are responsible for what I
+      nearly did, and what I should have done but for him&mdash;listen, Henry&mdash;but
+      for him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But for him,&rdquo; her husband repeated curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;who opened my eyes concerning you.
+      It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger. Look at my
+      coat there. My bag is on that table. I was ready to leave with him
+      to-night. Before we went, he insisted on telling me everything about you.
+      He could have escaped, and I was willing to go with him. Instead, he spent
+      those precious minutes telling me the truth about you. That was the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston omits to add,&rdquo; Lessingham put in, &ldquo;that before I did so she
+      told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm friendliness&mdash;that
+      her love was given to her husband, and her husband only.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long is this to go on?&rdquo; Griffiths asked harshly. &ldquo;I have the
+      authority here and the power to take that man. These domestic explanations
+      have nothing to do with the case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me,&rdquo; Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, &ldquo;they have a great
+      deal to do with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Commandant of this place&mdash;&rdquo; Griffiths commenced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute,&rdquo; Sir
+      Henry reminded him sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment's tense silence. Griffiths set his teeth hard, but his
+      hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am now,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, &ldquo;going to announce to you a piece of
+      news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+      newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known. During
+      last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed to cross
+      the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of considerable
+      importance to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain. He had the air
+      of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Incidentally,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, &ldquo;three-quarters of the squadron also
+      found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter met our
+      own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet. One could almost fancy that
+      Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned towards him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself,&rdquo; he said,
+      &ldquo;which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+      specially prepared for you. You see, our own Secret Service is not
+      altogether asleep. Those very safe and inviting-looking channels for
+      British and Allied traffic&mdash;I marked them very clearly, didn't I?&mdash;were
+      where I'd laid my mines. The channels which your cruisers so carefully
+      avoided were the only safe avenues. So you see why it is, Maderstrom, that
+      I have no grudge against you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man. There was a
+      look of dull horror in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this the truth?&rdquo; he gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the truth,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does this conclude the explanations?&rdquo; Captain Griffiths demanded
+      impatiently. &ldquo;Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry. As regards this felon&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry held up his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom's fate,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is mine to deal with and not yours, Captain
+      Griffiths.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was standing
+      only a few feet from her. She threw herself upon his arm and dragged down
+      the revolver which he had raised. Sir Henry, with a shout of fury, was
+      upon them at once. He took Griffiths by the throat and threw him upon the
+      sofa. The revolver clattered harmlessly on to the carpet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen,&rdquo; he thundered. &ldquo;You know
+      that I possess superior authority here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That man shall not escape!&rdquo; Griffiths shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He struggled for his whistle. Sir Henry snatched it from him and picked up
+      the revolver from the carpet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Griffiths,&rdquo; he remonstrated severely, &ldquo;one single move in
+      opposition to my wishes will cost you your career. Let there be no
+      misunderstanding about it. That man will not be arrested by you to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths staggered to his feet. He was half cowed, half furious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?&rdquo; he demanded thickly.
+      &ldquo;The man is a proved traitor. If you assist him to escape, you are subject
+      to penalties&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw open the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; he interrupted, &ldquo;I am not ignorant of my position in
+      this matter. Believe me, your last chance of retaining your position here
+      is to remember that you have had specific orders to yield to my authority
+      in all matters. Kindly leave this room and take your soldiers back to
+      their quarters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths hesitated for a single moment. He had the appearance of a man
+      half demented by a passion which could find no outlet. Then he left the
+      room, without salute, without a glance to the right or to the left. Out in
+      the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh voice of command. The hall
+      door was opened and closed behind the sound of retreating footsteps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry,&rdquo; Lessingham reminded him, &ldquo;I have not asked for your
+      intervention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow, you wouldn't,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;As for the little
+      trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it too much to
+      heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent you here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fault of the people who sent me here,&rdquo; Lessingham repeated. &ldquo;I
+      scarcely understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's simple enough,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued. &ldquo;You see, you are about as fit
+      to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective. You possess
+      the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts of a gentleman.&mdash;Come,
+      come,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;we have nothing more to say to one another. Open that
+      window and take the narrow path down to the beach. Jimmy Dumble is waiting
+      for you at the gate. He will row you out to a Dutch trawler which is lying
+      even now off the point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean me to get away?&rdquo; Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me, it will cost nothing,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him. &ldquo;I was not
+      bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme authority here.
+      He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights in aiding your escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing. She gave him her
+      hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear friend,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;so wonderful a friend as you have been, don't
+      refuse this last thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom,&rdquo; Sir Henry said. &ldquo;Remember that you
+      can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by playing
+      the Quixote.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, &ldquo;it is, after
+      all, only an exchange. You have saved Henry's life, set Richard free, and
+      brought us happiness. Why should you hesitate to accept your own liberty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light out at
+      sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's your trawler,&rdquo; he pointed out, &ldquo;and remember the tide will turn
+      in half an hour. I don't wish to hurry you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall think of you both always,&rdquo; he said simply. &ldquo;You are very
+      wonderful people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned towards the window. Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat from the
+      table by his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better take your hat,&rdquo; he suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You knew from the first?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the very first,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him. &ldquo;Don't look so confounded,&rdquo;
+       he went on consolingly. &ldquo;Remember that espionage is the only profession in
+      which it is an honour to fail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned back
+      into the room. The tenderness in his own face, however, and a little catch
+      in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve which had grown up
+      between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear little woman!&rdquo; he murmured. &ldquo;My little sweetheart! You don't know
+      how I've ached to explain everything to you&mdash;including the Russian
+      ladies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Explain them at once, sir!&rdquo; Philippa insisted, pretending to draw her
+      face away for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral, Draskieff,
+      who was sent over to report upon our method of mine laying,&rdquo; he told her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow or
+      the next day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed ruefully. &ldquo;I imagined&mdash;all
+      sorts of things. But, Henry dear,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;do you know that we have
+      a great surprise for you&mdash;here in the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No surprise, dear,&rdquo; he assured her, shaking his head. &ldquo;I knew the very
+      hour that Richard left Wittenberg. And here he is, by Jove!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard and Helen entered together. Philippa could not even wait for the
+      conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting which passed
+      between the two men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen to me, both of you!&rdquo; she cried incoherently. &ldquo;Helen, you
+      especially! You never heard anything so wonderful in your life! They
+      weren't fishing excursions at all. There weren't any whiting. Henry was
+      laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the German fleet! It's
+      all in the Times this morning. He's got a D.S.O.&mdash;Henry has&mdash;and
+      he's a Rear-Admiral! Oh, Helen, I want to cry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women wandered into a far corner of the room. Richard wrung his
+      brother-in-law's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa isn't exactly coherent,&rdquo; he remarked, &ldquo;but it sounds all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained, &ldquo;I've been mine laying ever since the war
+      started. I always had ideas of my own about mine fields, as you may
+      remember. I started with Scotland, and then they moved me down here. The
+      Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and they insisted upon my
+      keeping my job secret. It led to a little trouble with Philippa, but I
+      think we are through with all that.&mdash;I suppose you know that those
+      two young women have been engaged in a regular conspiracy, Dick?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know a little,&rdquo; Richard replied gravely, &ldquo;and I'm sure you will believe
+      that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd had any idea what
+      they were up to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure you wouldn't,&rdquo; Sir Henry agreed. &ldquo;Anyway, it led to no harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom, then,&rdquo; Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+      apprehension of the affair, &ldquo;was over here to spy upon you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the ticket,&rdquo; Sir Henry assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry about that,&rdquo; his brother-in-law begged. &ldquo;They must have
+      known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do any harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he now?&rdquo; Richard asked eagerly. &ldquo;Helen insisted upon keeping me
+      out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours. The Commandant has
+      been up here after him, hasn't he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear! I don't like the
+      fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Maderstrom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?&rdquo; Sir Henry observed. &ldquo;Well, to tell you
+      the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for in the
+      history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, too?&rdquo; Richard exclaimed. &ldquo;Why, every one seems crazy about the
+      fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember him in your college days, Dick. He was a gentleman and a good
+      sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German. He did his bit of
+      soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the war, got a
+      knock and volunteered for the Secret Service. They sent him over here. The
+      fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare say you know, they let
+      him down from the observation car of a Zeppelin. He finds his way here all
+      right, makes his silly little bargain with our dear but gullible
+      womenkind, and sets himself to watch&mdash;to watch me, mind. The whole
+      affair is too ridiculously transparent. For a time he can't bring himself
+      even to touch my papers here, although, as it happens, they wouldn't have
+      done him the least bit of good. It was only the stress and excitement of
+      the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the chart which I had so
+      carefully prepared for him. I really think, if he hadn't done that, I
+      should have had to slip it into his pocket or absolutely force it upon him
+      somehow. He sends it off like a lamb and behold the result! We've crippled
+      the German Navy for the rest of the war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a faked chart, then, of course?&rdquo; Richard demanded breathlessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And quite the cleverest I ever prepared,&rdquo; Sir Henry acknowledged. &ldquo;I can
+      assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself, if he'd got
+      hold of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But where is Maderstrom now, sir?&rdquo; Richard asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the last
+      few moments, had softly taken her place. Her eyes were watching a green
+      light bobbing up and down in the distance. Suddenly she gave a little
+      exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's moving!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;He's off!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's safe on a Dutch trawler,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared. &ldquo;And I think,&rdquo; he
+      added, moving towards the sideboard, &ldquo;it's time you and I had a drink
+      together, Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They helped themselves to whisky and soda. There were still many
+      explanations to be given. Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa stood
+      with her eyes turned seawards. The green light was dimmer now, and the
+      low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over the glittering track
+      of moonlight. She gave a little start as it came into sight. There was a
+      sob in her throat, tears burning in her eyes. Her fingers clutched the
+      curtains almost passionately. She stood there watching until her eyes
+      ached. Then she felt an arm around her waist and her husband's whisper in
+      her ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his extended
+      arms. Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
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+</html>
diff --git a/1931.txt b/1931.txt
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/1931.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,9089 @@
+Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+Posting Date: November 25, 2008 [EBook #1931]
+Release Date: October, 1999
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER
+
+By E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+"Never heard a sound," the younger of the afternoon callers admitted,
+getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his low chair. "No
+more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough. Done splendidly, thanks. No, I
+went to bed last night soon after eleven--the Colonel had been route
+marching us all off our legs--and I never awoke until reveille this
+morning. Sleep of the just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly
+sell, all the same! You hear anything of it, sir?" he asked, turning to
+his companion, who was seated a few feet away.
+
+Captain Griffiths shook his head. He was a man considerably older than
+his questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair streaked
+with grey. His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a soldier,
+curiously sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which was
+considerable, he was awkward, at times almost uncouth. His voice was
+hard and unsympathetic, and his contributions to the tea-table talk had
+been almost negligible.
+
+"I was up until two o'clock, as it happened," he replied, "but I knew
+nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice officially."
+
+Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her
+absent hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the
+circumstances of the case entitled her.
+
+"I heard it distinctly," she declared; "in fact it woke me up. I hung
+out of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly as though
+it were over the golf links."
+
+The young subaltern sighed.
+
+"Rotten luck I have with these things," he confided. "That's three times
+they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one. This time they
+say that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming down. Of course,
+you've heard of the observation car found on Dutchman's Common this
+morning?"
+
+The girl assented.
+
+"Did you see it?" she enquired.
+
+"Not a chance," was the gloomy reply. "It was put on two covered trucks
+and sent up to London by the first train. Captain Griffiths can tell you
+what it was like, I dare say. You were down there, weren't you, sir?"
+
+"I superintended its removal," the latter informed them. "It was a very
+uninteresting affair."
+
+"Any bombs in it?" Helen asked.
+
+"Not a sign of one. Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and a
+telephone. It seems to have got caught in some trees and been dragged
+off."
+
+"How exciting!" the girl murmured. "I suppose there wasn't any one in
+it?"
+
+Griffiths shook his head.
+
+"I believe," he explained, "that these observation cars, although they
+are attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night raids."
+
+"I should like to have seen it, all the same," Helen confessed.
+
+"You would have been disappointed," her informant assured her.
+"By-the-by," he added, a little awkwardly, "are you not expecting Lady
+Cranston back this evening?"
+
+"I am expecting her every moment. The car has gone down to the station
+to meet her."
+
+Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+undemonstrative satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair with the air
+of one who is content to wait.
+
+"Have you heard, Miss Fairclough," his younger companion enquired, a
+little diffidently, "whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?"
+
+Helen Fairclough looked away. There was a slight mist before her eyes.
+
+"I had a letter this morning," she replied. "She seems to have heard
+nothing at all encouraging so far."
+
+"And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?"
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"Not a line," she sighed. "It's two months now since we last had a
+letter."
+
+"Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well," the young
+man observed sympathetically.
+
+"It all seems very cruel," Helen agreed. "He wasn't really fit to go
+back, but the Board passed him because they were so short of officers
+and he kept worrying them. He was so afraid he'd get moved to another
+battalion. Then he was taken prisoner in that horrible Pervais affair,
+and sent to the worst camp in Germany. Since then, of course, Philippa
+and I have had a wretched time, worrying."
+
+"Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?" Griffiths
+enquired.
+
+"And my only fiance," she replied, with a little grimace. "However,
+don't let us talk about our troubles any more," she continued, with an
+effort at a lighter tone. "You'll find some cigarettes on that table,
+Mr. Harrison. I can't think where Nora is. I expect she has persuaded
+some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's Common."
+
+"The road all the way is like a circus," the young soldier observed,
+"and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval airmen
+were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths wasn't
+far behind them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers, sir," he
+concluded, turning to his neighbour.
+
+"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
+had to have the Common searched. With the exception of the observation
+car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences in telling you
+that we discovered nothing of interest."
+
+"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was flying
+so low?" Helen enquired.
+
+"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented. "Two
+patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her. An old
+man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a long, black
+cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost deafened by the noise
+of the engines. Personally, I cannot believe that they would come down
+so low unless she was in some trouble."
+
+The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
+suddenly thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady, very
+much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long plaits of the
+schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand she carried a man's
+Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+
+"Come in, Arthur," she shouted to a young subaltern who was hovering
+in the background. "Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy! Just look, Mr.
+Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a bush, not twenty yards
+from where the observation car came down."
+
+Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+
+"But, my dear child," she exclaimed, "this is nothing but an ordinary
+hat! People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things like that. How
+do you do, Mr. Somerfield?" she added, smiling at the young man who had
+followed Nora into the room.
+
+"Don't they!" the latter retorted, with an air of superior knowledge.
+"Just look here!"
+
+She turned down the lining and showed it to them. "What do you make of
+that?" she asked triumphantly.
+
+Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+
+"Read it out," Nora insisted.
+
+Helen obeyed:
+
+               "Schmidt,
+                    Berlin,
+                         Unter den Linden, 127."
+
+"That sounds German," she admitted.
+
+"It's a trophy, all right," Nora declared. "One of the crew--probably
+the Commander--must have come on board in a hurry and changed into
+uniform after they had started."
+
+"It is my painful duty, Miss Nora," Harrison announced solemnly,
+"to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles of
+whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's Common,
+which might possibly have belonged to any one in the Zeppelin, must be
+sent at once to the War Office."
+
+"Rubbish!" Nora scoffed. "The War Office aren't going to have my hat."
+
+"Duty," the young man began--
+
+"You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,"
+Nora interrupted, "but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw it
+into the fire sooner than give it up."
+
+"Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora," Captain Griffiths
+ventured thoughtfully.
+
+"Nothing so important as hats," Harrison put in. "You see they
+fit--somebody."
+
+The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. "I'd listen to
+anything Captain Griffiths had to say," she declared, "but you boys who
+are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit. There's
+nothing in your textbook about hats. If you're going to make yourselves
+disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the regiment."
+
+The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay. Nora took a
+chocolate from a box.
+
+"Be merciful, Miss Nora!" Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+
+"Don't break the regiment up altogether," Somerfield begged, with a
+little catch in his voice.
+
+"All very well for you two to be funny," Nora went on, revisiting the
+chocolate box, "but you've heard about the Seaforths coming, haven't
+you? I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?"
+
+"Every woman does," Helen admitted, smiling. "I suppose the child really
+can keep the hat, can't she?" she added, turning to the Commandant.
+
+"Officially the matter is outside my cognizance," he declared. "I shall
+have nothing to say."
+
+The two young men exchanged glances.
+
+"A hat," Somerfield ruminated, "especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely an
+appurtenance of warfare."
+
+His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object in
+question. Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+
+"I shall take the whole responsibility," he decided magnanimously, "of
+saying nothing about the matter. We can't afford to quarrel with Miss
+Nora, can we, Somerfield?"
+
+"Not on your life," that young man agreed.
+
+"Sensible boys!" Nora pronounced graciously.
+
+"Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them in
+their folly. You can take me as far as the post-office when you go,
+Arthur," she continued, turning to the fortunate possessor of the
+side-car, "and we'll have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if you like."
+
+"Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?" Helen invited.
+
+"Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough," the man replied; "we had tea
+some time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora."
+
+Nora suddenly held up her finger. "Isn't that the car?" she asked. "Why,
+it must be mummy, here already. Yes, I can hear her voice!"
+
+Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+
+"It is Lady Cranston," he announced solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful. She
+had masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long railway
+journey, deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost porcelain-like
+complexion, and a sensitive, delightfully shaped mouth. Her figure
+was small and dainty, and just at that moment she had an appearance of
+helplessness which was almost childlike. Nora, after a vigorous embrace,
+led her stepmother towards a chair.
+
+"Come and sit by the fire, Mummy," she begged. "You look tired and
+cold."
+
+Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests. She was still
+wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was unmistakable.
+Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since her entrance,
+wheeled an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into which she sank with a
+murmured word of thanks.
+
+"You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?" Helen enquired.
+
+Philippa shook her head. Her eyes met her friend's for a moment--it was
+only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual sorrow seemed
+curiously revealed in that unspoken question and answer. The two young
+subalterns prepared to take their leave. Nora, kneeling down, stroked
+her stepmother's hand.
+
+"No news at all, then?" Helen faltered.
+
+"None," was the weary reply.
+
+"Any amount of news here, Mummy," Nora intervened cheerfully, "and heaps
+of excitement. We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last night,
+and she lost her observation car. Mr. Somerfield took me up there this
+afternoon, and I found a German hat. No one else got a thing, and, would
+you believe it, those children over there tried to take it away from
+me."
+
+Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+
+"I expect you are keeping the hat, dear," she observed.
+
+"I should say so!" Nora assented.
+
+Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting to
+take their leave.
+
+"You must come and dine one night this week, both of you," she said. "My
+husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm sure he
+will be glad to have you."
+
+"Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted," Harrison
+declared.
+
+"Rather!" his companion echoed.
+
+Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+Philippa's chair.
+
+"And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said, smiling
+pleasantly up at him. "Must you hurry away?"
+
+"I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns," he answered,
+resuming his seat.
+
+"Do!" Philippa begged him. "I have had such a miserable time in town.
+You can't think how restful it is to be back here."
+
+"I am afraid," he observed, "that your journey has not been successful."
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+"It has been completely unsuccessful," she sighed. "I have not been able
+to hear a word about my brother. I am so sorry for poor Helen, too. They
+were only engaged, you know, a few days before he left for the front
+this last time."
+
+Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I never met Major Felstead," he remarked, "but every one who has
+seems to like him very much. He was doing so well, too, up to that last
+unfortunate affair, wasn't he?"
+
+"Dick is a dear," Philippa declared. "I never knew any one with so many
+friends. He would have been commanding his battalion now, if only he
+were free. His colonel wrote and told me so himself."
+
+"I wish there were something I could do," Griffiths murmured, a little
+awkwardly. "It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset."
+
+She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+
+"Nobody can do anything," she bemoaned. "That is the unfortunate part of
+it all."
+
+He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was when
+he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which he had no
+idea what to do with.
+
+"You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?" he
+asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+unpleasant voice. She shook her head.
+
+"Perhaps one morning later," she replied, a little vaguely. "I haven't
+any heart for anything just now."
+
+He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out into
+the twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things which
+he had meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten them.
+Philippa, to whom his departure had been, as it always was, a relief,
+was already leaning forward in her chair with her arm around Helen's
+neck.
+
+"I thought that extraordinary man would never go," she exclaimed, "and
+I was longing to send for you, Helen. London has been such a dreary
+chapter of disappointments."
+
+"What a sickening time you must have had, dear!"
+
+"It was horrid," Philippa assented sadly, "but you know Henry is no use
+at all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone. I have been
+to every friend at the War Office, and every friend who has friends
+there. I have made every sort of enquiry, and I know just as much now
+as I did when I left here--that Richard was a prisoner at Wittenberg
+the last time they heard, and that they have received no notification
+whatever concerning him for the last two months."
+
+Helen glanced at the calendar.
+
+"It is just two months to-day," she said mournfully, "since we heard."
+
+"And then," Philippa sighed, "he hadn't received a single one of our
+parcels."
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet. She was a tall, fair girl of the best
+Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every promise,
+indeed, of a fuller and more gracious development in the years to come.
+She was barely twenty-two years old, and, as is common with girls of her
+complexion, seemed younger. Her bright, intelligent face was, above
+all, good-humoured. Just at that moment, however, there was a flush of
+passionate anger in her cheeks.
+
+"It makes me feel almost beside myself," she exclaimed, "this hideous
+incapacity for doing anything! Here we are living in luxury, without a
+single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on earth to both of us,
+is being starved and goaded to death in a foul German prison!"
+
+"We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear," Philippa
+remonstrated. "What is it, Mills?"
+
+The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band, bowed
+as he arranged it upon a side table.
+
+"I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+ladyship," he announced, "and some hot buttered toast. Cook has sent
+some of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally fancies."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Mills," Philippa said, with rather a wan little
+smile. "I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad. You might
+take my coat, please."
+
+She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her slim,
+elegant little body.
+
+"Shall I light up, your ladyship?" Mills enquired.
+
+"You might light a lamp," Philippa directed, "but don't draw the blinds
+until lighting-up time. After the noise of London," she went on,
+turning to Helen, "I always think that the faint sound of the sea is so
+restful."
+
+The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to his
+mistress.
+
+"We should be glad to hear, your ladyship," he said, "if there is any
+news of Major Felstead?" Philippa shook her head.
+
+"None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills! Still, we must hope for the
+best. I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as we imagine."
+
+"We must hope not, your ladyship," was the somewhat dismal reply. "Shall
+I fasten the windows?"
+
+"You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills," Philippa
+directed. "I am not at home, if any one should call. See that we are
+undisturbed for a little time."
+
+"Very good, your ladyship."
+
+The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone. Philippa
+held out her arms.
+
+"Helen, darling, come and be nice to me," she begged. "Let us both
+pretend that no news is good news. Oh, I know what you are suffering,
+but remember that even if Dick is your lover, he is my dear, only
+brother--my twin brother, too. We have been so much to each other all
+our lives. He'll stick it out, dear, if any human being can. We shall
+have him back with us some day."
+
+"But he is hungry," Helen sobbed. "I can't bear to think of his being
+hungry. Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me."
+
+"I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like," Philippa
+murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+
+"He always used to love one about this time," Helen faltered, glancing
+at the clock.
+
+"And cigarettes!" Philippa exclaimed. "I wonder whether they give him
+anything to smoke."
+
+"Nasty German tobacco, if they do," Helen rejoined indignantly. "And
+to think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his favourite
+Egyptians!"
+
+She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side. Their arms were
+intertwined, their cheeks touching. One of those strange, feminine
+silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while under its
+thrall. Then, almost at the same moment, a queer awakening came for both
+of them. Helen's arm was stiffened. Philippa turned her head, but her
+eyes were filled with incredulous fear. A little current of cool air was
+blowing through the room. The French windows stood half open, and with
+his back to them, a man who had apparently entered the room from the
+gardens and passed noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing
+by the door, listening. They heard him turn the key. Then, in a
+businesslike manner, he returned to the windows and closed them, the
+eyes of the two women following him all the time. Satisfied, apparently,
+with his precautions, he turned towards them just as an expression of
+indignant enquiry broke from Philippa's lips. Helen sprang to her feet,
+and Philippa gripped the sides of her chair. The newcomer advanced a few
+steps nearer to them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual silence
+was, that in those few seconds they jointly conceived definite and
+lasting impressions of the man who was to become, during the next few
+weeks, an object of the deepest concern to both of them. The intruder
+was slightly built, of little more than medium height, of dark
+complexion, with an almost imperceptible moustache of military pattern,
+black hair dishevelled with the wind, and eyes of almost peculiar
+brightness. He carried himself with an assurance which was somewhat
+remarkable considering the condition of his torn and mud stained
+clothes, the very quality of which was almost undistinguishable. They
+both, curiously enough, formed the same instinctive conviction that,
+notwithstanding his tramplike appearance and his burglarious entrance,
+this was not a person to be greatly feared.
+
+The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and opened
+the conversation with some ceremony.
+
+"Ladies," he began, with a low bow, "in the first place let me offer
+my most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance to your
+house."
+
+Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him. The firelight
+played upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness
+from her face. Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had almost
+the appearance of a framed cameo. Her voice was quite steady, although
+its inflection betrayed some indignation.
+
+"Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+extraordinary behaviour?" she demanded.
+
+"It is my earnest intention to do so without delay," he assured her, his
+eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa. "Kindly pardon me."
+
+He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell, had
+made a stealthy attempt to slip past him. Her eyes flashed as she felt
+his fingers upon her arm.
+
+"How dare you attempt to stop me!" she exclaimed.
+
+"My dear Miss Fairclough," he remonstrated, "in the interests of all
+of us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+conversation. I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure of
+addressing Miss Fairclough?"
+
+There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in its
+way, impressive yet irritating. Helen appeared bereft of words and
+retreated to her place almost mildly. Philippa's very delicate eyebrows
+were drawn together in a slight frown.
+
+"You are acquainted with our names, then?"
+
+"Perfectly," was the suave reply. "You, I presume, are Lady Cranston? I
+may be permitted to add," he went on, looking at her steadfastly, "that
+the description from which I recognise you does you less than justice."
+
+"I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent," Philippa
+told him coldly.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders. There was a slight smile upon his lips and
+his eyes twinkled.
+
+"Alas!" he murmured, "for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+circumstances of our meeting. Permit me to offer you what I trust you
+will accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction."
+
+"A letter of introduction," Philippa repeated, glancing at his
+disordered clothes, "and you come in through the window!"
+
+"Believe me," the intruder assured her, "it was the only way."
+
+"Perhaps you will tell me, then," Philippa demanded, her anger gradually
+giving way to bewilderment, "what is wrong with my front door?"
+
+"For all I know, dear lady," the newcomer confessed, "yours may be
+an excellent front door. I would ask you, however, to consider my
+appearance. I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of my
+journey in somewhat ignominious fashion. My clothes--they were quite
+nice clothes, too, when I started," he added, looking down at himself
+ruefully--"have suffered. And, as you perceive, I have lost my hat."
+
+"Your hat?" Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+
+"Precisely! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging
+to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes,
+and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an
+explanation which I thought better avoided. I make myself quite clear, I
+trust?"
+
+"Clear?" Philippa murmured helplessly.
+
+"Clear?" Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+
+"I mean, of course," their visitor explained, "so far as regards my
+choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house."
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the
+bell. The intruder, however, barred her way. She looked up into his
+face and found it difficult to maintain her indignation. His expression,
+besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a respectful admiration.
+
+"Will you please let me pass?" she insisted.
+
+"Madam," he replied, "I am afraid that it is your intention to ring the
+bell."
+
+"Of course it is," she admitted. "Don't dare to prevent me."
+
+"Madam, I do not wish to prevent you," he assured her. "A few moments'
+delay--that is all I plead for."
+
+"Will you explain at once, sir," Philippa demanded, "what you mean by
+forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and by
+locking that door?"
+
+"I am most anxious to do so," was the prompt reply. "I am correct, of
+course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston--and you Miss
+Fairclough?" he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them. "A very
+great pleasure! I recognised you both quite easily, you see, from your
+descriptions."
+
+"From our descriptions?" Philippa repeated.
+
+The newcomer bowed.
+
+"The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated, of your
+brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fiance, Miss Fairclough."
+
+"Richard?" Philippa almost shrieked.
+
+"You have seen Dick?" Helen gasped.
+
+The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes. He
+handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+
+"My letters of introduction," he explained, with a little sigh of
+relief. "I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to have
+some tea. I am almost starving."
+
+The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+
+"One moment, I beg," their visitor interposed. "I have established, I
+trust, my credentials. May I remind you that I was compelled to ensure
+the safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by locking that
+door. Are you likely to be disturbed?"
+
+"No, no! No chance at all," Philippa assured him.
+
+"If we are, we'll explain," Helen promised.
+
+"In that case," the intruder begged, "perhaps you will excuse me."
+
+He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew the
+curtains carefully across the French windows. Afterwards he made his way
+towards the tea-table. A little throbbing cry had broken from Helen's
+lips.
+
+"Philippa," she exclaimed, "it's from Dick! It's Dick's handwriting!"
+
+Philippa's reply was incoherent. She was tearing open her own envelope.
+With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these communications seized a
+sandwich in one hand and poured himself out some tea with the other. He
+ate and drank with the restraint of good-breeding, but with a voracity
+which gave point to his plea of starvation. A few yards away, the
+breathless silence between the two women had given place to an almost
+hysterical series of disjointed exclamations.
+
+"It's from Dick!" Helen repeated. "It's his own dear handwriting. How
+shaky it is! He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a friend."
+
+"I know--I know," Philippa murmured tremulously. "Our parcels have been
+discovered, and he got them all at once. Just fancy, Helen, he's really
+not so ill, after all!"
+
+They drew a little closer together.
+
+"You read yours out first," Helen proposed, "and then I'll read mine."
+
+Philippa nodded. Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+
+  MY DEAREST SISTER,
+
+  I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+  really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+  but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+  friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+  heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+  that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+  me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+  promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+
+  You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+  man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+
+  Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+  all the difference.
+
+  My love to you and to Henry.
+                                 Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
+
+  P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+  scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+  hope he came out all right.
+
+Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her
+teeth as though determined to ignore it.
+
+"Isn't it wonderful!" she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with glowing
+eyes. "Now yours, dear?"
+
+Helen's voice trembled as she read. Her eyes, too, at times were misty:
+
+  DEAREST,
+
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+
+                                               Always your lover,
+                                                       DICK.
+
+There were a few moments of significant silence. The girls were leaning
+together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads almost
+touching. Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and drink. He rose
+at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and coughed. They started,
+suddenly remembering his presence. Philippa turned impulsively towards
+him with outstretched hands.
+
+"I can't tell you how thankful we are to you," she declared.
+
+"Both of us," Helen echoed.
+
+He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+tea-table.
+
+"You permit?" he asked.
+
+"Of course," Philippa assented eagerly. "You will find some matches on
+the tray there. Do please help yourself. I am afraid that I must have
+seemed very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing. Won't you
+have some fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like some more
+sandwiches?"
+
+"Nothing more at present, thank you," he replied. "If you do not mind, I
+would rather continue our conversation."
+
+"These letters are wonderful," Philippa told him gratefully. "You know
+from whom they come, of course. Dick is my twin brother, and until the
+war we had scarcely ever been parted. Miss Fairclough here is engaged
+to be married to him. It is quite two months since we had a line, and
+I myself have been in London for the last three days, three very weary
+days, making enquiries everywhere."
+
+"I am very happy," he said, "to have brought you such good news."
+
+Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose itself
+upon the two women. They remembered the locked door, the secrecy of
+their visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+
+"May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?" Philippa
+enquired.
+
+"My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham," was the suave reply.
+
+"For the present?" Philippa repeated. "You have perhaps, some
+explanations to make," she went on, with some hesitation; "the condition
+of your clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?"
+
+"With your permission."
+
+"One moment," Helen intervened eagerly. "Is it possible, Mr. Lessingham,
+that you have seen Major Felstead lately?"
+
+"A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough. I am happy to tell
+you that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite reasonably
+well."
+
+Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came over
+to their visitor's side.
+
+"This was taken just before he went out the first time," she continued.
+"Is he anything like that now?"
+
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+
+"You must expect," he warned her, "that prison and hospital have had
+their effect upon him. He was gaining strength every day, however, when
+I left."
+
+Philippa held out her hand. She had been looking curiously at their
+visitor.
+
+"Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us about
+Dick," she insisted. "First there are some questions which I must ask."
+
+He bowed slightly and drew himself up. For a moment it seemed as though
+they were entering upon a duel--the slight, beautiful woman and the man
+in rags.
+
+"Just now," she began, "you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+brother, fifty-six hours ago."
+
+"That is so," he assented.
+
+"But it is impossible!" she pointed out. "My brother is a prisoner of
+war in Germany."
+
+"Precisely," he replied, "and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp. Let us talk about him,
+shall we?"
+
+"Are you mad," Helen demanded, "or are you trying to confuse us?"
+
+"My dear young lady!" he protested. "Why suppose such a thing? I was
+flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were, under the
+circumstances, perfectly rational."
+
+"But you are talking nonsense," Philippa insisted. "You say that you saw
+Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago. You cannot mean us to believe that
+fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg."
+
+"That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you," he agreed.
+
+"But it isn't possible!" Helen gasped.
+
+"Quite, I assure you," he continued; "in fact, we should have been
+here before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along the
+coast. There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here, which we were
+credibly informed had once been fired without the slightest accident."
+
+Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+
+"He's raving!" she decided.
+
+"He isn't!" Helen cried, with sudden divination. "Is that your hat?" she
+asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+
+"It is," he admitted with a smile, "but I do not think that I will claim
+it."
+
+"You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!"
+
+Lessingham extended his hand.
+
+"Softly, please," he begged. "You have, I gather, arrived at the
+truth, but for the moment shall it be our secret? I made an exceedingly
+uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the Zeppelin which
+passed over Dutchman's Common last night."
+
+"Then," Philippa cried, "you are a German!"
+
+"My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune," Lessingham confessed.
+"Do you think that none other than Germans ride in Zeppelins?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation. The
+conversation, never without its emotional tendencies, at once changed
+its character. Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat lurking all
+the time in her tone and manner, became its guiding spirit.
+
+"We may enquire your name?" she asked.
+
+"I am the Baron Maderstrom," was the prompt reply. "For the purpose of
+my brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the name of
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment."
+
+"Maderstrom," Philippa repeated. "You were at Magdalen with my brother."
+
+"For three terms," he assented.
+
+"You have visited at Wood Norton. It was only an accident, then, that I
+did not meet you."
+
+"It is true," he answered, with a bow. "I received the most charming
+hospitality there from your father and mother."
+
+"Why, you are the friend," Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his hands,
+"of whom Dick speaks in his letter!"
+
+"It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+Felstead," was the grave admission. "He and I, during our college days,
+were more than ordinarily intimate. I saw his name in one of the lists
+of prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg."
+
+A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa brushed
+her away.
+
+"Please let me speak," she said. "You have brought us these letters from
+Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you did
+not risk your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply as
+his ambassador. There is something beyond this in your visit to this
+country. You may be a Swede, but is it not true that at the present
+moment you are in the service of an enemy?"
+
+Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+
+"You are entirely right," he murmured.
+
+"Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask of us?"
+
+"Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration," Lessingham assured
+her. "I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for those which I
+have rendered and those which I may yet render to your brother."
+
+"And that favour?"
+
+Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+
+"A suit of your brother's clothes," he replied, "and a room in which
+to change. The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to your
+ingenuity."
+
+"Anything else?"
+
+"It is my wish," he continued, "to remain in this neighbourhood for a
+short time--perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month. I should value your
+introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of such hospitality as
+may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances."
+
+"As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+
+"Beyond a doubt."
+
+There was a moment's silence. Philippa's face had become almost stony.
+She took a step towards the telephone. Lessingham, however, held out his
+hand.
+
+"Your purpose?" he enquired.
+
+"I am going to ring up the Commandant here," she told him, "and explain
+your presence in this house."
+
+"An heroic impulse," he observed, "but too impulsive."
+
+"We shall see," she retorted. "Will you let me pass?"
+
+His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+
+"Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you," he suggested. "I am
+here at your mercy. I promise you that under no circumstances will I
+attempt any measure of violence. From any fear of that, I trust my name
+and my friendship with your brother will be sufficient guarantee."
+
+"Continue, then," Philippa assented.
+
+"You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case," he begged.
+
+"We must!" Helen exclaimed. "We must, Philippa! Please!"
+
+"You shall have your ten minutes," Philippa conceded.
+
+He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+hearth-rug, his hands behind him. He addressed himself to Philippa. It
+was Philippa who had become his judge.
+
+"I will claim nothing from you," he began, "for the services which I
+have rendered to Richard. Our friendship was a real thing, and, finding
+him in such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances, have done
+all that I have done. I am well paid for this by the thanks which you
+have already proffered me."
+
+"No thanks--nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+recompense," Helen declared energetically.
+
+"Let me speak for a moment of the future," he continued. "Supposing you
+ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here? Well, that
+will be the end of me, without a doubt. You will have done what seemed
+to you to be the right thing, and I hope that that consciousness will
+sustain you, for, believe me, though it may not be at my will, your
+brother's life will most certainly answer for mine."
+
+There was a slight pause. A sob broke from Helen's throat. Even
+Philippa's lip quivered.
+
+"Forgive me," he went on, "if that sounds like a threat. It was not so
+meant. It is the simple truth. Let me hurry on to the future. I ask so
+little of you. It is my duty to live in this spot for one month. What
+harm can I do? You have no great concentration of soldiers here, no
+docks, no fortifications, no industry. And in return for the slight
+service of allowing me to remain here unmolested, I pledge my word that
+Richard shall be set at liberty and shall be here with you within two
+months."
+
+Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted
+with eagerness. She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her whole
+attitude an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+
+"Philippa, you will not hesitate? You cannot?"
+
+"I must," Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation. "I love Dick
+more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen, we have to
+remember, before everything, that we are English women. We have to
+put our human feelings behind us. We are learning every day to make
+sacrifices. You, too, must learn, dear. My answer to you, Baron
+Maderstrom--or Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call yourself--is no."
+
+"Philippa, you are mad!" Helen exclaimed passionately. "Didn't I have to
+realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully, the day
+after we were engaged? Haven't I realised the duty of cheerfulness and
+sacrifice through all these weary months? But there is a limit to
+these things, Philippa, a sense of proportion which must be taken
+into account. It's Dick's life which is in the balance against some
+intangible thing, nothing that we could ever reproach ourselves with,
+nothing that could bring real harm upon any one. Oh, I love my country,
+too, but I want Dick! I should feel like his murderess all my life, if I
+didn't consent!"
+
+"It occurs to me," Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa, "that
+Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered."
+
+"Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?" Philippa
+demanded, with a little break in her voice. "Richard is my twin brother,
+he is the dearest thing in life to me. Can't you realise, though, that
+what you ask of us is treason?"
+
+"It really doesn't amount to that," Lessingham assured her. "In my own
+heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand. No
+object that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is worth the
+life of a man like Richard Felstead."
+
+"Oh, he's right!" Helen exclaimed. "Think, Philippa! What is there here
+which the whole world might not know? There are no secrets in Dreymarsh.
+We are miles away from everywhere. For my sake, Philippa, I implore you
+not to be unreasonable."
+
+"In plain words," Lessingham intervened, "do not be quixotic, Lady
+Cranston. There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life on the
+other. You see, the scales do not balance."
+
+"Can't you realise, though," Philippa answered, "what that idea
+means? It is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs from a
+principle."
+
+"What are principles against love?" Helen demanded, almost fiercely. "A
+sister may prate about them, Philippa. A wife couldn't. I'd sacrifice
+every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect, myself and all
+that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!"
+
+There was a brief, throbbing silence. Helen was feverishly clutching
+Philippa's hand. Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face
+into which he gazed. There were no women like this in his own country.
+
+"Dear lady," he said, and for the first time his own voice shook, "I
+abandon my arguments. I beg you to act as you think best for your own
+future happiness. The chances of life or death are not great things for
+either men like your brother or for me. I would not purchase my end, nor
+he his life, at the expense of your suffering. You see, I stand on one
+side. The telephone is there for your use."
+
+"You shan't use it!" Helen cried passionately. "Phillipa, you shan't!"
+
+Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone out of
+her face. Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth was twitching
+with emotion. She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+
+"My dear, I can't! I can't!" she sobbed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Philippa's breakdown was only momentary. With a few brusque words
+she brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered
+equanimity.
+
+"To be practical," she began, "we have no time to lose. I will go
+and get a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take Mr.
+Lessingham into the gun room. Afterwards, perhaps you will have time to
+ring up the hotel."
+
+Lessingham took a quick step towards her,--almost as though he were
+about to make some impetuous withdrawal. Philippa turned and met
+his almost pleading gaze. Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+self-abnegation.
+
+"I am in command of the situation," she continued, a little more
+lightly. "Every one must please obey me. I shan't be more than five
+minutes."
+
+She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the door for
+her. He stood for a moment looking at the place where she had vanished.
+Then he turned round.
+
+"Major Felstead's description," he said quietly, "did not do his sister
+justice."
+
+"Philippa is a dear," Helen declared enthusiastically. "Just for a
+moment, though, I was terrified. She has a wonderful will."
+
+"How long has she been married?"
+
+"About six years."
+
+"Are there--any children?"
+
+Helen shook her head.
+
+"Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us."
+
+"Six years!" Lessingham repeated. "Why, she seems no more than a child.
+Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior."
+
+"Sixteen years," Helen told him. "Philippa is twenty-nine. And now,
+don't be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me. I want to show
+you where to change your clothes."
+
+She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a small
+apartment across the passage.
+
+"If you'll wait in there," she begged, "I'll bring the clothes to you
+directly they come. I am going to telephone now."
+
+"So many thanks," he answered. "I should like a pleasant bedroom and
+sitting room, and a bathroom if possible. My luggage you will find
+already there. A friend in London has seen to that."
+
+She looked at him curiously.
+
+"You are very thorough, aren't you?" she remarked.
+
+"The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are," he
+replied. "One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the mightiest
+chain."
+
+She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+
+"Number three, please," she began. "Are you the hotel? The manager?
+Good! I am speaking for Lady Cranston. She wishes a sitting-room,
+bedroom and bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving
+to-day--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham. You have his luggage already, I believe.
+Please do the best you can for him.--Certainly.--Thank you very much."
+
+She set down the receiver. The door was quickly opened and shut.
+Philippa reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+
+"Why, you've brought his grey suit," Helen cried in dismay, "the one he
+looks so well in!"
+
+"Don't be an idiot," Philippa scoffed. "I had to bring the first I could
+find. Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's sake see that he
+hurries! Henry's train is due, and he may be here at any moment."
+
+"I'll tell him," Helen promised. "I'll smuggle him out of the back way,
+if you like."
+
+Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+
+"A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!" she
+observed. "No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes, but, if
+the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and introduce him. Henry
+isn't likely to notice anything," she added, a little bitterly.
+
+Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+
+"You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?" the former asked
+anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," Philippa replied, without turning her head. "I don't
+know what may come of it, Helen. I have a queer sort of feeling about
+that man."
+
+Helen sighed. "I suppose," she confessed, "I am the narrowest person on
+earth. I can think of one thing, and one thing only. If Mr. Lessingham
+keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a month, perhaps six
+weeks--certainly soon!"
+
+"He will keep his word," Philippa said quietly. "He is that sort of
+man."
+
+The door on the other side of the room was softly opened. Lessingham's
+head appeared.
+
+"Could I have a necktie?" he asked diffidently. Philippa stretched out
+her hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+
+"Better give him this," she said, handing it over to Helen. "It is one
+of Henry's which I was mending.--Stop!"
+
+She put up her finger. They all listened.
+
+"The car!" Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet. "That is
+Henry! Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen," she continued, "and wait
+until he is ready. Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller, and bring
+him in presently."
+
+Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+
+Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door. In a moment it was
+thrown open. Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+
+"I went to meet him, Mummy," she explained. "No uniform--isn't it a
+shame!"
+
+Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife. There was
+a shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather
+hesitating approach.
+
+"Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil," he told her. "I had to make a
+call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street. Any luck?"
+
+She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+
+"Henry," she said earnestly, "do you know I am so much more anxious to
+hear your news."
+
+"Mine will keep," he replied. "What about Richard?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I spent the whole of my time making enquiries," she sighed, "and every
+one was fruitless. I failed to get the least satisfaction from any one
+at the War Office. They know nothing, have heard nothing."
+
+"I'm ever so sorry to hear it," Sir Henry declared sympathetically. "You
+mustn't worry too much, though, dear. Where's Helen?"
+
+"She is in the gun room with a caller."
+
+"With a caller?" Nora exclaimed. "Is it any one from the Depot? I must
+go and see."
+
+"You needn't trouble," her stepmother replied. "Here they are, coming
+in."
+
+The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and Hamar
+Lessingham and Helen entered together. Lessingham was entirely at his
+ease,--their conversation, indeed, seemed almost engrossing. He came at
+once across the room on realising Sir Henry's presence.
+
+"This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham--my husband," Philippa said. "Mr.
+Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and he
+have been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences."
+
+The two men shook hands.
+
+"I found time also to examine your Leech prints," Lessingham remarked.
+"You have some very admirable examples."
+
+"Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days," Sir Henry admitted. "One
+or two of them are very good, I believe. Are you staying in these parts
+long, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"Perhaps for a week or two," was the somewhat indifferent reply. "I am
+told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I have come
+down here to pull up again after a slight illness."
+
+"A dreary spot just now," Sir Henry observed, "but the air's all right.
+Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"I have done a little of it," the visitor confessed. Sir Henry's face
+lit up. He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+
+"I don't mind telling you," he confided as he cut the string, "that I
+don't think there's another sport like it in the world. I have tried
+most of them, too. When I was a boy I was all for shooting, perhaps
+because I could never get enough. Then I had a season or two at Melton,
+though I was never much of a horseman. But for real, unadulterated
+excitement, for sport that licks everything else into a cocked hat, give
+me a strong sea rod, a couple of traces, just enough sea to keep on the
+bottom all the time, and the codling biting. Look here, did you ever see
+a mackerel spinner like that?" he added, drawing one out of the parcel
+which he had untied. "Look at it, all of you."
+
+Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers. Philippa, a little
+ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a
+newspaper.
+
+"Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of sport
+just now," Sir Henry explained good-humouredly. "All the same I argue
+that one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or other."
+
+"Quite right, Dad!" Nora agreed. "We must carry on, as the Colonel says.
+All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval uniform, with
+lots of gold braid on your sleeve. I think they might have made you an
+admiral, Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge."
+
+"I am afraid," her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the spinner
+which Lessingham was holding, "that that is a consideration which didn't
+seem to weigh with them much. Look at the glitter of it," he went on,
+taking up another of the spinners. "You see, it's got a double swivel,
+and they guarantee six hundred revolutions a minute."
+
+"I must plead ignorance," Lessingham regretted, "of everything connected
+with mackerel spinning."
+
+"It's fine sport for a change," Sir Henry declared. "The only thing is
+that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars in.
+By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa? Have you heard whether
+there are any mackerel in?"
+
+Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+
+"Mackerel!" she repeated sarcastically.
+
+"Have you any objection to the fish, dear?" Sir Henry enquired blandly.
+
+Philippa made no reply. Her husband frowned and turned towards
+Lessingham.
+
+"You see," he complained a little irritably, "my wife doesn't approve of
+my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but, hang it
+all, what are you to do when you reach my age? Thinks I ought to be a
+special constable, don't you, Philippa?"
+
+"Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?" she asked, without looking
+up from her paper.
+
+Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+
+"See something more of you, I hope," Sir Henry remarked hospitably, as
+he conducted his guest to the door. "Where are you staying here?"
+
+"At the hotel."
+
+"Which?"
+
+"I did not understand that there was more than one," Lessingham replied.
+"I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh."
+
+"There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa
+observed, turning towards him. "Why do you ask such an absurd question,
+Henry? The 'Grand' is full of soldiers. Come and see us whenever you
+feel inclined, Mr. Lessingham."
+
+"I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,"
+were the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself out.
+
+Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda. Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though waiting
+patiently for his return. Helen and Nora had already obeyed the summons
+of the dressing bell.
+
+"Henry, I want to hear your news," she insisted. He threw himself into
+an easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's workbasket.
+
+"Where's that tie of mine you were mending?" he asked. "Is it finished
+yet?"
+
+"It is upstairs somewhere," she replied. "No, I have not finished it.
+Why do you ask? You have plenty, haven't you?"
+
+"Drawers full," he admitted cheerfully. "Half of them I can never wear,
+though. I like that black and white fellow. Your friend Lessingham was
+wearing one exactly like it."
+
+"It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"Seems to have the family taste in clothes," Sir Henry continued,
+stroking his chin. "That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the same
+pattern as the suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw him in
+mufti."
+
+"They probably go to the same tailor," Philippa remarked equably.
+
+Sir Henry abandoned the subject. He was once more engrossed in an
+examination of the mackerel spinners.
+
+"You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble," he ventured
+presently.
+
+Philippa turned and looked at him. Her eyes were usually very sweet and
+soft and her mouth delightful. Just at that moment, however, there were
+new and very firm lines in her face.
+
+"Henry," she said sternly, "you are purposely fencing with me. Mr.
+Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and goings, are
+not what I want to hear or talk about. You went to London, unwillingly
+enough, to keep your promise to me. I want to know whether you have
+succeeded in getting anything from the Admiralty?"
+
+"Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear," he answered with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?" she
+persisted. "You may have been out of the service too long for them to
+start you with a modern ship, but surely they could have given you an
+auxiliary cruiser, or a secondary command of some sort?"
+
+"They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear," he confessed. "My name's on
+a list, they said--"
+
+"Oh, that list!" Philippa interrupted angrily. "Henry, I really can't
+bear it. Couldn't they find you anything on land?"
+
+"My dear girl," he replied a little testily, "what sort of a figure
+should I cut in an office! No one can read my writing, and I couldn't
+add up a column of figures to save my life. What is it?" he added, as
+the door opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+
+"Dumble is here to see you, sir."
+
+"Show him in at once," his master directed with alacrity. "Come in,
+Jimmy," he went on, raising his voice. "I've got something to show you
+here."
+
+Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together. She swept past her
+husband on her way to the door.
+
+"I hope you will be so good," she said, looking back, "as to spare me
+half an hour of your valuable time this evening. This is a subject which
+I must discuss with you further at once."
+
+"As urgent as all that, eh?" Sir Henry replied, stopping to light a
+cigarette. "Righto! You can have the whole of my evening, dear, with the
+greatest of pleasure.--Now then, Jimmy!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity for
+silence. He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his hat in
+his hand. Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did not for a moment
+address his visitor. There was a subtle but unmistakable change in his
+appearance as he stood with his hands in his pockets, and a frown on
+his forehead, whistling softly to himself, his eyes fixed upon the door
+through which his wife had vanished. He swung round at last towards the
+telephone.
+
+"Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?" he directed.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+Sir Henry took up the receiver. He dropped his voice a little, although
+it was none the less distinct.
+
+"Number one--police-station, please.--Hullo there! The inspector
+about?--That you, Inspector?--Sir Henry Cranston speaking. Could you
+just step round?--Good! Tell them to show you straight into the library.
+You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights, eh? Thank you."
+
+He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+
+"Well, Jimmy," he enquired, "all serene down in the village, eh?"
+
+"So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke as
+shouldn't be."
+
+"A lazy lot they are," Sir Henry observed.
+
+"They don't look far beyond the end of their noses."
+
+"Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't," was the cautious reply.
+
+Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Jimmy," he admitted.
+
+"That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with ideas."
+
+"He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble," Dumble
+declared. "He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know he
+put Grice's lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday week,
+but that don't amount to anything. He was dead drunk for three days
+afterwards."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy," he confided, as he threw
+open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the further wall.
+"No strangers about, eh?"
+
+"Not a sign of one, sir."
+
+Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+
+"Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?" his visitor asked.
+
+"I don't think it is necessary," Sir Henry replied. "They've all gone up
+to change. Now listen to me, Jimmy."
+
+He leaned forward and touched a spring. The false back of the cabinet,
+with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks and tackle,
+slowly rolled back. Before them stood a huge chart, wonderfully executed
+in red, white and yellow.
+
+"That's a marvellous piece of work, sir," the fisherman observed
+admiringly.
+
+"Best thing I ever did in my life," Sir Henry agreed. "Now see here,
+Jimmy. We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat, according to the
+wind. We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass Dead Man's Rock on the
+left side of the waterway, and keep straight on until we get Budden Wood
+on the church tower. You follow me?"
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+"We make for the headland from there. You see, we shall be outside the
+Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up. Put all the fishing
+tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait. We must never lose sight
+of the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our lives is to catch fish."
+
+"That's right, sir," was the hearty assent.
+
+"We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then," Sir Henry decided.
+
+"The tide'll be on the flow by that time," Jimmy observed, "and we'll
+get off from the staith breakwater. That do be a fine piece of work and
+no mistake," he added, as the false back of the cabinet glided slowly to
+its place.
+
+Sir Henry chuckled.
+
+"It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy," he said.
+"I've got the seaweed on that, pretty well. You'll take a drop of whisky
+on your way out?" he added. "Mills will look after you."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir."
+
+Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+
+"The inspector is here to see you, sir," he announced. "He did mention
+something about the lights. I'm sure we've all been most careful. Even
+her ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom."
+
+"Show the inspector in," Sir Henry directed, "and I'll hear what he has
+to say. And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a cigar."
+
+"Wishing you good night, sir," the latter said, as he followed Mills.
+"I'll be punctual in the morning. Looks to me as though we might have
+good sport."
+
+"We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy," his employer replied cheerfully.
+"Come in, Inspector."
+
+The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+attention. Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door. He
+remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+
+"Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector," he observed, sitting on the
+edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette. "Any fresh
+arrivals?"
+
+"None, sir," the man reported, "of any consequence that I can see. There
+are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady for the
+Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night. There was
+a commercial traveller came in the first train this morning, but he went
+on during the afternoon."
+
+"Hm! What about a Mr. Lessingham--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+
+"I haven't heard of him, sir."
+
+"Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?"
+
+"Not this evening, sir. I met the Midland and Great Northern train in
+myself. Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here."
+
+"And I came the other way myself," Sir Henry reflected.
+
+"Now you come to mention the matter, sir," the inspector continued,
+"I was up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about
+addressed to a name somewhat similar to that."
+
+"Probably sent on in advance, eh?"
+
+"There could be no other way, sir," the inspector replied, "unless the
+registration paper has been mislaid. I'll step up to the hotel this
+evening and make sure."
+
+"You'll oblige me very much, if you will. By Jove," Sir Henry added,
+looking towards the door, "I'd no idea it was so late!"
+
+Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black net
+gown, was standing in the doorway. She looked at the inspector, and for
+a moment the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+
+"Is anything the matter?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+"Nothing in the world, my dear," her husband assured her. "I am
+frightfully sorry I'm so late. Jimmy stayed some time, and then the
+inspector here looked in about our lights. Just a little more care in
+this room at night, he thinks. We'll see to it, Inspector."
+
+"I am very much obliged, sir," the man replied. "Sorry to be under the
+necessity of mentioning it."
+
+Sir Henry opened the door.
+
+"You'll find your own way out, won't you?" he begged. "I'm a little
+late."
+
+The inspector saluted and withdrew. Sir Henry glanced round.
+
+"I won't be ten minutes, Philippa," he promised. "I had no idea it was
+so late."
+
+"Come here one moment, please," she insisted.
+
+He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small
+table near which she had paused.
+
+"What is it, dear?" he enquired. "We are going to leave our talk till
+after dinner, aren't we?"
+
+She looked him in the face. There was an anxious light in her eyes, and
+she was certainly not herself. "Of course! I only wanted to know--it
+seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to the
+inspector, as I came into the room. Are you sure that it was the lights
+he came around about? There isn't anything else wrong, is there?"
+
+"What else could there be?" he asked wonderingly.
+
+"I have no idea," she replied, with well-simulated indifference. "I was
+only asking you whether there was anything else?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+
+"Thank you," she said. "Do hurry, please. I have a new cook and she
+asked particularly whether we were punctual people."
+
+"Six minutes will see me through it," Sir Henry promised, making for the
+door. "Come to think of it, I missed my lunch. I think I'll manage it in
+five."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening. The new
+cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having dined
+exceedingly well. He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before a blazing
+wood fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of cigarettes, and
+his wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few feet away.
+
+"Quite a remarkable change in Helen," he observed. "She was in the
+depths of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems positively
+cheerful."
+
+"Helen varies a great deal," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found her
+more depressed than ever," Sir Henry went on. "She hoped so much from
+your trip to London, and you apparently accomplished nothing."
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"And you have had no letters?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's natural
+inconsistency.--Philippa, dear!"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I am glad to be at home. I am glad to see you sitting there. I know you
+are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch at me. Won't
+you launch it and let's get it over?"
+
+Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned to
+face her husband. He made a little grimace.
+
+"Don't look so severe," he begged. "You frighten me before you begin."
+
+"I'm sorry," she said, "but my face probably reflects my feelings. I am
+hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry."
+
+"That's a good start, anyway," he groaned.
+
+"We have been married six years," Philippa went on, "and I admit at once
+that I have been very happy. Then the war came. You know quite well,
+Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very fond of you, yet
+it never occurred to me for a moment but that, like every other woman, I
+should have to lose my husband for a time.--Stop, please," she insisted,
+as he showed signs of interrupting. "I know quite well that it was
+through my persuasions you retired so early, but in those days there was
+no thought of war, and I always had it in my mind that if trouble came
+you would find your way back to where you belonged."
+
+"But, my dear child, that is all very well," Sir Henry protested, "but
+it's not so easy to get back again. You know very well that I went up to
+the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the war started."
+
+"Yes, and what happened?" Philippa demanded. "You were, in a measure,
+shelved. You were put on a list and told that you would hear from
+them--a sort of Micawber-like situation with which you were perfectly
+satisfied. Then you took that moor up in Scotland and disappeared for
+nearly six months."
+
+"I was supplying the starving population with food," he reminded her
+genially. "We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market, not to
+speak of the salmon. We had some very fair golf, too, some of the time."
+
+"Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your diversions!"
+Philippa said scornfully. "Sometimes," she continued, "I wonder whether
+you are quite responsible, Henry. How you can even talk of these things
+when every man of your age and strength is fighting one way or another
+for his country, seems marvellous to me. Do you realise that we are
+fighting for our very existence? Do you realise that my own father, who
+is fifteen years older than you, is in the firing line? This is a small
+place, of course, but there isn't a man left in it of your age, with
+your physique, who has had the slightest experience in either service,
+who isn't doing something."
+
+"I can't do more than send in applications," he grumbled. "Be
+reasonable, my dear Philippa. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to
+find a job for a sailor who has been out of it as long as I have."
+
+"So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all did
+in London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there is
+generally a polite little silence. No one believes it. I don't believe
+it."
+
+"Philippa!"
+
+Sir Henry turned in his chair. His cigar was burning now idly between
+his fingers. His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+
+"Well, I don't," she reiterated. "You can be angry, if you will--in
+fact I think I should prefer you to be angry. You take no pains at
+the Admiralty. You just go there and come away again, once a year or
+something like that. Why, if I were you, I wouldn't leave the place
+until they'd found me something--indoors or outdoors, what does it
+matter so long as your hand is on the wheel and you are doing your
+little for your country? But you--what do you care? You went to town
+to get a job--and you come back with new mackerel spinners! You are off
+fishing to-morrow morning with Jimmy Dumble. Somewhere up in the North
+Sea, to-day and to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives
+for their country. What do you care? You will sit there smoking your
+pipe and catching dabs!"
+
+"Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?" her husband said
+quietly.
+
+"I want to be," she retorted. "I should like you to feel that I am. In
+any case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall hold with
+you on the subject."
+
+"Well, thank God for that, anyway!" he observed, strolling to the
+chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack. "I think you've said
+about enough."
+
+"I haven't finished," she told him ominously.
+
+"Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over," he
+begged.
+
+"Oh, you're impossible!" Philippa exclaimed bitterly. "Listen. I give
+you one chance more. Tell me the truth? Is there anything in your
+health of which I do not know? Is there any possible explanation of your
+extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason or other, you have kept
+to yourself? Give me your whole confidence."
+
+Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough. He stood looking down at
+her a little wistfully.
+
+"My dear," he told her, "I have nothing to say except this. You are my
+very precious wife. I have loved you and trusted you since the day of
+our marriage. I am content to go on loving and trusting you, even though
+things should come under my notice which I do not understand. Can't you
+accept me the same way?"
+
+Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+
+"Accept you the same way? How can I! There is nothing in my life to
+compare in any way with the tragedy of your--"
+
+She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence. He waited
+patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+
+"Of my what?"
+
+Philippa compromised.
+
+"Lethargy," she pronounced triumphantly.
+
+"An excellent word," he murmured.
+
+"It is too mild a one, but you are my husband," she remarked.
+
+"That reminds me," he said quietly. "You are my wife."
+
+"I know it," she admitted, "but I am also a woman, and there are limits
+to my endurance. If you can give me no explanation of your behaviour,
+Henry, if you really have no intention of changing it, then there is
+only one course left open for me."
+
+"That sounds rather alarming--what is it?" he demanded.
+
+Philippa lifted her head a little. This was the pronouncement towards
+which she had been leading.
+
+"From to-day," she declared, "I cease to be your wife."
+
+His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he was
+filling his pipe. He turned and looked at her.
+
+"You what?"
+
+"I cease to be your wife."
+
+"How do you manage that?" he asked.
+
+"Don't jest," she begged. "It hurts me so. What I mean is surely plain
+enough. I will continue to live under your roof if you wish it, or I
+am perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton. I will continue to bear
+your name because I must, but the other ties between us are finished."
+
+"You don't mean this, Philippa," he said gravely.
+
+"But I do mean it," she insisted. "I mean every word I have spoken. So
+far as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance."
+
+There was a knock at the door. Mills entered with a note upon a salver.
+Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife, and tore open
+the envelope.
+
+"There will be no answer, Mills," he said.
+
+The man withdrew. Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:--
+
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+  SIR,
+
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+
+                                           Respectfully yours,
+                                              JOHN HAYLOCK.
+
+"Is your note of interest?" Philippa enquired.
+
+"In a sense, yes," he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat pocket.
+"I presume we can consider our late subject of conversation finished
+with?"
+
+"I have nothing more to say," she pronounced.
+
+"Very well, then," her husband agreed, "let us select another topic.
+This time, supposing I choose?"
+
+"You are welcome."
+
+"Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+Philippa had taken up her work. Her fingers ceased their labours, but
+she did not look up.
+
+"About Mr. Hamar Lessingham," she repeated. "Rather a limited subject, I
+am afraid."
+
+"I am not so sure," he said thoughtfully. "For instance, who is he?"
+
+"I have no idea," she replied. "Does it matter? He was at college with
+Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton. That is all that
+we know. Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any reasonable
+hospitality?"
+
+"I am not disputing it," Sir Henry assured her. "On the face of it, it
+seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him. On the other
+hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his coming here
+just now."
+
+"Really?" Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower over
+her work.
+
+"In the first place," her husband continued, "how did he arrive here?"
+
+"For all I know," she replied, "he may have walked."
+
+"A little unlikely. Still, he didn't come from London by either of the
+evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for him
+until about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to the
+hotel. So, you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief he did get
+here."
+
+"I took his rooms?" Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch at her
+heart.
+
+"Some one from here rang up, didn't they?" Sir Henry went on carelessly.
+"I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel."
+
+"Where did you hear that?" she demanded.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+
+"I have no doubt," he continued, "that the whole subject of Mr. Hamar
+Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing. Yet he does seem to have
+arrived here under a little halo of coincidence."
+
+"I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that," Philippa remarked; "in
+fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing in the
+world. After all, although one scarcely remembers that since the war,
+this is a health resort, and the man has been ill."
+
+"Quite right," Sir Henry agreed. "You are not going to bed, dear?"
+
+Philippa had folded up her work. She stood for a moment upon the
+hearth-rug. The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+
+"May I say just one word more," she begged, "about our previous--our
+only serious subject of conversation? I have tried my best since we were
+married, Henry, to make you happy."
+
+"You know quite well," he assured her, "that you have succeeded."
+
+"Grant me one favour, then," she pleaded. "Give up your fishing
+expedition to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let me
+write to Lord Rayton. I am sure he would do something for you."
+
+"Of course he'd do something!" Her husband groaned. "I should get a
+censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth."
+
+"Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?" she asked,
+"than go on living the life you are living now?"
+
+"To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't," he declared
+bluntly. "What on earth use should I be in a land appointment? Why, no
+one could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely out of
+date. Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time."
+
+"You refuse to let me write, then?" she persisted.
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Wouldn't miss it for anything," he confessed.
+
+Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+
+"Henry, I've finished," she declared, holding out her hand to keep
+him away from her. "I've finished with you entirely. I would rather be
+married to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his country than to
+you. What I have said, I mean. Don't come near me. Don't try to touch
+me."
+
+She swept past him on her way to the door.
+
+"Not even a good-night kiss?" he asked, stooping down.
+
+She looked him in the eyes.
+
+"I am not a child," she said scornfully.
+
+He closed the door after her. For a moment he remained as though
+undecided whether to follow or not. His face had softened with her
+absence. Finally, however, he turned away with a little shrug of
+the shoulders, threw himself into his easy-chair and began to smoke
+furiously.
+
+The telephone bell disturbed his reflection. He rose at once and took up
+the receiver.
+
+"Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh. Trunk call? All right, I am here."
+
+He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+
+"Cranston?"
+
+"Speaking."
+
+"That's right. The message is Odino Berry, you understand? O-d-i-n-o
+b-e-r-r-y."
+
+"I've got it," Sir Henry replied. "Good night!" He hung up the receiver,
+crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers, and produced
+a black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock. He drew a key from
+his watch chain, opened the book, and ran his fingers down the O's.
+
+"Odino," he muttered to himself. "Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+information from Berlin.' Now Berry." He turned back. "'You are being
+watched by an enemy secret service agent.'"
+
+He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk. Then he
+strolled over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and soda
+from the tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+
+"We have trustworthy information from Berlin," he repeated to himself,
+"that you are being watched by an enemy secret service agent."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa insisted, "exactly what are you
+thinking of? You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below that
+I've climbed up on purpose to ask you."
+
+Lessingham held out his hand to steady her. They were standing on
+a sharp spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces,
+thrashing into little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which the
+twilight was already resting. For a moment or two neither of them could
+speak.
+
+"I was thinking of my country," he confessed. "I was looking through the
+shadows there, right across the North Sea."
+
+"To Germany?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Further away--to Sweden."
+
+"I forgot," she murmured. "You looked as though you were posing for a
+statue of some one in exile," she observed. "Come, let us go a little
+lower down--unless you want to stay here and be blown to pieces."
+
+"I was on my way back to the hotel," he answered quickly, as he followed
+her lead, "but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little lonely."
+
+"That," she declared, "is your own fault. I asked you to come to
+Mainsail Haul whenever you felt inclined."
+
+"As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived," he remarked
+with a smile, "you might, perhaps, by this time have had a little too
+much of me."
+
+"On the contrary," she told him, "I quite expected you yesterday
+afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been
+doing. So you were thinking about--over there?" she added, moving her
+head seawards.
+
+"Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts," he confessed, "and
+the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks."
+
+"Well, I should like to hear about the first half," she insisted.
+
+"Do you know," he replied, "there are times when even now this war seems
+to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading about,
+some wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable poets. I
+can't believe that millions of the flower of Germany's manhood and
+yours have perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly. And France--poor
+decimated France!"
+
+"Well, Germany started the war, you know," she reminded him.
+
+"Did she?" he answered. "I sometimes wonder. Even now I fancy, if the
+official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side, with their
+own case stated from their own point of view, even you might feel a
+little confused about that. Still, I am going to be very honest with
+you. I think myself that Germany wanted war."
+
+"There you are, then," she declared triumphantly. "The whole thing is
+her responsibility."
+
+"I do not quite go so far as that," he protested. "You see, the world is
+governed by great natural laws. As a snowball grows larger with rolling,
+so it takes up more room. As a child grows out of its infant clothes, it
+needs the vestments of a youth and then a man. And so with Germany. She
+grew and grew until the country could not hold her children, until her
+banks could not contain her money, until she stretched her arms out on
+every side and felt herself stifled. Germany came late into the world
+and found it parcelled out, but had she not a right to her place? She
+made herself great. She needed space."
+
+"Well," Philippa observed, "you couldn't suppose that other nations
+were going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their
+possessions, could you?"
+
+"Perhaps not," he admitted. "And yet, you see, the immutable law comes
+in here. The stronger must possess--not only the stronger by arms,
+mind, but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in science, by
+utilitarianism. The really cruel part, the part I was thinking of then,
+as I looked out across the sea, is that this crude and miserable resort
+to arms should be necessary."
+
+"If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as
+you," Philippa sighed, "one feels that there might be some hope for the
+future!"
+
+"I am not alone," he assured her, "but, you see, all over Germany there
+is spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen--devotion
+to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser. Independent thought
+has made Germany great in science, in political economy, in economics.
+But independent thought is never turned towards her political destinies.
+Those are shaped for her. For good or for evil her children have learnt
+obedience."
+
+They were descending the hillside now. At their feet lay the little
+town, black and silent.
+
+"You have helped me to understand a little," Philippa said. "You put
+things so gently and yet so clearly. Now tell me, will you not, how it
+is that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for Germany?"
+
+"That is very simple," he confessed. "My mother was a German, and when
+she died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a very
+considerable fortune. These I could never have inherited unless I
+had chosen to do my military service in Germany. My family is an
+impoverished one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent upon me.
+Under the circumstances, hesitation on my part was impossible."
+
+"But when the war came?" she queried.
+
+He looked at her in surprise.
+
+"What was there left for me then?" he demanded. "Naturally I heard
+nothing but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey. I was in that
+mad rush through Belgium. I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else I should
+have followed hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat of yours.
+As it was, I lay for many months in hospital. I joined again--shall I
+confess it?--almost unwillingly. The bloodthirstiness of it all sickened
+me. I fought at Ypres, but I think that it was something of the courage
+of despair, of black misery. I was wounded again and decorated. I
+suppose I shall never be fit for the front again. I tried to turn to
+account some of my knowledge of England and English life. Then they sent
+me here."
+
+"Here, of all places in the world!" Philippa repeated wonderingly.
+"Just look at us! We have a single line of railway, a perfectly
+straightforward system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers being
+trained, no mysteries, no industries--nothing. What terrible scheme are
+you at work upon, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"Between you and me," he confided, "I am not at all sure that I am not
+here on a fool's errand--at least I thought so when I arrived."
+
+She glanced up at him.
+
+"And why not now?"
+
+He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly
+away. There was a moment's queer, strained silence. Before them loomed
+up the outline of Mainsail Haul.
+
+"You will come in and have some tea, won't you?" she invited.
+
+"If I may. Believe me," he added, "it has only been a certain diffidence
+that has kept me away so long."
+
+She made no reply, and they entered the house together. They found Helen
+and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having tea in the
+drawing-room. Lessingham slipped very easily into the pleasant little
+circle. If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners, and a sense of humour
+which every now and then displayed itself, were most attractive.
+
+"Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir," Harrison
+asked him. "He was at Magdalen a few years after Major Felstead, and I
+am sure you'd find plenty to talk about."
+
+"I am quite sure that we should," Lessingham replied. "May I come,
+perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous
+efforts to lead an absolutely quiet life here."
+
+"Whenever you like, sir. We sha'n't be able to show you anything very
+wild in the way of dissipation. Vintage port and a decent cigar are the
+only changes we can make for guests."
+
+Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit with
+her in a distant corner of the room.
+
+"I knew there was something I wanted to say to you," she began, "but
+somehow or other I forgot when I met you. My husband was very much
+struck with Helen's improved spirits. Don't you think that we had better
+tell him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major Felstead?"
+
+Lessingham agreed.
+
+"Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary way,"
+he advised. "I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of your husband,
+that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible that he might
+have associated them with me if you had mentioned them the other night.
+When is he coming back?"
+
+"I never know," Philippa answered with a sigh. "Perhaps to-night,
+perhaps in a week. It depends upon what sport he is having. You are not
+smoking."
+
+Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+
+"I find your husband," he said quietly, "rather an interesting type. We
+have no one like that in Germany. He almost puzzles me."
+
+Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+
+"There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one," she
+complained bitterly. "He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted to
+amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him. Why do
+you look at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping
+something back? I am not, I can assure you."
+
+"Perhaps I was wondering," he confessed, "how you really felt towards a
+husband whose outlook was so unnatural."
+
+She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+
+"Do you know," she said softly, "I feel, somehow or other, although we
+have known one another such a short time, as though we were friends,
+and yet that is a question which I could not answer. A woman must always
+have some secrets, you know."
+
+"A man may try sometimes to preserve his," he sighed, "but a woman is
+clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out."
+
+A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks. She welcomed Helen's
+approach almost eagerly.
+
+"A woman must first feel the will," she murmured, without glancing at
+him. "Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come and dine?"
+
+"Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion," Lessingham
+begged eagerly.
+
+"I haven't the least idea of doing so," Helen laughed, "so long as I may
+have--say just ten minutes to talk about Dick."
+
+"It is a bargain," he promised.
+
+"We shall be quite alone," Philippa warned him, "unless Henry arrives."
+
+"It is the great attraction of your invitation," he confessed.
+
+"At eight o'clock, then."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+"Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship."
+
+Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the piano
+before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival. Then she
+glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight.
+
+"You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me."
+
+Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room--awkward, unwieldly, nervous
+as usual. He entered as though in a hurry, and there was nothing in his
+manner to denote that he had spent the last few hours making up his mind
+to this visit.
+
+"I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston," he said,
+watching the closing of the door. "I will not take up more than five
+minutes of your time."
+
+"We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,"
+Philippa said hospitably. "Do sit down, please."
+
+Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+
+"It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston," he continued
+apologetically. "The fact of it is, however, that as Commandant here
+it is my duty to examine the bona fides of any strangers in the place.
+There is a gentleman named Lessingham staying at the hotel, who I
+understand gave your name as reference."
+
+Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent, as
+she gazed up at her visitor.
+
+"Why, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said. "Mr. Lessingham was at
+college with my brother, and one of his best friends. He has shot down
+at my father's place in Cheshire."
+
+"You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?"
+
+"My only brother."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston," Captain Griffiths
+declared. "I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+Philippa laughed.
+
+"It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about
+any one down here," she observed. "It really is a very harmless
+neighbourhood, isn't it?"
+
+"There isn't much going on, certainly," the Commandant admitted. "Very
+dull the place seems at times."
+
+"Now be perfectly frank," Philippa begged him. "Is there a single fact
+of importance which could be learnt in this place, worth communicating
+to the enemy? Is the danger of espionage here worth a moment's
+consideration?"
+
+"That," Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, "is not a
+question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand."
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to Helen,
+who had just entered the room.
+
+"Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths! He is making me feel
+quite creepy. There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants to know
+all about Mr. Lessingham."
+
+Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+
+"Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?" she
+observed, as she shook hands.
+
+"We can do more," Philippa declared. "We can help him to judge for
+himself. We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain Griffiths.
+Do stay."
+
+"I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this," Captain Griffiths
+replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice sound hoarser and
+more unpleasant. "It is most kind of you, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you
+will give me another opportunity."
+
+"I sha'n't think of it," Philippa insisted. "You must stay and dine
+to-night. We shall be a partie carrie, for Nora goes to bed directly
+after dinner. I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set an extra
+place," she added.
+
+Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+complacency. He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced, with
+very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in every way
+a success. Towards its close, Philippa became a little thoughtful.
+She glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was sitting by her side,
+almost in admiration. His conversation, gay at times, always polished,
+was interlarded continually with those little social reminiscences
+inevitable amongst men moving in a certain circle of English society.
+Apparently Richard Felstead was not the only one of his college friends
+with whom he had kept in touch. The last remnants of Captain Griffiths'
+suspicions seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although
+his manner became in no way more genial.
+
+"Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?" Philippa asked her
+favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out a bridge table.
+
+"One adapts one's methods to one's adversary," he murmured, with a
+smile, "Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional
+suspicions. The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance with
+the ordinary English sports, is quite sufficient with a man like that."
+
+Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room. Philippa
+raised her eyes to her companion's.
+
+"You become more of a mystery than ever," she declared. "You are making
+me even curious. Tell me really why you have paid us this visit from the
+clouds?"
+
+She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question. For a moment
+the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed. His eyes
+glowed.
+
+"In search of new things," he answered.
+
+"Guns? Fortifications?"
+
+"Neither."
+
+A spirit of mischief possessed her. Lessingham's manner was baffling
+and yet provocative. For a moment the political possibilities of his
+presence faded away from her mind. She had an intense desire to break
+through his reserve.
+
+"Won't you tell me--why you came?"
+
+"I could tell you more easily," he answered in a low tone, "why it will
+be the most miserable day of my life when I leave."
+
+She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+
+"How delightful to be flirted with again!" she sighed. "And I thought
+all German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone compliments.
+Still, your secret, sir, please? That is what I want to know."
+
+"If you will have just a little patience!" he begged, leaning so close
+to her that their heads almost touched, "I promise that I will not leave
+this place before I tell it to you."
+
+Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his. She knew
+perfectly well what she ought to have done and she was singularly
+indisposed to do it. It was a most piquant adventure, after all, and
+it almost helped her to forget the trouble which had been sitting so
+heavily in her heart. Still avoiding his eyes, she called the others.
+
+"We are quite ready for bridge," she announced.
+
+They played four or five rubbers. Lessingham was by far the most expert
+player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners. The two men
+stood together for a moment or two at the sideboard, helping themselves
+to whisky and soda. Griffiths had become more taciturn than ever, and
+even Philippa was forced to admit that the latter part of the evening
+had scarcely been a success.
+
+"Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?" Griffiths asked.
+
+"Never," was the calm reply.
+
+"You are head and shoulders above our class down here."
+
+"Very good of you to say so," Lessingham replied courteously. "I held
+good cards to-night."
+
+"I wonder," Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and keeping
+his eyes fixed upon his companion, "what the German substitute for
+bridge is."
+
+"I wonder," Lessingham echoed.
+
+"As a nation," his questioner proceeded, "they probably don't waste as
+much time on cards as we do."
+
+Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent. He
+strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa. She, for her part,
+was watching Captain Griffiths.
+
+"So many thanks, Lady Cranston," Lessingham murmured, "for your
+hospitality."
+
+"And what about that secret?" she asked.
+
+"You see, there are two," he answered, looking down at her. "One I shall
+most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the one secret
+which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself. As for the
+other--"
+
+He hesitated. There was something almost like pain in his face. She
+broke in hastily.
+
+"I did not call you away to ask about either. I happened to notice
+Captain Griffiths just now. Do you know that he is watching you very
+closely?"
+
+"I had an idea of it," Lessingham admitted indifferently. "He is rather
+a clumsy person, is he not?"
+
+"You will be careful?" she begged earnestly. "Remember, won't you, that
+Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if anything should
+come out."
+
+"Nothing shall," he promised her. "I think you know, do you not, that,
+whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to protect you."
+
+For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly reprove
+his boldness. She had even to struggle to keep her tone as careless as
+her words.
+
+"You really are a delightful person!" she exclaimed. "How long is it
+since you descended from the clouds?"
+
+"Sometimes I think that I am there still," he answered, "but I have
+known you about seventy-six hours."
+
+"What precision?" she laughed. "It's a national characteristic, isn't
+it? Captain Griffiths," she continued, as she observed his approach, "if
+you really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with you. He is making
+fun of me. I don't allow even Dick's friends to do that."
+
+Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+
+"You must both come again very soon," their hostess concluded, as she
+shook hands. "I enjoyed our bridge immensely."
+
+The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden idea
+seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths. He turned back.
+
+"By-the-by, Lady Cranston," he asked, "have you heard anything from your
+brother?"
+
+Philippa shook her head sadly. Helen, who, unlike her friend, had not
+had the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur dramatic
+stage, turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+"Not a word," was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+
+Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+
+"Bad luck!" he said. "I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston. Good night once
+more."
+
+This time their departure was uninterrupted. Helen removed her
+handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at the
+closed door.
+
+"Do you believe," Helen asked seriously, "that Captain Griffiths has any
+suspicions?"
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"If he has, who cares?" she replied, a little defiantly. "The very idea
+of a duel of wits between those two men is laughable."
+
+"Perhaps so," Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+customary walks. The crystalline October sunshine, in which every
+distant tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed to
+gain a new clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed fields, the
+yellowing bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees, while the west
+wind, which had strewn the sea with white-flecked waves, brought down
+the leaves to form a carpet for their feet, and played strange music
+along the wood-crested slope. In the broken land through which they
+made their way, a land of trees and moorland, with here and there a
+cultivated patch, the yellow gorse still glowed in unexpected corners;
+queer, scentless flowers made splashes of colour in the hedgerows; a
+rabbit scurried sometimes across their path; a cock pheasant, after
+a moment's amazed stare, lowered his head and rushed for unnecessary
+shelter. The longer they looked upwards, the bluer seemed the sky. The
+grass beneath their feet was as green and soft as in springtime. Driven
+by the wind, here and there a white-winged gull sailed over their
+heads,--a cloud of them rested upon a freshly turned little square of
+ploughed land between two woods. A flight of pigeons, like torn leaves
+tossed about by the wind, circled and drifted above them. Philippa
+seated herself upon the trunk of a fallen tree and gazed contentedly
+about her.
+
+"If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be perfectly
+happy," she sighed. "I am sure my hair must look awful."
+
+Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+
+"I decline to say the correct thing," she declared. "I will only remind
+you that there will be no one here to look at it."
+
+"I am not so sure," Philippa replied. "These are the woods which the
+special constables haunt by day and by night. They gaze up every tree
+trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind hedges and watch
+for mysterious flashes."
+
+"Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?" Helen enquired,
+lazily. "I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the equipment
+of the melodramatic spy. As to Zeppelins, don't you remember he told us
+that he hated them and was terrified of bombs."
+
+"My dear," Philippa remonstrated, "Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude."
+
+"And yet,--" Helen began.
+
+"Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head," Philippa
+interrupted. "Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I believe that
+Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come over here to see
+if I am really like it."
+
+"He does behave rather like that," her companion admitted drily.
+
+Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+
+"Helen," she said severely, "don't be a cat."
+
+"If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour," Helen went on,
+picking up a pine cone and examining it, "I might astonish you."
+
+"You have an evil mind," Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette case.
+"What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes forgets to talk
+about Dick."
+
+"The poor man doesn't get much chance," Helen retorted, watching the
+blue smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+"Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?"
+
+"Literature--English and German," Philippa murmured demurely. "Mr.
+Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our English
+poets than any man I have met for years."
+
+"I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing."
+
+"Once more, don't be a cat," Philippa enjoined. "If you want me to
+confess it, I will own up at once. You know what a simple little thing
+I am. I admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a most
+interesting companion."
+
+"You mean," her friend observed drily "the Baron Maderstrom." Philippa
+looked around and frowned.
+
+"You are most indiscreet, Helen," she declared. "I have learnt something
+of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you that all spoken
+or written words are dangerous. There is a thoroughly British squirrel
+in that tree overhead, and I am sure he heard."
+
+"I suppose the sunshine has got into your head," Helen groaned.
+
+"If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+right," Philippa assented. "As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+depressed. Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast
+this morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or
+to-morrow. They must have landed somewhere down the coast."
+
+"You are a most undutiful wife," Helen pronounced severely. "I am sure
+Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little irresponsible, and
+it is almost pathetic to remember how much you were in love with him, a
+year or two ago."
+
+Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+
+"That was before the war," she sighed.
+
+"I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand
+him," Helen said thoughtfully.
+
+"No doubt," Philippa assented, "but you'd find the not understanding him
+a little more galling, if you were his wife. You see, I didn't know that
+I was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole."
+
+"I wonder," Helen reflected, "how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get on
+when they see more of one another."
+
+"I really don't care," Philippa observed indifferently.
+
+"I used to notice sometimes--that was soon after you were married,"
+Helen continued, "that Henry was just a little inclined to be jealous."
+
+Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea. There was a queer little smile
+upon her lips.
+
+"Well, if he still is," she said, "I'll give him something to be jealous
+about."
+
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham!" Helen murmured.
+
+Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham?" she repeated. "I don't think you'll find that
+he'll be in the least sorry for himself."
+
+"He may be in earnest," Helen reminded her friend. "You can be horribly
+attractive when you like, you know, Philippa."
+
+Philippa smiled sweetly.
+
+"It is just possible," she said, "that I may be in earnest myself. I've
+quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a helpless
+creature without a little admiration."
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet. Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+approaching through the wood.
+
+"You really aren't respectable, Philippa," she declared. "Throw away
+your cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up. Some one is coming."
+
+Philippa only moved her head lazily. The sunlight, which came down in
+a thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell straight
+upon her rather pale, defiant little face, with its unexpressed evasive
+charm, and seemed to find a new depth of colour in the red-gold of her
+disordered hair. Her slim, perfect body was stretched almost at full
+length, one leg drawn a little up, her hands carelessly drooping towards
+the grass. The cigarette was still burning in the corner of her lips.
+
+"I decline," she said, "to throw away my cigarette for any one."
+
+"Least of all, I trust," a familiar voice interposed, "for me."
+
+Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+resentfully at Lessingham. He was wearing a brown tweed knickerbocker
+suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+
+"Whatever are you doing up here," she demanded, "and do you know
+anything about our game laws? You can't come out into the woods here and
+shoot things just because you feel like it."
+
+He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+
+"That is quite all right," he assured her. "Your neighbour, Mr.
+Windover, to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring my
+gun out this morning and try and get a woodcock."
+
+"Gracious! You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?" Philippa
+demanded, looking around. Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"His car came for him at the other side of the wood," he explained. "He
+was wanted to go on the Bench. I elected to walk home."
+
+"And the woodcock?" she asked. "I adore woodcock."
+
+He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was lying
+amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin feathers
+under the silk band.
+
+"There," he said, handing it to her, "the first woodcock of the season.
+We got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope that you would
+like it. I shall leave it with the estimable Mills, on my return."
+
+"You must come and share it," Philippa insisted. "Those boys of Nora's
+are coming in to dinner. Your gift shall be the piece de resistance."
+
+"Then may I dine another night?" he begged. "This place encourages in me
+the grossest of appetites."
+
+"Have no fear," she replied. "You will never see that woodcock again. I
+shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow. I ordered dinner before I came
+out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise that you shall not
+go away hungry."
+
+"Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?" he asked,
+dropping his voice for a moment.
+
+She turned and studied him. Helen, who had strolled a few yards away,
+was knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some gorgeously
+coloured leaves from a solitary bramble bush. Lessingham had thrown his
+cap onto the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the unusual colour in
+his cheeks were both, in their way, becoming. His loose but well-fitting
+country clothes, his tie and soft collar, were all well-chosen and
+suitable. She admired his high forehead and his firm, rather proud
+mouth. His eyes as well as his tone were full of seriousness.
+
+"You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away across
+that terrible North Sea," she laughed.
+
+"There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do," he
+whispered.
+
+She picked up her hat and sighed.
+
+"Really," she said, "I think things are quite complicated enough as they
+are. I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your mission here
+and your real identity. I simply could not include a flirtation amongst
+my excitements."
+
+"I have never flirted," he assured her gravely.
+
+"Wise man," she pronounced, rising to her feet. "Come, let us go and
+help Helen pick leaves. She is scratching her fingers terribly, and I'm
+sure you have a knife. A dear, economical creature, Helen," she added,
+as they strolled along. "I am perfectly certain that those are destined
+to adorn my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums at sixpence each,
+you can't imagine how welcome they are. Come, produce the knife, Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+homeward. Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of
+the wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful
+fields, the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling stretch
+of green turf on the crown of the cliffs. Beyond was the foam-flecked
+blue sea, dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+
+"Would one believe," she asked satirically, "that there should be scope
+here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a--Mr. Lessingham!"
+
+"Remember that I was sent," he protested. "The error, if error there be,
+is not mine."
+
+"And after all," Helen reminded them both, "think how easily one may be
+misled by appearances. You couldn't imagine anything more honest than
+the faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees about, yet do you
+know, Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by burglars last night?"
+
+"Seriously?" he asked.
+
+"Without a doubt. Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to thieves.
+They could get in anywhere. Last night they chose the French windows and
+seem to have made themselves at home in the library."
+
+"I trust," Lessingham said, "that they did not take anything of value?"
+
+"They took nothing at all," Philippa sighed. "That is the humiliating
+part of it. They evidently didn't like our things."
+
+"How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?"
+Lessingham enquired.
+
+"So practical!" Philippa murmured. "As a matter of fact, I heard some
+one moving about, and I rang the alarm bell. Mills was downstairs
+almost directly and we heard some one running down the drive. The French
+windows were open, a chair was overturned in the library, and a drawer
+in my husband's desk was wide open."
+
+"The proof," Lessingham admitted, "is overwhelming. You were visited by
+a burglar. Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?"
+
+"Henry hasn't anything of value in the world," Philippa replied drily,
+"except his securities, and they are at the bank."
+
+"Without going so far as to contradict you," Lessingham observed, with a
+smile, "I still venture to disagree!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they had
+been weighing, admiringly.
+
+"You see that, Mills? You see that, Jimmy?" he pointed out. "Six and
+three-quarter pounds! I was right almost to an ounce. He's a fine
+fellow!"
+
+"A very extraordinary fish, sir," the butler observed. "Will you allow
+me to take your oilskins? Dinner was served nearly an hour ago."
+
+Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+
+"That's all right," he replied. "Listen. Don't say a word about my
+arrival to your mistress at present. I have some writing to do. Bring
+me a glass of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can do so without
+being missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some whisky and soda."
+
+"But what about your own dinner, sir?"
+
+"I'll have a tray in the gun room," his master decided, "say in twenty
+minutes' time. And, Mills, who did you say were dining?"
+
+"Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir--Mr. Harrison and Mr.
+Sinclair--and Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before his
+writing-table. "Mills," he added, in a confidential whisper, "what port
+did you serve?"
+
+The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+
+"Not the vintage, sir," he announced with emphasis. "Some very excellent
+wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons. The young gentlemen
+like it."
+
+"You're a jewel, Mills," his master declared. "Now you understand--an
+aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and not a word
+about my being here. Good night, Jimmy. Sorry we were too late for the
+mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same. You'll have a day
+or two's rest ashore now."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!" Dumble replied. "We got in just in time. There's
+something more than a squall coming up nor'ards."
+
+Sir Henry listened for a moment. The French windows shook, the rain beat
+against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly audible from
+outside.
+
+"We timed that excellently," he agreed. "Come up and have a chat
+to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you."
+
+"I'll be round before eleven, sir," the fisherman promised, with a grin.
+
+Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door. Then he leaned forward for
+several moments. He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned from a
+week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he loved best.
+The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather than increased.
+There were black lines under his eyes which seemed to speak of sleepless
+nights, and a beard of several days' growth was upon his chin. He drank
+the cocktail which Mills presently brought him, at a gulp, and watched
+with satisfaction while the mixer was vigorously shaken and a second one
+poured out.
+
+"We've had a rough time, Mills," he observed, as he set down the glass.
+"Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it, sir," was the respectful reply. "If I may be
+allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired."
+
+"I am tired," Sir Henry admitted. "I think, if I tried, I could go to
+sleep now for twenty-four hours."
+
+"You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters, that
+there is no post out tonight, sir," Mills proceeded. "I have prepared a
+warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change."
+
+"Capital!" Sir Henry exclaimed. "It isn't a letter that's bothering me,
+though, Mills. There are just a few geographical notes I want to make.
+You know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of the coast round
+here. That fellow Groocock--Jimmy Dumble's uncle--very nearly lost his
+motor boat last week through trusting to the old one."
+
+"Just so, sir," Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass
+upon his tray. "If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the dining
+room."
+
+"Quite right," his master assented. "They won't be out just yet, will
+they?"
+
+"Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir--not
+before that."
+
+Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently. Directly the door was closed
+he rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his
+fishing cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring.
+With the aid of a little electric torch which he took from his pocket,
+he studied particularly a certain portion of the giant chart, made some
+measurements with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and closed it
+up again with an air of satisfaction. Then he resumed his seat, drew
+a folded slip of paper from his breast pocket, a chart from another,
+turned up the lamp and began to write. His face, as he stooped low,
+escaped the soft shade and was for a moment almost ghastly. Every now
+and then he turned and made some calculations on the blotting-paper by
+his side. At last he leaned back with a little sigh of relief. He had
+barely done so before the door behind him was opened.
+
+"Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+drawing-room?" Nora asked.
+
+"In here, I think," he heard Philippa reply.
+
+Then they both came in, followed by Helen. Nora was the first to see him
+and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+
+"Why, here's Dad!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+"Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are
+having dinner! When did you get back? What a fish!"
+
+Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came forward
+to meet his wife.
+
+"Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!" he agreed. "Well, Philippa, how are you?
+Pleased to see me, I hope? Another new frock, I believe, and in war
+time!"
+
+"Fancy your remembering that it was war time!" she answered, standing
+very still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+
+"Nasty one for me," Sir Henry observed good-humouredly. "How well you're
+looking, Helen! Any news of Dick yet?"
+
+Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+success.
+
+"Nothing fresh," she answered.
+
+"Well, well, no news may be good news," Sir Henry remarked consolingly.
+"Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again! This morning has
+been the only patch of decent weather we've had."
+
+"This morning was lovely," Helen assented. "Philippa and I went and sat
+up in the woods."
+
+Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her husband
+critically.
+
+"We have some men dining," she said. "They will be out in a few minutes.
+Don't you think you had better go and make yourself presentable? You
+smell of fish, and you look as though you hadn't shaved for a week."
+
+"Guilty, my dear," Sir Henry admitted. "Mills is just getting me
+something to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a bath and
+change my clothes."
+
+"And shave, Dad," Nora reminded him.
+
+"And shave, you young pest," her father agreed, patting her on the
+shoulder. "Run away and play billiards with Helen. I want to talk to
+your mother until my dinner's ready."
+
+Nora acquiesced promptly.
+
+"Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up. Or perhaps you'd like
+to play shell out?" she proposed. "Arthur Sinclair says I have improved
+in my potting more than any one he ever knew."
+
+Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them. Then he returned and
+seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side. She glanced up at
+him as though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards her
+work-basket, took up some knitting.
+
+"I really think I should change at once, if I were you," she suggested.
+
+"Presently. I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a word or
+two with you first. I've been away for nearly a fortnight, haven't I?"
+
+"You have," Philippa assented. "Perhaps that is the reason why I feel
+that I haven't very much to say to you."
+
+"That sounds just a trifle hard," he said slowly.
+
+"I am hard sometimes," Philippa confessed. "You know that quite well.
+There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart at all, nor
+any sympathy; when every sensation I might have had seems shrivelled up
+inside me."
+
+"Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me, Philippa?"
+he asked.
+
+Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+
+"You had every warning," she told him. "I tried to make you understand
+exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you went away."
+
+"Yes, I remember," he admitted. "I'm afraid, dear, you think I am a
+worthless sort of a fellow."
+
+Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch. She bent lower still over her
+knitting. There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her mouth was
+unrecognisable.
+
+"Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?" her husband
+remarked presently.
+
+"Yes," Philippa assented, "he is dining to-night. You will probably see
+him in a few minutes."
+
+Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+
+"You're so keen about that sort of thing," he said, "what about
+Lessingham? He is not soldiering or anything, is he?"
+
+"I have no idea," Philippa replied. "He walks with a slight limp and
+admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us very
+much about himself."
+
+"I wonder you haven't tackled him," Sir Henry continued. "You're such
+an ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing his bit of
+butchery."
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "is a very delightful friend, whose stay
+here every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative stranger.
+I feel no responsibility as to his actions."
+
+"And you do as to mine?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of
+the lounge. He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining room
+beyond.
+
+"Hm!" he observed. "Has he been here often while I've been away?"
+
+"As often as he chose," Philippa replied. "He has become very popular in
+the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest here
+at any time."
+
+"Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?"
+
+"He is here most days. We are always rather disappointed when he doesn't
+come."
+
+Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+
+"What's the attraction?" he demanded.
+
+Philippa smiled. It was the smile which those who knew her best, feared.
+
+"Well," she confided, "I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I think
+that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but Dick and
+their college days. I am rather inclined to fancy that it must be me."
+
+"You, indeed!" he grunted. "Are you aware that you are a married woman?"
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work. Her eyebrows were raised, and her
+expression was one of mild surprise.
+
+"How queer that you should remind me of it!" she murmured. "I am afraid
+that the sea air disturbs your memory."
+
+Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+
+"Oh, damn!" he exclaimed.
+
+He walked to the door. His guests were still lingering over their wine.
+He could hear their voices more distinctly than ever. Then he came back
+to the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+
+"Philippa, old girl," he pleaded, "don't let us quarrel. I have had such
+a hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the dirtiest
+seas I've ever known at this time of the year. For five days I hadn't a
+dry stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once. We were all in
+the water together, and there was a nasty green wave that looked like
+a mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat bending over us
+as though it meant to squeeze our ribs in. It looked like ten to one
+against us, Phil, and I got a worse chill than the sea ever gave me when
+I thought that I shouldn't see you again."
+
+Philippa laid down her knitting. She looked searchingly into her
+husband's face. She was very far from indifferent to his altered tone.
+
+"Henry," she said, "that sounds very terrible, but why do you run such
+risks--unworthily? Do you think that I couldn't give you all that you
+want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with a story
+like this and I knew that you had been facing death righteously and
+honourably for your country's sake? Why, Henry, there isn't a man in the
+world could have such a welcome as I could give you. Do you think I am
+cold? Of course you don't! Do you think I want to feel as I have done
+this last fortnight towards you? Why, it's misery! It makes me feel
+inclined to commit any folly, any madness, to get rid of it all."
+
+Her husband hesitated. A frown had darkened his face. He had the air of
+one who is on the eve of a confession.
+
+"Philippa," he began, "you know that when I go out on these fishing
+expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+anxious to prepare for the fishermen."
+
+Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+
+"Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry! I'm as sick with them
+as I am with you. You can see twenty or thirty of them any morning,
+lounging about the quay, strapping young fellows who shelter themselves
+behind the plea of privileged employment. We are notorious down here
+for our skulkers, and you--you who should be the one man to set them an
+example, are as bad as they are. You deliberately encourage them."
+
+Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face darkened
+and his eyes flashed.
+
+"Skulkers?" he repeated furiously.
+
+Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+
+"Yes! Don't you like the word?"
+
+The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come. He
+laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box, and
+lit it.
+
+"It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?" he observed, thrusting his
+hands into his jacket pockets strolling away. "If one doesn't feel the
+call--well, there you are, you see. Jove, that's a fine fish."
+
+He stood admiring the codling upon the scales. Philippa continued her
+work.
+
+"If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us," she told him
+calmly, "please let me remind you again that we have guests for dinner.
+Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely becoming."
+
+He turned away and came back towards her. As he passed the lamp, she
+started.
+
+"Why, you're wet," she exclaimed, "wet through!"
+
+"Of course I am," he admitted, feeling his sleeve, "but to tell you the
+truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten it.
+Here come our guests, before I have had time to escape. I can hear your
+friend Lessingham's voice."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle. Sir
+Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+
+"No idea that you were back, sir," Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+
+Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly. "I turned up about three
+quarters of an hour ago," he explained, "just too late to join you at
+dinner."
+
+"Bad luck, sir," Sinclair remarked. "I hope that you had good sport?"
+
+"Not so bad," Sir Henry admitted. "We had to go far enough for it,
+though. What do you think of that for an October codling?"
+
+They all approached the scales and admired the fish. Sir Henry stood
+with his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+
+"You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?" he enquired.
+
+"One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+delightfully hospitable a place," was the somewhat measured reply.
+
+"You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?" Sir Henry
+continued.
+
+"In a very small way," Lessingham acknowledged. "I have been out once or
+twice."
+
+"With Ben Oates, eh?"
+
+"I believe that was the man's name."
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of surprise.
+
+"I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham. Whatever made you choose Ben
+Oates? He is a most disgraceful person."
+
+"It was entirely by accident," Lessingham explained. "I met him on the
+front. It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather pressing in
+his invitation."
+
+"I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport," Sir Henry observed. "From
+what Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken you in
+entirely the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide."
+
+"We had a small catch," Lessingham replied. "I really went more for the
+sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed."
+
+"The coast itself," Sir Henry remarked, "is rather an interesting one."
+
+"I should imagine so," Lessingham assented. "Mr. Ben Oates, indeed,
+told me some wonderful stories about it. He spoke of broad channels down
+which a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of the land."
+
+"He is quite right, too," his host agreed.
+
+"There's a lot of deep water about here. The whole of the coast is very
+curious in that way. What the--what the dickens is this?"
+
+Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a Homburg
+hat from the far side of a table of curios. Philippa glanced up at his
+exclamation.
+
+"That's Nora's trophy," she explained. "I told her to take it up to her
+own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends."
+
+"Nora's trophy?" Sir Henry repeated. "Why, it's nothing but an ordinary
+man's hat."
+
+"Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir," Harrison pointed out.
+"Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+observation car was found there."
+
+Sir Henry held out the hat.
+
+"But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in this
+sort of headgear, does she?" he demanded.
+
+"If you'll just look inside the lining, sir," Sinclair suggested.
+
+Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly. "By Jove, it's a German hat,
+all right!" he exclaimed. "Doesn't look a bad shape, either."
+
+He tried it on. There was a little peal of laughter from the men.
+Philippa had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch. Sir
+Henry looked at himself in the looking-glass.
+
+"Well, that's funny," he observed. "I shouldn't have thought it would
+have been so much too small for me. Here, just try how you'd look in it,
+Mr. Lessingham," he added, handing it across to him.
+
+Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+carefully on his head.
+
+"It doesn't feel particularly comfortable," he remarked.
+
+"That may be," Sir Henry suggested, "because you have it on wrong side
+foremost. If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would find it a
+very good fit."
+
+Lessingham at once obeyed. Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+
+"Excellent!" he exclaimed. "Look at that, Philippa. Might have been made
+for him, eh?"
+
+Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from his
+head with some casual observation. He was entirely at his ease. His
+host turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+
+"Captain Griffiths, sir," the latter announced.
+
+Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+
+"How are you, Griffiths?" he said. "Glad to see you. Excuse my costume,
+but I am just back from a fishing expedition. We are all admiring Mr.
+Lessingham in his magic hat."
+
+Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others, and
+turned towards Lessingham.
+
+"Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham," Sir Henry begged.
+"You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's slipper. The
+hat which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's Common fits our friend
+like a glove. I never thought the Germans made such good hats, did you,
+Griffiths?"
+
+"I always thought they imported their felt hats," Captain Griffiths
+acknowledged. "Is that really the one with the German name inside, which
+Miss Nora brought home?"
+
+"This is the genuine article," Lessingham assented, taking it from
+his head and passing it on to the newcomer. "Notwithstanding the name
+inside, I should still believe that it was an English hat. It feels too
+comfortable for anything else."
+
+The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully. He drew
+out the lining and looked all the way round. Suddenly he gave vent to a
+little exclamation.
+
+"Here are the owner's initials," he declared, "rather faint but still
+distinguishable,--B. M. Hm! There's no doubt about its being a German
+hat."
+
+"B. M.," Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder. "How very
+interesting! B. M.," he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had
+recommenced her knitting. "Is it my fancy, or is there something a
+little familiar about that?"
+
+"I am sure that I have no idea," Philippa replied. "It conveys nothing
+to me."
+
+There was a brief but apparently pointless silence. Philippa's needles
+flashed through her wool with easy regularity. Lessingham appeared to be
+sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed concerning the hat.
+Sir Henry was standing with knitted brows, in the obvious attitude of a
+man seeking to remember something.
+
+"B. M.," he murmured softly to himself. "There was some one I've known
+or heard of in England--What's that, Mills?"
+
+"Your dinner is served, sir," Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+announced.
+
+Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible owner.
+He threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed a new
+interest in life.
+
+"Jove, I'm ravenous!" he confessed. "You'll excuse me, won't you? Mills,
+see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes--in the billiard
+room, I should think. You'll find the young people there. I'll come in
+and have a game of pills later."
+
+The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry at
+once from the room. Lessingham, however, lingered. He stood with his
+hands behind him, looking at the closed door.
+
+"Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?"
+Philippa asked.
+
+"If I may," he answered, without changing his position.
+
+Philippa looked at him curiously.
+
+"Do you see ghosts through that door?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Do you know," he said, as he seated himself by her side, "there are
+times when I find your husband quite interesting."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Philippa leaned back in her place.
+
+"Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?" she demanded.
+
+He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+towards her.
+
+"I must confess," he said, "that sometimes your husband puzzles me."
+
+"Not nearly so much as he puzzles me," Philippa retorted, a little
+bitterly.
+
+"Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?"
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"More or less, but never quite to this extent. The thing has become an
+obsession with him lately. If you are really going to stay and talk with
+me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband? Just now the subject is
+rather a painful one with me."
+
+"I can quite understand that," Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+
+"What do you think of Captain Griffiths?" she asked, a little abruptly.
+
+"I have thought nothing more about him. Should I? Is he of any real
+importance?"
+
+"He is military commandant here."
+
+Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+
+"I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my track,"
+he observed.
+
+"I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was," Philippa
+said drily. "I have told you that he came and asked about you the other
+night, when he dined here. He seemed perfectly satisfied then, but he
+is here again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits anywhere in an
+ordinary way."
+
+"Are you uneasy about me?" Lessingham enquired.
+
+"I am not sure," she answered frankly. "Sometimes I am almost terrified
+and would give anything to hear that you were on your way home. And at
+other times I realise that you are really very clever, that nothing is
+likely to happen to you, and that the place will seem duller than ever
+when you do go."
+
+"That is very kind of you," he said. "In any case, I fear that my
+holiday will soon be coming to an end."
+
+"Your holiday?" she repeated. "Is that what you call it?"
+
+"It has been little else," he replied indifferently. "There is nothing
+to be learnt here of the slightest military significance."
+
+"We told you that when you arrived," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"I was perhaps foolish not to believe you," he acknowledged.
+
+"So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in failure,
+after all!" she went on, a moment or two later.
+
+"Failure? No, I should not call it failure."
+
+"You have really made some discoveries, then?" she enquired dubiously.
+
+"I have made the greatest discovery in the world."
+
+Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered, her
+eyes fell.
+
+"Dear me! In this quiet spot?" she sighed.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Is it Helen or me?"
+
+"Philippa!" he protested.
+
+Her eyebrows were more raised than ever. Her mouth had lost its alluring
+curve.
+
+"Really, Mr. Lessingham!" she exclaimed. "Have I ever given you the
+right to call me by my Christian name?"
+
+"In my country," he answered, "we do not wait to ask. We take."
+
+"Rank Prussianism," she murmured. "I really think you had better go back
+there. You are adopting their methods."
+
+"I may have to at any moment," he admitted, "or to some more distant
+country still. I want something to take back with me."
+
+"You want a keepsake, of course," Philippa declared, looking around the
+room. "You can have my photograph--the one over there. Helen will give
+you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her. She is just as grateful
+to you about Richard as I am."
+
+"But from you," he said earnestly, "I want more than gratitude."
+
+"Dear me, how persistent you are!" Philippa murmured. "Are you really
+determined to make love to me?"
+
+"Ah, don't mock me!" he begged. "What I am saying to you comes from my
+heart."
+
+Philippa laughed at him quietly. There was just a little break in her
+voice, however.
+
+"Don't be absurd!"
+
+"There is nothing absurd about it," he replied, with a note of sadness
+in his tone. "I felt it from the moment we met. I struggled against it,
+but I have felt it growing day by day. I came here with my mind filled
+with different purposes. I had no thought of amusing myself, no thought
+of seeking here the happiness which up till now I seem to have missed.
+I came as a servant because I was sent, a mechanical being. You have
+changed everything. For you I feel what I have never felt for any woman
+before. I place before you my career, my freedom, my honour."
+
+Philippa sighed very softly.
+
+"Do you mind ringing the bell?" she begged.
+
+"The bell?" he repeated. "What for?"
+
+"I want Helen to hear you," she confided, with a wonderful little smile.
+
+"Philippa, don't mock me," he pleaded. "If this is only amusement to
+you, tell me so and let me go away. It is the first time in my life
+that a woman has come between me and my work. I am no longer master of
+myself. I am obsessed with you. I want nothing else in life but your
+love."
+
+There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face. The banter
+which had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon as
+her defensive weapon, was suddenly useless. Lessingham had created an
+atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+
+"Are you in earnest?" she faltered.
+
+"God knows I am!" he insisted.
+
+"You--you care for me?"
+
+"So much," he answered passionately, "that for your sake I would
+sacrifice my honour, my country, my life."
+
+"But I've only known you for such a short time," Philippa protested,
+"and you're an enemy."
+
+"I discard my birth. I renounce my adopted country," he declared
+fiercely. "You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition and
+patriotism. You have filled it with one thing only--a great, consuming
+love."
+
+"Have you forgotten my husband?"
+
+"Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should have
+dared to speak? Ask yourself how you can continue to live with him? You
+can call him which you will. Both are equally disgraceful. Your heart
+knows the truth. He is either a coward or a philanderer."
+
+Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white. Her eyes flashed. His words had
+stung her to the quick.
+
+"A coward?" she repeated furiously. "You dare to call Henry that?"
+
+Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet. He moved restlessly about the
+room. His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+
+"I do!" he pronounced. "Philippa, look at this matter without prejudice.
+Do you believe that there is a single man of any country, of your
+husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the seas for
+fish whilst his country's blood is being drained dry? Who would weigh
+a codling," he added, pointing scornfully to the scales, "whilst the
+funeral march of heroes is beating throughout the world? The thing is
+insensate, impossible!"
+
+Philippa's head drooped. Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+
+"Don't!" she pleaded, "I have suffered so much."
+
+"Forgive me," he begged, with a sudden change of voice. "If I am
+mistaken in your husband--and there is always the chance--I am sorry.
+I will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him, but I can
+only judge from what I have seen and from that there is no one in the
+world who would not agree with me that your husband is unworthy of you."
+
+"Oh, please stop!" Philippa cried. "Stop at once!"
+
+Lessingham came back to his place by her side. His voice was still
+shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+
+"Philippa, forgive me," he repeated. "If you only knew how it hurts to
+see you like this! Yet I must speak. There is just once in every man's
+lifetime when he must tell the truth. That time has come with me--I love
+you."
+
+"So does my husband," she murmured.
+
+"I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,"
+Lessingham continued. "He sets your wishes at defiance. He who should be
+an example in a small place like this, is only an object of contempt in
+the neighbourhood. Even I, who have only lived here for so short a time,
+have caught the burden of what people say."
+
+Philippa wiped her eyes.
+
+"Please, do you mind," she begged, "not saying anything more about
+Henry. You are only reminding me of things which I try all the time to
+forget."
+
+"Believe me," Lessingham answered wistfully, "I am only too content to
+ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you are the
+woman who has changed my life."
+
+Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child who
+has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+
+"But you must not--you must not talk to me like this!"
+
+His hand closed upon hers. It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold, yet
+passive.
+
+"Why not?" he whispered. "I have the one unalterable right, and I am
+willing to pay the great price."
+
+"Right?" she faltered.
+
+"The right of loving you--the right of loving you better than any woman
+in the world."
+
+There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly aware,
+to the emotion of the moment. A door behind them had opened. Philippa's
+quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps. Lessingham rose
+deliberately to his feet. In his heart he welcomed the interruption.
+This might, perhaps, be the decisive moment. Sir Henry was strolling
+towards them. His manner and his tone, however, were alike good-natured.
+
+"I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham," he
+announced. "Sinclair has been sent for--a night route march, or some
+such horror--and they want you to make a four."
+
+Lessingham hesitated. He had a passionate inclination to face
+the situation, to tell this man the truth. Sir Henry's courteous
+indifference, however, was like a harrier. He recognised the inevitable.
+
+"I am afraid I am rather out of practice," he said, "but I shall be
+delighted to do my best."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers. For a mild-mannered
+and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+
+"That fellow was making love to you," he said bluntly, as soon as the
+door was closed behind Lessingham.
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+
+"He was doing it very nicely, too," she admitted.
+
+"You mean to say that you let him?"
+
+"I listened to what he had to say," she confessed. "It didn't occur to
+you, I suppose," her husband remarked, with somewhat strained sarcasm,
+"that you were another man's wife?"
+
+"I am doing my best to forget that fact," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"I see! And he is to help you?"
+
+"Possibly."
+
+Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+
+"I shall turn the fellow out of the house," he declared.
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side. "Look here, Philippa,
+don't let's wrangle," he begged. "I'm afraid you'll have to make up your
+mind to see a good deal less of your friend Lessingham, anyway."
+
+Philippa's brows were knitted. She was conscious of a vague uneasiness.
+
+"Really? And why?"
+
+"For one thing," her husband explained, "because I don't intend to have
+him hanging about my house during my absence."
+
+"The best way to prevent that would be not to go away," Philippa
+suggested.
+
+"Well, in all probability," he announced guardedly, "I am not going away
+again--at least not just yet."
+
+Philippa's manner suddenly changed. She laid down her work. Her hand
+rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+
+"You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing
+excursions of yours?"
+
+"For the present I am," he assured her.
+
+"And are you going to do something--some work, I mean?" she asked
+breathlessly.
+
+"For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after
+you," he replied.
+
+Philippa's face fell. Her manner became notably colder.
+
+"You are very wise," she declared. "Mr. Lessingham is a most fascinating
+person. We are all half in love with him--even Helen."
+
+"The fellow must have a way with him," Sir Henry conceded grudgingly.
+"As a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless they
+have immediate connections in the neighbourhood. Even Griffiths, who
+since they made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions, seems
+inclined to accept him."
+
+"Captain Griffiths dined here the other night," Philippa remarked, "and
+I noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well."
+
+"The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt," Sir Henry began.
+
+"Of course he is," Philippa interrupted. "Helen likes him quite as much
+as I do."
+
+"Does he make love to Helen, too?" Sir Henry ventured.
+
+"Don't talk nonsense!" Philippa retorted. "He isn't that sort of a
+man at all. If he has made love to me, he has done so because I have
+encouraged him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault."
+
+Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and took a
+cigarette from an open box.
+
+"Quite time I stayed at home, I can see. All the same, the fellow's
+rather a puzzle. I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making
+such an easy conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for her
+flirtations, and a young woman who is madly in love with another man. He
+hasn't--"
+
+"Hasn't what?"
+
+"He hasn't," Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he
+had been holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, "been in the
+position of being able to render you or Helen any service, has he?"
+
+"I don't understand you," Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+
+"There's nothing to understand," Sir Henry went on. "I was simply trying
+to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici."
+
+"I don't think you need go any further than the fact," Philippa
+observed, "that he is well-bred, charming and companionable."
+
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry queried, "do you happen to have come across
+any one here who ever heard of him before?"
+
+"I don't remember any one," Philippa replied. "He was at college with
+Richard, you know."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen," he
+admitted. "And by-the-by, that reminds me," he went on, "I never saw
+such a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen. A few weeks
+ago you were fretting yourselves to death about Dick. Now you don't seem
+to mention him, you both of you look as though you hadn't a care in the
+world, and yet you say you haven't heard from him. Upon my word, this is
+getting to be a house of mysteries!"
+
+"The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry," she declared.
+
+"Me?" he protested. "I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive. What
+is there mysterious about me?"
+
+"Your ignominious life," was the cold reply.
+
+"Jove, I got it that time!" he groaned,--"got it in the neck! But didn't
+I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?"
+
+"Then prove it," Philippa pleaded. "Let me write to Rayton and beg him
+to use his influence to get you something to do. I am sure you would be
+happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would make to me."
+
+"It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing," he confided. "You
+know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war. They'd make me
+take some one's place at home behind a desk."
+
+"But even if they did," she protested, "even if they put you in a coal
+cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping your
+country? Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?"
+
+Sir Henry made a wry face.
+
+"It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear," he
+grumbled. "However--now what the dickens is the matter?"
+
+The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but Jimmy
+Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the room.
+
+"Hullo? What is it, Jimmy?" his patron demanded.
+
+"Beg your pardon, sir," was the almost incoherent reply. "I've run all
+the way up, and there's a rare wind blowing. There's one of our--our
+trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green and six
+yellow balls."
+
+"Whiting, by God!" Sir Henry exclaimed.
+
+"Whiting!" Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust. "What does this mean,
+Henry?"
+
+"It must be a shoal," her husband explained. "It means that we've got to
+get amongst them quick. Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?"
+
+"She there all right, sir," was the somewhat doubtful reply, "but us'll
+have a rare job to get away, sir. That there nor'easter is blowing great
+guns again and it's a cruel tide."
+
+"We've got to get out somehow," Sir Henry declared. "Mills, my oilskins
+and flask at once. I sha'n't change a thing, but you might bring a
+cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda."
+
+Mills withdrew, a little dazed. Philippa, whose fingers were clenched
+together, found her tongue at last.
+
+"Henry!" she exclaimed furiously.
+
+"What is it, my dear?"
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that after your promise," she continued, "after
+what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for another
+fishing expedition?"
+
+"Whiting, my dear," Sir Henry explained. "One can't possibly miss
+whiting. Where the devil are my keys?--Here they are. Now then."
+
+He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed
+to be a couple of charts in oilskin cases. All the time the wind was
+shaking the windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the panes.
+
+"Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy," Sir Henry invited, as he
+buttoned up his coat. "You'll need it all presently."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir," Jimmy replied. "I am thinking that we'll both
+need a drink before we're through this night."
+
+He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of
+half and half. Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+indignantly, once more found words.
+
+"Henry, you are incorrigible!" she exclaimed. "Listen to me if you
+please. I insist upon it."
+
+Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her. "Philippa, I really
+can't stop now," he protested. "But you must! You shall!" she cried.
+"You shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before you go. What I
+said the other day I repeat a thousandfold now."
+
+Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door. The
+fisherman made an awkward exit.
+
+"A thousandfold," Philippa repeated passionately. "You hear, Henry? I do
+not consider myself any more your wife. If I am here when you return, it
+will be simply because I find it convenient. Your conduct is disgraceful
+and unmanly."
+
+"My dear girl!" he remonstrated. "I may be back in twenty-four--possibly
+twelve hours."
+
+"It is a matter of indifference to me when you return," was the curt
+reply. "I have finished."
+
+The door was thrown open.
+
+"Your oilskins, sir, and flask," Mills announced, hurrying in, a little
+breathless. "You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it scarcely seems
+a fit night to leave home."
+
+"Got to be done this once, Mills," his master replied, struggling into
+his coat.
+
+The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in. Nora, who
+was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+
+"Why, where's Dad going?" she cried.
+
+"It appears," Philippa explained sarcastically, "that a shoal of whiting
+has arrived."
+
+"Very uncertain fish, whiting," Sir Henry observed, "here to-day and
+gone to-morrow."
+
+"You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir," Harrison
+remarked doubtfully.
+
+"Jimmy will see to that," was the confident reply. "I expect we shall be
+amongst them at daybreak. Good-by, everybody! Good-by, Philippa!"
+
+His eyes sought his wife's in vain. She had turned towards Lessingham.
+
+"You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?" she asked. "I want
+you to show me that new Patience."
+
+"I shall be delighted."
+
+Sir Henry turned slowly away. For a moment his face darkened as his eyes
+met Lessingham's. He seemed about to speak but changed his mind.
+
+"Well, good-by, every one," he called out. "I shall be back before
+midnight if we don't get out."
+
+"And if you do?" Nora cried.
+
+"If we do, Heaven help the whiting!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+"Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!" Philippa
+declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+
+"You mean by coming to a place like this?" Lessingham queried, looking
+around the crowded restaurant. "We are not, in that case, the only
+sinners."
+
+"I didn't mean the mere fact of being here," Philippa explained, "but
+being here with you."
+
+"I forgot," he said gloomily, "that I was such a black sheep."
+
+"Don't be silly," she admonished. "You're nothing of the sort. But, of
+course, we are skating on rather thin ice. If I had Henry to consider
+in any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should be more
+careful. As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately. Dreymarsh
+has got upon my nerves. The things that I thought most of in life seem
+to have crumbled away."
+
+"Ought I to be sorry?" he asked. "I am not."
+
+"But why are you so unsympathetic?"
+
+"Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild," he whispered.
+
+A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped before
+their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a glance at
+Philippa, moved away with him to the little space reserved for the
+dancers.
+
+"What a chaperon I am!" Philippa sighed. "I scarcely know anything about
+the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's regiment."
+
+"I did not hear it," Lessingham observed, "but I feel deeply grateful
+to him. It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to you alone like
+this."
+
+"It seems incredible that we have talked so long," Philippa said,
+glancing at the watch upon her wrist. "I really feel now that I know all
+about you--your school days, your college days, and your soldiering. You
+have been very frank, haven't you?"
+
+"I have nothing to conceal--from you," he replied. "If there is anything
+more you want to know--"
+
+"There is nothing," she interrupted uneasily.
+
+"Perhaps you are wise," he reflected, "and yet some day, you know, you
+will have to hear it all, over and over again."
+
+"I will not be made love to in a restaurant," she declared firmly.
+
+"You are so particular as to localities," he complained. "You could
+not see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider a
+suitable environment?"
+
+Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+
+"Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!" she begged.
+"And there is some one there who wants to speak to you."
+
+Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before
+their table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death. He
+remained perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly to
+be drawn from his cheeks. Yet the newcomer himself seemed in no way
+terrifying. He was tall and largely built, clean-shaven, and with
+the humourous mouth of an Irishman or an American. Neither was there
+anything threatening in his speech.
+
+"Glad to run up against you, Lessingham," he said, holding out his hand.
+"Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?"
+
+"Very," Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a dream.
+"Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend--Mr. Hayter."
+
+Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in trivial
+conversation. Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+
+"I must be joining my friends," he observed. "Look in and see me
+sometime, Lessingham--Number 72, Milan Court. You know what a nightbird
+I am. Perhaps you will call and have a final drink with me when you have
+finished here."
+
+"I shall be very glad," Lessingham promised.
+
+Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to judge
+by his interrupted progress. Lady Cranston looked at her companion. She
+was puzzled.
+
+"Is that a recent acquaintance," she asked, "as he addressed you by the
+name of Lessingham?"
+
+"Yes," was the quiet reply.
+
+"You don't wish to talk about him?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little
+party presently broke up. Lessingham drove the two women to their hotel
+in Dover Street.
+
+"We've had a most delightful evening," Philippa assured him, as they
+said good night. "You are coming round to see us in the morning, aren't
+you?"
+
+"If I may," Lessingham assented.
+
+Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night. She had
+nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+
+"May I sit down for a few moments?" she asked, a little nervously. "Your
+fire is so much better than mine."
+
+Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before which
+she was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace. She felt a
+forewarning of what was coming.
+
+"Of course, dear," she replied. "Have you enjoyed your evening?"
+
+"Very much, in a way," was the somewhat hesitating reply. "Of course,
+nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice to talk with
+some one who knows him."
+
+"Agreeable conversation," Philippa remarked didactically, "is one of the
+greatest pleasures in life."
+
+"You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?" Helen asked.
+
+Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew up an
+easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+
+"So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?"
+
+"I suppose you know that he's in love with you?" Helen began.
+
+"I hope he is a little, my dear," was the smiling reply. "I'm sure I've
+tried my best."
+
+"Won't you talk seriously?" Helen pleaded.
+
+"I don't altogether see the necessity," Philippa protested.
+
+"I do, and I'll tell you why," Helen answered. "I don't think Mr.
+Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed. I
+think that he is in deadly earnest about you. I think that he was in
+deadly earnest from the first. You don't really care for him, do you,
+dear?"
+
+"Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking of,"
+was the quiet reply.
+
+"Then please send him away," Helen begged.
+
+"My dear, how can I?" Philippa objected. "He has done us an immense
+service, and he can't disobey his orders."
+
+"You don't want him to go away, then?"
+
+Philippa was silent for several moments. "No," she admitted, "I don't
+think that I do."
+
+"You don't care for Henry any more?"
+
+"Just as much as ever," was the somewhat bitter reply. "That's what I
+resent so much. I should like Henry to believe that he had killed every
+spark of love in me."
+
+Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair. She felt
+that she was going to be very daring.
+
+"Have you any idea at the back of your mind, dear," she asked "of making
+use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?"
+
+Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+
+"How hatefully downright you are!" she murmured. "I don't know."
+
+"Because," Helen continued, "if you have any such idea in your mind, I
+think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham. You know perfectly well that
+anything else between you and him would be impossible."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Don't be ridiculous!" Helen exclaimed vigorously. "Mr. Lessingham may
+have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has attached
+himself to a country which no English man or woman will be able to
+think of without shuddering, for many years to come. You can't dream
+of cutting yourself adrift from your friends and your home and your
+country! It's too unnatural! I'm not even arguing with you, Philippa.
+You couldn't do it! I'm wholly concerned with Mr. Lessingham. I cannot
+forget what we owe him. I think it would be hatefully cruel of you to
+spoil his life."
+
+Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary. She made a little
+grimace. She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+
+"You underrate my charm, Helen," she declared. "I really believe that I
+could make his life instead of spoiling it."
+
+"And you would pay the price?"
+
+Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair. There
+was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+
+"I sometimes think," she said calmly, "that I would pay any price in the
+world to make Henry understand how I feel. There, now run along, dear.
+You're full of good intentions, and don't think it horrid of me, but
+nothing that you could say would make any difference."
+
+"You wouldn't do anything rash?" Helen pleaded.
+
+"Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise that
+I'll send cards out first. Whatever I do, impulse will probably decide."
+
+"Impulse!"
+
+"Why not? I trust mine. Can't you?" Philippa added, with a little shrug
+of the shoulders.
+
+"Sometimes," Helen sighed, "they are such wild horses, you know. They
+lead one to such terrible places."
+
+"And sometimes," Philippa replied, "they find their way into the heaven
+where our soberer thoughts could never take us. Good night, dear!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan Court,
+was a very altered personage. He extended no welcoming salutation to his
+midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a chair.
+
+"Well," he began, "is your task finished that you are in London?"
+
+"My task," Lessingham replied, "might just as well never have been
+entered upon. The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an ordinary
+sport-loving Englishman."
+
+"Really! You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and that is
+your impression of him?"
+
+"It is," Lessingham assented. "He has been away sea-fishing, half the
+time, but I have searched his house thoroughly."
+
+"Searched his papers, eh?"
+
+"Every one I could find, and hated the job. There are a good many charts
+of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen."
+
+"Wonderful!" Hayter scoffed. "My young friend, you may yet find
+distinction in some other walk of life. Our secret service, I fancy,
+will very soon be able to dispense with your energies."
+
+"And I with your secret service," Lessingham agreed heartily. "I dare
+say there may be some branches of it in which existence is tolerable.
+That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I have been
+engaged."
+
+"You have been completely duped," Hayter told him calmly, "and the
+information you have sent us is valueless. Sir Henry Cranston, instead
+of being the type of man whom you have described, is one of the greatest
+experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the English Admiralty."
+
+Lessingham laughed shortly.
+
+"That," he declared, "is perfectly absurd."
+
+"It is," Hayter repeated, with emphasis, "the precise truth. Sir Henry
+Cranton's fishing excursions are myths. He is simply transferred from
+his fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of so-called mine sweepers,
+from which he conducts his operations. Nearly every one of the most
+important towns on the east coast are protected by minefields of his
+design."
+
+Lessingham was dumbfounded. His companion's manner was singularly
+convincing.
+
+"But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?" he
+protested. "Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him because
+she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood gossips
+over his slackness."
+
+"The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled," Hayter retorted. "There are
+one or two who know, however."
+
+"There are one or two," Lessingham observed grimly, "who are beginning
+to suspect me."
+
+"That is a pity," Hayter admitted, "because it will be necessary for you
+to return to Dreymarsh at once."
+
+"Return to Dreymarsh at once? But Cranston is away. There is nothing for
+me to do there in his absence."
+
+"He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night," was the confident
+reply. "He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of a town
+on the east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to bombard. We
+must have that chart."
+
+Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+
+"Could you possibly get me relieved?" he begged. "The fact is--"
+
+"We could not, and we will not," Hayter interrupted fiercely. "Unless
+you wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a coward, you will
+go through with the work which has been allotted to you. Your earlier
+mistakes will be forgiven if that chart is in my hands by Friday."
+
+"But how do you know that he will have it?" Lessingham protested.
+"Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the minefields
+you speak of, I should think the last thing he would do would be to
+bring the chart back to Dreymarsh."
+
+"As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do," Hayter assured
+his listener. "He is bringing it back for the inspection of one of the
+commissioners for the east coast defense, who is to meet him at his
+house. And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom, that you will have very
+little time. For some reason or other, Cranston is dissatisfied with the
+secrecy under which he has been compelled to work, and has applied
+to the Admiralty for recognition of his position. Immediately this is
+given, I gather that his house will be inaccessible to you."
+
+Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire. His
+thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear. Cranston
+was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be. Philippa's whole
+point of view might well be changed by this discovery--especially now
+that Cranston had made up his mind to assert himself for his wife's
+sake. There was an icy fear in his heart.
+
+"You understand," Hayter persisted coldly, "what it is you have to do?"
+
+"Perfectly. I shall return by the afternoon train," was the despairing
+reply.
+
+"If you succeed," Hayter continued, "I shall see that you get the usual
+acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your transfer to
+another branch of the service. I am not questioning your patriotism or
+your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the man for this work."
+
+"You are right," Lessingham said. "I am not."
+
+"It is not my affair," Hayter proceeded, "to enquire too closely into
+the means used by our agents in carrying out our designs. That I find
+you in London in company with the wife of the man whom you are appointed
+to watch, may be a fact capable of the most complete and satisfactory
+explanation. I ask no questions. I only remind you that your country,
+even though it be only your adopted country, demands from you, as from
+all others in her service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by
+the claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour. Have I said enough?"
+
+"You have said as much as it is wise for you to say," Lessingham
+replied, his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+
+"That is all, then," the other concluded. "You know where to send
+or bring the chart when you have it? If you bring it yourself, it
+is possible that something which you may regard as a reward, will be
+offered to you."
+
+Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet. His farewell to Hayter was
+cold and lifeless.
+
+He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with a
+sense of intolerable depression. The streets through which he passed
+were sombre and unlit.
+
+A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to their
+homes. There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere. An intense
+and gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted thoroughfares.
+Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like shadows. Policemen lurked
+in the shadows of the houses. The few vehicles left crawled about with
+insufficient lights. Even the warning horns of the taxicab men sounded
+furtive and repressed. Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt
+curiously in sympathy with his environment. Hayter's news brought him
+face to face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the
+dominant factor in his life. For the first time he knew what love was.
+He felt the wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities, the strange
+idealism called so unexpectedly into being. He recognized the vagaries
+of Philippa's disposition, and yet, during the last few days, he had
+convinced himself that she was beginning to care. Her strained relations
+with her husband had been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards
+the acceptance of his proffered devotion. Now he told himself with eager
+hopefulness that some portion of it, however minute, must be for his own
+sake. The relations between husband and wife, he reminded himself, must,
+at any rate, have been strained during the last few months, or Cranston
+would never have been able to keep his secret. In his gloomy passage
+through this land of ill omens, however, he shivered a little as he
+thought of the other possibility--tortured himself with imagining what
+might happen during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the
+truth. A sense of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed
+to lift him into some lofty state of aloofness, from which he could
+look down and despise himself, the poor, tired plodder wearing the heavy
+chains of duty. There was a life so much more wonderful, just the other
+side of the clouds, a very short distance away, a life of alluring and
+passionate happiness. Should he ever find the courage, he wondered, to
+escape from the treadmill and go in search of it? Duty, for the last two
+years, had taken him by the hand and led him along a pathway of shame.
+He had never been a hypocrite about the war. He was one of those who had
+acknowledged from the first that Germany had set forth, with the sword
+in her hand, on a war of conquest. His own inherited martial spirit had
+vaguely approved; he, too, in those earlier days, had felt the sunlight
+upon his rapier. Later had come the enlightenment, the turbulent waves
+of doubt, the nightmare of a nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in
+his own soul. It was in a depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser
+degree by millions of those whose ranks he had joined, that he felt this
+passionate craving for escape into a world which took count of other
+things.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented himself
+at the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall porter to take
+a seat in the lounge. Philippa entered, a few minutes later, her eyes
+and cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise she had been taking, her
+slim figure most becomingly arrayed in grey cloth and chinchilla.
+
+"I lost Helen in Harrod's," she announced, "but I know she's lunching
+with friends, so it really doesn't matter. You'll have to take care of
+me, Mr. Lessingham, until the train goes, if you will."
+
+"For even longer than that, if you will," he murmured.
+
+She laughed. "More pretty speeches? I don't think I'm equal to them
+before luncheon."
+
+"This time I am literal," he explained. "I am coming back to Dreymarsh
+myself."
+
+He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him. Philippa's
+expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+
+"I'm so glad," she assured him. "Do you know, I was thinking only as I
+came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you."
+
+She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first
+little impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the fire.
+She turned towards him gravely.
+
+"After all, do you think you are wise?" she asked. "Of course, I don't
+think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but you know
+Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and--well, you're safely away now.
+You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful altogether," she
+went on, "that I couldn't bear it if trouble were to come."
+
+He smiled at her.
+
+"I think I know what is at the back of your mind," he said. "You think
+that I am coming back entirely on your account. As it happens, this is
+not so."
+
+She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+
+"Surely," she exclaimed, "you have satisfied yourself that there is no
+field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?"
+
+"I thought that I had," he admitted. "It seems that I am wrong. I have
+had orders to return."
+
+"Orders to return?" she repeated. "From whom?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Of course, I ought not to have asked that," she proceeded hastily,
+"but it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions and
+messages from Germany, here in London."
+
+"Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany," he reminded her.
+
+"So they say," she admitted, "but one doesn't come into contact with it.
+So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!"
+
+"With you, if I may?"
+
+"Naturally," she agreed.
+
+He glanced at the clock. "We might almost be starting for lunch," he
+suggested.
+
+She nodded. "As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage."
+
+She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to the
+Carlton. Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham walked with
+his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the left.
+
+"Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?" she asked him. "There
+must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for instance?"
+
+"Nine years makes a lot of difference," he reminded her, "and besides, I
+have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition really
+takes place. So long as I do not look into any one's face, I feel quite
+safe."
+
+"You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than the
+Carlton?"
+
+"It makes no difference," he assured her. "My credentials have been
+wonderfully established for me."
+
+"I'm so glad," she confessed. "I know it's most unfashionable, but I do
+like these big places. If ever I had my way, I should like to live
+in London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living in the
+country and being just an hotel dweller in London."
+
+"I wonder if New York would not do?" he ventured.
+
+"I expect I should like New York," she murmured.
+
+"I think," he said, "in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave here I
+shall go to the United States."
+
+She looked at him and turned suddenly away. They arrived just then at
+their destination, and the moment passed. Lessingham left his companion
+in the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to secure his
+table and order lunch. When he came back, he found Philippa sitting very
+upright and with a significant glitter in her eyes.
+
+"Look over there," she whispered, "by the palm."
+
+He followed the direction which she indicated. A man was standing
+against one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously a
+foreigner, wrapped in wonderful furs. There was something familiar about
+his figure and the slight droop of his head.
+
+"Why, it's Sir Henry!" Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+
+"My husband," Philippa faltered.
+
+Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+shortsightedness. He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham and his
+wife without recognition or any sign of flinching. At that distance it
+was impossible to see the tightening of his lips and the steely flash in
+his blue eyes.
+
+"The whiting seem to have brought him a long way," Philippa said, with
+an unnatural little laugh.
+
+"Shall I go and speak to him?" Lessingham asked.
+
+"For heaven's sake, no!" she insisted. "Don't leave me. I wouldn't have
+him come near me for anything in the world. It is only a few weeks ago
+that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said that he hated
+the place. You don't know--the woman?"
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"She looks like a foreigner," was all he could say.
+
+"Take me in to lunch at once," Philippa begged, rising abruptly to her
+feet. "This is really the last straw."
+
+They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry
+was standing. He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with his
+companion, and did not even turn around. Philippa's little face
+seemed to have hardened as she took her seat. Only her eyes were still
+unnaturally bright.
+
+"I am so sorry if this has annoyed you," Lessingham regretted. "You
+would not care to go elsewhere?"
+
+"I? Go anywhere else?" she exclaimed scornfully. "Thank you, I am
+perfectly satisfied here. And with my companion," she added, with a
+brilliant little smile. "Now tell me about New York. Have you ever been
+there?"
+
+"Twice," he told her. "At present the dream of my life is to go there
+with you."
+
+She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+
+"I wonder if you really care," she said. "Men get so much into the habit
+of saying that sort of thing to women. Sometimes it seems to me they
+must do a great deal of mischief. But you--Is that really your wish?"
+
+"I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life," he
+declared, with his face aglow, "for its realization."
+
+"But you would be a deserter from your country," she pointed out. "You
+would never be able to return. Your estates would be confiscated. You
+would be homeless."
+
+"Home," he said softly, "is where one's heart takes one. Home is just
+where love is."
+
+Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft. Then
+she began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare notes of
+countries which they had both visited, even of people whom they had met.
+They were obliged to leave early to catch their train. As they passed
+down the crowded restaurant they once more found themselves within a few
+feet of Sir Henry. His back was turned to them, and he was apparently
+ignorant of their near presence. The party had become a partie Carrie,
+another man, and a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined
+it.
+
+"Of course," Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, "I am behaving
+like an idiot. I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what I think of him,
+or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion. We lose so much,
+don't we, by stifling our instincts."
+
+"For the next few minutes," he replied, glancing at his watch, "I think
+we had better concentrate our attention upon catching our train."
+
+They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare. Grover,
+however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for them,
+ensconced in a corner. She accepted the news of Lessingham's return with
+resignation. Philippa became thoughtful as they drew towards the close
+of their journey and the slow, frosty twilight began to creep down upon
+the land.
+
+"I suppose we don't really know what war is," she observed, looking
+out of the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with a
+background of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church. "The
+people are safe in their homes. You must appreciate what that means, Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+"Indeed I do," he answered gravely. "I have seen the earth torn and
+dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel. A few
+blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful village stood;
+men and women running about like lunatics stricken with a mortal fear.
+And all the time a red glow on the horizon, a blood-red glow, and little
+specks of grey or brown lying all over the fields; even the cattle
+racing round in terror. And every now and then the cry of Death! You are
+fortunate in England."
+
+Philippa leaned forward.
+
+"Do you believe that our turn will come?" she asked. "Do you believe
+that the wave will break over our country?"
+
+"Who can tell?"
+
+"Ah, no, but answer me," she begged. "Is it possible for you to land an
+army here?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that all things are possible to the military
+genius of Germany. The only question is whether it is worth while.
+Germans are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know. I rather doubt it.
+There is nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so much as
+the news of a German invasion of Great Britain. On the other hand,
+there is a great party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one, which is
+continually reminding the Government that, without Great Britain as a
+market, Germany would never recover from the financial strain of the
+war."
+
+"This is all too impersonal," Philippa objected. "Do you, in your heart,
+believe that the time might come when in the night we should hear the
+guns booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad soldiers forming
+up on the beach and scaling our cliffs?"
+
+"That will not be yet," he pronounced. "It has been thought of. Once it
+was almost attempted. Just at present, no."
+
+Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+
+"Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+landing?"
+
+"Nothing," he assured her. "I can even go a little further. I can tell
+you that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected place,
+in an unexpected fashion."
+
+"Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at first-hand,"
+Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner. "I suppose we
+are really two disgraceful women, Helen and I--traitors and all the rest
+of it. Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he were one of our best
+friends."
+
+"I refuse to be called an enemy," Lessingham protested. "There are times
+when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality. I am just a
+human being, born into the same world and warmed by the same sun as you.
+Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow creatures."
+
+"Dreymarsh once more," Philippa announced, looking out of the window.
+"And you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham. Come round and
+see us after dinner--if it doesn't interfere with your work."
+
+"On the contrary," he murmured under his breath. "Thank you very much."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very blank
+expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty Square. He was
+alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the walls of which were
+so hung with charts that it had almost the appearance of a schoolroom
+prepared for an advanced geography class. The table from which he had
+risen was covered with an amazing number of scientific appliances, some
+samples of rock and sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+
+Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the outlook,
+turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself confronted by an
+elderly gentleman of cheerful appearance, who at that moment had entered
+the room. From the fact that he had done so without knocking, it was
+obvious that he was an intimate.
+
+"Well, my gloomy friend," the newcomer demanded, "what's wrong with
+you?"
+
+Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor. He pushed a chair
+towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box of cigars
+upon his desk.
+
+
+"Your little Laranagas," he observed. "Try one."
+
+The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped himself.
+
+"Now, then, get at it, Henry," he enjoined. "I've a Board in
+half-an-hour, and three dispatches to read before I go in. What's your
+trouble?"
+
+"Look here, Rayton," was the firm reply, "I want to chuck this infernal
+hole-and-corner business. I tell you I've worked it threadbare at
+Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable."
+
+The newcomer grinned.
+
+"Poor chap!" he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards. "You're
+in a nasty mess, you know, Henry. Did I tell you that I had a letter
+from your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't find you a job?"
+
+Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the joke.
+
+"That's all very well," he said, "but we are on the point of a
+separation, or something of the sort. I'll admit it was all right at
+first to run the thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted up by
+now. Why, according to your own reports, they know all about me on the
+other side."
+
+"Not a doubt about it," the other agreed. "I'm not sure that you haven't
+got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now."
+
+"I'm quite sure of it," Sir Henry replied grimly. "The brute was
+lunching with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would have it,
+I was landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and sister-in-law. You're
+breaking up the happy home, that's what you're doing, Rayton!"
+
+His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing. He laughed
+until the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+"I should love to have seen Philippa's face," he chuckled, "when she
+walked into the restaurant and saw you there! You're supposed to be off
+on a fishing expedition, aren't you?"
+
+"I went out after whiting," Sir Henry groaned, "and I'd just promised to
+chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message."
+
+"Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway," his visitor promised.
+
+"Don't be an ass!" Sir Henry exclaimed irritably. "I don't want the
+fellow touched at present. Why, he's been a sort of persona grata at my
+house. Hangs around there all the time when I'm away."
+
+"All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should
+say," was the cheerful reply.
+
+"And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and Miss
+Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!" Sir Henry retorted.
+
+"I forgot that," his friend confessed ruminatively. "He's a gentlemanly
+sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy. What do you want
+done with him?"
+
+"Leave him for me to deal with," Sir Henry insisted. "I have a little
+scheme on hand in which he is concerned."
+
+Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+
+"The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems," he reminded his friend.
+
+"I won't run any risks," Sir Henry promised. "I just want him left
+there, that's all. And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from you.
+I quite agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the time when I
+was up in Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer with the people
+who count. Every one in Germany knows that I'm a mine-field specialist,
+so I don't see why the dickens I should pose any longer as a sort of
+half-baked idiot."
+
+Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+
+"You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical
+disclosure of your greatness," he laughed. "Poor Philippa will fall
+upon her knees. You will be the hero of the village, which will probably
+present you with some little article of plate. You've a good time
+coming, Henry."
+
+"Talk sense, there's a good fellow," the other begged. "You go and see
+the Chief and put it to him. There isn't a single reason why I shouldn't
+own up now."
+
+"I'll see what I can do," Rayton promised, "but what about this fellow
+Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there? There's a
+chap named Griffiths--Commandant, isn't he?--been writing us about him."
+
+"I won't have Lessingham touched," Sir Henry insisted. "He can't do any
+particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a drawing of mine
+down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to."
+
+Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+
+"Look here, Henry, old fellow," he said, "I do sympathise with you up
+to a certain point. I tell you what I'll do. I shall have to answer
+Philippa's letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if she is as
+clever a little woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint. Of course,"
+he went on ruminatively, "it is rather a misfortune that the Princess
+Ollaneff and her sister are such jolly good-looking women. Makes it look
+a little fishy, doesn't it? What I mean to say is, it's a far cry
+from fishing for whiting in the North Sea to lunching with a beautiful
+princess at the Carlton--when you think your wife's down in Norfolk."
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+"Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton," he declared. "You get back
+and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it."
+
+The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of voices
+in the corridor, and departed. The door had scarcely been closed
+when two younger men presented themselves--Miles Ensol, Sir Henry's
+secretary, a typical-looking young sailor minus his left arm; and a
+pale-faced, clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian clothes. Sir
+Henry shook hands with the latter and pointed to the easy-chair which
+his previous visitor had just vacated.
+
+"Welcome back again, Horridge," he said cordially. "Miles, I'll ring
+when I want you."
+
+"Very good, sir," the secretary replied. "There's a fisherman from
+Norfolk downstairs, when you're at liberty."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I'll see him presently. Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke."
+
+The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+
+"I don't think," he explained, "that eavesdropping extends to these
+premises, or that our voices could reach outside. Still, a ha'porth of
+prevention, eh? Have a cigar, Horridge."
+
+"I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir."
+
+"You look as though they'd put you through it," Sir Henry remarked.
+
+His visitor smiled.
+
+"I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel," he said, "and we were
+out for twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff. You know what the
+weather's been like in the North Sea. Before that, the last word of
+writing I saw on German soil was a placard, offering a reward of five
+thousand marks for my detention, with a disgustingly lifelike photograph
+at the top. I had about fifty yards of quay to walk in broad daylight,
+and every other man I passed turned to stare after me. It gives you the
+cold shivers down your back when you daren't look round to see if you're
+being followed."
+
+Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle of
+whisky and a syphon of soda water. His visitor nodded approvingly.
+
+"I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary," he
+observed. "My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my life. Do
+you mind, sir, if I lock the door?"
+
+"Go ahead," Sir Henry assented.
+
+He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room. Horridge resumed
+his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly. For a moment or two he
+shook as though he had an ague. Then, just as suddenly as it had come
+upon him, the fit passed. He drained the contents of the tumbler at a
+gulp, set it down empty by his side, and stretched out his hand for a
+cigar.
+
+"The end of my journey didn't help matters any," he went on. "I daren't
+even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually by a tramp
+steamer from Newcastle to London with coals. I hadn't been on board more
+than an hour before a submarine which had been following overhauled us.
+I thought it was all up then, but the fog lifted, and we found ourselves
+almost in the midst of a squadron of destroyers from Harwich. I made
+another transfer, and they landed me in time to catch the early morning
+train from Felixstowe."
+
+"Did they get the submarine?" his listener asked eagerly.
+
+"Get it!" the other repeated, with a smile. "They blew it into scrap
+metal."
+
+"Plenty of movement in your life!"
+
+"I've run the gauntlet over there once too often," Horridge said grimly.
+"Just look at me now, Sir Henry. I'm twenty-nine years old, and it's
+only two years and a half since I was invalided out of the navy and
+took this job on. The last person I asked to guess my age put me down at
+fifty. What should you have said?"
+
+"Somewhere near it," was the candid admission. "Never mind, Horridge,
+you've done your bit. You shall pass on your experience to a new hand,
+take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few months.
+Now let's get on with it. You know what I want to hear about."
+
+Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+
+"They're there, sir," he announced, "coaled to the scuppers, every man
+standing to stations and steam up. There's the list."
+
+He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+
+"The fast cruiser squadron," he observed. "Hm! Three new ships we
+haven't any note of. No transports, then, Horridge?'"
+
+"Not a sign of one, sir," was the reply. "They're after a bombardment."
+
+He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+certain port on the east coast. Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+
+"You're sure?"
+
+"It is a certainty," Horridge replied. "I've been on three of those
+ships. I've dined with four of the officers. They're under sealed
+orders, and the crew believes that they're going to escort out half
+a dozen commerce destroyers. But I have the truth. That's their
+objective," Horridge repeated, touching once more the spot upon the map,
+"and they are waiting just for one thing."
+
+Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+
+"I know what they're waiting for," he said. "Perhaps if they'd a Herr
+Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before now. As
+it is--well, I'm not sure," he went on. "It seems a pity to disappoint
+them, doesn't it? I'd love to give them a run for their money."
+
+Horridge smiled faintly. He knew a good deal about his companion.
+
+"They're spoiling for it, sir," he admitted. Sir Henry spoke down a
+telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+
+"Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room," his chief directed, "and one of
+our confidential typists. You can make out your report at your leisure,"
+he went on. "Come in and see me when it's all finished."
+
+"Certainly, sir," Horridge replied, rising.
+
+Sir Henry held out his hand. He looked with something like wonder at
+the nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain air of
+briskness.
+
+"Horridge," he said, "I wish I had your pluck."
+
+"I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any,
+sir," was the quiet reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the scene
+of his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the moorland,
+seawards. Above him, the sky was covered with little masses of quickly
+scudding clouds. A fugitive and watery sunshine shone feebly upon a
+wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape. He found a certain grim
+satisfaction in comparing the disorderliness of the day with the tumult
+in his own life. He felt that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater
+than his capacity, for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable.
+And behind him was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a
+few hours ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+
+Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation.
+Great events wait upon you. The object of your search is necessary for
+our imminent operations.
+
+The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him. Captain Griffiths, on a
+great bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the roadside,
+and then pulled up.
+
+"Back again, Mr. Lessingham?" he remarked.
+
+"As you see."
+
+The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment. Then he approached
+a little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+
+"You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham," he remarked.
+
+"When the fancy takes me," was the equable reply.
+
+"Have you come out to see our new guns?"
+
+"I had no idea," Lessingham answered indifferently, "that you had any."
+
+Griffiths smiled.
+
+"We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from
+the south of England," he said. "The secret of their coming and their
+locality has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for the last
+week."
+
+Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+
+"They most of them spotted the guns," his companion continued, "but not
+many of them have found the searchlights yet."
+
+"It seems a little late in the year," Lessingham observed, "to be making
+preparations against Zeppelins."
+
+"Well, they cross here pretty often, you know," Griffiths reminded him.
+"It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to grief
+on this common. We picked up their observation car not fifty yards from
+where you are sitting."
+
+"I remember hearing about it," Lessingham acknowledged.
+
+"By-the-by," the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck,
+"didn't you arrive that evening or the evening after?"
+
+"I believe I did."
+
+"Liverpool Street or King's Cross? The King's Cross train was very
+nearly held up."
+
+"I didn't come by train at all," Lessingham replied, glancing for a
+moment into the clouds, "And now I come to think of it, it must have
+been the evening after."
+
+"Fine county for motoring," Griffiths continued, stroking his horse's
+head.
+
+"The roads I have been on seem very good," was the somewhat bored
+admission.
+
+"You haven't a car of your own here, have you?"
+
+"Not at present."
+
+Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments.
+Then he turned once more towards his companion.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," he said, "you are aware that I am Commandant here?"
+
+"I believe," Lessingham replied, "that Lady Cranston told me so."
+
+"It is my duty, therefore," Griffiths went on, "to take a little more
+than ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this time
+of the year. The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston is, of
+course, an entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence here.
+At the same time, there is certain information concerning strangers of
+which we keep a record, and in your case there is a line or two which we
+have not been able to fill up."
+
+"If I can be of any service," Lessingham murmured.
+
+"Precisely," the other interrupted. "I knew you would feel like that.
+Now your arrival here--we have the date, I think--October 6th. As you
+have just remarked, you didn't come by train. How did you come?"
+
+Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+
+"Is that a question which you ask me to answer--officially?" he
+enquired.
+
+His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I am not putting official questions to you at all," he replied, "nor
+am I cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the circumstances,
+simply because your friendship with the Cranstons is, of course, a
+guarantee as to your position. But on the other hand, I think it would
+be reasonable if you were to answer my question."
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+"Perhaps you are right," he admitted. "As you can tell by finding me
+here this afternoon, I am a great walker. I arrived--on foot."
+
+"I see," Griffiths reflected. "The other question which we usually ask
+is, where was your last stopping place?"
+
+"Stopping place?" Lessingham murmured.
+
+"Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?" Griffiths
+persisted.
+
+Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful
+memory.
+
+"But I did not sleep at all," he complained. "It was one of the worst
+nights which I have ever spent in my life."
+
+Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+
+"Well," he said with clumsy sarcasm, "I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered my
+questions. I won't bother you any more just at present. Shall I see you
+to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?"
+
+"Lady Cranston has asked me to dine," was the somewhat reserved reply.
+
+His inquisitor nodded and cantered away. Lessingham looked after him
+until he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh and
+walked steadily into the lowering afternoon. Twilight was falling as
+he reached Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some
+callers, to whom she promptly introduced him. Lessingham gathered,
+almost in the first few minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was
+becoming a subject of comment.
+
+"My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think," a lady
+by whose side he found himself observed. "You perhaps didn't hear my
+name--Mrs. Johnson?"
+
+"I congratulate you upon your husband," Lessingham replied. "I remember
+him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I revoked."
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed. "He must have taken a fancy to you, then. As a
+rule, they rather complain about him at bridge."
+
+"I formed the impression," Lessingham continued, "that he was rather a
+better player than the majority of the performers there."
+
+Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady,
+smiled.
+
+"He thinks so, at any rate," she conceded. "Didn't he tell me that you
+were invalided home from the front?"
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"I am quite sure that it was not mentioned," he said. "We walked home
+together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of the golf
+and some shooting in the neighbourhood."
+
+Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing. There was a
+little commotion. Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to help
+collect the fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper in his
+ear.
+
+"Be careful. That woman is a cat. Stay and talk to me. Please don't
+bother, Mr. Lessingham. Won't you ring the bell instead?" she continued,
+raising her voice.
+
+Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs.
+Johnson's inviting smile as he returned. Philippa made room for him by
+her side.
+
+"Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham," she said, "of
+the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and both
+had just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity. You never played, did
+you?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No such luck. In any case, Richard would have been in well before me. I
+always maintained that he was the first of our googlie bowlers."
+
+"So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?" another caller remarked
+in mild wonder.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends," Philippa explained.
+"Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire."
+
+Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+disappointment. The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance in
+Dreymarsh was practically strangled. Mrs. Johnson, however, fired a
+parting shot as she rose to go.
+
+"You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+Lessingham?" she asked. "No," he answered calmly.
+
+Philippa was busy with her adieux. Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+
+"What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?" she persisted. "You must
+forgive my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military
+affairs."
+
+Lessingham bowed courteously.
+
+"I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all," he said coolly,
+"but as a matter of fact I am in the Guards."
+
+Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable. Her good-by to
+Lessingham was most affable. She walked up the road with the vicar.
+
+"I think, Vicar," she said severely, "that for a small place, Dreymarsh
+is becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew. Every one
+has been saying all sorts of unkind things about that charming Mr.
+Lessingham, and there you are--Major Felstead's friend and a Guardsman!
+Somehow or other, I felt that he belonged to one of the crack regiments.
+I shall certainly ask him to dinner one night next week."
+
+The vicar nodded benignly. He had the utmost respect for Mrs. Johnson's
+cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to which the object
+of their discussion had attained.
+
+"I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time," he pronounced,
+with ample condescension. "I noticed him in church last Sunday morning."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+"My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!" Philippa exclaimed
+pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers. "The
+Guards, indeed!"
+
+Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+
+"Well," he said, "I told the dear lady the truth. You will find my
+name well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the Prussian
+Guards."
+
+She threw herself back in her chair and laughed. "How amusing it would
+be if it weren't all so terrible! You really are a perfect political
+Raffles. Do you know that this afternoon you have absolutely
+reestablished yourself? Mr. Johnson will probably call on you
+to-morrow--they may even ask you to dine--the vicar will write and ask
+for a subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you to play golf with
+her."
+
+"Do not turn my head," he begged.
+
+"All the same," Philippa continued, more gravely, "I shall never have
+a moment's peace whilst you are in the place. I was thinking about you
+last night. I don't believe I have ever realised before how terrible it
+would be if you really were discovered. What would they do to you?"
+
+"Whatever they might do," he replied, a little wearily, "I must obey
+orders. My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told that I
+might go, I should find it hard."
+
+"Do you mean that?" she asked.
+
+"I think you know," he answered.
+
+"You men are so strange," she went on, after a moment's pause. "You give
+us so little time to know you, you show us so little of yourselves and
+you expect so much."
+
+"We offer everything," he reminded her.
+
+"I want to avoid platitudes," she said thoughtfully, "but is love quite
+the same thing for a man as for a woman?"
+
+"Sometimes it is more," was the prompt reply. "Sometimes love, for a
+woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the blending of
+all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that he has learned
+from books and from life. Sometimes a man can see no further and needs
+to look no further."
+
+Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger. There was something in
+her heart of which she had never before been conscious, some music, some
+strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or the words themselves.
+It was madness, she told herself breathlessly. She was in love with
+her husband, if any one. She could not have lost all feeling for him so
+soon. She clasped her hands tightly. Lessingham seemed conscious of his
+advantage, and leaned towards her.
+
+"If I were not offering you my whole life," he pleaded, "believe me, I
+would not open my lips. If I were thinking of episodes, I would throw
+myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even your fingers. But
+you, and you alone, could fill the place in my life which I have always
+prayed might be filled, not for a year or even a decade of years, but
+for eternity."
+
+"Oh, but you forget!" she faltered.
+
+"I remember so much," he replied, "that I know it is hard for you to
+speak. There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your
+fingers shrink from tearing them asunder. If it were not for this,
+Philippa--hear the speech of a renegade--my mandate should be torn in
+pieces. My instructions should flutter into the waste-paper basket,
+To-morrow should see us on our way to a new country and a new life. But
+you must be very sure indeed."
+
+"Is it because of me that you are staying here?" she asked.
+
+"Upon my honour, no," he assured her. "I must stay here a little longer,
+whatever it may mean for me. And so I am content to remain what I am to
+you at this minute. I ask from you only that you remain just what you
+are. But when the moment of my freedom comes, when my task here is
+finished and I turn to go, then I must come to you."
+
+She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open the
+window. The breeze swept through the room, flapping the curtains,
+blowing about loose articles into a strange confusion. She stood there
+for several moments, as though in search of some respite from the
+emotional atmosphere upon which she had turned her back. When she
+finally closed the window, her hair was in little strands about her
+face. Her eyes were soft and her lips quivering.
+
+"You make me feel," she said, taking his hand for a moment and looking
+at him almost piteously, "you make me feel everything except one thing."
+
+"Except one thing?" he repeated.
+
+"Can't you understand?" she continued, stretching out her hand with a
+quick, impulsive little movement. "I am here in Henry's house, his wife,
+the mistress of his household. All the years we've been married I have
+never thought of another man. I have never indulged in even the idlest
+flirtation. And now suddenly my life seems upside down. I feel as
+though, if Henry stood before me now, I would strike him on the cheek. I
+feel sore all over, and ashamed, but I don't know whether I have ceased
+to love him. I can't tell. Nothing seems to help me. I close my eyes
+and I try to think of that new world and that new life, and I know that
+there is nothing repulsive in it. I feel all the joy and the strength of
+being with you. And then there is Henry in the background. He seems to
+have had so much of my love."
+
+He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+encouragingly.
+
+"Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing," he said.
+"Just think these things out. It isn't really a matter for sorrow," he
+continued. "Love must always mean happiness--for the one who is loved."
+
+She leaned back in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her,
+her eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet. He sat by her side,
+fingering some of the things in her work basket. Once she held out her
+hand and seemed to find comfort in his clasp. He raised her fingers to
+his lips without any protest from her. She looked at him with a little
+smile.
+
+"You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine," she declared. "I can't see
+my way like those wonderful emancipated women."
+
+"Yet," he said thoughtfully, "the way to the simple things is so clear."
+
+Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of Nora
+and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked in for a
+game of billiards. Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the latter had
+returned to their game. His tone and manner now were completely changed.
+He seemed ill at ease and unhappy.
+
+"I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow," he told Philippa, "but
+I must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates. They all
+tell me that your husband has any number of charts of the coast. Do you
+think I could borrow one?"
+
+"Why, of course," she replied, "if we can find it."
+
+She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers as
+were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly. By the
+time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a little
+collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+
+"I don't know where else to look," she said. "You might go through those
+and see if they are of any use. What is it, Mills?" she added, turning
+to the door.
+
+Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at Sir
+Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour. He looked away towards his
+mistress, however, as he replied.
+
+"The young woman has called with reference to a situation as
+parlour-maid, your ladyship," he announced. "I have shown her into the
+sewing room." Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+
+"I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes," she promised Lessingham.
+"Just look through those till I come back."
+
+She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room. He stood for a
+moment listening. On the left-hand side, through the door which had
+been left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls and occasional
+peals of laughter. On the right-hand side there was silence. He moved
+swiftly across the room and closed the door leading into the billiard
+room, deposited on the sofa the charts which he had been carrying, and
+hurried back to the secretary. With a sickening feeling of overwhelming
+guilt, he drew from his pocket a key and opened, one by one, the drawers
+through which they had not searched. It took him barely five minutes to
+discover--nothing. With an air of relief he rearranged everything.
+When Philippa returned, he was sitting on the lounge, going through the
+charts which they had looked out together.
+
+"Well?" she asked.
+
+"There is nothing here," he decided, "which will help me very much. With
+your permission I will take this," he added, selecting one at random.
+
+She nodded and they replaced the others. Then she touched him on the
+arm.
+
+"Listen," she said, "are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+coming?"
+
+He listened for a moment.
+
+"I can't hear any one," he answered. "They've started a four-handed game
+of pool in the billiard room."
+
+She smiled.
+
+"Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret. See!"
+
+She touched the spring in the side of the secretary. The false back,
+with its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up. The large
+and very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so much of his
+time, was revealed. Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+
+"There!" she said. "That has been a great labour of love with Henry.
+It is the chart, on a great scale, from which he works. I don't know
+a thing about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry that you have
+seen it."
+
+He continued to examine the chart earnestly. Not a part of it escaped
+him. Then he turned back to Philippa.
+
+"Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?" he
+asked.
+
+"I don't exactly know where it is," she replied. "Every time Henry finds
+out anything new, he comes and works at it. I believe that very soon it
+will be perfect. Then he will start on another part of the coast."
+
+"This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?" Lessingham
+enquired.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I believe it is the fifth," she replied. "They all disappear when they
+are finished, but I have no idea where to. To me they seem to represent
+a shocking waste of time."
+
+Lessingham was suddenly taciturn. He held out his hand. "You are dining
+with us to-morrow night, remember," she said.
+
+"I am not likely to forget," he assured her.
+
+"And don't get drowned," she concluded. "I don't know any of these
+fishermen--I hate them all--but I'm told that Oates is the worst."
+
+"I think that we shall be quite all right," he assured her. "Thanks very
+much for finding me the charts. What I have seen will help me."
+
+Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+perfunctory. Lessingham was almost thankful to escape. There was an
+unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his heart.
+All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous quest had
+faded away. No sense of duty or patriotism could revive his drooping
+spirits. He felt himself suddenly an unclean and dishonoured being.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous wind
+of an uncertain morning settled down to worse things. It tore the spray
+from the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even against the
+French windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down the open spaces
+cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean artillery. A little
+group of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the railing and discussed
+the chances of Ben Oates bringing his boat in safely. Philippa, also,
+distracted by a curious anxiety, stood before the blurred window,
+gazing into what seemed almost a grey chaos. "Captain Griffiths, your
+ladyship."
+
+She turned around quickly at the announcement. Even an unwelcome caller
+at that moment was almost a relief to her.
+
+"How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+Griffiths," she exclaimed, as they shook hands. "Helen is over at the
+Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem most
+dolefully alone."
+
+Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in the
+way of enlivenment. He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than ever,
+and his tone was almost threatening.
+
+"I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston," he said. "I came
+specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter."
+
+Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There seemed
+to her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly conscious that
+there was a new danger to be faced, and that this man's attitude towards
+her was, for some reason or other, inimical. After the first shock,
+however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+
+"Well, you seem very mysterious," she observed. "I haven't broken any
+laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?"
+
+"So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort," the
+Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint. "My
+call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a friendly one."
+
+"How nice!" she sighed. "Then you'll have some tea, won't you?"
+
+"Not at present, if you please," he begged. "I have come to talk to you
+about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"Really?" Philippa exclaimed. "Whatever has that poor man been doing
+now."
+
+"Dreymarsh," her visitor proceeded, "having been constituted, during the
+last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and enquire
+into the business of any stranger who appears here. Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his friendship with
+you. I regret to state, however, that certain facts have come to my
+knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself may not in some
+measure have been deceived."
+
+"This sounds very ridiculous," Philippa interposed quietly.
+
+"A few weeks ago," Captain Griffith continued, "we received information
+that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by some person
+connected with the Secret Service of Germany. There is strong evidence
+that the person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+visitor at my father's house in Cheshire," Philippa observed, with faint
+sarcasm.
+
+"The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston," Captain
+Griffiths rejoined, "has, I must confess, only just occurred to me. The
+authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to, and no one of the
+name of Lessingham was there during any one of your brother's terms."
+
+Philippa took the blow well. She simply stared at her caller in a
+noncomprehending manner.
+
+"We have also information," he continued gravely, "from Wood Norton
+Hall--from your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston--that no college friend
+of your brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton."
+
+"Go on," Philippa begged, a little faintly. "Did I ever live there
+myself? Was Richard ever at Magdalen?"
+
+Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to
+finish and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+
+"I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of
+which I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his last
+habitation. He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced fashion. He
+practically declined to give me any account of himself."
+
+Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+
+"I suppose I must give you some tea," she said, "although you seem to
+have come here on purpose to make my head ache."
+
+"My object in coming here," Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little
+stiffly, "is to save you some measure of personal annoyance."
+
+"Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful," Philippa begged. "Of
+course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get to the
+bottom of it presently--Tell me what you think of the storm?" she added,
+as Mills entered with the tea tray. "Do you think it will get any worse,
+because I am terrified to death already?"
+
+"I am no judge of the weather here," he confessed. "I believe the
+fishermen are preparing for something unusual."
+
+She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing
+her duties as hostess. Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm and
+addressed him with an air of complete candour.
+
+"Now, Captain Griffiths," she began, "do listen to me. Just one moment
+of common sense, if you please. What do you suppose there could possibly
+be in our harmless seaside village to induce any one to risk his life by
+coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of Germany?"
+
+"Dreymarsh," Captain Griffiths replied, "was not made a prohibited area
+for nothing."
+
+"But, my dear man, be reasonable," Philippa persisted. "There are
+perhaps a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations along
+the cliff for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, and
+a couple of searchlights. There isn't a grocer's boy in the place who
+doesn't know all this. There's no concealment about it. You must
+admit that Germany doesn't need to send over a Secret Service agent to
+acquaint herself with these insignificant facts."
+
+Her visitor smiled very faintly. It was the first time he had relaxed
+even so far as this.
+
+"I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you,
+Lady Cranston," he said, "but I am not prepared to accept your statement
+that Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than the things
+which you have mentioned."
+
+There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now. The suggestion
+contained in her visitor's words had really left her in a state of
+wonder.
+
+"You are making my flesh creep!" she exclaimed. "You don't mean to say
+that we have secrets here?"
+
+"I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon the
+subject," he declared. "You will understand, I am sure, that I am not
+here in the character of an inquisitor. I simply thought it my duty, in
+view of the fact that you had made yourself the social sponsor for
+Mr. Lessingham, to place certain information before you, and to ask,
+unofficially, of course, if you have any explanation to give? You may
+even," he went on, hesitatingly, "appreciate the motives which led me to
+do so."
+
+"My dear man, what explanation could I have?" Philippa protested, "it is
+an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at Magdalen
+with my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood Norton. I know
+both these things of my own knowledge. The only possible explanation,
+therefore, is that you have been misinformed."
+
+"Or," Captain Griffiths ventured, "that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in those
+days passed under another name."
+
+"Another name?" Philippa faltered.
+
+"Some such name, perhaps," he continued, "as Bertram Maderstrom."
+
+There was a short silence. Captain Griffiths had leaned back in his
+chair and was caressing his upper lip. His eyes were fixed upon Philippa
+and Philippa saw nothing. Her little heel dug hard into the carpet. In a
+few seconds the room ceased to spin. Nevertheless, her voice sounded to
+her pitifully inadequate.
+
+"What an absurdity all this is!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Maderstrom," Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, "was, curiously
+enough, an intimate college friend of your brother's. He was also a
+visitor at Wood Norton Hall. At neither place is there any trace of
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham. Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady Cranston.
+Perhaps you have recognised the man and failed to remember his name. If
+so, now is the moment to declare it."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you," Philippa retorted, "but I have never
+met or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom--"
+
+"Baron Maderstrom," he interrupted.
+
+"Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I remember
+perfectly."
+
+"I am sorry," Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup and
+rising slowly to his feet. "We cannot help one another, then."
+
+"If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember perfectly,
+into a German baron whom I never heard of," Philippa declared boldly, "I
+am afraid that we can't."
+
+"Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman," Captain Griffiths observed.
+
+"Swedish or German, I know nothing of him," Philippa persisted.
+
+"There remains, then, nothing more to be said."
+
+"I am afraid not," Philippa agreed sweetly.
+
+"Under the circumstances," Captain Griffiths asked, "you will not, I am
+sure, expect me to dine to-night."
+
+"Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham," Philippa replied.
+
+Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible
+for that little storm of passion which for a moment transformed his
+appearance. He quickly recovered, however.
+
+"I may still," he concluded, moving towards the door, "be forced to
+present myself here in another capacity."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+visitor, stifled Philippa. Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf around
+her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to the railing,
+dragged herself along to where the fishermen were gathered together in a
+little group. The storm as yet showed no signs of abatement.
+
+"Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?" she enquired.
+
+An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+
+"There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!"
+
+"Will she get in?" Philippa asked eagerly.
+
+There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+
+"She's weathering it grand," the fisherman to whom she had first spoken,
+declared. "We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning on getting 'em
+ashore all right. Lucky for Ben that the gentleman along with him is a
+fine sailor. Look at that, mum!" he added in excitement. "See the way he
+brought her head round to it, just in time. Boys, they'll come in on the
+next one!"
+
+One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+wave-splashed beach. There were a few more minutes of breathless
+anxiety. Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight,
+hidden by a huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to the
+top of it, to hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and the
+surf and a great green mass of waters, and then finally, with a harsh
+crash of timbers and a shout from the fishermen, to be flung high and
+dry upon the stones. Philippa, clutching the iron railing, saw for a
+moment nothing but chaos. Her knees became weak. She was unable to move.
+There was a queer dizziness in her ears. The sound of voices sounded
+like part of an unreal nightmare. Then she was aware of a single figure
+climbing the steps towards her. There was blood trickling down his face
+from the wound in the forehead, and he was limping slightly.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham!" she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+
+He took an eager step towards her.
+
+"Philippa!" he exclaimed. "Why, what are you doing here?"
+
+"I was frightened," she faltered. "Are you hurt?"
+
+"Not in the least," he assured her. "We had a rough sail home, that's
+all, and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious. Come along,
+let me help you up the steps and out of this."
+
+She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the
+house. Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and Helen
+came hurrying to them from the background.
+
+"I went out to see the storm," Philippa explained weakly, "and I saw Mr.
+Lessingham's boat brought in."
+
+"And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once," Helen insisted. "I
+haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going to
+bind his head up."
+
+Philippa began to feel her strength returning. The horror which lay
+behind those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind. Mills
+had hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were preparing to
+follow. She stopped them.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "listen. Captain Griffiths has been here. He
+knows or guesses everything."
+
+"Everything?"
+
+Philippa nodded.
+
+"Helen must bind your head up, of course," she continued. "After that,
+think! What can we do? Captain Griffiths knows that there was no Hamar
+Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited Wood Norton, that
+there is some mystery about your arrival here, and he told me to my face
+that he believes you to be Bertram Maderstrom."
+
+"What a meddlesome fellow!" Lessingham grumbled, holding his
+handkerchief to his forehead.
+
+"Oh, please be serious!" Helen begged, looking up from the bandage which
+she was preparing. "This is horrible!"
+
+"Don't I know it!" Philippa groaned. "Mr. Lessingham, you must please
+try and escape from here. You can have the car, if you like. There must
+be some place where you can go and hide until you can get away from the
+country."
+
+"But I'm dining here to-night," Lessingham protested. "I'm not going to
+hide anywhere."
+
+The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+
+"Can't I make you understand!" Philippa exclaimed pathetically. "You're
+in danger here--really in danger!"
+
+Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+
+"Of course, I can quite understand," he said, "that Griffiths is
+suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have broken
+the law here, and I shall not make things any better by attempting an
+opera bouffe flight. Can I have my head tied up and come and talk to you
+about it later on?"
+
+"Oh, if you like," Philippa assented weakly. "I can't argue."
+
+She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes. When she
+came down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the library,
+with a piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the
+other. His head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed quite at his
+ease.
+
+"You know," he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her,
+"that man Griffiths doesn't like me. He never took to me from the first,
+I could see that. If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths. He is
+one of those mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very well do
+without."
+
+Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her
+bedroom, tried to be firm.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "you know that we are both your friends. Do
+listen, please. Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a position
+of authority. He has a very large power. I honestly believe that it is
+his intention to have you arrested--if not to-night, within a very few
+days."
+
+"I do not see how he can," Lessingham objected, helping himself to
+another piece of toast. "I have committed no crime here. I have played
+golf with all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and I have
+given the committee some excellent advice as to the two new holes. I
+have played bridge down at the club--we will call it bridge!--and I
+have kept my temper like an angel. I have dined at Mess and told them at
+least a dozen new stories. I have kept my blinds drawn at night, and I
+have not a wireless secreted up the chimney. I really cannot see what
+they could do to me."
+
+Philippa tried bluntness.
+
+"You have served in the German army, and you are living in a protected
+area under a false name," she declared.
+
+"Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say," he admitted,
+"but even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should do no
+good by running away. To be perfectly serious," he added, setting his
+cup down, "there is only one thing at the present moment which would
+take me out of Dreymarsh, and that is if you believe that my presence
+here would further compromise you and Miss Fairclough."
+
+Philippa was beginning to find her courage. "We're in it already, up to
+the neck," she observed. "I really don't see that anything matters so
+far as we are concerned."
+
+"In that case," he decided, "I shall have the honour of presenting
+myself at the usual time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before
+eight that evening. Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a model of
+simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that undefinable appeal to
+the mysterious which even the greatest artist frequently fails to create
+out of any form of colour. Some fancy had induced her to strip off her
+jewels at the last moment, and she wore no ornaments save a band of
+black velvet around her neck. Helen looked at her curiously.
+
+"Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?" she asked, as they
+stood together by the log fire.
+
+Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+
+"I don't know what I was thinking about, really," she confessed. "Is
+that the exact time, I wonder?"
+
+"Two minutes to eight," Helen replied.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual," Philippa murmured. "I wonder if
+Captain Griffiths would dare!"
+
+"We've done our best to warn him," Helen reminded her friend. "The man
+is simply pig-headed."
+
+"I can't help feeling that he's right," Philippa declared, "when he
+argues that they couldn't really prove anything against him."
+
+"Does that matter," Helen asked anxiously, "so long as he is an enemy,
+living under a false name here?"
+
+"You don't think they'd--they'd--"
+
+"Shoot him?" Helen whispered, lowering her voice. "They couldn't do
+that! They couldn't do that!"
+
+The clock began to chime. Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening,
+gave a little exclamation of relief.
+
+"I hear his voice!" she exclaimed. "Thank goodness!"
+
+Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's. A moment later
+Mills ushered in their guest. He was still wearing his bandage, but his
+colour had returned. He seemed, in fact, almost gay.
+
+"Nothing has happened, then?" Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon as
+the door was closed.
+
+"Nothing at all," he assured them. "Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+afraid of making a mistake."
+
+"So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine. Never mind, you'll have to
+take care of us both," she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+
+"I'll do my best," he promised, offering his arm.
+
+If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it
+seemed only to heighten the merriment of their little repast. Philippa
+had ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining room, the
+many appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded, the glow of
+the wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon the table, seemed
+in delicious contrast to the fury of the storm outside. They all three
+appeared completely successful in a strenuous effort to dismiss all
+disconcerting subjects from their minds. Lessingham talked chiefly of
+the East. He had travelled in Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, and India,
+and he had the unusual but striking gift of painting little word
+pictures of some of the scenes of his wanderings. It was half-past nine
+before they rose from the table, and Lessingham accompanied them into
+the library. With the advent of coffee, they were for the first time
+really alone. Lessingham sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a
+low chair close at hand.
+
+"I think," he said, "that I can venture now to tell you some news."
+
+Helen put down her work. Philippa looked at him in silence, and her eyes
+seemed to dilate.
+
+"I have hesitated to say anything about it," Lessingham went on,
+"because there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I believe
+that it is now finally arranged. I think that within the next week or
+ten days--perhaps a little before, perhaps a little later--your brother
+Richard will be set at liberty."
+
+"Dick? Dick coming home?" Philippa cried, springing up from her
+reclining position.
+
+"Dick?" Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap. "Mr.
+Lessingham, do you mean it? Is it possible?"
+
+"It is not only possible," Lessingham assured them, "but I believe that
+it will come to pass. I have had to exercise a little duplicity, but
+I fancy that it has been successful. I have insisted that without help
+from an influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot bring my labours here
+to a satisfactory conclusion, and I have named as the price of that
+help, Richard's absolute and immediate freedom. I heard only this
+morning that there would be no difficulty."
+
+Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+
+"I will come back in a few minutes," she promised, her voice a little
+broken.
+
+Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place.
+There were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a faint
+patch of colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite steady. She
+caught at his hands.
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear friend!" she said. "If only that little nightmare
+part of you did not exist. If only you could be just what you seem, and
+one could feel that you were there in our lives for always! I feel that
+I want to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you. What shall I
+call you?"
+
+"Bertram, please," he whispered.
+
+"Then Bertram, dear," she went on, "for my sake, because you have really
+become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of your danger,
+and because--see how honest I am--I am a little afraid of myself--will
+you go away? The thought of your danger is like a nightmare to me. It
+all seems so absurd and unreasonable--I mean that the danger which I
+fear should be hanging over you. But I think that there is just a little
+something back of your brain of which you have never spoken, which it
+was your duty to keep to yourself, and it is just that something which
+brings the danger."
+
+"I am not afraid for myself, Philippa," he told her. "I took a false
+step in life when I came here. What it was that attracted me I do not
+know. I think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst the
+clouds, and the starlight. It seemed such a wonderful beginning to any
+enterprise. And, Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the part which
+concerns you, it was a gorgeous prelude, and for the other--well, it
+just does not count because I have no fear. I have faith in my fortune,
+do you know that? I believe that I shall leave this place unharmed, but
+I believe that if I leave it without you, I shall go back to the worst
+hell in which a man could ever..."
+
+"Bertram," she pleaded, "think of it all. Even if I cared enough--and I
+don't--there is something unnatural about it. Doesn't it strike you as
+horrible? My brother, my cousins, my father, are all fighting the men of
+the nation whose cause you have espoused! There is a horrible, eternal
+cloud of hatred which it will take generations to get rid of, if ever it
+disappears. How can we two speak of love! What part of the world could
+we creep into where people would not shrink away from us? I may have
+lost a little of my heart to you, Bertram, I may miss you when you go
+away, I may waste weary hours thinking, but that is all. Oh, you know
+that it must be all!"
+
+"I do not," he answered stubbornly.
+
+"Oh, you must be reasonable," she begged, with a little break in her
+voice. "You know very well that I ought not to listen to you. I ought
+not to welcome you here. I ought to be strong and close my ears."
+
+"But you will not do that!"
+
+"No!" she faltered. "Please don't come any nearer. I--"
+
+She broke off suddenly. The struggle in her face was ended, her
+expression transformed. Her finger was held up as though to bid him
+listen. With her other hand she clutched the back of the couch. Her eyes
+were fixed upon the door. The little patch of wonderful colour faded
+from her cheeks.
+
+"Listen!" she cried, with a note of terror in her voice. "That was the
+front door! Some one has come! Can't you hear them?"
+
+Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket. She caught the glitter
+of something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a half-stifled moan.
+
+"Not before you, dear," he promised. "Please do not be afraid. If this
+is the end, leave me alone with Griffiths. I shall not hurt him. I
+shall not forget. And if by any chance," he added, "this is to be our
+farewell, Philippa, you will remember that I love you as the flowers of
+the world love their sun. Courage!"
+
+The door facing them was opened.
+
+"Captain Griffiths," Mills announced.
+
+Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers and
+Inspector Fisher. Griffiths came into the room alone, however, and
+waited until the door was closed before he spoke. He carried himself
+as awkwardly as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to have taken
+to itself a new expression. He had the air of a man indulging in some
+strange pleasure.
+
+"Lady Cranston," he said, "I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit here
+is official."
+
+"What is it?" she asked hoarsely.
+
+"I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I spoke to
+you this afternoon," he went on. "I am sorry to disturb you at such an
+hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a charge of espionage."
+
+Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+
+"A most objectionable word," he remarked.
+
+"A most villainous profession," Captain Griffiths retorted. "Thank
+heaven that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with its
+disciples."
+
+"This is all a hideous mistake," Philippa declared feverishly. "I assure
+you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that he was
+well-known to me years ago."
+
+"As the Baron Maderstrom! What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston, to
+induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not know, but
+the facts are very clear."
+
+"He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?" Lessingham remarked, turning to
+Philippa. "And as I gather that a portion of the British Army, assisted
+by the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside, perhaps I had
+better humour him."
+
+"It would be as well, sir," Captain Griffiths assented grimly. "I am
+glad to find you in the humour for jesting."
+
+Lessingham turned once more to Philippa. This time his tone was more
+serious.
+
+"Lady Cranston," he begged, "won't you please leave us?"
+
+"No!" she answered hysterically. "I know why you want me to, and I won't
+go! You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you. I will not
+leave the room, and you shall not--"
+
+His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat. She broke
+down in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+
+"If you have any weapon in your possession, sir," he said, "you had
+better hand it over to me."
+
+"Well, do you know," Lessingham replied, "I scarcely see the necessity.
+One thing I will promise you," he added, with a sudden flash in his
+eyes, "a single step nearer--a single step, mind--and you shall have
+as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the rest of your life.
+Remember that so long as you are reasonable I do not threaten you. Help
+me to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us."
+
+Captain Griffiths was out of his depths. He was not a coward, but he had
+no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's threat and
+in the flash of his eyes. While he hesitated, there was a knock upon the
+door. Mills came silently in. He carried a telegram upon a salver.
+
+"For you, sir," he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths. "An orderly
+has just brought it down."
+
+Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned. He tore it open,
+however, without a word. As he read, his long, upper teeth closed
+in upon his lip. So he stood there until two little drops of blood
+appeared.
+
+Then he turned to Mills.
+
+"There is no answer," he said.
+
+The man bowed and left the room. He walked slowly and he looked back
+from the doorway. It was scarcely possible for even so perfectly trained
+a servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+
+"Something tells me," Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the door
+was closed, "that that message concerns me."
+
+The Commandant made no immediate reply. He straightened out the telegram
+and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to be sure there
+was no possible mistake. Then he folded it up and placed it in his
+waistcoat pocket.
+
+"The notion of your arrest, sir," he said to Lessingham harshly, "is
+apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not digested
+my information. I am withdrawing my men for the present."
+
+"You're not going to arrest him?" Philippa cried.
+
+"I am not," Captain Griffiths answered. "But," he added, turning to
+Lessingham, "this is only a respite. I have more evidence behind all
+that I have offered. You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom, a German spy,
+living here in a prohibited area under a false name. That I know, and
+that I shall prove to those who have interfered with me in the execution
+of my duty. This is not the end."
+
+He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa. Lessingham
+looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his
+shoulders.
+
+"I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths," he declared.
+"There is no breeding about the fellow."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain Griffiths
+and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance. The crisis,
+with its bewildering denouement, had affected her curiously. Lessingham
+rose presently to his feet.
+
+"I wonder," he asked, "if I could have a whisky and soda?"
+
+She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+
+"You're not natural!" she cried. "Whisky and soda!"
+
+"Well, I don't know," he protested mildly, helping himself from the
+table in the background. "I rather thought I was being particularly
+British. When in doubt, take a drink. That is Richard all the world
+over, you know."
+
+She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+
+"I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!" she exclaimed.
+
+He crossed the room towards her.
+
+"Perhaps I am, dear," he confessed. "I want you just to sit up and lose
+that unnatural look. I am not really full of cheap bravado, but I am a
+philosopher. Something has happened to postpone--the end. Good luck to
+it, I say!"
+
+He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty. Philippa rose
+to her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+
+"I'll try and be reasonable too," she promised, resuming her seat. "I
+was right, you see. Captain Griffiths has discovered everything. Can
+you tell me what possible reason any one in London could have had for
+interference?"
+
+"I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?" he
+observed.
+
+"This is aging me terribly," Philippa declared, throwing herself back
+into her seat. "All my life I have hated mysteries. Here I am face to
+face with two absolutely insoluble ones. Captain Griffiths has assured
+me that there is here in Dreymarsh something of sufficient importance to
+account for the presence of a foreign spy. You have confirmed it. I have
+been torturing my brain about that for the last twenty-four hours. Now
+there happens something more inexplicable still. You are arrested, and
+you are not arrested. Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is
+forbidden to do his duty."
+
+"It seems puzzling, does it not?" Lessingham agreed. "I shouldn't worry
+about the first, but this last little episode takes some explaining."
+
+"If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,"
+Philippa sighed.
+
+"And something is going to happen," Lessingham declared, rising to his
+feet. "Did you hear that?"
+
+Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a gun
+from almost underneath the window. The room was suddenly lightened by a
+single vivid flash.
+
+"A mortar!" Lessingham exclaimed. "And that was a rocket, unless I'm
+mistaken."
+
+"The signal for the lifeboat!" Philippa announced. "I wonder if we can
+see anything."
+
+She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening of the
+door. Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+
+"Mummy, there's a wreck!" the former cried in excitement. "I heard
+something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the
+window, watching. I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling now
+for the other one."
+
+"It's quite true, Philippa," Helen declared. "We're going to try and
+fight our way down to the beach."
+
+"I'll go, too," Lessingham decided. "Perhaps I may be of use."
+
+"We'll all go," Philippa agreed. "Wait while I get my things on. What
+is it, Mills?" she added, as the door opened and the latter presented
+himself.
+
+"There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your
+ladyship," he announced. "They have just sent up from the beach to know
+if we can take some of the crew in. They are landing them as well as
+they can on the line."
+
+"Of course we can," was the prompt reply. "Tell them to send as many as
+they want to. We will find room for them, somehow. I'll go upstairs and
+see about the fires. You'll all come back?" she added, turning around.
+
+"We will all come back," Lessingham promised.
+
+They fought their way down to the beach. At first the storm completely
+deafened all sound. The lanterns, waved here and there by unseen hands,
+seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the only background was
+the raging of the storm. Then suddenly, with a startling hiss, another
+rocket clove its way through the darkness. They had an instantaneous but
+brilliant view of all that was happening,--saw the trawler lying on its
+side, apparently only a few yards from the shore, saw the line stretched
+to the beach, on which, even at that moment, a man was being drawn
+ashore, licked by the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair
+clearly visible. Then all was darkness again more complete than ever.
+They struggled down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of
+fishermen were hard at work with the line. Almost the first person
+they ran across was Jimmy Dumble. He was standing on the edge of the
+breakwater with a great lantern in his hand, superintending the line,
+and, as they drew near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could
+hear his voice above the storm. He was shouting towards the wreck, his
+hand to his mouth.
+
+"Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line. Do you
+hear?"
+
+There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+
+"Whom do you mean by 'master'?" he demanded. Dumble scarcely glanced at
+his interlocutor.
+
+"Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure," was the agitated answer. "These
+lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line won't stand
+for more than another one or two," he added, dropping his voice.
+
+Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself into a
+great drama before Lessingham's eyes. Sir Henry was on that ship as near
+as any man might wish to be to death.
+
+"'Ere's the next," Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass
+vigorously. "Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!"
+
+Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill
+fearful yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's
+hearing. Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach by
+Jimmy's side. The line had broken. The body of its suspended traveller
+had disappeared! And just then, strangely enough, for the first time for
+over an hour, the heavens opened in one great sheet of lightning,
+and they could see the figure of one man left on the ship, clinging
+desperately to the rigging.
+
+"Tie the line around me," Jimmy shouted. "Let her go. Get the other end
+on the windlass."
+
+They paid out the rope through their hands. Jimmy kicked off his boots
+and plunged into the cauldron. He swam barely a dozen strokes before he
+was caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about like a cork and
+flung back upon the beach, where he lay groaning. There was a little
+murmur amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean over him.
+
+"Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water," one of
+them declared.
+
+Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed it
+around.
+
+"Where are the young ladies?" he asked.
+
+"Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck," some
+one informed him.
+
+Lessingham stooped down. Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord from
+Jimmy's waist. He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots. Some
+helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line around his
+own waist.
+
+"We've sent for more rockets," one man shouted in his ear. "The man will
+be back in half an hour."
+
+Lessingham pushed them on one side. He stood on the edge of the beach
+and, borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity. Then suddenly
+he vanished. They looked after him. They could see nothing but the rope
+slipping past their feet, inch by inch. Sometimes it was stationary,
+sometimes it was drawn taut. The first great wave that came flung a yard
+or so of slack amongst them. Then, after the roar of its breaking had
+died away, they saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and
+the excitement began to thicken.
+
+"That 'un didn't get him, anyway," one of them muttered.
+
+"He'll go through the next, with luck," another declared hopefully.
+
+Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half stunned
+by the roar of the waters about him, still felt the exhilaration of
+that great struggle. He looked once into seas which seemed to touch the
+clouds, drew himself stiff, and plunged into the depths of a mountain of
+foaming waters, whose summit seemed to him like one of those grotesque
+and nightmare-distorted efforts of the opium-eating brain. Then the roar
+sounded all behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers.
+He swam to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain. It was Sir
+Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+
+"My God, that was a swim!" the latter declared, as he pulled his rescuer
+up, not in the least recognising him. "Let's have the end of that cord,
+quick! So!" he went on, paying it out through his fingers until the end
+of the rope appeared. "You'd better get your breath, young man, and then
+over you go. I'll follow."
+
+"I'm damned if I do!" was the vigorous reply. "You start off while I get
+my breath."
+
+They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray. Sir Henry held
+Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept overboard.
+
+"Get one arm through the chains, man," he shouted. "My God!" he added,
+peering through the gloom. "Lessingham!"
+
+"Well, don't stop to worry about that," was the fierce reply. "Let's get
+on with our job."
+
+Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+
+"Follow me when they wave the lantern twice," he directed. "If we either
+of us get the knock--well, thanks!"
+
+Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and went
+overboard into the darkness. Then, with one arm through the chains,
+he drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which Sir Henry had
+thrown upon the deck. Gradually it came within reach of his disengaged
+hand. He seized it, shook it out, and dived eagerly into the breast
+pocket. There were several small articles which he threw ruthlessly
+away, and then a square packet, wrapped in oilcloth, which bent to his
+fingers. Another breaking wave threw him on his back. One arm was still
+through the chain, the other gripped what some illuminating instinct
+had already convinced him was the chart! As soon as he had recovered
+his breath, a grim effort of humour parted his lips. He lay there for a
+moment and laughed till the spray, this time with a rush of green water
+underneath, very nearly swept him from his place.
+
+They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to his
+feet.
+
+He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and
+groped about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had
+fastened to a staple below the chains. Then he drew a long breath,
+gripped the rope and shouted. A second or two later he was back in the
+cauldron.
+
+As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea. Whatever
+happened, he must not lose consciousness. The packet was still there
+against the calf of his leg. It must be his own hands which removed his
+clothes. It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces, those half a
+dozen rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied a hundredfold.
+It was an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which patted him on the back
+and welcomed him, lanterns like the stars flashing everywhere around.
+He set his teeth and fought against the buzzing in his ears. He tried to
+speak, and his voice sounded like a weak, far away whisper.
+
+"I am all right," he kept on saying.
+
+Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms. His feet followed the
+mesmeric influence of their movement. Was he going into the clouds, he
+wondered? They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading to the gardens
+of Mainsail Haul. How did he get there? He had no idea. More movements
+of his feet, and then unexpected warmth. He looked around him. There
+were voices. He listened. The one voice? The one face bending over his,
+her eyes wet with tears, her whispers an incoherent stream of broken
+words. Then the warmth seemed to come back to his veins. He sat up and
+found himself on the couch in the library, the rain dripping from him in
+little pools, and he knew that he had succeeded. He had not fainted.
+
+"I am all right," he repeated. "What a mess I am making!"
+
+The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand which
+held a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+
+"Drink it all," she begged.
+
+He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf of his
+leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost steady.
+
+"There's a hot bath ready," Philippa told him; "some dry clothes, and a
+bedroom with a fire in. Do let Mills show you the way."
+
+He rose at once, prepared to follow her. His feet were not quite so
+steady as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable show.
+Mills, with a little apology, held out his arm. Philippa walked by his
+other side.
+
+"As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry clothes,"
+Philippa whispered, "please ring, or send Mills to let us know."
+
+He was even able to smile at her.
+
+"I am quite all right," he assured her once more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the empty
+breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang the bell.
+
+"Mills," she enquired, "is no one down?"
+
+"Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship," the man
+answered, "and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him."
+
+"And Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship," Mills continued, looking carefully
+behind him as though to be sure that the door was closed, "has
+disappeared."
+
+"Disappeared?" Philippa repeated. "What do you mean, Mills?"
+
+"I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship," Mills explained,
+"in a suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed--I
+should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock. I called
+him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty. The bed
+had not been slept in."
+
+"Was there no note or message?" Philippa asked incredulously.
+
+"Nothing, your ladyship. One of the maid servants believes that she
+heard the front door open at five o'clock this morning."
+
+"Ring up the hotel," Philippa instructed, "and see if he is there."
+
+Mills departed to execute his commission. Philippa stood looking out
+of the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the beach.
+There was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell from the day
+before. The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining brilliantly.
+Sir Henry, Helen, and Nora were strolling about the beach as though
+searching for something. About fifty yards out, the wrecked trawler
+was lying completely on its side, with the end of one funnel visible.
+Scattered groups of the villagers were examining it from the sands. In
+due course Mills returned.
+
+"The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship, beyond
+the fact that he did not return last night. They received a message
+from Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to say that their
+mechanic had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning to Norwich, where
+he had caught the mail train to London, The boy was to say that Mr.
+Lessingham would be back in a day or so."
+
+Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the
+beach. She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand to
+the others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+
+"Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?" Sir Henry observed.
+
+He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+response. Helen pointed to the wreck.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible, does it," she said, "that men's lives should
+have been lost in that little space. Two men were drowned, they say,
+through the breaking of the rope. They recovered the bodies this
+morning."
+
+"Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat," Sir
+Henry grumbled. "I was down here at daylight, looking for it."
+
+"Your coat!" Philippa repeated scornfully. "Fancy thinking of that, when
+you only just escaped with your life!"
+
+"But to tell you the truth, my dear," Sir Henry explained, "my
+pocketbook and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat. I
+can't think how I came to forget them. I think it was the surprise
+of seeing that fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like a
+drowned rat. Jove, what a pluck he must have!"
+
+
+"The fishermen can talk of nothing else," Nora put in excitedly. "Mummy,
+it was simply splendid! Helen and I had gone up with two of the rescued
+men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the rope round his
+waist and watch him plunge in."
+
+"How is he this morning?" Helen asked.
+
+"Gone," Philippa replied.
+
+They all looked at her in surprise.
+
+"Gone?" Sir Henry repeated. "What, back to the hotel, do you mean?"
+
+"His bed has not been slept in," Philippa told them. "He must have
+slipped away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car, and
+motored to Norwich. From there he went on to London. He has sent word
+that he will be back in a few days."
+
+"I hope to God he won't!" Sir Henry muttered.
+
+Philippa swung round upon him.
+
+"What do you mean by that?" she demanded. "Don't you want to thank him
+for saving your life?"
+
+"My dear, I certainly do," Sir Henry replied, "but just now--well, I am
+a little taken aback. Gone to London, eh? Tore away without warning
+in the middle of the night to London! And coming back, too--that's the
+strange part of it!"
+
+One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding
+food for much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden
+disappearance.
+
+"He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham," he added thoughtfully. "He
+must have--yes, by God, he must have--In that storm, too!"
+
+"If you could speak coherently, Henry," Philippa observed, "I should
+like to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham has
+deserted us so precipitately."
+
+Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him. He
+shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+
+"The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem," he said. "Of
+course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I have. Isn't
+it true that people have begun to make curious remarks about him?"
+
+"How did you know that, Henry?" Philippa demanded.
+
+"Well, one hears things," he replied. "I should gather, from what I
+heard, that his position here had become a little precarious. Hence his
+sudden disappearance."
+
+"But he is coming back again," Philippa reminded her husband.
+
+"Perhaps!"
+
+Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+behind with her. They walked side by side up the gravel path. Philippa
+kept her hands clasped behind her.
+
+"To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time," she began, "I feel
+very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but I must
+confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you lunching at
+the Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days ago, when you left
+here with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and also why you return here
+on a trawler which belongs to another part of the coast?"
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+"I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead," he observed
+good-humouredly. "If you wouldn't mind giving me another--well, to be
+on the safe side let us say eight days--I think I shall be able to offer
+you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory."
+
+"Thank you," Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; "I see no reason why
+you should not answer such simple questions at once."
+
+Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take
+his wife's arm.
+
+"Philippa, be a little brick," he begged. "I know I seem to have been
+playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a sort of
+reason for it."
+
+"What reason could there possibly be," she demanded, "which you could
+not confide in me?"
+
+He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again there was a new
+earnestness in his tone.
+
+"Philippa," he said, "I have been working for some time at a little
+scheme which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but which
+may lead to something which I hope will alter your opinion. You couldn't
+see your way clear to trust me a little longer, could you?" he begged,
+with rather a plaintive gleam in his blue eyes. "It would make it so
+much easier for me to say no more but just have you sit tight."
+
+"I wonder," she answered coldly, "if you realise how much I have
+suffered, sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to do
+something!"
+
+"My fishing excursions," he went on desperately, "have not been
+altogether a matter of sport."
+
+"I know that quite well," she replied. "You have been making that chart
+you promised your miserable fishermen. None of those things interest me,
+Henry. I fear--I am very much inclined to say that none of your doings
+interest me. Least of all," she went on, her voice quivering with
+passion, "do I appreciate in the least these mysterious appeals for my
+patience. I have some common sense, Henry."
+
+"You're a suspicious little beast," he told her.
+
+"Suspicious!" she scoffed. "What a word to use from a man who goes
+off fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days
+afterwards, with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!"
+
+"That was a trifle awkward," Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst of
+candour, "but it goes in with the rest, Philippa."
+
+"Then it can stay with the rest," she retorted, "exactly where I have
+placed it in my mind. Please understand me. Your conduct for the last
+twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between us. If this
+explanation that you promise comes--in time, and I feel like it, very
+well. Until it does, I am perfectly free, and you, as my husband, are
+non-existent. That is my reply, Henry, to your request for further
+indulgence."
+
+"Rather a foolish one, my dear," he answered, patting her shoulder, "but
+then you are rather a child, aren't you?"
+
+She swung away from him angrily.
+
+"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed. "I mean every word of what I have said.
+As for my being a child--well, you may be sorry some day that you have
+persisted in treating me like one."
+
+Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure. There
+was an unusual shade of trouble in his face. His love for and confidence
+in his wife had been so absolute that even her threats had seemed to him
+like little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to him out of the froth
+of her temper. Yet at that moment a darker thought crossed his mind.
+Lessingham, he realised, was not a rival, after all, to be despised. He
+was a man of courage and tact, even though Sir Henry, in his own mind,
+had labelled him as a fool. If indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh,
+what could it be for? How much had Philippa known about him? He stood
+there for a few moments in indecision. A great impulse had come to him
+to break his pledge, to tell her the truth. Then he made his disturbed
+way into the breakfast room.
+
+"Where's your mother, Nora?" he asked, as Helen took Philippa's place at
+the head of the table.
+
+"She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room." Nora explained.
+"The wind made her giddy."
+
+Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+
+"You going away again, Daddy?" Nora asked.
+
+"I am going to London this morning," he replied, a little absently.
+
+"To London?" Helen repeated. "Does Philippa know?"
+
+"I haven't told her yet."
+
+Helen turned towards Nora.
+
+"I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee,
+there's a dear," she suggested.
+
+Nora acquiesced at once. As soon as she had left the room, Helen leaned
+over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+
+"Don't go to London, Henry," she begged.
+
+"But my dear Helen, I must," he replied, a little curtly.
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you," she persisted. "You know, you've tried
+Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional state.
+She is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave her alone if
+I were you."
+
+Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he leaned
+towards her.
+
+"You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?" he asked
+bluntly.
+
+"No, I don't," Helen replied, "but I think she is more furious with you
+than you believe. For months you have acted--well, how shall I say?"
+
+"Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool. Go on."
+
+"She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,"
+Helen continued, "and you have given her none. You have treated her like
+something between a doll and a child. Philippa is as good and sweet as
+any woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to you that women
+are rather mysterious beings? They may sometimes do, out of a furious
+sense of being wrongly treated, out of a sort of aggravated pique, what
+they would never do for any other reason. If you must go, come back
+to-night, Henry. Come back, and if you are obstinate, and won't tell
+Philippa all that she has a right to know, tell her about that luncheon
+in town."
+
+Sir Henry frowned.
+
+"It's all very well, you know, Helen," he said, "but a woman ought to
+trust her husband."
+
+"I am your friend, remember," Helen replied, "and upon my word, I
+couldn't trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have done
+for the last twelve months."
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+"Well, that settles it, I suppose, then," he observed. "I'll have one
+more try and see what I can do with Philippa. Perhaps a hint of what's
+going on may satisfy her."
+
+He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at his
+wife's door. There was no reply. He tried the handle and found the door
+locked.
+
+"Are you there, Philippa?" he asked.
+
+"Yes!" she replied coldly.
+
+"I am going to London this morning. Can I have a few words with you
+first?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+
+"Don't be silly, Philippa," he persisted. "I may be away for four or
+five days."
+
+There was no answer. Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance
+from a newly added bathroom. He availed himself of it and found Philippa
+seated in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her breakfast. She
+raised her eyebrows at his entrance.
+
+"These are my apartments," she reminded him.
+
+"Don't be a little fool," he exclaimed impatiently.
+
+Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up her
+book, and became at once immersed in it.
+
+"You don't wish to talk to me, then?" he demanded.
+
+"I do not," she agreed. "You have had all the opportunities which any
+man should need, of explaining certain matters to me. My curiosity
+in them has ended; also my interest--in you. You say you are going to
+London. Very well. Pray do not hurry home on my account."
+
+Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake of a
+man arguing with a woman--he attempted to have the last word.
+
+"Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps so," Philippa assented sweetly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought--solitude. She had
+walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on the other
+side of a spur of the cliffs. Before her stretched a long and level
+plain, a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly beach. There was not a
+sign of any human being in sight, and of buildings only a quaint tower
+on the far horizon.
+
+She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down, her
+hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward. She had
+come out here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and transient her
+thoughts became. Her husband was always there in the background, but
+in those moments it was Lessingham who was the predominant figure. She
+remembered his earnestness, his tender solicitude for her, the courage
+which, when necessity demanded, had flamed up in him, a born and natural
+quality. She remembered the agony of those few minutes on the preceding
+day, when nothing but what still seemed a miracle had saved him. At one
+moment she felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back.
+At another, her heart ached to see him once more. She knew so well
+that if he came it would be for her sake, that he would come to ask her
+finally the question with which she had fenced. She knew, too, that his
+coming would be the moment of her life. She was so much of a woman, and
+the passionate craving of her sex to give love for love was there in her
+heart, almost omnipotent. And in the background there was that bitter
+desire to bring suffering upon the man who had treated her like a child,
+who had placed her in a false position with all other women, who had
+dawdled and idled away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every
+serious obligation. When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear,
+and yet, behind it all, there was that cold impulse of almost Victorian
+prudishness, the inheritance of a long line of virtuous women, a
+prudishness which she had once, when she had believed that it was part
+of her second nature, scoffed at as being the outcome of one of the
+finer forms of selfishness.
+
+She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision came no
+nearer to her. A late afternoon star shone weakly in the sky. A faint,
+vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in tangled wreaths upon
+the face of the sea. Only that line of sand seemed still clear-cut and
+distinct, and as she glanced along it her eyes were held by something
+approaching, something which seemed at first nothing but a black, moving
+speck, then gradually resolved itself into the semblance of a man on
+horseback, galloping furiously. She watched him as he drew nearer and
+nearer, the sand flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless,
+his eyes apparently fixed upon some distant spot. It was not until he
+had come within fifty yards of her that she recognised him. His horse
+shied at the sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a powerful
+wrist. Little specks of sand, churned up in the momentary stampede
+of hoofs, fell upon her skirt. For the rest, she watched the struggle
+composedly, a struggle which was over almost as soon as it was begun.
+Captain Griffiths leaned down from his trembling but subdued horse.
+
+"Lady Cranston!" he exclaimed in astonishment.
+
+"That's me," she replied, smiling up at him. "Have you been riding off
+your bad temper?"
+
+He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides. Back as far as one could
+see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+
+"Am I bad-tempered?" he asked.
+
+"Well," she observed, "I don't know you well enough to answer that
+question. I was simply thinking of yesterday evening."
+
+He slipped from his horse and stood before her. His long, severe face
+had seldom seemed more malevolent.
+
+"I had enough to make me bad-tempered," he declared. "I had tracked
+down a German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for
+arrest--expecting it, even--and then I got that wicked message."
+
+"What was that wicked message after all?" she enquired.
+
+"That doesn't matter," he answered. "It was from a quarter where they
+ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest. I have sent
+to the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying that they may
+change their minds."
+
+Philippa sighed.
+
+"If you hadn't received that telegram last night," she observed, "it
+seems to me that I should have been a widow to-day."
+
+He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+
+"Yes, I heard of that," he admitted. "I dare say if he hadn't gone,
+though, some one else would."
+
+"Would you have gone if you had been there?" she asked.
+
+"If you had told me to," he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+
+Philippa felt a little shiver. There was something ominous in the
+intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to impart
+to his tone. She rose to her feet.
+
+"Well," she said, "don't let me keep you here. I am getting cold."
+
+He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse. "I will walk with
+you, if I may," he proposed. She made no reply, and they set their faces
+homewards.
+
+"I hear Lessingham has left the place," he remarked, a little abruptly.
+
+"Oh, I expect he'll come back," Philippa replied.
+
+"How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with German
+spies?" he asked.
+
+"Don't be foolish--or impertinent," she enjoined. "You are making a
+ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham."
+
+He laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"No need for us to fence," he said. "You and I know who he is. What I
+do want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from the point
+there--four miles of hard galloping and one question--why are you his
+friend? What is he to you?"
+
+"Really, Captain Griffiths," she protested, looking up at him, "of what
+possible interest can that be to you?"
+
+"Well, it is, anyhow," he answered gruffly. "Anything that concerns you
+is of interest to me."
+
+Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what it
+all meant. She realised the significance of those apparently purposeless
+afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had to send for
+Helen to help her out; the significance of those long silences, the
+melancholy eyes which seemed to follow her movements. She felt an
+unaccountable desire to laugh, and then, at the first twitchings of her
+lips, she restrained herself. She knew that tragedy was stalking by her
+side.
+
+"I think, Captain Griffiths," she said gravely, "that you are talking
+nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it. Won't you please ride
+on?"
+
+He made no movement to mount his horse. He plodded along the soft sand
+by her side--a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed upon the
+ground.
+
+"Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard," he
+persisted.
+
+She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+
+"I was never so hard?" she repeated. "Do you imagine that I have ever
+for a single moment considered my demeanour towards you--you of all
+persons in the world? I simply don't remember when you have been there
+and when you haven't. I don't remember the humours in which I have been
+when we have conversed. All that you have said seems to me to be the
+most arrant nonsense."
+
+He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+
+"Thank you," he said bitterly, "I understand. Only let me tell you
+this," he went on, his whip poised in his hand. "You may have powerful
+friends who saved your--"
+
+He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that he had
+wished to say in his face.
+
+"My what?" she asked.
+
+His courage failed him.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," he proceeded, "from arrest. But if he shows his face
+here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him. I shall shoot him
+on sight and chance the consequences."
+
+"They'll hang you!" she declared savagely.
+
+He laughed at her.
+
+"Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy? They
+won't dare! They won't even dare to place me under arrest for an hour.
+Why, when the truth becomes known," he went on, his voice gaining
+courage as the justice of his case impressed itself upon him, "what do
+you suppose is going to happen to two women who took this fellow in and
+befriended him, introduced him under a false name to their friends, gave
+him the run of their house--this man whom they knew all the time was a
+German? You, Lady Cranston, chafing and scolding your husband by night
+and by day because he isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so
+patriotic that you cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you--the
+hostess, the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom! It
+will be a pretty tale when it's all told!"
+
+"I really think," Philippa asserted calmly, "that you are the most
+utterly impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met."
+
+His face was dangerous for a moment. They had not yet reached the
+promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+
+"Perhaps," he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, "I could make
+myself even more obnoxious."
+
+"Quite possibly," she replied, "only I want to tell you this. If you
+come a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you."
+
+"Your friend or your husband, eh?" he scoffed.
+
+She waved him on.
+
+"I think," she told him, "that either of them would be quite capable of
+ridding the world of a coward like you."
+
+"A coward?" he repeated.
+
+"Precisely! Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?"
+
+"I don't want to terrorise you," he said sulkily.
+
+"Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire to
+make yourself agreeable," she pointed out.
+
+He turned suddenly upon her.
+
+"I am a fool, I know," he declared bitterly. "I'm an awkward, nervous,
+miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in the Mess,
+turning the people against me I want to have like me, stumbling into
+every blunder a fool can. I'm the sort of man women make sport of, and
+you've done it for them cruelly, perfectly."
+
+"Captain Griffiths!" she protested. "When have I ever been anything but
+kind and courteous to you?"
+
+"It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy! There's a curse upon
+my tongue," he went on desperately. "I'm not like other men. I don't
+know how to say what I feel. I can't put it into words. Every one
+misunderstands me. You, too! Here I rode up to you this afternoon and
+my heart was beating for joy, and in five minutes I had made an enemy of
+you. Damn that fellow Lessingham! It is all his fault!"
+
+Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon his
+horse's flanks. The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off, riding
+at a furious gallop. Philippa watched him with immense relief. In the
+far distance she could see two little specks growing larger and larger.
+She hurried on towards them.
+
+"Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?" Nora demanded. "Why
+he passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman, and his face
+looked--well, what did it look like, Helen?"
+
+Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+
+"Like a man riding for his enemy," she declared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across the
+luncheon table.
+
+"I suppose one misses the child," Helen said.
+
+"I feel too depressed for words," Philippa admitted.
+
+"A few days ago," Helen reminded her companion, "we were getting all the
+excitement that was good for any one."
+
+"And a little more," Philippa agreed. "I don't know why things seem
+so flat now. We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has
+happened."
+
+"What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away," Helen continued, "and
+Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have reverted to
+the normal, haven't we? I wonder--if Mr. Lessingham has gone back."
+
+"I do not think so," Philippa murmured.
+
+Helen frowned slightly.
+
+"Personally," she said, with some emphasis, "I hope that he has."
+
+"If we are considering the personal point of view only," Philippa
+retorted, "I hope that he has not."
+
+Helen looked her disapproval.
+
+"I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire," she
+observed.
+
+"One never has until one has burned one's fingers," Philippa sighed.
+"I know perfectly well what is the matter with you," she continued
+severely. "You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's favourite
+dish."
+
+"I am not such a baby," Helen protested. "All the same, it does make one
+think. I wonder--"
+
+"I know exactly what you were going to say," Philippa interrupted. "You
+were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham would keep
+his promise."
+
+"Whether he would be able to," Helen corrected. "It does seem so
+impossible, doesn't it?"
+
+"So does Mr. Lessingham himself," Philippa reminded her. "It isn't
+exactly a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and well-bred
+young man step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room."
+
+"You really believe, then," Helen asked eagerly, "that he will be able
+to keep his promise?"
+
+Philippa nodded confidently.
+
+"Do you know," she said, "I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some means
+or another, would keep any promise he ever made. I am expecting to see
+Dick at any moment now, so you can get on with your lunch, dear, and not
+sit looking at the curry with tears in your eyes."
+
+"It isn't the curry so much as the chutney," Helen protested faintly.
+"He never would touch any other sort."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the bottle,"
+Philippa declared. "I have a feeling this morning that something is
+going to happen."
+
+"How long has Nora gone away for?" Helen enquired, after a moment's
+pause.
+
+"A fortnight or three weeks," Philippa answered. "Her grandmother wired
+that she would be glad to have her until Christmas."
+
+"Just why," Helen asked seriously, "have you sent her away?"
+
+Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she
+regretted Mills' absence from the room.
+
+"I thought it best," she said quietly. "You see, I am not quite sure
+what the immediate future of this menage is going to be."
+
+Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+
+"Dear," she sighed, "it worries me so to hear you talk like that."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it,
+that at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry. It
+isn't fair, you know."
+
+"To whom isn't it fair?" Philippa demanded.
+
+"To Mr. Lessingham."
+
+Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+
+"Perhaps," she admitted, "that is a point of view which I have not
+sufficiently considered."
+
+Helen pressed home her advantage.
+
+"I don't think you realise, Philippa," she said, "how madly in love with
+you the man is. In a perfectly ingenuous way, too. No one could help
+seeing it."
+
+"Then where does the unfairness come in?" Philippa asked. "It is within
+my power to give him all that he wants."
+
+"But you wouldn't do it, Philippa. You know that you wouldn't!" Helen
+objected. "You may play with the idea in your mind, but that's just as
+far as you'd ever get."
+
+
+Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face. "I disagree with you,
+Helen," she said. Helen set down the glass which she had been in the act
+of raising to her lips. It was her first really serious intimation of
+the tragedy which hovered over her future sister-in-law's life. Somehow
+or other, Philippa had seemed, even to her, so far removed from that
+strenuous world of over-drugged, over-excited feminine decadence, to
+whom the changing of a husband or a lover is merely an incident in
+the day's excitements. Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike
+beauty, her love of the wholesome ways of life, and her strong
+affections, represented other things. Now, for the first time, Helen was
+really afraid, afraid for her friend.
+
+"But you couldn't ever--you wouldn't leave Henry!"
+
+Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+
+"That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing," she confided.
+
+Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced. Their
+conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+
+Then the wonderful thing happened. The windows of the dining room faced
+the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a motor car turn
+in at the gate and stop at the front door. It was obviously a hired
+car, as the driver was not in livery, but the tall, mulled-up figure
+in unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front seat was for the moment a
+mystery to them. Only Helen seemed to have some wonderful premonition of
+the truth, a premonition which she was afraid to admit even to herself.
+Her hand began to shake. Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+
+"You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!" she exclaimed. "Who on
+earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?"
+
+Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+agitation. She sprang to her feet.
+
+"Helen, you don't imagine--" she gasped. "Listen!"
+
+There was a voice in the hail--a familiar voice, though strained a
+little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent. And
+then--Major Richard Felstead!
+
+"Dick!" Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms. "Oh, Dick!
+Dick!"
+
+It was an incoherent, breathless moment. Somehow or other, Philippa
+found herself sharing her brother's embrace. Then the fire of questions
+and answers was presently interrupted by Mills, triumphantly bearing in
+a fresh dish of curry.
+
+"What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?" he asked.
+
+Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+
+"Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!" he
+said. "It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the day, isn't
+it, Philippa, but can I have some champagne?"
+
+"You can have the whole cellarful," Philippa assured him joyously. "Be
+sure you bring the best, Mills."
+
+"The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship," was the murmured reply.
+
+Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they
+found themselves seated once more at the table. They sat one on
+either side of him, watching his glass and his plate. By degrees their
+questions and his answers became more intelligible.
+
+"When did you get here?" they wanted to know.
+
+"I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning," he told them; "came
+across from Holland. I hired a car and drove straight here."
+
+"When did you know you were coming home?" Helen asked.
+
+"Only two days ago," he replied. "I never was so surprised in my life.
+Even now I can't realise my good luck. I can't see what I've done. The
+last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream. Jove!" he
+went on, as he drank his wine, "I never thought I should be such a pig
+as to care so much for eating and drinking!"
+
+"And think what weeks of it you have before you?" Helen explained,
+clapping her hands. "Philippa and I will have a new interest in life--to
+make you fat."
+
+He laughed.
+
+"It won't be very difficult," he promised them. "I had several months of
+semi-starvation before the miracle happened. It was all just the chance
+of having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been serving in the German
+Army--Bertram Maderstrom was his name. You remember him, Philippa? He
+was a Swede in those days."
+
+"What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been so
+faithful!" Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+
+"He's a real good sort," Felstead declared enthusiastically, "although
+Heaven knows why he's turned German! He worked like a slave for me. I
+dare say he didn't find it so difficult to get me better quarters and a
+servant, and decent food, but when they told me that I was free--well,
+it nearly knocked me silly."
+
+"The dear fellow!" Philippa murmured pensively.
+
+"Do you remember him, either of you?" Felstead continued. "Rather
+good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman."
+
+"I--seem to remember," Philippa admitted.
+
+"The name sounds familiar," Helen echoed. "Do have some more chutney,
+Dick."
+
+"Thanks! What a pig I am making of myself!" he observed cheerfully.
+"You girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom, but the
+whole business beats me so completely. Of course, we were great pals, in
+a way, but I never thought that I was the apple of his eye, or anything
+of that sort. How he got the influence, too, I can't imagine. And oh!
+I knew there was something else I was going to ask you girls,"
+Felstead went on. "Have you ever had a letter, or rather a letter each,
+uncensored? Just a line or two? I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I
+should not have been allowed to do in the ordinary prison letters."
+
+Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the quick
+glance which passed between the two women.
+
+"Yes, we had them, Dick," Philippa told him. "It was one afternoon--it
+doesn't seem so very long ago. And oh, how thankful we were!"
+
+Felstead nodded.
+
+"He got them across all right, then. Tell me, did they come through
+Holland? What was the postmark?"
+
+"The postmark," Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully. "You heard what
+Dick asked, Helen? The postmark?"
+
+"I don't think there was one," Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+Philippa.
+
+Felstead set down his glass.
+
+"No postmark? You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose? They were posted
+in England, eh?"
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+"They came to us, Dick," she said, "by hand."
+
+Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished. He turned round in his chair
+towards Philippa.
+
+"By hand?" he repeated. "Do you mean to say that they were actually
+brought here by hand?"
+
+Perhaps something in his manner warned them. Philippa laughed as she
+bent over his chair.
+
+"We will tell you how they came, presently," she declared, "but
+not until you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that
+champagne, and had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has been
+decanting so carefully. After that we will see. Just now I have only one
+feeling, and I know that Helen has it, too. Nothing else matters except
+that we have you home again."
+
+Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his and
+kissed her.
+
+"It's so wonderful to be at home!" he exclaimed apologetically. "But I
+must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive. I went out to the
+war with a certain amount of respect for the Germans. I have come back
+loathing them like vermin. I spent--but I won't go on."
+
+Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+
+"I beg your ladyship's pardon," he said, as he filled Felstead's glass,
+"but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library, waiting to see
+you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without significance.
+For the first time he became conscious, however, of something which
+seemed almost like a secret understanding between his sister and his
+fiancee.
+
+"Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he will
+kindly wait," Philippa instructed.
+
+"Who is Mr. Lessingham?" Richard enquired, as soon as the door had
+closed behind Mills. "Seems a queer time to call."
+
+Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood," the
+latter replied. "You will probably make his acquaintance before long.
+Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night."
+
+"Sounds exciting," Richard observed. "What form of destruction was Henry
+courting?"
+
+"There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm," Philippa explained. "You
+can see it from all the front windows. Henry was on board, returning
+from one of his fishing excursions. They were trying to find Dumble's
+anchorage and were driven in on to that low ridge of rock. A rope broke,
+or something, they had no more rockets, and Mr. Lessingham swam out with
+the line."
+
+"Sounds like a plucky chap," Richard admitted.
+
+Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+
+"I expect he has come to wish us good-by," she said. "I'll leave you
+with Helen, Dick. Don't let her overfeed you. And you know where the
+cigars are, Helen. Take Dick into the gun room afterwards. You'll have
+it all to yourselves and there is a fire there."
+
+Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she was
+glad to have some reasonable excuse. She held out both her hands to
+Lessingham.
+
+"Dick is back--just arrived!" she exclaimed. "I can't tell you how happy
+we are, and how grateful!"
+
+Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+
+"I am glad," he said simply. "Do you mean that he is in the house here,
+now?"
+
+"He is in the dining room with Helen."
+
+Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+
+"Don't you think," he suggested, "that it would be better to keep us
+apart?"
+
+"I was wondering," she confessed.
+
+"Have you told him about my bringing the letters?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"We nearly did. Then I stopped--I wasn't sure."
+
+"You were wise," he said.
+
+"Are you wise?" she asked him quickly.
+
+"In coming back here?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Captain Griffiths knows everything," she reminded him. "He is simply
+furious because your arrest was interfered with. I really believe that
+he is dangerous."
+
+Lessingham was unmoved.
+
+"I had to come back," he said simply.
+
+"Why did you go away so suddenly?"
+
+"Well, I had to do that, too," he replied, "only the governing causes
+were very different. We will speak, if you do not mind, only of the
+cause which has brought me back. That I believe you know already."
+
+Philippa was curiously afraid. She looked towards the door as though
+with some vague hope of escape. She realised that the necessity for
+decision had arrived.
+
+"Philippa," he went on, "do you see what this is?"
+
+He handed her two folded slips of paper. She started. At the top of one
+she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+
+"What are they?" she asked. "What does it mean?"
+
+"They are passports for America," he told her.
+
+"For--for me?" she faltered.
+
+"For you and me."
+
+They slipped from her fingers. He picked them up from the carpet. Her
+face was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+
+"I know so well how you are feeling," he said humbly. "I know how
+terrible a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near. You are
+so different from the other women who might do this thing. It is so much
+harder for you than for them."
+
+She lifted her head. There was still something of the look of a scared
+child in her face.
+
+"Don't imagine me better than I am," she begged. "I am not really
+different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort of
+thing has ever come into my life."
+
+"I know. You see," he went on, a little wistfully, "you have not taken
+me, as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa. You know that I
+love you as a man loves only once. It sounds like an empty phrase to say
+it, but if you will give me your life to take care of, I shall only have
+one thought--to make you happy. Could I succeed? That is what you have
+to ask yourself. You are not happy now. Do you think that, if you stay
+on here, the future is likely to be any better for you?"
+
+She shook her head drearily.
+
+"I believe," she confessed, "that I have reached the very limit of my
+endurance."
+
+He came a little nearer. His hands rested upon her shoulders very
+lightly, yet they seemed like some enveloping chain. More than ever in
+those few moments she realised the spiritual qualities of his face.
+His eyes were aglow. His voice, a little broken with emotion, was
+wonderfully tender. He looked at her as though she were some precious
+and sacred thing.
+
+"I am rich," he said, "and there are few parts of the world where we
+could not live. We could find our way to the islands, like your great
+writer Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands full of colour,
+and wonderful birds, and strange blue skies; islands where the peace of
+the tropics dulls memory, and time beats only in the heart. The world is
+a great place, Philippa, and there are corners where the sordid crime of
+this ghastly butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and
+the taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and
+moon are still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon the
+sapphire seas."
+
+"It sounds like a fairy tale," she murmured, with a half pathetic smile.
+
+"Love always fashions life like a fairy tale," he replied.
+
+She stood perfectly still.
+
+"You must have my answer now, at this moment?" she asked at last.
+
+"There are yet some hours," he told her. "I have a very powerful
+automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon. If we leave here at
+ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon. Everything
+has been made very easy for me. And fortune, too, is with us--your
+vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in London. You see,
+you have the whole afternoon for thought. I want you only for your
+happiness. At ten o'clock I shall come here. If you are coming with me,
+you must be ready then. You understand?"
+
+"I understand," she assented, under her breath. "And now," she went
+on, raising her eyes, "somehow I think that you are right. It would be
+better for you and Dick not to meet."
+
+"I am sure of it," he agreed. "I shall come for my answer at ten
+o'clock. I wonder--"
+
+He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her face.
+There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass, even,
+for affection, and yet something which, behind it all, chilled his
+confidence. He left his sentence uncompleted and turned towards the
+door. Suddenly she called him back. She held up her finger. Her whole
+expression had changed. She was alarmed.
+
+"Wait!" she begged. "I can hear Dick's voice. Wait till he has crossed
+the hail."
+
+They both stood, for a moment, quite silent. Then they heard a little
+protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from Richard. The
+door was thrown open.
+
+"You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?" her brother
+asked. "We're not--My God!"
+
+There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the threshold,
+the picture of distress.
+
+"I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa."
+
+Richard took a quick step forward. His hands were outstretched.
+
+"Bertram!" he exclaimed. "Is this a miracle? You here with my sister?"
+
+Lessingham held out his hand. Suddenly Richard dropped his. His
+expression had become sterner.
+
+"I don't understand," he said simply. "Somebody please explain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon themselves
+the onus of speech. Richard's amazement seemed to increase upon
+reflection.
+
+"Maderstrom!" he exclaimed. "Bertram! What in the name of all that's
+diabolical are you doing here?"
+
+"I am just a derelict," Lessingham explained, with a faint smile. "Glad
+to see you, Richard. You are a day earlier than I expected."
+
+"You knew that I was coming, then?" Richard demanded.
+
+"Naturally," Lessingham replied. "I had the great pleasure of arranging
+for your release."
+
+"Look here," Richard went on, "I'm groping about a bit. I don't
+understand. Forgive me if I run off the track. I'm not forgetting our
+friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came and found me
+at Wittenburg. But for all that, you have served in the German Army and
+are an enemy, and I want to know what you are doing here, in England, in
+my brother-in-law's house."
+
+"No particular harm, Richard, I promise you," Lessingham replied mildly.
+
+"You are here under a false name!"
+
+"Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind," the other assented. "I prefer my
+own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would ensure me a very
+warm welcome over here just now. Besides," he added, with a glance
+at Philippa, "I have to consider the friends whose hospitality I have
+enjoyed."
+
+In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard. His tone
+became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+
+"Maderstrom," he said, "we met last under different circumstances. I
+will admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an honourable
+imprisonment. I am not so sure that yours is an honourable freedom."
+
+Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+
+"Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!" she
+begged.
+
+"You would never have lived through it," Helen echoed.
+
+"You are talking to Mr. Lessingham," Philippa protested, "as though he
+were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your life."
+
+Richard waved them away.
+
+"You must leave this to us," he insisted. "Maderstrom and I will be
+able to understand one another, at any rate. What are you doing in this
+house--in England? What is your mission here?"
+
+"Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished," Lessingham said
+gravely. "At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country
+to-night."
+
+"Accomplished?" Richard repeated. "What the devil do you mean?
+Accomplished? Are you playing the spy in this country?"
+
+"You would probably consider my mission espionage," Lessingham admitted.
+
+"And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?"
+
+"I have."
+
+Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck. "Dick," she pleaded,
+"please listen. Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this district, ever
+since he landed in England. What possible harm could he do? We haven't
+a single secret to be learned. Everybody knows where our few guns are.
+Everybody knows where our soldiers are quartered. We haven't a harbour
+or any secret fortifications. We haven't any shipping information which
+it would be of the least use signalling anywhere. Mr. Lessingham has
+spent his time amongst trifles here. Take Helen away somewhere and
+forget that you have seen him in the house. Remember that he has saved
+Henry's life as well as yours."
+
+"I invite no consideration upon that account," Lessingham declared. "All
+that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted to do,
+for my old friend. Your release was different. I am forced to admit
+that it was the price paid for my sojourn here. I will only ask you to
+remember that the bargain was made without your knowledge, and that you
+are in no way responsible for it."
+
+"A price," Richard pronounced fiercely, "which I refuse to pay!"
+
+Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"The alternative," he confessed, "is in your hands."
+
+Richard moved towards the telephone.
+
+"I am sorry, Maderstrom," he said, "but my duty is clear. Who is
+Commandant here, Philippa?"
+
+Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone. There was a queer,
+angry patch of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were on fire.
+
+"Richard," she exclaimed, "you shall not do this from my house! I forbid
+you!"
+
+"Do what?"
+
+"Give information. Do you know what it would mean if they believed you?"
+
+"Death," he answered. "Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he came to
+this country under a false name."
+
+"Perfectly," Lessingham admitted.
+
+"But I won't have it!" Philippa protested. "He has become our friend.
+Day by day we have grown to like him better and better. He has saved
+your life, Dick. He has brought you back to us. Think what it is that
+you purpose!"
+
+"It is what every soldier has to face," Richard declared.
+
+"You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!" Philippa cried
+desperately. "The war is in your brains, I think. You would carry it
+from the battlefields into your daily life. Because two great countries
+are at war, is everything to go by--chivalry?--all the finer, sweeter
+feelings of life? If you two met on the battlefield, it would be
+different. Here in my drawing-room, I will not have this black demon of
+the war dragged in as an excuse for murder! Take Dick away, Helen!" she
+begged. "Mr. Lessingham is leaving to-night. I will pledge my word that
+until then he remains a harmless citizen."
+
+"Women don't understand these things, Philippa--" Richard began.
+
+"Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!" Philippa
+interrupted fiercely. "You have but one idea--to strike--the narrow
+idea of men that breeds warfare. I tell you that if ever universal peace
+comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror of this lust for blood,
+this criminal outrage against civilisation, it is the women who will
+become the teachers, because amongst your instincts the brutish ones of
+force are the first to leap to the surface at the slightest provocation.
+We women see further, we know more. I swear to you, Richard, that if you
+interfere I will never forgive you as long as I live!"
+
+Richard stared at his sister in amazement. There seemed to be some new
+spirit born within her. Throughout all their days he had never known her
+so much in earnest, so passionately insistent. He looked from her to the
+man whom she sought to protect, and who answered, unasked, the thoughts
+that were in his mind.
+
+"Whatever harm I may have been able to do," Lessingham announced, "is
+finished. I leave this place to-night, probably for ever. As for the
+Commandant," he went on with a faint smile, "he is already upon my
+track. There is nothing you can tell him about me which he does not
+know. It is just a matter of hours, the toss of a coin, whether I get
+away or not."
+
+"They've found you out, then?" Richard exclaimed.
+
+"Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago," Lessingham
+acknowledged. "Your Commandant here is at the present moment in London
+for the sole purpose of denouncing me."
+
+"And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?" Richard observed
+incredulously. "I'm hanged if I can see through this!"
+
+"You see," Lessingham explained gently. "I am a fatalist!"
+
+It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room. He looked back
+from the door.
+
+"Maderstrom," he said, "you know quite well how personally I feel
+towards you. I am grateful for what you have done for me, even though I
+am beginning to understand your motives. But as regards the other things
+we are both soldiers. I am going to talk to Helen for a time. I want to
+understand a little more than I do at present."
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+"Let me help you," he begged. "Here is the issue in plain words. All
+that I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any case for
+the sake of our friendship. Your freedom would probably never have been
+granted to me but for my mission, although even that I might have tried
+to arrange. I brought your letters here, and I traded them with your
+sister and Miss Fairclough for the shelter of their hospitality and
+their guarantees. Now you know just where friendship ended and the other
+things began. Do what you believe to be your duty."
+
+Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him. Lessingham
+looked down into Philippa's face.
+
+"You are more wonderful even than I thought," he continued softly. "You
+say so little and you live so near the truth. It is those of us who feel
+as you do--who understand--to whom this war is so terrible."
+
+"I want to ask you one question before I send you away," she told him.
+"This journey to America?"
+
+"It is a mission on behalf of Germany," he explained, "but it is, after
+all, an open one. I have friends--highly placed friends--in my own
+country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the war. It is through
+them that I am able to turn my back upon Europe. I have done my share
+of fighting," he went on sadly, "and the horror of it will never quite
+leave me. I think that no one has ever charged me with shirking my duty,
+and yet the sheer, black ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal
+inutility, have got into my blood so that I think I would rather pass
+out of the world in some simple way than find myself back again in that
+debauch of blood. Is this cowardice, Philippa?"
+
+She looked at him with shining eyes.
+
+"There isn't any one in the world," she said, "who could call you a
+coward. Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you, that at
+least I know."
+
+He kissed her fingers.
+
+"At ten o'clock," he began--
+
+"But listen," she interrupted. "Apart from anything which Dick might
+do, you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you really have
+accomplished something. Why not go now, at this moment? Why wait? These
+few hours may make all the difference."
+
+He smiled.
+
+"They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life," he answered.
+"That is for you."
+
+He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room. Philippa
+moved to the window and watched him until he had disappeared. Then very
+slowly she left the room, walked up the stairs, made her way to her own
+little suite of apartments, and locked the door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that evening
+at Mainsail Haul. Philippa was at times unusually silent, but Helen had
+expanded in the joy of her great happiness. Richard, shaved and with
+his hair cut, attired once more in the garb of civilisation, seemed
+a different person. Even in these few hours the lines about his mouth
+seemed less pronounced. They talked freely of Maderstrom.
+
+"A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem," Richard declared, balancing his wine
+glass between his fingers, "a problem, too, which I can't say I have
+solved altogether yet. The only thing is that if he is really going
+to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter drift out of my
+mind."
+
+"It is so much better," Helen agreed. "Try as hard as ever I can, I
+cannot picture his doing any harm to anybody. And as for any information
+he may have gained here, well, I think that we can safely let him take
+it back to Germany."
+
+"He was always," Richard continued reminiscently, "a sort of cross
+between a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman. There was never
+anything of the practical man of affairs about him. He was scrupulously
+honourable, and almost a purist in his outlook upon life. I have met
+a great many Germans," Richard went on, "and I've killed a few, thank
+God!--but he is about as unlike the ordinary type as any one I ever met.
+The only pity is that he ever served his time with them."
+
+Philippa had been listening attentively. She was more than ever silent
+after her brother's little appreciation of his friend. Richard glanced
+at her good-humouredly.
+
+"You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+Philippa," he observed. "One would think that you were going on a
+journey."
+
+She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious
+eyes.
+
+"I may go for a walk," she said, "and leave you two young people to talk
+secrets. I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights."
+
+"When is Henry coming back?" her brother enquired.
+
+Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+
+"I have no idea," she confessed. "He comes and goes as the whim seizes
+him, and I very seldom know where he is. One week it is whiting and
+another codling. Lately he seems to have shown some partiality for
+London life."
+
+Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+
+"You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?"
+
+"Nothing whatever."
+
+"But what excuse does he give--or rather I should say reason?" Richard
+persisted.
+
+"He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an office,"
+Philippa replied. "That is what he says. His point of view is so
+impossible that I can not even discuss it with him."
+
+"It's the rummest go I ever came across," Richard remarked
+reminiscently. "I should have said that old Henry would have been up and
+at 'em at the Admiralty before the first gun was fired."
+
+"On the contrary," Philippa rejoined, "he took advantage of the war to
+hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after hostilities had
+commenced."
+
+"It's a rum go," Richard repeated. "I can't fancy Henry as a skulker.
+Forgive me, Philippa," he added.
+
+"You are entirely forgiven," she assured him drily.
+
+"He comes of such a fine fighting stock," Richard mused. "I suppose his
+health is all right?"
+
+"His health," Philippa declared, "is marvellous. I should think he is
+one of the strongest men I know."
+
+Her brother patted her hand.
+
+"You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl," he said
+affectionately. "It's no good doing that, you know. You wait and let me
+have a talk with Henry."
+
+"I think," she replied, "that nearly everything possible has already
+been said to him."
+
+"Perhaps you've put his back up a bit," Richard suggested, "and he may
+really be on the lookout for something all the time."
+
+"It has been a long search!" Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm. "Let
+us talk about something else."
+
+They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made their
+plans for the week--Richard must report at the War Office at once.
+
+Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close. It was
+at Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment over
+his port. She kept her arm through her friend's as they crossed the hall
+into the drawing-room, and closed the door behind them. Philippa stood
+upon the hearth rug. Already her mouth had come together in a straight
+line. Her eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+
+"I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen," she began, "and I
+warn you that it will be of no use."
+
+Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+
+"Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?" she asked.
+
+"I am," was the calm response. "I made up my mind this afternoon. We are
+leaving to-night."
+
+Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+
+"Motoring?" she enquired.
+
+"Naturally," Philippa replied. "You know there are no trains leaving
+here to-night."
+
+"You'll have a cold ride," Helen remarked. "I should take your heavy fur
+coat."
+
+Philippa stared at her companion.
+
+"You don't seem much upset, Helen!"
+
+"I think," Helen declared, looking up, "that nothing that has ever
+happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I can see that
+you have reasoned it all out, and there is not a single argument I could
+use which you haven't already discounted. It is your life, Philippa, not
+mine."
+
+"Since you are so philosophical," Philippa observed, "let me ask
+you--should you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?"
+
+"I should not," was the firm reply.
+
+Philippa laughed heartily.
+
+"Oh, I know what you are going to say!" Helen continued quickly. "You'll
+tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental. I think in your heart
+you rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard. You would call it
+cowlike, or something of that sort. There is a difference between us,
+Philippa, and that is why I am afraid to argue with you."
+
+"What should you do," Philippa demanded, "if Richard failed you in some
+great thing?"
+
+"I might suffer," Helen confessed, "but my love would be there all the
+same. Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I should
+never be able to see with those who judged him hardly."
+
+"You think, then," Philippa persisted, "that I ought still to remain
+Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst the
+pastimes of his life--when he feels inclined, for instance, to wander
+from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my complexion, or
+when he settles down at home for a few days after a fortnight's sport on
+the sea and expects me to tell him the war news?"
+
+"I don't think that I should do that," Helen admitted quietly, "but I am
+quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I should be punishing myself too much."
+
+Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+
+"Helen," she said, "you are not such a fool as you try to make me think.
+Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my mind? Can't you
+realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring, it will punish Henry
+more?"
+
+"I see," Helen observed. "You are running away with Mr. Lessingham to
+annoy Henry?"
+
+"Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!" Philippa laughed sardonically. "He has
+terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to him. He'll be
+remarkably sheepish for some time to come. He may even feel a few little
+stabs. When I have time, I am going to write him a letter which he can
+keep for the rest of his life. It won't please him!"
+
+"Where are you--and Mr. Lessingham going to live?" Helen enquired.
+
+"In America, to start with. I've always longed to go to the States."
+
+"What shall you do," Helen continued, "if you don't get out of the
+country safely?"
+
+"Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall," Philippa replied, "and
+he seems a person of many expedients. Of course, if we didn't, I should
+go back to Cheshire. I should have gone back there, anyway, before now,
+if Mr. Lessingham hadn't come."
+
+"Well, it all seems very simple," Helen admitted. "I think Mr.
+Lessingham is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder if
+you didn't now and then almost imagine that you were happy."
+
+"You seem to be taking my going very coolly," Philippa remarked.
+
+"I told you how I felt about it just now," Helen reminded her. "Your
+going is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing larger and
+larger, day by day. I think that, in his way, Dick will suffer just as
+much as Henry. We shall all be utterly miserable."
+
+"Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?" Philippa demanded.
+"You sit there talking about it as though I were going on an ordinary
+country-house visit."
+
+Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled with
+tears.
+
+"Philippa dear," she said, "if I thought that all the tears that were
+ever shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's heart, could
+have any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now and implore you to
+give up this idea. But I think--you won't be angry with me, dear?--I
+think you would go just the same."
+
+"You seem to think that I am obstinate," Philippa complained.
+
+"You see, you are temperamental, dear," Helen reminded her. "You have a
+complex nature. I know very well that you need the daily love that Henry
+doesn't seem to have been willing to give you lately, and I couldn't
+stop your turning towards the sun, you know. Only--all the time there's
+that terrible anxiety--are you quite sure it is the sun?"
+
+"You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?" Philippa asked.
+
+"I do indeed," Helen replied. "I am not quite sure, though, that I
+believe in you."
+
+Philippa was a little startled.
+
+"Well, I never!" she exclaimed. "Exactly what do you mean by that,
+Helen?"
+
+"I am not quite sure," Helen continued, "that when the moment has really
+come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched, and your
+feet have left this world in which you are now, I am not quite sure that
+you will find all that you seek."
+
+"You think he doesn't love me?"
+
+"I am not convinced," Helen replied calmly, "that you love him."
+
+"Why, you idiot," Philippa declared feverishly, "of course I love him!
+I think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I ever knew,
+and as to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he were a Fiji
+Islander or a Chinese."
+
+Helen nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I agree with you," she said, "but listen. You know that I haven't
+uttered a single word to dissuade you. Well, then, grant me just one
+thing. Before you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham the truth,
+whatever it may be, the truth which you haven't told me. It very likely
+won't make any difference. Two people as nice as you and he, who are
+going to join their lives, generally do, I believe, find the things they
+seek. Still, tell him."
+
+Philippa made no reply. Richard opened the door and lingered upon the
+threshold. Helen rose to her feet.
+
+"I am coming, Dick," she called out cheerfully. "There's a gorgeous fire
+in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just the time I
+have been looking forward to all day. You'll tell me things, won't you?"
+
+She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to him,
+her face full of the one happiness. He passed his arm around her waist.
+
+"I'll try, dear," he said. "You won't be lonely, Philippa?"
+
+"I'll come and disturb you when I am," she promised.
+
+The door closed. She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to their
+footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he had
+just descended, glanced at the huge tyres and the tins of petrol lashed
+on behind.
+
+"Nothing more you want, chauffeur?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing, sir," was the almost inaudible reply.
+
+"You have the route map?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles."
+
+Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the drive
+of Mainsail Haul. Decidedly it was the moment of his life. He was
+hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths. A few hours now
+was all the start he could reasonably expect. He was face to face with a
+very real and serious danger, which he could no longer ignore, and from
+which escape was all the time becoming more difficult. And yet all
+the emotionalism of this climax was centred elsewhere. It was from
+Philippa's lips that he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer
+which would fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in
+his rush through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent as to
+its result.
+
+He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of suspended
+animation, which knew no hope and feared no disappointment. Just before
+he reached the front door, the postern gate in the wall on his left-hand
+side opened, and Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat,
+framed in the faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of
+seabounded space. He moved eagerly towards her.
+
+"I heard the car," she whispered. "Come and sit down for a moment. It
+isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the sea.
+I came out," she went on, as he walked obediently by her side, "because
+the house somehow stifled me."
+
+She led him to a seat. Below, the long waves were breaking through upon
+the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air. The village
+which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless--there was, indeed, a
+curious absence of sound, except when the incoming waves broke upon the
+rocks and ground the pebbles together in their long, backward swish.
+Very soon the sleeping country, now wrapped in shadows, would take form
+and outline in the light of the rising moon; hedges would divide the
+square fields, the black woods would take shape and the hills their
+mystic solemnity. But those few minutes were minutes of suspense.
+Lessingham was to some extent conscious of their queer, allegorical
+significance.
+
+"I have come," he reminded her quite steadily, "for my answer."
+
+She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched her
+cloak. She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+
+"You see," she told him, "here I am."
+
+His face was suddenly transformed. She was almost afraid of the effect
+of her words. She found herself struggling in his arms.
+
+"Not yet," she begged. "Please remember where we are."
+
+He released her reluctantly. A few yards away, they could hear the soft
+purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the passing
+moments. He caught her by the hand.
+
+"Come," he whispered passionately. "Every moment is precious."
+
+She hesitated no longer. The open postern gate seemed to him suddenly to
+lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid life. He was to
+be one of those favoured few to whom was given the divine prize. And
+then he stopped short, even while she walked willingly by his side. He
+knew so well the need for haste. The gentle murmur of that engine was
+inviting him all the while. Yet he knew there was one thing more which
+must be said.
+
+"Philippa," he began, "you know what we are doing? We can escape, I
+believe. My flight is all wonderfully arranged. But there will be no
+coming back. It will be all over when our car passes over the hills
+there. You will not regret? You care enough even for this supreme
+sacrifice?"
+
+"I shall never reproach you as long as I live," she promised. "I have
+made up my mind to come, and I am ready."
+
+"But it is because you care?" he pleaded anxiously.
+
+"It is because I care, for one reason."
+
+"In the great way?" he persisted. "In the only way?"
+
+She hesitated. He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his. He saw her
+frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+
+"Don't ask me quite that," she begged breathlessly. "Be content to know
+that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come."
+
+He felt the chill of impending disaster. He closed the little gate
+through which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back to
+it. In that faint light which seemed to creep over the world before the
+moon itself was revealed, she seemed to him at that moment the fairest,
+the most desirable thing on earth. Her face was upturned towards his,
+half pathetic, half protesting against the revelation which he was
+forcing from her.
+
+"Listen, Philippa," he said, "Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing. I
+put it on one side. It did not seem to be possible. Now I must ask you a
+question. You have some other motive, have you not, for choosing to come
+away with me? It is not only because you love me better than any one
+else in the world, as I do you, and therefore that we belong to one
+another and it is right and good that we should spend our lives in one
+another's company? There is something else, is there not, at the root of
+your determination? Some ally?"
+
+It was a strange moment for Philippa. Nothing had altered within her,
+and yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at her
+emotions, bringing a sob into her throat.
+
+"You mean--Henry?" she faltered.
+
+"I mean your husband," he assented.
+
+She was suddenly passionately angry with herself. It seemed to her that
+the days of childishness were back. She was behaving like an imbecile
+whilst he played the great game.
+
+"You see," he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, "this is one
+of those moments in both our lives when anything except the exact truth
+would mean shipwreck. You still love your husband?"
+
+"I am such a fool!" she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+
+"You were willing to go away with me," he continued mercilessly, "partly
+because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out of revenge,
+and just a little because you liked me. Is that not so?"
+
+Her head pressed upon his arm. She nodded. It was just that convulsive
+movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair and its plain
+black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his hopes. She was
+just a child once more--and she trusted him.
+
+"Very well, then," he said, "just let me think--for a moment."
+
+She understood enough not to raise her head. Lessingham was gazing out
+through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from which
+the moon was rising. Already the pain had begun, and yet with it was
+that queer sense of exaltation which comes with sacrifice.
+
+"We have been very nearly foolish," he told her, with grave kindliness.
+"It is well, perhaps, that we were in time. Those windows which lead
+into your library,--through which I first came to you, by-the-by,--" he
+added, with a strange, reminiscent little sigh, "are they open?"
+
+"Yes!" she whispered.
+
+"Come, then," he invited. "Before I leave there is something I want to
+make clear to you."
+
+They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little
+terraced walk. Philippa opened the window and closed it again behind
+them. The room was empty. Lessingham, watching her closely, almost
+groaned as he saw the wonderful relief in her face. She threw off the
+cloak, and he groaned again as he remembered how nearly it had been his
+task to remove it. In her plain travelling dress, she turned and looked
+at him very pathetically.
+
+"You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?" he enquired.
+
+"A newspaper? Why, yes, the Times," she answered, a little surprised.
+
+He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it under
+the lamplight. Presently he called to her. His forefinger rested upon a
+certain column.
+
+"Read this," he directed.
+
+She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+
+Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for special
+services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral.
+
+"What does it mean?" she asked feverishly. "Henry? A D.S.O. for Henry
+for special services?"
+
+"It means," he told her, with a forced smile, "that your husband is, as
+you put it in your expressive language, a fraud."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet. Lessingham led her to
+a chair. From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the motor horn,
+calling to its dilatory passenger.
+
+"I can not, of course, explain everything to you," he began, in a tone
+of unusual restraint, "but I do know that for the last two years your
+husband has been responsible to the Admiralty for most of the mine
+fields around your east coast. To begin with, his stay in Scotland was
+a sham. He was most of the time with the fleet and round the coasts. His
+fishing excursions from here have been of the same order, only more so.
+All the places of importance, from here to the mouth of the Thames, have
+been mined, or rather the approaches to them have been mined, under
+his instructions. My mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh--do
+not shrink from me if you can help it--was to obtain a copy of his mine
+protection scheme of a certain town on the east coast."
+
+"Why should I shrink from you?" she murmured. "This is all too
+wonderful! What a little beast Henry must think me!" she added, with
+truly feminine and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+
+"You and Miss Fairclough," Lessingham went on, "have rather scoffed at
+my presence here on behalf of our Secret Service. It seemed to you both
+very ridiculous. Now you understand."
+
+"It makes no difference," Philippa protested tearfully. "You always told
+us the truth."
+
+"And I shall continue to do so," Lessingham assured her. "I am not a
+clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune favoured
+me the night your husband was shipwrecked. I succeeded in stealing from
+him, on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of the mine field which I
+was sent over to procure."
+
+"Of course you had to do it if you could," Philippa sobbed. "I think it
+was very clever of you."
+
+He smiled.
+
+"There are others who might look at the matter differently," he said. "I
+am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but I must
+have your answer to take away with me. If you had known all the time
+that your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you thought him, was
+really doing splendid work for his country, you would not have listened
+to me for one moment, would you? You would not have let me grow to love
+you?"
+
+She clutched his hands.
+
+"You are the dearest man in the world," she exclaimed, her lips still
+quivering, "but, as you say, you know the answer. I was always in love
+with Henry. It was because I loved him that I was so furious. I liked
+you so much that it was mean of me ever to think of--of what so nearly
+happened."
+
+"So nearly happened!" he repeated, with a sudden access of the bitterest
+self-pity.
+
+Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a
+little more impatient, broke the silence. Philippa was filled with an
+unreasoning terror.
+
+"You must go!" she implored. "You must go this minute! If they were to
+take you, I couldn't bear it. And that man Griffiths--he has sworn that
+if he can not get the Government authority, he will shoot you!"
+
+"Griffiths has gone to London," he reminded her.
+
+"Yes, but he may be back by this train," she cried, glancing at the
+clock, "and I have a strange sort of fancy--I have had it all day--that
+Henry might come, too. It is overdue now. Any one might arrive here. Oh,
+please, for my sake, hurry away!" she begged, the tears streaming from
+her eyes. "If anything should happen, I could never forgive myself. It
+is because you have been so dear, so true and honourable, that all this
+time has been wasted. If it were to cost you your life!"
+
+
+She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a
+paroxysm. She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to the
+door. And then she stopped for a moment to listen. Her eyes became
+distended. Her lips were parted. She shook as though with an ague.
+
+"It is too late!" she faltered hysterically. "I can hear Henry's voice!
+Quick! Come to the window. You must get out that way and through the
+postern gate."
+
+"Your husband will have seen the car," he protested. "And besides, there
+is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat."
+
+"I shall tell him everything," she declared wildly. "Nothing matters
+except that you escape. Oh, hurry! I can hear Henry talking to Jimmy
+Dumble--for God's sake--"
+
+The words died away upon her lips. The door had been opened and closed
+again immediately. There was the quick turn of the lock, sounding like
+the click of fate. Sir Henry, well inside the room, nodded to them both
+affably.
+
+"Well, Philippa? You weren't expecting me, eh? Hullo, Lessingham! Not
+gone yet? Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?"
+
+Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+
+"Perhaps," he admitted, "a trifle too fine."
+
+Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm. Philippa had thrown herself into
+his arms. Her fingers were locked around his neck. Her lips, her eyes,
+were pleading with him.
+
+"Henry! Henry, you must forgive me! I never knew--I never dreamed what
+you were really doing. I shall never forgive myself, but you--you will
+be generous."
+
+"That's all right, dear," he promised, stooping down to kiss her.
+"Partly my fault, of course. I had to humour those old ladies down at
+Whitehall who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless idiot. You
+see," he went on, glancing towards Lessingham, "they were always afraid
+that my steps might be dogged by spies, if my position were generally
+known."
+
+Philippa did not relinquish her attitude. She was still clinging to her
+husband. She refused to let him go.
+
+"Henry," she begged, "oh, listen to me! I have so much to confess, so
+much of which I am ashamed! And yet, with it all, I want to entreat--to
+implore one great favour from you."
+
+Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+
+"Is it one I can grant?" he asked gravely.
+
+"If you want me ever to be happy again, you will," she sobbed. "For
+Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape."
+
+Lessingham took a quick step forward. He had the air of one who has
+reached the limits of his endurance.
+
+"You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know," he said, "but I desire no
+intervention."
+
+Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from him.
+There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment. His mouth
+had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw seemed more
+apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there was a ring of
+authority in his tone.
+
+"Come," he said, "let us understand one another, Philippa, and you had
+better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham. I can promise you that your chances
+of escape will not be diminished by my taking up these few minutes of
+your time. Philippa," he went on, turning back to her, "you have always
+posed as being an exceedingly patriotic Englishwoman, yet it seems to
+me that you have made a bargain with this man, knowing full well that he
+was in the service of Germany, to give him shelter and hospitality here,
+access to my house and protection amongst your friends, in return for
+certain favours shown towards your brother."
+
+Philippa was speechless. It was a view of the matter which she and Helen
+had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+
+"But, Henry," she protested, "his stay here seemed so harmless. You
+yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh. There is
+nothing to discover. There is nothing going on here which the whole
+world might not know."
+
+"That was never my plea," Lessingham intervened.
+
+"Nor is it the truth," Sir Henry added sternly.
+
+"The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to gain
+access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could, certain plans
+and charts prepared by me."
+
+Philippa began to tremble. She seemed bereft of words.
+
+"He told me this," she faltered. "He told me not half an hour ago."
+
+There was a tapping at the door. Sir Henry moved towards it but did not
+turn the key.
+
+"Who is that?" he asked.
+
+"Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir," Mills announced. "He
+has seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed to come in."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room. Philippa made
+eager signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows. Lessingham,
+however, shook his head.
+
+"I prefer," he said gently, "to finish my conversation with your
+husband."'
+
+There was another and more insistent summons from outside. This time it
+was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+
+"Sir Henry Cranston," he called out, "I am here with authority. I beg to
+be admitted."
+
+"Where is your escort?"
+
+"In the hall."
+
+"If I let you come in," Sir Henry continued, "will you come alone?"
+
+"I should prefer it," was the eager reply. "I wish to make this business
+as little unpleasant to--to everybody as possible."
+
+Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted
+Griffiths. The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham. He would
+have hastened at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand upon his
+arm.
+
+"You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments," he
+insisted. "This is a private conference. Your business with the Baron
+Maderstrom can be adjusted later."
+
+"It is my duty," Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, "to arrest that man
+as a spy. I have authority, granted me this morning in London."
+
+"Quite so," Sir Henry observed, "but we are in the midst of a very
+interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude. Your turn will
+come later, Captain Griffiths."
+
+"I can countenance no discussion with such men as that," Griffiths
+declared scornfully. "I am here in the execution of my duty, and I
+resent any interference with it."
+
+"No one wishes to interfere with you," Sir Henry assured him, "but until
+I say the word you will obey my orders."
+
+"So far as I am concerned," Lessingham intervened, "I wish it to be
+understood that I offer no defence."
+
+"You have no defence," Sir Henry reminded him suavely. "I gather that
+not only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket in the
+midst of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have capped this
+exploit with a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife."
+
+
+Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself. His eyes glowed.
+His long fingers twitched. He kept edging a little nearer to Lessingham.
+
+"Both charges," the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes,
+"are true."
+
+Then Philippa found herself. She saw the sudden flash in her husband's
+eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face. She stepped once more forward.
+
+"Henry," she insisted, "you must listen to what I have to say."
+
+"We have had enough words," Griffiths interposed savagely.
+
+Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+
+"I am listening, Philippa," he said calmly.
+
+"It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr. Lessingham
+to-night," she told him deliberately.
+
+"The devil it was!" Sir Henry muttered.
+
+"As for the reason, you know it," she continued, her tone full of
+courage. "I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all the
+same I was hardly treated. I was made the scapegoat of your stupid
+promise. You kept me in ignorance of things a wife should know. You even
+encouraged me to believe you a coward, when a single word from you
+would have changed everything. Therefore, I say that it is you who are
+responsible for what I nearly did, and what I should have done but for
+him--listen, Henry--but for him!"
+
+"But for him," her husband repeated curiously.
+
+"It was Mr. Lessingham," she declared, "who opened my eyes concerning
+you. It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger.
+Look at my coat there. My bag is on that table. I was ready to leave
+with him to-night. Before we went, he insisted on telling me everything
+about you. He could have escaped, and I was willing to go with him.
+Instead, he spent those precious minutes telling me the truth about you.
+That was the end."
+
+"Lady Cranston omits to add," Lessingham put in, "that before I did
+so she told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm
+friendliness--that her love was given to her husband, and her husband
+only."
+
+"How long is this to go on?" Griffiths asked harshly. "I have
+the authority here and the power to take that man. These domestic
+explanations have nothing to do with the case."
+
+"Excuse me," Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, "they have a great
+deal to do with it."
+
+"I am Commandant of this place--" Griffiths commenced.
+
+"And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute," Sir
+Henry reminded him sternly.
+
+There was a moment's tense silence. Griffiths set his teeth hard, but
+his hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+
+"I am now," Sir Henry continued, "going to announce to you a piece
+of news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known. During
+last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed to cross
+the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of considerable
+importance to us."
+
+Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain. He had the
+air of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry continued, "three-quarters of the squadron
+also found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter met
+our own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not return."
+
+Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet. One could almost fancy
+that Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned towards him.
+
+"The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself," he said,
+"which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+specially prepared for you. You see, our own Secret Service is not
+altogether asleep. Those very safe and inviting-looking channels for
+British and Allied traffic--I marked them very clearly, didn't I?--were
+where I'd laid my mines. The channels which your cruisers so carefully
+avoided were the only safe avenues. So you see why it is, Maderstrom,
+that I have no grudge against you."
+
+Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man. There was
+a look of dull horror in his eyes.
+
+"Is this the truth?" he gasped.
+
+"It is the truth," Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+
+"Does this conclude the explanations?" Captain Griffiths demanded
+impatiently. "Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry. As regards this
+felon--"
+
+Sir Henry held up his hand.
+
+"Maderstrom's fate," he said, "is mine to deal with and not yours,
+Captain Griffiths."
+
+Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was
+standing only a few feet from her. She threw herself upon his arm and
+dragged down the revolver which he had raised. Sir Henry, with a shout
+of fury, was upon them at once. He took Griffiths by the throat and
+threw him upon the sofa. The revolver clattered harmlessly on to the
+carpet.
+
+"His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen," he thundered. "You know
+that I possess superior authority here."
+
+"That man shall not escape!" Griffiths shouted.
+
+He struggled for his whistle. Sir Henry snatched it from him and picked
+up the revolver from the carpet.
+
+"Look here, Griffiths," he remonstrated severely, "one single move
+in opposition to my wishes will cost you your career. Let there be
+no misunderstanding about it. That man will not be arrested by you
+to-night."
+
+Griffiths staggered to his feet. He was half cowed, half furious.
+
+"You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?" he demanded thickly.
+"The man is a proved traitor. If you assist him to escape, you are
+subject to penalties--"
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+"Captain Griffiths," he interrupted, "I am not ignorant of my position
+in this matter. Believe me, your last chance of retaining your position
+here is to remember that you have had specific orders to yield to my
+authority in all matters. Kindly leave this room and take your soldiers
+back to their quarters."
+
+Griffiths hesitated for a single moment. He had the appearance of a man
+half demented by a passion which could find no outlet. Then he left the
+room, without salute, without a glance to the right or to the left. Out
+in the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh voice of command.
+The hall door was opened and closed behind the sound of retreating
+footsteps.
+
+"Sir Henry," Lessingham reminded him, "I have not asked for your
+intervention."
+
+"My dear fellow, you wouldn't," was the prompt reply. "As for the little
+trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it too much to
+heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent you here."
+
+"The fault of the people who sent me here," Lessingham repeated. "I
+scarcely understand."
+
+"It's simple enough," Sir Henry continued. "You see, you are about as
+fit to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective. You
+possess the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts of a
+gentleman.--Come, come," he went on, "we have nothing more to say to one
+another. Open that window and take the narrow path down to the beach.
+Jimmy Dumble is waiting for you at the gate. He will row you out to a
+Dutch trawler which is lying even now off the point."
+
+"You mean me to get away?" Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+
+"Believe me, it will cost nothing," Sir Henry assured him. "I was not
+bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme authority
+here. He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights in aiding your
+escape."
+
+Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing. She gave him
+her hands.
+
+"Dear friend," she begged, "so wonderful a friend as you have been,
+don't refuse this last thing."
+
+"Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom," Sir Henry said. "Remember that you
+can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by playing
+the Quixote."
+
+"Besides," Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, "it is, after
+all, only an exchange. You have saved Henry's life, set Richard free,
+and brought us happiness. Why should you hesitate to accept your own
+liberty?"
+
+Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light out at
+sea.
+
+"There's your trawler," he pointed out, "and remember the tide will turn
+in half an hour. I don't wish to hurry you."
+
+Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+
+"I shall think of you both always," he said simply. "You are very
+wonderful people."
+
+He turned towards the window. Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat from the
+table by his side.
+
+"Better take your hat," he suggested.
+
+Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+
+"You knew from the first?" he asked.
+
+"From the very first," Sir Henry assured him. "Don't look so
+confounded," he went on consolingly. "Remember that espionage is the
+only profession in which it is an honour to fail."
+
+Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned back
+into the room. The tenderness in his own face, however, and a little
+catch in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve which had
+grown up between them.
+
+"My dear little woman!" he murmured. "My little sweetheart! You don't
+know how I've ached to explain everything to you--including the Russian
+ladies."
+
+"Explain them at once, sir!" Philippa insisted, pretending to draw her
+face away for a moment.
+
+"They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral, Draskieff,
+who was sent over to report upon our method of mine laying," he told
+her.
+
+"You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow or
+the next day."
+
+"Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!" Philippa exclaimed ruefully. "I
+imagined--all sorts of things. But, Henry dear," she went on, "do you
+know that we have a great surprise for you--here in the house?"
+
+"No surprise, dear," he assured her, shaking his head. "I knew the very
+hour that Richard left Wittenberg. And here he is, by Jove!"
+
+Richard and Helen entered together. Philippa could not even wait for the
+conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting which passed
+between the two men.
+
+"Listen to me, both of you!" she cried incoherently. "Helen, you
+especially! You never heard anything so wonderful in your life! They
+weren't fishing excursions at all. There weren't any whiting. Henry was
+laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the German fleet! It's
+all in the Times this morning. He's got a D.S.O.--Henry has--and he's a
+Rear-Admiral! Oh, Helen, I want to cry!"
+
+The two women wandered into a far corner of the room. Richard wrung his
+brother-in-law's hand.
+
+"Philippa isn't exactly coherent," he remarked, "but it sounds all
+right."
+
+"You see," Sir Henry explained, "I've been mine laying ever since the
+war started. I always had ideas of my own about mine fields, as you may
+remember. I started with Scotland, and then they moved me down here.
+The Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and they insisted upon my
+keeping my job secret. It led to a little trouble with Philippa, but I
+think we are through with all that.--I suppose you know that those two
+young women have been engaged in a regular conspiracy, Dick?"
+
+"I know a little," Richard replied gravely, "and I'm sure you will
+believe that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd had any
+idea what they were up to."
+
+"I'm sure you wouldn't," Sir Henry agreed. "Anyway, it led to no harm."
+
+"Maderstrom, then," Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+apprehension of the affair, "was over here to spy upon you?"
+
+"That's the ticket," Sir Henry assented.
+
+Richard frowned.
+
+"And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!"
+
+"Don't you worry about that," his brother-in-law begged. "They must have
+known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do any harm."
+
+"Where is he now?" Richard asked eagerly. "Helen insisted upon keeping
+me out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours. The Commandant
+has been up here after him, hasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear! I don't like the
+fellow."
+
+"And Maderstrom?"
+
+"The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry observed. "Well, to tell you
+the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for in the
+history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom."
+
+"You, too?" Richard exclaimed. "Why, every one seems crazy about the
+fellow."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I remember him in your college days, Dick. He was a gentleman and a
+good sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German. He did his bit of
+soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the war, got a
+knock and volunteered for the Secret Service. They sent him over here.
+The fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare say you know, they
+let him down from the observation car of a Zeppelin. He finds his
+way here all right, makes his silly little bargain with our dear but
+gullible womenkind, and sets himself to watch--to watch me, mind. The
+whole affair is too ridiculously transparent. For a time he can't bring
+himself even to touch my papers here, although, as it happens, they
+wouldn't have done him the least bit of good. It was only the stress
+and excitement of the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the
+chart which I had so carefully prepared for him. I really think, if
+he hadn't done that, I should have had to slip it into his pocket or
+absolutely force it upon him somehow. He sends it off like a lamb and
+behold the result! We've crippled the German Navy for the rest of the
+war."
+
+"It was a faked chart, then, of course?" Richard demanded breathlessly.
+
+"And quite the cleverest I ever prepared," Sir Henry acknowledged. "I
+can assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself, if he'd
+got hold of it."
+
+"But where is Maderstrom now, sir?" Richard asked.
+
+Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the
+last few moments, had softly taken her place. Her eyes were watching
+a green light bobbing up and down in the distance. Suddenly she gave a
+little exclamation.
+
+"It's moving!" she cried. "He's off!"
+
+"He's safe on a Dutch trawler," Sir Henry declared. "And I think," he
+added, moving towards the sideboard, "it's time you and I had a drink
+together, Dick."
+
+They helped themselves to whisky and soda. There were still many
+explanations to be given. Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa stood
+with her eyes turned seawards. The green light was dimmer now, and the
+low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over the glittering track
+of moonlight. She gave a little start as it came into sight. There was
+a sob in her throat, tears burning in her eyes. Her fingers clutched the
+curtains almost passionately. She stood there watching until her eyes
+ached. Then she felt an arm around her waist and her husband's whisper
+in her ear.
+
+"I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?"
+
+She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his extended
+arms. Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+
+"You know," she murmured.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
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diff --git a/1931.zip b/1931.zip
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #1931 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1931)
diff --git a/old/1931-h.htm.2021-01-27 b/old/1931-h.htm.2021-01-27
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Zeppelin's Passenger, by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+Release Date: November 25, 2008 [EBook #1931]
+Last Updated: March 9, 2018
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE ZEPPELIN'S PASSENGER
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      By E. Phillips Oppenheim
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER XXIV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER XXV </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER XXVI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER XXVII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER XXVIII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER XXIX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER XXX </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER XXXI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0032"> CHAPTER XXXII </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2HCH0033"> CHAPTER XXXIII </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never heard a sound,&rdquo; the younger of the afternoon callers admitted,
+      getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his low chair. &ldquo;No
+      more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough. Done splendidly, thanks. No, I went
+      to bed last night soon after eleven&mdash;the Colonel had been route
+      marching us all off our legs&mdash;and I never awoke until reveille this
+      morning. Sleep of the just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly sell,
+      all the same! You hear anything of it, sir?&rdquo; he asked, turning to his
+      companion, who was seated a few feet away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths shook his head. He was a man considerably older than his
+      questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair streaked with
+      grey. His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a soldier, curiously
+      sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which was considerable, he was
+      awkward, at times almost uncouth. His voice was hard and unsympathetic,
+      and his contributions to the tea-table talk had been almost negligible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was up until two o'clock, as it happened,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;but I knew
+      nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice officially.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her absent
+      hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the circumstances
+      of the case entitled her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard it distinctly,&rdquo; she declared; &ldquo;in fact it woke me up. I hung out
+      of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly as though it
+      were over the golf links.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young subaltern sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rotten luck I have with these things,&rdquo; he confided. &ldquo;That's three times
+      they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one. This time they say
+      that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming down. Of course, you've
+      heard of the observation car found on Dutchman's Common this morning?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did you see it?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a chance,&rdquo; was the gloomy reply. &ldquo;It was put on two covered trucks
+      and sent up to London by the first train. Captain Griffiths can tell you
+      what it was like, I dare say. You were down there, weren't you, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I superintended its removal,&rdquo; the latter informed them. &ldquo;It was a very
+      uninteresting affair.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any bombs in it?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a sign of one. Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and a
+      telephone. It seems to have got caught in some trees and been dragged
+      off.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How exciting!&rdquo; the girl murmured. &ldquo;I suppose there wasn't any one in it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that these observation cars, although they are
+      attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night raids.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should like to have seen it, all the same,&rdquo; Helen confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would have been disappointed,&rdquo; her informant assured her.
+      &ldquo;By-the-by,&rdquo; he added, a little awkwardly, &ldquo;are you not expecting Lady
+      Cranston back this evening?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am expecting her every moment. The car has gone down to the station to
+      meet her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+      undemonstrative satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair with the air of
+      one who is content to wait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you heard, Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; his younger companion enquired, a
+      little diffidently, &ldquo;whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen Fairclough looked away. There was a slight mist before her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had a letter this morning,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;She seems to have heard
+      nothing at all encouraging so far.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a line,&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;It's two months now since we last had a
+      letter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well,&rdquo; the young man
+      observed sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It all seems very cruel,&rdquo; Helen agreed. &ldquo;He wasn't really fit to go back,
+      but the Board passed him because they were so short of officers and he
+      kept worrying them. He was so afraid he'd get moved to another battalion.
+      Then he was taken prisoner in that horrible Pervais affair, and sent to
+      the worst camp in Germany. Since then, of course, Philippa and I have had
+      a wretched time, worrying.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?&rdquo; Griffiths
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And my only fiancé,&rdquo; she replied, with a little grimace. &ldquo;However, don't
+      let us talk about our troubles any more,&rdquo; she continued, with an effort at
+      a lighter tone. &ldquo;You'll find some cigarettes on that table, Mr. Harrison.
+      I can't think where Nora is. I expect she has persuaded some one to take
+      her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's Common.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The road all the way is like a circus,&rdquo; the young soldier observed, &ldquo;and
+      there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there. The naval airmen were
+      all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths wasn't far behind
+      them. You didn't leave much for the sightseers, sir,&rdquo; he concluded,
+      turning to his neighbour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As Commandant of the place,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths replied, &ldquo;I naturally had
+      to have the Common searched. With the exception of the observation car,
+      however, I think that I am betraying no confidences in telling you that we
+      discovered nothing of interest.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was flying
+      so low?&rdquo; Helen enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis,&rdquo; the Commandant assented. &ldquo;Two
+      patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her. An old
+      man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a long, black
+      cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost deafened by the noise of
+      the engines. Personally, I cannot believe that they would come down so low
+      unless she was in some trouble.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was suddenly
+      thrown open. An exceedingly alert-looking young lady, very much
+      befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long plaits of the
+      schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind. In her hand she carried a man's
+      Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come in, Arthur,&rdquo; she shouted to a young subaltern who was hovering in
+      the background. &ldquo;Look what I've got, Helen! A trophy! Just look, Mr.
+      Harrison and Captain Griffiths! I found it in a bush, not twenty yards
+      from where the observation car came down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear child,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;this is nothing but an ordinary hat!
+      People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things like that. How do you do,
+      Mr. Somerfield?&rdquo; she added, smiling at the young man who had followed Nora
+      into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't they!&rdquo; the latter retorted, with an air of superior knowledge.
+      &ldquo;Just look here!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned down the lining and showed it to them. &ldquo;What do you make of
+      that?&rdquo; she asked triumphantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Read it out,&rdquo; Nora insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen obeyed:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+               &ldquo;Schmidt,
+                    Berlin,
+                         Unter den Linden, 127.&rdquo;
+ </pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds German,&rdquo; she admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a trophy, all right,&rdquo; Nora declared. &ldquo;One of the crew&mdash;probably
+      the Commander&mdash;must have come on board in a hurry and changed into
+      uniform after they had started.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my painful duty, Miss Nora,&rdquo; Harrison announced solemnly, &ldquo;to
+      inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles of
+      whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's Common, which
+      might possibly have belonged to any one in the Zeppelin, must be sent at
+      once to the War Office.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rubbish!&rdquo; Nora scoffed. &ldquo;The War Office aren't going to have my hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Duty,&rdquo; the young man began&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,&rdquo; Nora
+      interrupted, &ldquo;but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw it into the
+      fire sooner than give it up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      ventured thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing so important as hats,&rdquo; Harrison put in. &ldquo;You see they fit&mdash;somebody.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. &ldquo;I'd listen to anything
+      Captain Griffiths had to say,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;but you boys who are
+      learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit. There's nothing
+      in your textbook about hats. If you're going to make yourselves
+      disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the regiment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay. Nora took a
+      chocolate from a box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be merciful, Miss Nora!&rdquo; Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't break the regiment up altogether,&rdquo; Somerfield begged, with a little
+      catch in his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All very well for you two to be funny,&rdquo; Nora went on, revisiting the
+      chocolate box, &ldquo;but you've heard about the Seaforths coming, haven't you?
+      I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every woman does,&rdquo; Helen admitted, smiling. &ldquo;I suppose the child really
+      can keep the hat, can't she?&rdquo; she added, turning to the Commandant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Officially the matter is outside my cognizance,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;I shall
+      have nothing to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young men exchanged glances.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A hat,&rdquo; Somerfield ruminated, &ldquo;especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely an
+      appurtenance of warfare.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object in
+      question. Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall take the whole responsibility,&rdquo; he decided magnanimously, &ldquo;of
+      saying nothing about the matter. We can't afford to quarrel with Miss
+      Nora, can we, Somerfield?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not on your life,&rdquo; that young man agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sensible boys!&rdquo; Nora pronounced graciously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them in their
+      folly. You can take me as far as the post-office when you go, Arthur,&rdquo; she
+      continued, turning to the fortunate possessor of the side-car, &ldquo;and we'll
+      have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if you like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?&rdquo; Helen invited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; the man replied; &ldquo;we had tea some
+      time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora suddenly held up her finger. &ldquo;Isn't that the car?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Why,
+      it must be mummy, here already. Yes, I can hear her voice!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he announced solemnly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER II
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+      looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful. She had
+      masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long railway journey,
+      deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost porcelain-like complexion, and a
+      sensitive, delightfully shaped mouth. Her figure was small and dainty, and
+      just at that moment she had an appearance of helplessness which was almost
+      childlike. Nora, after a vigorous embrace, led her stepmother towards a
+      chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come and sit by the fire, Mummy,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;You look tired and cold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests. She was still
+      wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was unmistakable.
+      Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since her entrance, wheeled
+      an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into which she sank with a murmured
+      word of thanks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?&rdquo; Helen enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head. Her eyes met her friend's for a moment&mdash;it
+      was only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual sorrow seemed
+      curiously revealed in that unspoken question and answer. The two young
+      subalterns prepared to take their leave. Nora, kneeling down, stroked her
+      stepmother's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No news at all, then?&rdquo; Helen faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None,&rdquo; was the weary reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Any amount of news here, Mummy,&rdquo; Nora intervened cheerfully, &ldquo;and heaps
+      of excitement. We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last night, and
+      she lost her observation car. Mr. Somerfield took me up there this
+      afternoon, and I found a German hat. No one else got a thing, and, would
+      you believe it, those children over there tried to take it away from me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect you are keeping the hat, dear,&rdquo; she observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should say so!&rdquo; Nora assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting to
+      take their leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must come and dine one night this week, both of you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;My
+      husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm sure he will
+      be glad to have you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted,&rdquo; Harrison
+      declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather!&rdquo; his companion echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+      Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+      Philippa's chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she said, smiling pleasantly
+      up at him. &ldquo;Must you hurry away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns,&rdquo; he answered,
+      resuming his seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do!&rdquo; Philippa begged him. &ldquo;I have had such a miserable time in town. You
+      can't think how restful it is to be back here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; he observed, &ldquo;that your journey has not been successful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been completely unsuccessful,&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;I have not been able
+      to hear a word about my brother. I am so sorry for poor Helen, too. They
+      were only engaged, you know, a few days before he left for the front this
+      last time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never met Major Felstead,&rdquo; he remarked, &ldquo;but every one who has seems to
+      like him very much. He was doing so well, too, up to that last unfortunate
+      affair, wasn't he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick is a dear,&rdquo; Philippa declared. &ldquo;I never knew any one with so many
+      friends. He would have been commanding his battalion now, if only he were
+      free. His colonel wrote and told me so himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish there were something I could do,&rdquo; Griffiths murmured, a little
+      awkwardly. &ldquo;It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nobody can do anything,&rdquo; she bemoaned. &ldquo;That is the unfortunate part of
+      it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was when
+      he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which he had no
+      idea what to do with.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?&rdquo; he
+      asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+      unpleasant voice. She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps one morning later,&rdquo; she replied, a little vaguely. &ldquo;I haven't any
+      heart for anything just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out into the
+      twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things which he had
+      meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten them. Philippa, to
+      whom his departure had been, as it always was, a relief, was already
+      leaning forward in her chair with her arm around Helen's neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought that extraordinary man would never go,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;and I
+      was longing to send for you, Helen. London has been such a dreary chapter
+      of disappointments.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a sickening time you must have had, dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was horrid,&rdquo; Philippa assented sadly, &ldquo;but you know Henry is no use at
+      all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone. I have been to
+      every friend at the War Office, and every friend who has friends there. I
+      have made every sort of enquiry, and I know just as much now as I did when
+      I left here&mdash;that Richard was a prisoner at Wittenberg the last time
+      they heard, and that they have received no notification whatever
+      concerning him for the last two months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen glanced at the calendar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is just two months to-day,&rdquo; she said mournfully, &ldquo;since we heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And then,&rdquo; Philippa sighed, &ldquo;he hadn't received a single one of our
+      parcels.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen rose suddenly to her feet. She was a tall, fair girl of the best
+      Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every promise, indeed,
+      of a fuller and more gracious development in the years to come. She was
+      barely twenty-two years old, and, as is common with girls of her
+      complexion, seemed younger. Her bright, intelligent face was, above all,
+      good-humoured. Just at that moment, however, there was a flush of
+      passionate anger in her cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes me feel almost beside myself,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;this hideous
+      incapacity for doing anything! Here we are living in luxury, without a
+      single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on earth to both of us,
+      is being starved and goaded to death in a foul German prison!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear,&rdquo; Philippa
+      remonstrated. &ldquo;What is it, Mills?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band, bowed as
+      he arranged it upon a side table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+      ladyship,&rdquo; he announced, &ldquo;and some hot buttered toast. Cook has sent some
+      of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally fancies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very kind of you, Mills,&rdquo; Philippa said, with rather a wan little
+      smile. &ldquo;I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad. You might take
+      my coat, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her slim,
+      elegant little body.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I light up, your ladyship?&rdquo; Mills enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You might light a lamp,&rdquo; Philippa directed, &ldquo;but don't draw the blinds
+      until lighting-up time. After the noise of London,&rdquo; she went on, turning
+      to Helen, &ldquo;I always think that the faint sound of the sea is so restful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to his
+      mistress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We should be glad to hear, your ladyship,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;if there is any news
+      of Major Felstead?&rdquo; Philippa shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills! Still, we must hope for the best.
+      I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as we imagine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must hope not, your ladyship,&rdquo; was the somewhat dismal reply. &ldquo;Shall I
+      fasten the windows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills,&rdquo; Philippa directed.
+      &ldquo;I am not at home, if any one should call. See that we are undisturbed for
+      a little time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, your ladyship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone. Philippa held
+      out her arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, darling, come and be nice to me,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;Let us both pretend
+      that no news is good news. Oh, I know what you are suffering, but remember
+      that even if Dick is your lover, he is my dear, only brother&mdash;my twin
+      brother, too. We have been so much to each other all our lives. He'll
+      stick it out, dear, if any human being can. We shall have him back with us
+      some day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he is hungry,&rdquo; Helen sobbed. &ldquo;I can't bear to think of his being
+      hungry. Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like,&rdquo; Philippa
+      murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He always used to love one about this time,&rdquo; Helen faltered, glancing at
+      the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And cigarettes!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed. &ldquo;I wonder whether they give him
+      anything to smoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nasty German tobacco, if they do,&rdquo; Helen rejoined indignantly. &ldquo;And to
+      think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his favourite
+      Egyptians!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side. Their arms were
+      intertwined, their cheeks touching. One of those strange, feminine
+      silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while under its
+      thrall. Then, almost at the same moment, a queer awakening came for both
+      of them. Helen's arm was stiffened. Philippa turned her head, but her eyes
+      were filled with incredulous fear. A little current of cool air was
+      blowing through the room. The French windows stood half open, and with his
+      back to them, a man who had apparently entered the room from the gardens
+      and passed noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing by the door,
+      listening. They heard him turn the key. Then, in a businesslike manner, he
+      returned to the windows and closed them, the eyes of the two women
+      following him all the time. Satisfied, apparently, with his precautions,
+      he turned towards them just as an expression of indignant enquiry broke
+      from Philippa's lips. Helen sprang to her feet, and Philippa gripped the
+      sides of her chair. The newcomer advanced a few steps nearer to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER III
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual silence was,
+      that in those few seconds they jointly conceived definite and lasting
+      impressions of the man who was to become, during the next few weeks, an
+      object of the deepest concern to both of them. The intruder was slightly
+      built, of little more than medium height, of dark complexion, with an
+      almost imperceptible moustache of military pattern, black hair dishevelled
+      with the wind, and eyes of almost peculiar brightness. He carried himself
+      with an assurance which was somewhat remarkable considering the condition
+      of his torn and mud stained clothes, the very quality of which was almost
+      undistinguishable. They both, curiously enough, formed the same
+      instinctive conviction that, notwithstanding his tramplike appearance and
+      his burglarious entrance, this was not a person to be greatly feared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and opened
+      the conversation with some ceremony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ladies,&rdquo; he began, with a low bow, &ldquo;in the first place let me offer my
+      most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance to your house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him. The firelight played
+      upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness from her
+      face. Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had almost the
+      appearance of a framed cameo. Her voice was quite steady, although its
+      inflection betrayed some indignation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+      extraordinary behaviour?&rdquo; she demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my earnest intention to do so without delay,&rdquo; he assured her, his
+      eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa. &ldquo;Kindly pardon me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell, had
+      made a stealthy attempt to slip past him. Her eyes flashed as she felt his
+      fingers upon her arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How dare you attempt to stop me!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; he remonstrated, &ldquo;in the interests of all of
+      us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+      conversation. I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure of
+      addressing Miss Fairclough?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in its way,
+      impressive yet irritating. Helen appeared bereft of words and retreated to
+      her place almost mildly. Philippa's very delicate eyebrows were drawn
+      together in a slight frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are acquainted with our names, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; was the suave reply. &ldquo;You, I presume, are Lady Cranston? I
+      may be permitted to add,&rdquo; he went on, looking at her steadfastly, &ldquo;that
+      the description from which I recognise you does you less than justice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent,&rdquo; Philippa told
+      him coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders. There was a slight smile upon his lips and his
+      eyes twinkled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Alas!&rdquo; he murmured, &ldquo;for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+      circumstances of our meeting. Permit me to offer you what I trust you will
+      accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A letter of introduction,&rdquo; Philippa repeated, glancing at his disordered
+      clothes, &ldquo;and you come in through the window!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; the intruder assured her, &ldquo;it was the only way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you will tell me, then,&rdquo; Philippa demanded, her anger gradually
+      giving way to bewilderment, &ldquo;what is wrong with my front door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For all I know, dear lady,&rdquo; the newcomer confessed, &ldquo;yours may be an
+      excellent front door. I would ask you, however, to consider my appearance.
+      I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of my journey in
+      somewhat ignominious fashion. My clothes&mdash;they were quite nice
+      clothes, too, when I started,&rdquo; he added, looking down at himself ruefully&mdash;&ldquo;have
+      suffered. And, as you perceive, I have lost my hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your hat?&rdquo; Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely! I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as belonging
+      to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon my clothes, and
+      these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have necessitated an
+      explanation which I thought better avoided. I make myself quite clear, I
+      trust?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clear?&rdquo; Philippa murmured helplessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Clear?&rdquo; Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean, of course,&rdquo; their visitor explained, &ldquo;so far as regards my
+      choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards the
+      bell. The intruder, however, barred her way. She looked up into his face
+      and found it difficult to maintain her indignation. His expression,
+      besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a respectful admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you please let me pass?&rdquo; she insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madam,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;I am afraid that it is your intention to ring the
+      bell.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course it is,&rdquo; she admitted. &ldquo;Don't dare to prevent me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Madam, I do not wish to prevent you,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;A few moments'
+      delay&mdash;that is all I plead for.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you explain at once, sir,&rdquo; Philippa demanded, &ldquo;what you mean by
+      forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and by
+      locking that door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am most anxious to do so,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;I am correct, of
+      course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston&mdash;and you Miss
+      Fairclough?&rdquo; he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them. &ldquo;A very great
+      pleasure! I recognised you both quite easily, you see, from your
+      descriptions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From our descriptions?&rdquo; Philippa repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The newcomer bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated, of your
+      brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fiancé, Miss Fairclough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard?&rdquo; Philippa almost shrieked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have seen Dick?&rdquo; Helen gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes. He
+      handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My letters of introduction,&rdquo; he explained, with a little sigh of relief.
+      &ldquo;I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to have some tea. I
+      am almost starving.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment, I beg,&rdquo; their visitor interposed. &ldquo;I have established, I
+      trust, my credentials. May I remind you that I was compelled to ensure the
+      safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by locking that door.
+      Are you likely to be disturbed?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, no! No chance at all,&rdquo; Philippa assured him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we are, we'll explain,&rdquo; Helen promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; the intruder begged, &ldquo;perhaps you will excuse me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew the
+      curtains carefully across the French windows. Afterwards he made his way
+      towards the tea-table. A little throbbing cry had broken from Helen's
+      lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;it's from Dick! It's Dick's handwriting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's reply was incoherent. She was tearing open her own envelope.
+      With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these communications seized a
+      sandwich in one hand and poured himself out some tea with the other. He
+      ate and drank with the restraint of good-breeding, but with a voracity
+      which gave point to his plea of starvation. A few yards away, the
+      breathless silence between the two women had given place to an almost
+      hysterical series of disjointed exclamations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's from Dick!&rdquo; Helen repeated. &ldquo;It's his own dear handwriting. How
+      shaky it is! He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a friend.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know&mdash;I know,&rdquo; Philippa murmured tremulously. &ldquo;Our parcels have
+      been discovered, and he got them all at once. Just fancy, Helen, he's
+      really not so ill, after all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They drew a little closer together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You read yours out first,&rdquo; Helen proposed, &ldquo;and then I'll read mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa nodded. Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  MY DEAREST SISTER,
+
+  I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+  really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+  but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+  friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+  heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+  that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+  me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+  promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+
+  You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+  man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+
+  Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+  all the difference.
+
+  My love to you and to Henry.
+                                 Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
+
+  P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+  scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+  hope he came out all right.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her teeth
+      as though determined to ignore it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Isn't it wonderful!&rdquo; she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with glowing
+      eyes. &ldquo;Now yours, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen's voice trembled as she read. Her eyes, too, at times were misty:
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+  DEAREST,
+
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+
+                                               Always your lover,
+                                                       DICK.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      There were a few moments of significant silence. The girls were leaning
+      together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads almost
+      touching. Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and drink. He rose
+      at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and coughed. They started,
+      suddenly remembering his presence. Philippa turned impulsively towards him
+      with outstretched hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't tell you how thankful we are to you,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Both of us,&rdquo; Helen echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+      tea-table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You permit?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; Philippa assented eagerly. &ldquo;You will find some matches on the
+      tray there. Do please help yourself. I am afraid that I must have seemed
+      very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing. Won't you have some
+      fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like some more sandwiches?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing more at present, thank you,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;If you do not mind, I
+      would rather continue our conversation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These letters are wonderful,&rdquo; Philippa told him gratefully. &ldquo;You know
+      from whom they come, of course. Dick is my twin brother, and until the war
+      we had scarcely ever been parted. Miss Fairclough here is engaged to be
+      married to him. It is quite two months since we had a line, and I myself
+      have been in London for the last three days, three very weary days, making
+      enquiries everywhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very happy,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;to have brought you such good news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose itself upon
+      the two women. They remembered the locked door, the secrecy of their
+      visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?&rdquo; Philippa
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham,&rdquo; was the suave reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the present?&rdquo; Philippa repeated. &ldquo;You have perhaps, some explanations
+      to make,&rdquo; she went on, with some hesitation; &ldquo;the condition of your
+      clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With your permission.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One moment,&rdquo; Helen intervened eagerly. &ldquo;Is it possible, Mr. Lessingham,
+      that you have seen Major Felstead lately?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough. I am happy to tell you
+      that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite reasonably well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came over to
+      their visitor's side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This was taken just before he went out the first time,&rdquo; she continued.
+      &ldquo;Is he anything like that now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must expect,&rdquo; he warned her, &ldquo;that prison and hospital have had their
+      effect upon him. He was gaining strength every day, however, when I left.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa held out her hand. She had been looking curiously at their
+      visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us about
+      Dick,&rdquo; she insisted. &ldquo;First there are some questions which I must ask.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He bowed slightly and drew himself up. For a moment it seemed as though
+      they were entering upon a duel&mdash;the slight, beautiful woman and the
+      man in rags.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just now,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+      brother, fifty-six hours ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is so,&rdquo; he assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is impossible!&rdquo; she pointed out. &ldquo;My brother is a prisoner of war
+      in Germany.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+      conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp. Let us talk about him,
+      shall we?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you mad,&rdquo; Helen demanded, &ldquo;or are you trying to confuse us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear young lady!&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;Why suppose such a thing? I was
+      flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were, under the
+      circumstances, perfectly rational.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you are talking nonsense,&rdquo; Philippa insisted. &ldquo;You say that you saw
+      Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago. You cannot mean us to believe that
+      fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you,&rdquo; he agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it isn't possible!&rdquo; Helen gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite, I assure you,&rdquo; he continued; &ldquo;in fact, we should have been here
+      before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along the coast.
+      There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here, which we were credibly
+      informed had once been fired without the slightest accident.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's raving!&rdquo; she decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He isn't!&rdquo; Helen cried, with sudden divination. &ldquo;Is that your hat?&rdquo; she
+      asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; he admitted with a smile, &ldquo;but I do not think that I will claim
+      it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham extended his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Softly, please,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;You have, I gather, arrived at the truth,
+      but for the moment shall it be our secret? I made an exceedingly
+      uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the Zeppelin which
+      passed over Dutchman's Common last night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then,&rdquo; Philippa cried, &ldquo;you are a German!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune,&rdquo; Lessingham confessed. &ldquo;Do
+      you think that none other than Germans ride in Zeppelins?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation. The conversation,
+      never without its emotional tendencies, at once changed its character.
+      Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat lurking all the time in her
+      tone and manner, became its guiding spirit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We may enquire your name?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am the Baron Maderstrom,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;For the purpose of my
+      brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the name of Mr.
+      Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; Philippa repeated. &ldquo;You were at Magdalen with my brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For three terms,&rdquo; he assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have visited at Wood Norton. It was only an accident, then, that I
+      did not meet you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is true,&rdquo; he answered, with a bow. &ldquo;I received the most charming
+      hospitality there from your father and mother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you are the friend,&rdquo; Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his hands,
+      &ldquo;of whom Dick speaks in his letter!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+      Felstead,&rdquo; was the grave admission. &ldquo;He and I, during our college days,
+      were more than ordinarily intimate. I saw his name in one of the lists of
+      prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa brushed her
+      away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please let me speak,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You have brought us these letters from
+      Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you did not risk
+      your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply as his ambassador.
+      There is something beyond this in your visit to this country. You may be a
+      Swede, but is it not true that at the present moment you are in the
+      service of an enemy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are entirely right,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask of us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration,&rdquo; Lessingham assured
+      her. &ldquo;I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for those which I have
+      rendered and those which I may yet render to your brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And that favour?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A suit of your brother's clothes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;and a room in which to
+      change. The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to your
+      ingenuity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my wish,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;to remain in this neighbourhood for a
+      short time&mdash;perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month. I should value
+      your introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of such hospitality
+      as may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beyond a doubt.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment's silence. Philippa's face had become almost stony. She
+      took a step towards the telephone. Lessingham, however, held out his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your purpose?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to ring up the Commandant here,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;and explain
+      your presence in this house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An heroic impulse,&rdquo; he observed, &ldquo;but too impulsive.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall see,&rdquo; she retorted. &ldquo;Will you let me pass?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you,&rdquo; he suggested. &ldquo;I am here
+      at your mercy. I promise you that under no circumstances will I attempt
+      any measure of violence. From any fear of that, I trust my name and my
+      friendship with your brother will be sufficient guarantee.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Continue, then,&rdquo; Philippa assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case,&rdquo; he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We must!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed. &ldquo;We must, Philippa! Please!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shall have your ten minutes,&rdquo; Philippa conceded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+      hearth-rug, his hands behind him. He addressed himself to Philippa. It was
+      Philippa who had become his judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will claim nothing from you,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;for the services which I have
+      rendered to Richard. Our friendship was a real thing, and, finding him in
+      such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances, have done all that
+      I have done. I am well paid for this by the thanks which you have already
+      proffered me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No thanks&mdash;nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+      recompense,&rdquo; Helen declared energetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me speak for a moment of the future,&rdquo; he continued. &ldquo;Supposing you
+      ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here? Well, that
+      will be the end of me, without a doubt. You will have done what seemed to
+      you to be the right thing, and I hope that that consciousness will sustain
+      you, for, believe me, though it may not be at my will, your brother's life
+      will most certainly answer for mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a slight pause. A sob broke from Helen's throat. Even Philippa's
+      lip quivered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;if that sounds like a threat. It was not so
+      meant. It is the simple truth. Let me hurry on to the future. I ask so
+      little of you. It is my duty to live in this spot for one month. What harm
+      can I do? You have no great concentration of soldiers here, no docks, no
+      fortifications, no industry. And in return for the slight service of
+      allowing me to remain here unmolested, I pledge my word that Richard shall
+      be set at liberty and shall be here with you within two months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted with
+      eagerness. She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her whole attitude
+      an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, you will not hesitate? You cannot?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must,&rdquo; Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation. &ldquo;I love Dick
+      more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen, we have to
+      remember, before everything, that we are English women. We have to put our
+      human feelings behind us. We are learning every day to make sacrifices.
+      You, too, must learn, dear. My answer to you, Baron Maderstrom&mdash;or
+      Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call yourself&mdash;is no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, you are mad!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed passionately. &ldquo;Didn't I have to
+      realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully, the day after we
+      were engaged? Haven't I realised the duty of cheerfulness and sacrifice
+      through all these weary months? But there is a limit to these things,
+      Philippa, a sense of proportion which must be taken into account. It's
+      Dick's life which is in the balance against some intangible thing, nothing
+      that we could ever reproach ourselves with, nothing that could bring real
+      harm upon any one. Oh, I love my country, too, but I want Dick! I should
+      feel like his murderess all my life, if I didn't consent!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It occurs to me,&rdquo; Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa, &ldquo;that
+      Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?&rdquo; Philippa
+      demanded, with a little break in her voice. &ldquo;Richard is my twin brother,
+      he is the dearest thing in life to me. Can't you realise, though, that
+      what you ask of us is treason?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It really doesn't amount to that,&rdquo; Lessingham assured her. &ldquo;In my own
+      heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand. No object
+      that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is worth the life of a
+      man like Richard Felstead.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he's right!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed. &ldquo;Think, Philippa! What is there here
+      which the whole world might not know? There are no secrets in Dreymarsh.
+      We are miles away from everywhere. For my sake, Philippa, I implore you
+      not to be unreasonable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In plain words,&rdquo; Lessingham intervened, &ldquo;do not be quixotic, Lady
+      Cranston. There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life on the
+      other. You see, the scales do not balance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't you realise, though,&rdquo; Philippa answered, &ldquo;what that idea means? It
+      is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs from a principle.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are principles against love?&rdquo; Helen demanded, almost fiercely. &ldquo;A
+      sister may prate about them, Philippa. A wife couldn't. I'd sacrifice
+      every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect, myself and all
+      that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a brief, throbbing silence. Helen was feverishly clutching
+      Philippa's hand. Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face into
+      which he gazed. There were no women like this in his own country.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear lady,&rdquo; he said, and for the first time his own voice shook, &ldquo;I
+      abandon my arguments. I beg you to act as you think best for your own
+      future happiness. The chances of life or death are not great things for
+      either men like your brother or for me. I would not purchase my end, nor
+      he his life, at the expense of your suffering. You see, I stand on one
+      side. The telephone is there for your use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You shan't use it!&rdquo; Helen cried passionately. &ldquo;Phillipa, you shan't!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone out of
+      her face. Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth was twitching
+      with emotion. She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, I can't! I can't!&rdquo; she sobbed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER V
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's breakdown was only momentary. With a few brusque words she
+      brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered equanimity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be practical,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;we have no time to lose. I will go and get
+      a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take Mr. Lessingham
+      into the gun room. Afterwards, perhaps you will have time to ring up the
+      hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham took a quick step towards her,&mdash;almost as though he were
+      about to make some impetuous withdrawal. Philippa turned and met his
+      almost pleading gaze. Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+      self-abnegation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am in command of the situation,&rdquo; she continued, a little more lightly.
+      &ldquo;Every one must please obey me. I shan't be more than five minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the door for
+      her. He stood for a moment looking at the place where she had vanished.
+      Then he turned round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Major Felstead's description,&rdquo; he said quietly, &ldquo;did not do his sister
+      justice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa is a dear,&rdquo; Helen declared enthusiastically. &ldquo;Just for a moment,
+      though, I was terrified. She has a wonderful will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long has she been married?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About six years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are there&mdash;any children?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Six years!&rdquo; Lessingham repeated. &ldquo;Why, she seems no more than a child.
+      Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sixteen years,&rdquo; Helen told him. &ldquo;Philippa is twenty-nine. And now, don't
+      be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me. I want to show you
+      where to change your clothes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a small
+      apartment across the passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you'll wait in there,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;I'll bring the clothes to you
+      directly they come. I am going to telephone now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So many thanks,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I should like a pleasant bedroom and
+      sitting room, and a bathroom if possible. My luggage you will find already
+      there. A friend in London has seen to that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very thorough, aren't you?&rdquo; she remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are,&rdquo; he
+      replied. &ldquo;One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the mightiest
+      chain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Number three, please,&rdquo; she began. &ldquo;Are you the hotel? The manager? Good!
+      I am speaking for Lady Cranston. She wishes a sitting-room, bedroom and
+      bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving to-day&mdash;a Mr.
+      Hamar Lessingham. You have his luggage already, I believe. Please do the
+      best you can for him.&mdash;Certainly.&mdash;Thank you very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She set down the receiver. The door was quickly opened and shut. Philippa
+      reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you've brought his grey suit,&rdquo; Helen cried in dismay, &ldquo;the one he
+      looks so well in!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be an idiot,&rdquo; Philippa scoffed. &ldquo;I had to bring the first I could
+      find. Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's sake see that he
+      hurries! Henry's train is due, and he may be here at any moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll tell him,&rdquo; Helen promised. &ldquo;I'll smuggle him out of the back way, if
+      you like.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!&rdquo; she
+      observed. &ldquo;No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes, but, if
+      the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and introduce him. Henry
+      isn't likely to notice anything,&rdquo; she added, a little bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+      Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?&rdquo; the former asked
+      anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know,&rdquo; Philippa replied, without turning her head. &ldquo;I don't know
+      what may come of it, Helen. I have a queer sort of feeling about that
+      man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen sighed. &ldquo;I suppose,&rdquo; she confessed, &ldquo;I am the narrowest person on
+      earth. I can think of one thing, and one thing only. If Mr. Lessingham
+      keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a month, perhaps six weeks&mdash;certainly
+      soon!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will keep his word,&rdquo; Philippa said quietly. &ldquo;He is that sort of man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door on the other side of the room was softly opened. Lessingham's
+      head appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could I have a necktie?&rdquo; he asked diffidently. Philippa stretched out her
+      hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better give him this,&rdquo; she said, handing it over to Helen. &ldquo;It is one of
+      Henry's which I was mending.&mdash;Stop!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She put up her finger. They all listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The car!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet. &ldquo;That is Henry!
+      Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;and wait until he is
+      ready. Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller, and bring him in
+      presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door. In a moment it was
+      thrown open. Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went to meet him, Mummy,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;No uniform&mdash;isn't it a
+      shame!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife. There was a
+      shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather hesitating
+      approach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I had to make a
+      call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street. Any luck?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she said earnestly, &ldquo;do you know I am so much more anxious to
+      hear your news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mine will keep,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;What about Richard?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I spent the whole of my time making enquiries,&rdquo; she sighed, &ldquo;and every
+      one was fruitless. I failed to get the least satisfaction from any one at
+      the War Office. They know nothing, have heard nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm ever so sorry to hear it,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared sympathetically. &ldquo;You
+      mustn't worry too much, though, dear. Where's Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She is in the gun room with a caller.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With a caller?&rdquo; Nora exclaimed. &ldquo;Is it any one from the Depot? I must go
+      and see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You needn't trouble,&rdquo; her stepmother replied. &ldquo;Here they are, coming in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and Hamar
+      Lessingham and Helen entered together. Lessingham was entirely at his
+      ease,&mdash;their conversation, indeed, seemed almost engrossing. He came
+      at once across the room on realising Sir Henry's presence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham&mdash;my husband,&rdquo; Philippa said. &ldquo;Mr.
+      Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and he have
+      been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two men shook hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I found time also to examine your Leech prints,&rdquo; Lessingham remarked.
+      &ldquo;You have some very admirable examples.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;One or
+      two of them are very good, I believe. Are you staying in these parts long,
+      Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps for a week or two,&rdquo; was the somewhat indifferent reply. &ldquo;I am
+      told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I have come down
+      here to pull up again after a slight illness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A dreary spot just now,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed, &ldquo;but the air's all right.
+      Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have done a little of it,&rdquo; the visitor confessed. Sir Henry's face lit
+      up. He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't mind telling you,&rdquo; he confided as he cut the string, &ldquo;that I
+      don't think there's another sport like it in the world. I have tried most
+      of them, too. When I was a boy I was all for shooting, perhaps because I
+      could never get enough. Then I had a season or two at Melton, though I was
+      never much of a horseman. But for real, unadulterated excitement, for
+      sport that licks everything else into a cocked hat, give me a strong sea
+      rod, a couple of traces, just enough sea to keep on the bottom all the
+      time, and the codling biting. Look here, did you ever see a mackerel
+      spinner like that?&rdquo; he added, drawing one out of the parcel which he had
+      untied. &ldquo;Look at it, all of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers. Philippa, a little
+      ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a newspaper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of sport
+      just now,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained good-humouredly. &ldquo;All the same I argue that
+      one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or other.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right, Dad!&rdquo; Nora agreed. &ldquo;We must carry on, as the Colonel says.
+      All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval uniform, with lots
+      of gold braid on your sleeve. I think they might have made you an admiral,
+      Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid,&rdquo; her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the spinner
+      which Lessingham was holding, &ldquo;that that is a consideration which didn't
+      seem to weigh with them much. Look at the glitter of it,&rdquo; he went on,
+      taking up another of the spinners. &ldquo;You see, it's got a double swivel, and
+      they guarantee six hundred revolutions a minute.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must plead ignorance,&rdquo; Lessingham regretted, &ldquo;of everything connected
+      with mackerel spinning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's fine sport for a change,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared. &ldquo;The only thing is
+      that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars in.
+      By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa? Have you heard whether
+      there are any mackerel in?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mackerel!&rdquo; she repeated sarcastically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any objection to the fish, dear?&rdquo; Sir Henry enquired blandly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa made no reply. Her husband frowned and turned towards Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he complained a little irritably, &ldquo;my wife doesn't approve of
+      my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but, hang it
+      all, what are you to do when you reach my age? Thinks I ought to be a
+      special constable, don't you, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she asked, without looking
+      up from her paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;See something more of you, I hope,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked hospitably, as he
+      conducted his guest to the door. &ldquo;Where are you staying here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At the hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Which?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not understand that there was more than one,&rdquo; Lessingham replied.
+      &ldquo;I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa
+      observed, turning towards him. &ldquo;Why do you ask such an absurd question,
+      Henry? The 'Grand' is full of soldiers. Come and see us whenever you feel
+      inclined, Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; were
+      the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and soda.
+      Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though waiting
+      patiently for his return. Helen and Nora had already obeyed the summons of
+      the dressing bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, I want to hear your news,&rdquo; she insisted. He threw himself into an
+      easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's workbasket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's that tie of mine you were mending?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Is it finished
+      yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is upstairs somewhere,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;No, I have not finished it. Why
+      do you ask? You have plenty, haven't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drawers full,&rdquo; he admitted cheerfully. &ldquo;Half of them I can never wear,
+      though. I like that black and white fellow. Your friend Lessingham was
+      wearing one exactly like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seems to have the family taste in clothes,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, stroking
+      his chin. &ldquo;That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the same pattern as the
+      suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw him in mufti.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They probably go to the same tailor,&rdquo; Philippa remarked equably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry abandoned the subject. He was once more engrossed in an
+      examination of the mackerel spinners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble,&rdquo; he ventured presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa turned and looked at him. Her eyes were usually very sweet and
+      soft and her mouth delightful. Just at that moment, however, there were
+      new and very firm lines in her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she said sternly, &ldquo;you are purposely fencing with me. Mr.
+      Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and goings, are
+      not what I want to hear or talk about. You went to London, unwillingly
+      enough, to keep your promise to me. I want to know whether you have
+      succeeded in getting anything from the Admiralty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear,&rdquo; he answered with a little
+      chuckle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?&rdquo; she persisted.
+      &ldquo;You may have been out of the service too long for them to start you with
+      a modern ship, but surely they could have given you an auxiliary cruiser,
+      or a secondary command of some sort?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;My name's on a
+      list, they said&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, that list!&rdquo; Philippa interrupted angrily. &ldquo;Henry, I really can't bear
+      it. Couldn't they find you anything on land?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear girl,&rdquo; he replied a little testily, &ldquo;what sort of a figure should
+      I cut in an office! No one can read my writing, and I couldn't add up a
+      column of figures to save my life. What is it?&rdquo; he added, as the door
+      opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dumble is here to see you, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show him in at once,&rdquo; his master directed with alacrity. &ldquo;Come in,
+      Jimmy,&rdquo; he went on, raising his voice. &ldquo;I've got something to show you
+      here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together. She swept past her
+      husband on her way to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope you will be so good,&rdquo; she said, looking back, &ldquo;as to spare me half
+      an hour of your valuable time this evening. This is a subject which I must
+      discuss with you further at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As urgent as all that, eh?&rdquo; Sir Henry replied, stopping to light a
+      cigarette. &ldquo;Righto! You can have the whole of my evening, dear, with the
+      greatest of pleasure.&mdash;Now then, Jimmy!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity for
+      silence. He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his hat in his
+      hand. Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did not for a moment
+      address his visitor. There was a subtle but unmistakable change in his
+      appearance as he stood with his hands in his pockets, and a frown on his
+      forehead, whistling softly to himself, his eyes fixed upon the door
+      through which his wife had vanished. He swung round at last towards the
+      telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, aye, sir!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry took up the receiver. He dropped his voice a little, although it
+      was none the less distinct.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Number one&mdash;police-station, please.&mdash;Hullo there! The inspector
+      about?&mdash;That you, Inspector?&mdash;Sir Henry Cranston speaking. Could
+      you just step round?&mdash;Good! Tell them to show you straight into the
+      library. You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights, eh? Thank
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Jimmy,&rdquo; he enquired, &ldquo;all serene down in the village, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke as
+      shouldn't be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A lazy lot they are,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They don't look far beyond the end of their noses.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't,&rdquo; was the cautious reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are right, Jimmy,&rdquo; he admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with ideas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble,&rdquo; Dumble declared.
+      &ldquo;He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know he put Grice's
+      lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday week, but that don't
+      amount to anything. He was dead drunk for three days afterwards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy,&rdquo; he confided, as he threw
+      open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the further wall. &ldquo;No
+      strangers about, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a sign of one, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?&rdquo; his visitor asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think it is necessary,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied. &ldquo;They've all gone up
+      to change. Now listen to me, Jimmy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He leaned forward and touched a spring. The false back of the cabinet,
+      with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks and tackle, slowly
+      rolled back. Before them stood a huge chart, wonderfully executed in red,
+      white and yellow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's a marvellous piece of work, sir,&rdquo; the fisherman observed
+      admiringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Best thing I ever did in my life,&rdquo; Sir Henry agreed. &ldquo;Now see here,
+      Jimmy. We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat, according to the
+      wind. We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass Dead Man's Rock on the
+      left side of the waterway, and keep straight on until we get Budden Wood
+      on the church tower. You follow me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, aye, sir!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We make for the headland from there. You see, we shall be outside the
+      Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up. Put all the fishing
+      tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait. We must never lose sight of
+      the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our lives is to catch fish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right, sir,&rdquo; was the hearty assent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then,&rdquo; Sir Henry decided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The tide'll be on the flow by that time,&rdquo; Jimmy observed, &ldquo;and we'll get
+      off from the staith breakwater. That do be a fine piece of work and no
+      mistake,&rdquo; he added, as the false back of the cabinet glided slowly to its
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry chuckled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I've
+      got the seaweed on that, pretty well. You'll take a drop of whisky on your
+      way out?&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;Mills will look after you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you kindly, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The inspector is here to see you, sir,&rdquo; he announced. &ldquo;He did mention
+      something about the lights. I'm sure we've all been most careful. Even her
+      ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Show the inspector in,&rdquo; Sir Henry directed, &ldquo;and I'll hear what he has to
+      say. And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a cigar.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wishing you good night, sir,&rdquo; the latter said, as he followed Mills.
+      &ldquo;I'll be punctual in the morning. Looks to me as though we might have good
+      sport.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy,&rdquo; his employer replied cheerfully. &ldquo;Come
+      in, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+      attention. Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door. He
+      remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector,&rdquo; he observed, sitting on the
+      edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette. &ldquo;Any fresh
+      arrivals?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None, sir,&rdquo; the man reported, &ldquo;of any consequence that I can see. There
+      are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady for the
+      Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night. There was a
+      commercial traveller came in the first train this morning, but he went on
+      during the afternoon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm! What about a Mr. Lessingham&mdash;a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't heard of him, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not this evening, sir. I met the Midland and Great Northern train in
+      myself. Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I came the other way myself,&rdquo; Sir Henry reflected.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now you come to mention the matter, sir,&rdquo; the inspector continued, &ldquo;I was
+      up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about addressed to
+      a name somewhat similar to that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Probably sent on in advance, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There could be no other way, sir,&rdquo; the inspector replied, &ldquo;unless the
+      registration paper has been mislaid. I'll step up to the hotel this
+      evening and make sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll oblige me very much, if you will. By Jove,&rdquo; Sir Henry added,
+      looking towards the door, &ldquo;I'd no idea it was so late!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black net gown,
+      was standing in the doorway. She looked at the inspector, and for a moment
+      the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is anything the matter?&rdquo; she asked breathlessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing in the world, my dear,&rdquo; her husband assured her. &ldquo;I am
+      frightfully sorry I'm so late. Jimmy stayed some time, and then the
+      inspector here looked in about our lights. Just a little more care in this
+      room at night, he thinks. We'll see to it, Inspector.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much obliged, sir,&rdquo; the man replied. &ldquo;Sorry to be under the
+      necessity of mentioning it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll find your own way out, won't you?&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I'm a little late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The inspector saluted and withdrew. Sir Henry glanced round.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't be ten minutes, Philippa,&rdquo; he promised. &ldquo;I had no idea it was so
+      late.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come here one moment, please,&rdquo; she insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small table
+      near which she had paused.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, dear?&rdquo; he enquired. &ldquo;We are going to leave our talk till
+      after dinner, aren't we?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked him in the face. There was an anxious light in her eyes, and
+      she was certainly not herself. &ldquo;Of course! I only wanted to know&mdash;it
+      seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to the inspector,
+      as I came into the room. Are you sure that it was the lights he came
+      around about? There isn't anything else wrong, is there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What else could there be?&rdquo; he asked wonderingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she replied, with well-simulated indifference. &ldquo;I was
+      only asking you whether there was anything else?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Do hurry, please. I have a new cook and she asked
+      particularly whether we were punctual people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Six minutes will see me through it,&rdquo; Sir Henry promised, making for the
+      door. &ldquo;Come to think of it, I missed my lunch. I think I'll manage it in
+      five.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening. The new
+      cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having dined
+      exceedingly well. He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before a blazing wood
+      fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of cigarettes, and his
+      wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few feet away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite a remarkable change in Helen,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;She was in the depths
+      of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems positively
+      cheerful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen varies a great deal,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found her
+      more depressed than ever,&rdquo; Sir Henry went on. &ldquo;She hoped so much from your
+      trip to London, and you apparently accomplished nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you have had no letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;None.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's natural
+      inconsistency.&mdash;Philippa, dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad to be at home. I am glad to see you sitting there. I know you
+      are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch at me. Won't
+      you launch it and let's get it over?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned to face
+      her husband. He made a little grimace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't look so severe,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;You frighten me before you begin.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but my face probably reflects my feelings. I am
+      hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's a good start, anyway,&rdquo; he groaned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have been married six years,&rdquo; Philippa went on, &ldquo;and I admit at once
+      that I have been very happy. Then the war came. You know quite well,
+      Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very fond of you, yet it
+      never occurred to me for a moment but that, like every other woman, I
+      should have to lose my husband for a time.&mdash;Stop, please,&rdquo; she
+      insisted, as he showed signs of interrupting. &ldquo;I know quite well that it
+      was through my persuasions you retired so early, but in those days there
+      was no thought of war, and I always had it in my mind that if trouble came
+      you would find your way back to where you belonged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear child, that is all very well,&rdquo; Sir Henry protested, &ldquo;but
+      it's not so easy to get back again. You know very well that I went up to
+      the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the war started.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and what happened?&rdquo; Philippa demanded. &ldquo;You were, in a measure,
+      shelved. You were put on a list and told that you would hear from them&mdash;a
+      sort of Micawber-like situation with which you were perfectly satisfied.
+      Then you took that moor up in Scotland and disappeared for nearly six
+      months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was supplying the starving population with food,&rdquo; he reminded her
+      genially. &ldquo;We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market, not to
+      speak of the salmon. We had some very fair golf, too, some of the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your diversions!&rdquo;
+       Philippa said scornfully. &ldquo;Sometimes,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;I wonder whether
+      you are quite responsible, Henry. How you can even talk of these things
+      when every man of your age and strength is fighting one way or another for
+      his country, seems marvellous to me. Do you realise that we are fighting
+      for our very existence? Do you realise that my own father, who is fifteen
+      years older than you, is in the firing line? This is a small place, of
+      course, but there isn't a man left in it of your age, with your physique,
+      who has had the slightest experience in either service, who isn't doing
+      something.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't do more than send in applications,&rdquo; he grumbled. &ldquo;Be reasonable,
+      my dear Philippa. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to find a job
+      for a sailor who has been out of it as long as I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all did in
+      London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there is generally
+      a polite little silence. No one believes it. I don't believe it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned in his chair. His cigar was burning now idly between his
+      fingers. His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't,&rdquo; she reiterated. &ldquo;You can be angry, if you will&mdash;in
+      fact I think I should prefer you to be angry. You take no pains at the
+      Admiralty. You just go there and come away again, once a year or something
+      like that. Why, if I were you, I wouldn't leave the place until they'd
+      found me something&mdash;indoors or outdoors, what does it matter so long
+      as your hand is on the wheel and you are doing your little for your
+      country? But you&mdash;what do you care? You went to town to get a job&mdash;and
+      you come back with new mackerel spinners! You are off fishing to-morrow
+      morning with Jimmy Dumble. Somewhere up in the North Sea, to-day and
+      to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives for their country.
+      What do you care? You will sit there smoking your pipe and catching dabs!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?&rdquo; her husband said
+      quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to be,&rdquo; she retorted. &ldquo;I should like you to feel that I am. In any
+      case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall hold with you on
+      the subject.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, thank God for that, anyway!&rdquo; he observed, strolling to the
+      chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack. &ldquo;I think you've said about
+      enough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't finished,&rdquo; she told him ominously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over,&rdquo; he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you're impossible!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed bitterly. &ldquo;Listen. I give you
+      one chance more. Tell me the truth? Is there anything in your health of
+      which I do not know? Is there any possible explanation of your
+      extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason or other, you have kept to
+      yourself? Give me your whole confidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough. He stood looking down at her
+      a little wistfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; he told her, &ldquo;I have nothing to say except this. You are my
+      very precious wife. I have loved you and trusted you since the day of our
+      marriage. I am content to go on loving and trusting you, even though
+      things should come under my notice which I do not understand. Can't you
+      accept me the same way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Accept you the same way? How can I! There is nothing in my life to
+      compare in any way with the tragedy of your&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence. He waited
+      patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of my what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa compromised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lethargy,&rdquo; she pronounced triumphantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;An excellent word,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too mild a one, but you are my husband,&rdquo; she remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That reminds me,&rdquo; he said quietly. &ldquo;You are my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know it,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;but I am also a woman, and there are limits to
+      my endurance. If you can give me no explanation of your behaviour, Henry,
+      if you really have no intention of changing it, then there is only one
+      course left open for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds rather alarming&mdash;what is it?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa lifted her head a little. This was the pronouncement towards
+      which she had been leading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From to-day,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;I cease to be your wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he was
+      filling his pipe. He turned and looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I cease to be your wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you manage that?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't jest,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;It hurts me so. What I mean is surely plain
+      enough. I will continue to live under your roof if you wish it, or I am
+      perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton. I will continue to bear your
+      name because I must, but the other ties between us are finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't mean this, Philippa,&rdquo; he said gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I do mean it,&rdquo; she insisted. &ldquo;I mean every word I have spoken. So far
+      as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a knock at the door. Mills entered with a note upon a salver.
+      Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife, and tore open the
+      envelope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There will be no answer, Mills,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man withdrew. Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+  SIR,
+
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+
+                                           Respectfully yours,
+                                              JOHN HAYLOCK.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is your note of interest?&rdquo; Philippa enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a sense, yes,&rdquo; he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat pocket. &ldquo;I
+      presume we can consider our late subject of conversation finished with?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing more to say,&rdquo; she pronounced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then,&rdquo; her husband agreed, &ldquo;let us select another topic. This
+      time, supposing I choose?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are welcome.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had taken up her work. Her fingers ceased their labours, but she
+      did not look up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;About Mr. Hamar Lessingham,&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;Rather a limited subject, I
+      am afraid.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not so sure,&rdquo; he said thoughtfully. &ldquo;For instance, who is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Does it matter? He was at college with
+      Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton. That is all that we
+      know. Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any reasonable
+      hospitality?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not disputing it,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured her. &ldquo;On the face of it, it
+      seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him. On the other
+      hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his coming here
+      just now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower over her
+      work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the first place,&rdquo; her husband continued, &ldquo;how did he arrive here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For all I know,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;he may have walked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A little unlikely. Still, he didn't come from London by either of the
+      evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for him until
+      about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to the hotel. So,
+      you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief he did get here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I took his rooms?&rdquo; Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch at her
+      heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some one from here rang up, didn't they?&rdquo; Sir Henry went on carelessly.
+      &ldquo;I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where did you hear that?&rdquo; she demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no doubt,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;that the whole subject of Mr. Hamar
+      Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing. Yet he does seem to have arrived
+      here under a little halo of coincidence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that,&rdquo; Philippa remarked; &ldquo;in
+      fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing in the
+      world. After all, although one scarcely remembers that since the war, this
+      is a health resort, and the man has been ill.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right,&rdquo; Sir Henry agreed. &ldquo;You are not going to bed, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had folded up her work. She stood for a moment upon the
+      hearth-rug. The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+      disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I say just one word more,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;about our previous&mdash;our
+      only serious subject of conversation? I have tried my best since we were
+      married, Henry, to make you happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know quite well,&rdquo; he assured her, &ldquo;that you have succeeded.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Grant me one favour, then,&rdquo; she pleaded. &ldquo;Give up your fishing expedition
+      to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let me write to Lord
+      Rayton. I am sure he would do something for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course he'd do something!&rdquo; Her husband groaned. &ldquo;I should get a
+      censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;than
+      go on living the life you are living now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't,&rdquo; he declared
+      bluntly. &ldquo;What on earth use should I be in a land appointment? Why, no one
+      could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely out of date.
+      Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You refuse to let me write, then?&rdquo; she persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Absolutely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble to-morrow?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wouldn't miss it for anything,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, I've finished,&rdquo; she declared, holding out her hand to keep him
+      away from her. &ldquo;I've finished with you entirely. I would rather be married
+      to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his country than to you. What
+      I have said, I mean. Don't come near me. Don't try to touch me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She swept past him on her way to the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not even a good-night kiss?&rdquo; he asked, stooping down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked him in the eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not a child,&rdquo; she said scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He closed the door after her. For a moment he remained as though undecided
+      whether to follow or not. His face had softened with her absence. Finally,
+      however, he turned away with a little shrug of the shoulders, threw
+      himself into his easy-chair and began to smoke furiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The telephone bell disturbed his reflection. He rose at once and took up
+      the receiver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh. Trunk call? All right, I am here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Cranston?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Speaking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's right. The message is Odino Berry, you understand? O-d-i-n-o
+      b-e-r-r-y.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've got it,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied. &ldquo;Good night!&rdquo; He hung up the receiver,
+      crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers, and produced a
+      black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock. He drew a key from his
+      watch chain, opened the book, and ran his fingers down the O's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Odino,&rdquo; he muttered to himself. &ldquo;Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+      information from Berlin.' Now Berry.&rdquo; He turned back. &ldquo;'You are being
+      watched by an enemy secret service agent.'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk. Then he strolled
+      over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and soda from the
+      tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have trustworthy information from Berlin,&rdquo; he repeated to himself,
+      &ldquo;that you are being watched by an enemy secret service agent.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER VIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell me, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa insisted, &ldquo;exactly what are you
+      thinking of? You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below that
+      I've climbed up on purpose to ask you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham held out his hand to steady her. They were standing on a sharp
+      spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces, thrashing into
+      little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which the twilight was
+      already resting. For a moment or two neither of them could speak.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was thinking of my country,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;I was looking through the
+      shadows there, right across the North Sea.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Germany?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Further away&mdash;to Sweden.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;You looked as though you were posing for a
+      statue of some one in exile,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;Come, let us go a little
+      lower down&mdash;unless you want to stay here and be blown to pieces.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was on my way back to the hotel,&rdquo; he answered quickly, as he followed
+      her lead, &ldquo;but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little lonely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;is your own fault. I asked you to come to Mainsail
+      Haul whenever you felt inclined.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived,&rdquo; he remarked
+      with a smile, &ldquo;you might, perhaps, by this time have had a little too much
+      of me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;I quite expected you yesterday
+      afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been doing.
+      So you were thinking about&mdash;over there?&rdquo; she added, moving her head
+      seawards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;and
+      the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I should like to hear about the first half,&rdquo; she insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;there are times when even now this war seems
+      to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading about, some
+      wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable poets. I can't
+      believe that millions of the flower of Germany's manhood and yours have
+      perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly. And France&mdash;poor decimated
+      France!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Germany started the war, you know,&rdquo; she reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did she?&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;I sometimes wonder. Even now I fancy, if the
+      official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side, with their
+      own case stated from their own point of view, even you might feel a little
+      confused about that. Still, I am going to be very honest with you. I think
+      myself that Germany wanted war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There you are, then,&rdquo; she declared triumphantly. &ldquo;The whole thing is her
+      responsibility.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not quite go so far as that,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;You see, the world is
+      governed by great natural laws. As a snowball grows larger with rolling,
+      so it takes up more room. As a child grows out of its infant clothes, it
+      needs the vestments of a youth and then a man. And so with Germany. She
+      grew and grew until the country could not hold her children, until her
+      banks could not contain her money, until she stretched her arms out on
+      every side and felt herself stifled. Germany came late into the world and
+      found it parcelled out, but had she not a right to her place? She made
+      herself great. She needed space.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Philippa observed, &ldquo;you couldn't suppose that other nations were
+      going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their possessions,
+      could you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps not,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;And yet, you see, the immutable law comes in
+      here. The stronger must possess&mdash;not only the stronger by arms, mind,
+      but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in science, by
+      utilitarianism. The really cruel part, the part I was thinking of then, as
+      I looked out across the sea, is that this crude and miserable resort to
+      arms should be necessary.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as you,&rdquo;
+       Philippa sighed, &ldquo;one feels that there might be some hope for the future!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not alone,&rdquo; he assured her, &ldquo;but, you see, all over Germany there is
+      spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen&mdash;devotion
+      to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser. Independent thought has
+      made Germany great in science, in political economy, in economics. But
+      independent thought is never turned towards her political destinies. Those
+      are shaped for her. For good or for evil her children have learnt
+      obedience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were descending the hillside now. At their feet lay the little town,
+      black and silent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have helped me to understand a little,&rdquo; Philippa said. &ldquo;You put
+      things so gently and yet so clearly. Now tell me, will you not, how it is
+      that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for Germany?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is very simple,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;My mother was a German, and when she
+      died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a very
+      considerable fortune. These I could never have inherited unless I had
+      chosen to do my military service in Germany. My family is an impoverished
+      one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent upon me. Under the
+      circumstances, hesitation on my part was impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But when the war came?&rdquo; she queried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked at her in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was there left for me then?&rdquo; he demanded. &ldquo;Naturally I heard nothing
+      but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey. I was in that mad rush
+      through Belgium. I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else I should have followed
+      hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat of yours. As it was, I lay for
+      many months in hospital. I joined again&mdash;shall I confess it?&mdash;almost
+      unwillingly. The bloodthirstiness of it all sickened me. I fought at
+      Ypres, but I think that it was something of the courage of despair, of
+      black misery. I was wounded again and decorated. I suppose I shall never
+      be fit for the front again. I tried to turn to account some of my
+      knowledge of England and English life. Then they sent me here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here, of all places in the world!&rdquo; Philippa repeated wonderingly. &ldquo;Just
+      look at us! We have a single line of railway, a perfectly straightforward
+      system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers being trained, no
+      mysteries, no industries&mdash;nothing. What terrible scheme are you at
+      work upon, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Between you and me,&rdquo; he confided, &ldquo;I am not at all sure that I am not
+      here on a fool's errand&mdash;at least I thought so when I arrived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced up at him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why not now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly away.
+      There was a moment's queer, strained silence. Before them loomed up the
+      outline of Mainsail Haul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will come in and have some tea, won't you?&rdquo; she invited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I may. Believe me,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;it has only been a certain diffidence
+      that has kept me away so long.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made no reply, and they entered the house together. They found Helen
+      and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having tea in the
+      drawing-room. Lessingham slipped very easily into the pleasant little
+      circle. If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners, and a sense of humour
+      which every now and then displayed itself, were most attractive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir,&rdquo; Harrison
+      asked him. &ldquo;He was at Magdalen a few years after Major Felstead, and I am
+      sure you'd find plenty to talk about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite sure that we should,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;May I come,
+      perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous efforts
+      to lead an absolutely quiet life here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whenever you like, sir. We sha'n't be able to show you anything very wild
+      in the way of dissipation. Vintage port and a decent cigar are the only
+      changes we can make for guests.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit with her
+      in a distant corner of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I knew there was something I wanted to say to you,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;but
+      somehow or other I forgot when I met you. My husband was very much struck
+      with Helen's improved spirits. Don't you think that we had better tell
+      him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major Felstead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary way,&rdquo;
+       he advised. &ldquo;I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of your husband,
+      that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible that he might have
+      associated them with me if you had mentioned them the other night. When is
+      he coming back?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I never know,&rdquo; Philippa answered with a sigh. &ldquo;Perhaps to-night, perhaps
+      in a week. It depends upon what sport he is having. You are not smoking.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I find your husband,&rdquo; he said quietly, &ldquo;rather an interesting type. We
+      have no one like that in Germany. He almost puzzles me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one,&rdquo; she
+      complained bitterly. &ldquo;He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted to
+      amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him. Why do you look
+      at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping something back?
+      I am not, I can assure you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I was wondering,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;how you really felt towards a
+      husband whose outlook was so unnatural.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; she said softly, &ldquo;I feel, somehow or other, although we
+      have known one another such a short time, as though we were friends, and
+      yet that is a question which I could not answer. A woman must always have
+      some secrets, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A man may try sometimes to preserve his,&rdquo; he sighed, &ldquo;but a woman is
+      clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks. She welcomed Helen's
+      approach almost eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A woman must first feel the will,&rdquo; she murmured, without glancing at him.
+      &ldquo;Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come and dine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion,&rdquo; Lessingham begged
+      eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't the least idea of doing so,&rdquo; Helen laughed, &ldquo;so long as I may
+      have&mdash;say just ten minutes to talk about Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a bargain,&rdquo; he promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We shall be quite alone,&rdquo; Philippa warned him, &ldquo;unless Henry arrives.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the great attraction of your invitation,&rdquo; he confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At eight o'clock, then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER IX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the piano
+      before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival. Then she
+      glanced at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room&mdash;awkward, unwieldly,
+      nervous as usual. He entered as though in a hurry, and there was nothing
+      in his manner to denote that he had spent the last few hours making up his
+      mind to this visit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he said,
+      watching the closing of the door. &ldquo;I will not take up more than five
+      minutes of your time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; Philippa
+      said hospitably. &ldquo;Do sit down, please.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he continued
+      apologetically. &ldquo;The fact of it is, however, that as Commandant here it is
+      my duty to examine the bona fides of any strangers in the place. There is
+      a gentleman named Lessingham staying at the hotel, who I understand gave
+      your name as reference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent, as
+      she gazed up at her visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham was at
+      college with my brother, and one of his best friends. He has shot down at
+      my father's place in Cheshire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My only brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      declared. &ldquo;I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+      Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about any
+      one down here,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;It really is a very harmless neighbourhood,
+      isn't it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There isn't much going on, certainly,&rdquo; the Commandant admitted. &ldquo;Very
+      dull the place seems at times.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now be perfectly frank,&rdquo; Philippa begged him. &ldquo;Is there a single fact of
+      importance which could be learnt in this place, worth communicating to the
+      enemy? Is the danger of espionage here worth a moment's consideration?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, &ldquo;is not a
+      question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to Helen,
+      who had just entered the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths! He is making me feel
+      quite creepy. There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants to know all
+      about Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?&rdquo; she
+      observed, as she shook hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We can do more,&rdquo; Philippa declared. &ldquo;We can help him to judge for
+      himself. We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain Griffiths. Do
+      stay.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice sound hoarser and
+      more unpleasant. &ldquo;It is most kind of you, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you will
+      give me another opportunity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sha'n't think of it,&rdquo; Philippa insisted. &ldquo;You must stay and dine
+      to-night. We shall be a partie carríe, for Nora goes to bed directly after
+      dinner. I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set an extra place,&rdquo; she
+      added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+      complacency. He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced, with
+      very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in every way a
+      success. Towards its close, Philippa became a little thoughtful. She
+      glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was sitting by her side, almost
+      in admiration. His conversation, gay at times, always polished, was
+      interlarded continually with those little social reminiscences inevitable
+      amongst men moving in a certain circle of English society. Apparently
+      Richard Felstead was not the only one of his college friends with whom he
+      had kept in touch. The last remnants of Captain Griffiths' suspicions
+      seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although his manner
+      became in no way more genial.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?&rdquo; Philippa asked her
+      favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out a bridge table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One adapts one's methods to one's adversary,&rdquo; he murmured, with a smile,
+      &ldquo;Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional suspicions.
+      The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance with the ordinary
+      English sports, is quite sufficient with a man like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room. Philippa
+      raised her eyes to her companion's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You become more of a mystery than ever,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;You are making me
+      even curious. Tell me really why you have paid us this visit from the
+      clouds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question. For a moment
+      the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed. His eyes
+      glowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In search of new things,&rdquo; he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guns? Fortifications?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Neither.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      A spirit of mischief possessed her. Lessingham's manner was baffling and
+      yet provocative. For a moment the political possibilities of his presence
+      faded away from her mind. She had an intense desire to break through his
+      reserve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't you tell me&mdash;why you came?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I could tell you more easily,&rdquo; he answered in a low tone, &ldquo;why it will be
+      the most miserable day of my life when I leave.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How delightful to be flirted with again!&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;And I thought all
+      German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone compliments.
+      Still, your secret, sir, please? That is what I want to know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you will have just a little patience!&rdquo; he begged, leaning so close to
+      her that their heads almost touched, &ldquo;I promise that I will not leave this
+      place before I tell it to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his. She knew perfectly
+      well what she ought to have done and she was singularly indisposed to do
+      it. It was a most piquant adventure, after all, and it almost helped her
+      to forget the trouble which had been sitting so heavily in her heart.
+      Still avoiding his eyes, she called the others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We are quite ready for bridge,&rdquo; she announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They played four or five rubbers. Lessingham was by far the most expert
+      player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners. The two men stood
+      together for a moment or two at the sideboard, helping themselves to
+      whisky and soda. Griffiths had become more taciturn than ever, and even
+      Philippa was forced to admit that the latter part of the evening had
+      scarcely been a success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; Griffiths asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Never,&rdquo; was the calm reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are head and shoulders above our class down here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good of you to say so,&rdquo; Lessingham replied courteously. &ldquo;I held good
+      cards to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and keeping his
+      eyes fixed upon his companion, &ldquo;what the German substitute for bridge is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; Lessingham echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a nation,&rdquo; his questioner proceeded, &ldquo;they probably don't waste as
+      much time on cards as we do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent. He
+      strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa. She, for her part, was
+      watching Captain Griffiths.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So many thanks, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; Lessingham murmured, &ldquo;for your
+      hospitality.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And what about that secret?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, there are two,&rdquo; he answered, looking down at her. &ldquo;One I shall
+      most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the one secret
+      which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself. As for the other&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated. There was something almost like pain in his face. She broke
+      in hastily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not call you away to ask about either. I happened to notice Captain
+      Griffiths just now. Do you know that he is watching you very closely?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had an idea of it,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted indifferently. &ldquo;He is rather a
+      clumsy person, is he not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will be careful?&rdquo; she begged earnestly. &ldquo;Remember, won't you, that
+      Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if anything should
+      come out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing shall,&rdquo; he promised her. &ldquo;I think you know, do you not, that,
+      whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to protect you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly reprove
+      his boldness. She had even to struggle to keep her tone as careless as her
+      words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really are a delightful person!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;How long is it since
+      you descended from the clouds?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes I think that I am there still,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;but I have known
+      you about seventy-six hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What precision?&rdquo; she laughed. &ldquo;It's a national characteristic, isn't it?
+      Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she continued, as she observed his approach, &ldquo;if you
+      really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with you. He is making fun of
+      me. I don't allow even Dick's friends to do that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must both come again very soon,&rdquo; their hostess concluded, as she
+      shook hands. &ldquo;I enjoyed our bridge immensely.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden idea
+      seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths. He turned back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By-the-by, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;have you heard anything from your
+      brother?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head sadly. Helen, who, unlike her friend, had not had
+      the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur dramatic stage,
+      turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a word,&rdquo; was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad luck!&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston. Good night once more.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      This time their departure was uninterrupted. Helen removed her
+      handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at the
+      closed door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you believe,&rdquo; Helen asked seriously, &ldquo;that Captain Griffiths has any
+      suspicions?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If he has, who cares?&rdquo; she replied, a little defiantly. &ldquo;The very idea of
+      a duel of wits between those two men is laughable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps so,&rdquo; Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER X
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+      customary walks. The crystalline October sunshine, in which every distant
+      tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed to gain a new
+      clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed fields, the yellowing
+      bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees, while the west wind, which
+      had strewn the sea with white-flecked waves, brought down the leaves to
+      form a carpet for their feet, and played strange music along the
+      wood-crested slope. In the broken land through which they made their way,
+      a land of trees and moorland, with here and there a cultivated patch, the
+      yellow gorse still glowed in unexpected corners; queer, scentless flowers
+      made splashes of colour in the hedgerows; a rabbit scurried sometimes
+      across their path; a cock pheasant, after a moment's amazed stare, lowered
+      his head and rushed for unnecessary shelter. The longer they looked
+      upwards, the bluer seemed the sky. The grass beneath their feet was as
+      green and soft as in springtime. Driven by the wind, here and there a
+      white-winged gull sailed over their heads,&mdash;a cloud of them rested
+      upon a freshly turned little square of ploughed land between two woods. A
+      flight of pigeons, like torn leaves tossed about by the wind, circled and
+      drifted above them. Philippa seated herself upon the trunk of a fallen
+      tree and gazed contentedly about her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be perfectly
+      happy,&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;I am sure my hair must look awful.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I decline to say the correct thing,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I will only remind
+      you that there will be no one here to look at it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not so sure,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;These are the woods which the
+      special constables haunt by day and by night. They gaze up every tree
+      trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind hedges and watch
+      for mysterious flashes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; Helen enquired,
+      lazily. &ldquo;I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the equipment of
+      the melodramatic spy. As to Zeppelins, don't you remember he told us that
+      he hated them and was terrified of bombs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear,&rdquo; Philippa remonstrated, &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet,&mdash;&rdquo; Helen began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head,&rdquo; Philippa
+      interrupted. &ldquo;Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I believe that
+      Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come over here to see
+      if I am really like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He does behave rather like that,&rdquo; her companion admitted drily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen,&rdquo; she said severely, &ldquo;don't be a cat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour,&rdquo; Helen went on,
+      picking up a pine cone and examining it, &ldquo;I might astonish you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have an evil mind,&rdquo; Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette case.
+      &ldquo;What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes forgets to talk
+      about Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The poor man doesn't get much chance,&rdquo; Helen retorted, watching the blue
+      smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+      &ldquo;Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Literature&mdash;English and German,&rdquo; Philippa murmured demurely. &ldquo;Mr.
+      Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our English
+      poets than any man I have met for years.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Once more, don't be a cat,&rdquo; Philippa enjoined. &ldquo;If you want me to confess
+      it, I will own up at once. You know what a simple little thing I am. I
+      admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a most interesting
+      companion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean,&rdquo; her friend observed drily &ldquo;the Baron Maderstrom.&rdquo; Philippa
+      looked around and frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are most indiscreet, Helen,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I have learnt something
+      of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you that all spoken
+      or written words are dangerous. There is a thoroughly British squirrel in
+      that tree overhead, and I am sure he heard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose the sunshine has got into your head,&rdquo; Helen groaned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+      right,&rdquo; Philippa assented. &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+      depressed. Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast this
+      morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or to-morrow.
+      They must have landed somewhere down the coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a most undutiful wife,&rdquo; Helen pronounced severely. &ldquo;I am sure
+      Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little irresponsible, and it
+      is almost pathetic to remember how much you were in love with him, a year
+      or two ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was before the war,&rdquo; she sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand him,&rdquo;
+       Helen said thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No doubt,&rdquo; Philippa assented, &ldquo;but you'd find the not understanding him a
+      little more galling, if you were his wife. You see, I didn't know that I
+      was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; Helen reflected, &ldquo;how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get on
+      when they see more of one another.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really don't care,&rdquo; Philippa observed indifferently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I used to notice sometimes&mdash;that was soon after you were married,&rdquo;
+       Helen continued, &ldquo;that Henry was just a little inclined to be jealous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea. There was a queer little smile
+      upon her lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if he still is,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I'll give him something to be jealous
+      about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor Mr. Lessingham!&rdquo; Helen murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;I don't think you'll find that he'll
+      be in the least sorry for himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He may be in earnest,&rdquo; Helen reminded her friend. &ldquo;You can be horribly
+      attractive when you like, you know, Philippa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa smiled sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is just possible,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that I may be in earnest myself. I've
+      quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a helpless
+      creature without a little admiration.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen rose suddenly to her feet. Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+      approaching through the wood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really aren't respectable, Philippa,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;Throw away your
+      cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up. Some one is coming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa only moved her head lazily. The sunlight, which came down in a
+      thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell straight upon
+      her rather pale, defiant little face, with its unexpressed evasive charm,
+      and seemed to find a new depth of colour in the red-gold of her disordered
+      hair. Her slim, perfect body was stretched almost at full length, one leg
+      drawn a little up, her hands carelessly drooping towards the grass. The
+      cigarette was still burning in the corner of her lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I decline,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;to throw away my cigarette for any one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Least of all, I trust,&rdquo; a familiar voice interposed, &ldquo;for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+      resentfully at Lessingham. He was wearing a brown tweed knickerbocker
+      suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever are you doing up here,&rdquo; she demanded, &ldquo;and do you know anything
+      about our game laws? You can't come out into the woods here and shoot
+      things just because you feel like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is quite all right,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;Your neighbour, Mr. Windover,
+      to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring my gun out this
+      morning and try and get a woodcock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gracious! You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?&rdquo; Philippa
+      demanded, looking around. Lessingham shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His car came for him at the other side of the wood,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;He
+      was wanted to go on the Bench. I elected to walk home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And the woodcock?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I adore woodcock.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was lying
+      amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin feathers under
+      the silk band.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There,&rdquo; he said, handing it to her, &ldquo;the first woodcock of the season. We
+      got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope that you would like
+      it. I shall leave it with the estimable Mills, on my return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must come and share it,&rdquo; Philippa insisted. &ldquo;Those boys of Nora's are
+      coming in to dinner. Your gift shall be the piece de resistance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then may I dine another night?&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;This place encourages in me
+      the grossest of appetites.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have no fear,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;You will never see that woodcock again. I
+      shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow. I ordered dinner before I came
+      out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise that you shall not go
+      away hungry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?&rdquo; he asked,
+      dropping his voice for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned and studied him. Helen, who had strolled a few yards away, was
+      knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some gorgeously coloured
+      leaves from a solitary bramble bush. Lessingham had thrown his cap onto
+      the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the unusual colour in his cheeks
+      were both, in their way, becoming. His loose but well-fitting country
+      clothes, his tie and soft collar, were all well-chosen and suitable. She
+      admired his high forehead and his firm, rather proud mouth. His eyes as
+      well as his tone were full of seriousness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away across
+      that terrible North Sea,&rdquo; she laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do,&rdquo; he
+      whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She picked up her hat and sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I think things are quite complicated enough as they
+      are. I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your mission here and
+      your real identity. I simply could not include a flirtation amongst my
+      excitements.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have never flirted,&rdquo; he assured her gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wise man,&rdquo; she pronounced, rising to her feet. &ldquo;Come, let us go and help
+      Helen pick leaves. She is scratching her fingers terribly, and I'm sure
+      you have a knife. A dear, economical creature, Helen,&rdquo; she added, as they
+      strolled along. &ldquo;I am perfectly certain that those are destined to adorn
+      my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums at sixpence each, you can't
+      imagine how welcome they are. Come, produce the knife, Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+      homeward. Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of the
+      wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+      storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful fields,
+      the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling stretch of green
+      turf on the crown of the cliffs. Beyond was the foam-flecked blue sea,
+      dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would one believe,&rdquo; she asked satirically, &ldquo;that there should be scope
+      here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a&mdash;Mr.
+      Lessingham!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember that I was sent,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;The error, if error there be,
+      is not mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And after all,&rdquo; Helen reminded them both, &ldquo;think how easily one may be
+      misled by appearances. You couldn't imagine anything more honest than the
+      faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees about, yet do you know,
+      Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by burglars last night?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Seriously?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without a doubt. Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to thieves.
+      They could get in anywhere. Last night they chose the French windows and
+      seem to have made themselves at home in the library.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I trust,&rdquo; Lessingham said, &ldquo;that they did not take anything of value?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They took nothing at all,&rdquo; Philippa sighed. &ldquo;That is the humiliating part
+      of it. They evidently didn't like our things.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?&rdquo;
+       Lessingham enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So practical!&rdquo; Philippa murmured. &ldquo;As a matter of fact, I heard some one
+      moving about, and I rang the alarm bell. Mills was downstairs almost
+      directly and we heard some one running down the drive. The French windows
+      were open, a chair was overturned in the library, and a drawer in my
+      husband's desk was wide open.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The proof,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted, &ldquo;is overwhelming. You were visited by a
+      burglar. Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry hasn't anything of value in the world,&rdquo; Philippa replied drily,
+      &ldquo;except his securities, and they are at the bank.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Without going so far as to contradict you,&rdquo; Lessingham observed, with a
+      smile, &ldquo;I still venture to disagree!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they had
+      been weighing, admiringly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see that, Mills? You see that, Jimmy?&rdquo; he pointed out. &ldquo;Six and
+      three-quarter pounds! I was right almost to an ounce. He's a fine fellow!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A very extraordinary fish, sir,&rdquo; the butler observed. &ldquo;Will you allow me
+      to take your oilskins? Dinner was served nearly an hour ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;Listen. Don't say a word about my arrival
+      to your mistress at present. I have some writing to do. Bring me a glass
+      of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can do so without being
+      missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some whisky and soda.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what about your own dinner, sir?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll have a tray in the gun room,&rdquo; his master decided, &ldquo;say in twenty
+      minutes' time. And, Mills, who did you say were dining?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir&mdash;Mr. Harrison and Mr.
+      Sinclair&mdash;and Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lessingham, eh?&rdquo; Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before his
+      writing-table. &ldquo;Mills,&rdquo; he added, in a confidential whisper, &ldquo;what port
+      did you serve?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not the vintage, sir,&rdquo; he announced with emphasis. &ldquo;Some very excellent
+      wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons. The young gentlemen
+      like it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're a jewel, Mills,&rdquo; his master declared. &ldquo;Now you understand&mdash;an
+      aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and not a word
+      about my being here. Good night, Jimmy. Sorry we were too late for the
+      mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same. You'll have a day or
+      two's rest ashore now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aye, aye, sir!&rdquo; Dumble replied. &ldquo;We got in just in time. There's
+      something more than a squall coming up nor'ards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry listened for a moment. The French windows shook, the rain beat
+      against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly audible from
+      outside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We timed that excellently,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;Come up and have a chat
+      to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll be round before eleven, sir,&rdquo; the fisherman promised, with a grin.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door. Then he leaned forward for
+      several moments. He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned from a
+      week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he loved best.
+      The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather than increased.
+      There were black lines under his eyes which seemed to speak of sleepless
+      nights, and a beard of several days' growth was upon his chin. He drank
+      the cocktail which Mills presently brought him, at a gulp, and watched
+      with satisfaction while the mixer was vigorously shaken and a second one
+      poured out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've had a rough time, Mills,&rdquo; he observed, as he set down the glass.
+      &ldquo;Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sorry to hear it, sir,&rdquo; was the respectful reply. &ldquo;If I may be
+      allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am tired,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;I think, if I tried, I could go to
+      sleep now for twenty-four hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters, that
+      there is no post out tonight, sir,&rdquo; Mills proceeded. &ldquo;I have prepared a
+      warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Capital!&rdquo; Sir Henry exclaimed. &ldquo;It isn't a letter that's bothering me,
+      though, Mills. There are just a few geographical notes I want to make. You
+      know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of the coast round here.
+      That fellow Groocock&mdash;Jimmy Dumble's uncle&mdash;very nearly lost his
+      motor boat last week through trusting to the old one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just so, sir,&rdquo; Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass upon
+      his tray. &ldquo;If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the dining room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite right,&rdquo; his master assented. &ldquo;They won't be out just yet, will
+      they?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir&mdash;not
+      before that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently. Directly the door was closed he
+      rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his fishing
+      cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring. With the aid
+      of a little electric torch which he took from his pocket, he studied
+      particularly a certain portion of the giant chart, made some measurements
+      with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and closed it up again with an
+      air of satisfaction. Then he resumed his seat, drew a folded slip of paper
+      from his breast pocket, a chart from another, turned up the lamp and began
+      to write. His face, as he stooped low, escaped the soft shade and was for
+      a moment almost ghastly. Every now and then he turned and made some
+      calculations on the blotting-paper by his side. At last he leaned back
+      with a little sigh of relief. He had barely done so before the door behind
+      him was opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+      drawing-room?&rdquo; Nora asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In here, I think,&rdquo; he heard Philippa reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they both came in, followed by Helen. Nora was the first to see him
+      and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, here's Dad!&rdquo; she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+      &ldquo;Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are having
+      dinner! When did you get back? What a fish!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came forward to
+      meet his wife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;Well, Philippa, how are you?
+      Pleased to see me, I hope? Another new frock, I believe, and in war time!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fancy your remembering that it was war time!&rdquo; she answered, standing very
+      still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nasty one for me,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed good-humouredly. &ldquo;How well you're
+      looking, Helen! Any news of Dick yet?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+      success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing fresh,&rdquo; she answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, well, no news may be good news,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked consolingly.
+      &ldquo;Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again! This morning has
+      been the only patch of decent weather we've had.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This morning was lovely,&rdquo; Helen assented. &ldquo;Philippa and I went and sat up
+      in the woods.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her husband
+      critically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have some men dining,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;They will be out in a few minutes.
+      Don't you think you had better go and make yourself presentable? You smell
+      of fish, and you look as though you hadn't shaved for a week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Guilty, my dear,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;Mills is just getting me something
+      to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a bath and change my
+      clothes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And shave, Dad,&rdquo; Nora reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And shave, you young pest,&rdquo; her father agreed, patting her on the
+      shoulder. &ldquo;Run away and play billiards with Helen. I want to talk to your
+      mother until my dinner's ready.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora acquiesced promptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up. Or perhaps you'd like to
+      play shell out?&rdquo; she proposed. &ldquo;Arthur Sinclair says I have improved in my
+      potting more than any one he ever knew.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them. Then he returned and
+      seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side. She glanced up at him as
+      though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards her work-basket,
+      took up some knitting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really think I should change at once, if I were you,&rdquo; she suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Presently. I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a word or
+      two with you first. I've been away for nearly a fortnight, haven't I?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have,&rdquo; Philippa assented. &ldquo;Perhaps that is the reason why I feel that
+      I haven't very much to say to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That sounds just a trifle hard,&rdquo; he said slowly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am hard sometimes,&rdquo; Philippa confessed. &ldquo;You know that quite well.
+      There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart at all, nor any
+      sympathy; when every sensation I might have had seems shrivelled up inside
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me, Philippa?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You had every warning,&rdquo; she told him. &ldquo;I tried to make you understand
+      exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you went away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I remember,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I'm afraid, dear, you think I am a
+      worthless sort of a fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch. She bent lower still over her
+      knitting. There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her mouth was
+      unrecognisable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?&rdquo; her husband remarked
+      presently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; Philippa assented, &ldquo;he is dining to-night. You will probably see
+      him in a few minutes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+      remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're so keen about that sort of thing,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;what about
+      Lessingham? He is not soldiering or anything, is he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;He walks with a slight limp and
+      admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us very much
+      about himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder you haven't tackled him,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued. &ldquo;You're such an
+      ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing his bit of
+      butchery.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;is a very delightful friend, whose stay here
+      every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative stranger. I feel
+      no responsibility as to his actions.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you do as to mine?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of the
+      lounge. He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining room beyond.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hm!&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Has he been here often while I've been away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As often as he chose,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;He has become very popular in
+      the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest here at
+      any time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is here most days. We are always rather disappointed when he doesn't
+      come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What's the attraction?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa smiled. It was the smile which those who knew her best, feared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she confided, &ldquo;I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I think
+      that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but Dick and
+      their college days. I am rather inclined to fancy that it must be me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, indeed!&rdquo; he grunted. &ldquo;Are you aware that you are a married woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced up from her work. Her eyebrows were raised, and her
+      expression was one of mild surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How queer that you should remind me of it!&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I am afraid
+      that the sea air disturbs your memory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, damn!&rdquo; he exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked to the door. His guests were still lingering over their wine. He
+      could hear their voices more distinctly than ever. Then he came back to
+      the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, old girl,&rdquo; he pleaded, &ldquo;don't let us quarrel. I have had such a
+      hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the dirtiest seas
+      I've ever known at this time of the year. For five days I hadn't a dry
+      stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once. We were all in the
+      water together, and there was a nasty green wave that looked like a
+      mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat bending over us as though
+      it meant to squeeze our ribs in. It looked like ten to one against us,
+      Phil, and I got a worse chill than the sea ever gave me when I thought
+      that I shouldn't see you again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laid down her knitting. She looked searchingly into her husband's
+      face. She was very far from indifferent to his altered tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that sounds very terrible, but why do you run such
+      risks&mdash;unworthily? Do you think that I couldn't give you all that you
+      want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with a story like
+      this and I knew that you had been facing death righteously and honourably
+      for your country's sake? Why, Henry, there isn't a man in the world could
+      have such a welcome as I could give you. Do you think I am cold? Of course
+      you don't! Do you think I want to feel as I have done this last fortnight
+      towards you? Why, it's misery! It makes me feel inclined to commit any
+      folly, any madness, to get rid of it all.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her husband hesitated. A frown had darkened his face. He had the air of
+      one who is on the eve of a confession.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;you know that when I go out on these fishing
+      expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+      anxious to prepare for the fishermen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry! I'm as sick with them as I
+      am with you. You can see twenty or thirty of them any morning, lounging
+      about the quay, strapping young fellows who shelter themselves behind the
+      plea of privileged employment. We are notorious down here for our
+      skulkers, and you&mdash;you who should be the one man to set them an
+      example, are as bad as they are. You deliberately encourage them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face darkened and
+      his eyes flashed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Skulkers?&rdquo; he repeated furiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes! Don't you like the word?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come. He
+      laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box, and
+      lit it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?&rdquo; he observed, thrusting his
+      hands into his jacket pockets strolling away. &ldquo;If one doesn't feel the
+      call&mdash;well, there you are, you see. Jove, that's a fine fish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood admiring the codling upon the scales. Philippa continued her
+      work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us,&rdquo; she told him
+      calmly, &ldquo;please let me remind you again that we have guests for dinner.
+      Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely becoming.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned away and came back towards her. As he passed the lamp, she
+      started.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you're wet,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;wet through!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course I am,&rdquo; he admitted, feeling his sleeve, &ldquo;but to tell you the
+      truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten it. Here
+      come our guests, before I have had time to escape. I can hear your friend
+      Lessingham's voice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle. Sir
+      Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No idea that you were back, sir,&rdquo; Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly. &ldquo;I turned up about three
+      quarters of an hour ago,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;just too late to join you at
+      dinner.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bad luck, sir,&rdquo; Sinclair remarked. &ldquo;I hope that you had good sport?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not so bad,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted. &ldquo;We had to go far enough for it, though.
+      What do you think of that for an October codling?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They all approached the scales and admired the fish. Sir Henry stood with
+      his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+      delightfully hospitable a place,&rdquo; was the somewhat measured reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?&rdquo; Sir Henry
+      continued.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In a very small way,&rdquo; Lessingham acknowledged. &ldquo;I have been out once or
+      twice.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With Ben Oates, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe that was the man's name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham. Whatever made you choose Ben
+      Oates? He is a most disgraceful person.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was entirely by accident,&rdquo; Lessingham explained. &ldquo;I met him on the
+      front. It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather pressing in his
+      invitation.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed. &ldquo;From what
+      Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken you in entirely
+      the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We had a small catch,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;I really went more for the
+      sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The coast itself,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked, &ldquo;is rather an interesting one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should imagine so,&rdquo; Lessingham assented. &ldquo;Mr. Ben Oates, indeed, told
+      me some wonderful stories about it. He spoke of broad channels down which
+      a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of the land.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is quite right, too,&rdquo; his host agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's a lot of deep water about here. The whole of the coast is very
+      curious in that way. What the&mdash;what the dickens is this?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a Homburg hat
+      from the far side of a table of curios. Philippa glanced up at his
+      exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's Nora's trophy,&rdquo; she explained. &ldquo;I told her to take it up to her
+      own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nora's trophy?&rdquo; Sir Henry repeated. &ldquo;Why, it's nothing but an ordinary
+      man's hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir,&rdquo; Harrison pointed out.
+      &ldquo;Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+      observation car was found there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry held out the hat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in this
+      sort of headgear, does she?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you'll just look inside the lining, sir,&rdquo; Sinclair suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly. &ldquo;By Jove, it's a German hat,
+      all right!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Doesn't look a bad shape, either.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He tried it on. There was a little peal of laughter from the men. Philippa
+      had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch. Sir Henry looked
+      at himself in the looking-glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that's funny,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;I shouldn't have thought it would have
+      been so much too small for me. Here, just try how you'd look in it, Mr.
+      Lessingham,&rdquo; he added, handing it across to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+      carefully on his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't feel particularly comfortable,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That may be,&rdquo; Sir Henry suggested, &ldquo;because you have it on wrong side
+      foremost. If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would find it a very
+      good fit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham at once obeyed. Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excellent!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Look at that, Philippa. Might have been made
+      for him, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from his
+      head with some casual observation. He was entirely at his ease. His host
+      turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths, sir,&rdquo; the latter announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How are you, Griffiths?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Glad to see you. Excuse my costume,
+      but I am just back from a fishing expedition. We are all admiring Mr.
+      Lessingham in his magic hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others, and
+      turned towards Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham,&rdquo; Sir Henry begged.
+      &ldquo;You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's slipper. The hat
+      which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's Common fits our friend like
+      a glove. I never thought the Germans made such good hats, did you,
+      Griffiths?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I always thought they imported their felt hats,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths
+      acknowledged. &ldquo;Is that really the one with the German name inside, which
+      Miss Nora brought home?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is the genuine article,&rdquo; Lessingham assented, taking it from his
+      head and passing it on to the newcomer. &ldquo;Notwithstanding the name inside,
+      I should still believe that it was an English hat. It feels too
+      comfortable for anything else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully. He drew
+      out the lining and looked all the way round. Suddenly he gave vent to a
+      little exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Here are the owner's initials,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;rather faint but still
+      distinguishable,&mdash;B. M. Hm! There's no doubt about its being a German
+      hat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;B. M.,&rdquo; Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder. &ldquo;How very
+      interesting! B. M.,&rdquo; he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had recommenced
+      her knitting. &ldquo;Is it my fancy, or is there something a little familiar
+      about that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure that I have no idea,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;It conveys nothing to
+      me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a brief but apparently pointless silence. Philippa's needles
+      flashed through her wool with easy regularity. Lessingham appeared to be
+      sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed concerning the hat. Sir
+      Henry was standing with knitted brows, in the obvious attitude of a man
+      seeking to remember something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;B. M.,&rdquo; he murmured softly to himself. &ldquo;There was some one I've known or
+      heard of in England&mdash;What's that, Mills?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your dinner is served, sir,&rdquo; Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+      announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible owner. He
+      threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed a new interest
+      in life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jove, I'm ravenous!&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;You'll excuse me, won't you? Mills,
+      see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes&mdash;in the billiard
+      room, I should think. You'll find the young people there. I'll come in and
+      have a game of pills later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry at once
+      from the room. Lessingham, however, lingered. He stood with his hands
+      behind him, looking at the closed door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+       Philippa asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I may,&rdquo; he answered, without changing his position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you see ghosts through that door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; he said, as he seated himself by her side, &ldquo;there are times
+      when I find your husband quite interesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa leaned back in her place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+      towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must confess,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that sometimes your husband puzzles me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not nearly so much as he puzzles me,&rdquo; Philippa retorted, a little
+      bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;More or less, but never quite to this extent. The thing has become an
+      obsession with him lately. If you are really going to stay and talk with
+      me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband? Just now the subject is
+      rather a painful one with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can quite understand that,&rdquo; Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you think of Captain Griffiths?&rdquo; she asked, a little abruptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have thought nothing more about him. Should I? Is he of any real
+      importance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is military commandant here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my track,&rdquo; he
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was,&rdquo; Philippa said
+      drily. &ldquo;I have told you that he came and asked about you the other night,
+      when he dined here. He seemed perfectly satisfied then, but he is here
+      again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits anywhere in an ordinary
+      way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you uneasy about me?&rdquo; Lessingham enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not sure,&rdquo; she answered frankly. &ldquo;Sometimes I am almost terrified
+      and would give anything to hear that you were on your way home. And at
+      other times I realise that you are really very clever, that nothing is
+      likely to happen to you, and that the place will seem duller than ever
+      when you do go.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is very kind of you,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In any case, I fear that my holiday
+      will soon be coming to an end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your holiday?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;Is that what you call it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been little else,&rdquo; he replied indifferently. &ldquo;There is nothing to
+      be learnt here of the slightest military significance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We told you that when you arrived,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was perhaps foolish not to believe you,&rdquo; he acknowledged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in failure,
+      after all!&rdquo; she went on, a moment or two later.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Failure? No, I should not call it failure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have really made some discoveries, then?&rdquo; she enquired dubiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have made the greatest discovery in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered, her
+      eyes fell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me! In this quiet spot?&rdquo; she sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it Helen or me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa!&rdquo; he protested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyebrows were more raised than ever. Her mouth had lost its alluring
+      curve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Mr. Lessingham!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Have I ever given you the right
+      to call me by my Christian name?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In my country,&rdquo; he answered, &ldquo;we do not wait to ask. We take.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rank Prussianism,&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I really think you had better go back
+      there. You are adopting their methods.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may have to at any moment,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;or to some more distant
+      country still. I want something to take back with me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You want a keepsake, of course,&rdquo; Philippa declared, looking around the
+      room. &ldquo;You can have my photograph&mdash;the one over there. Helen will
+      give you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her. She is just as
+      grateful to you about Richard as I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But from you,&rdquo; he said earnestly, &ldquo;I want more than gratitude.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me, how persistent you are!&rdquo; Philippa murmured. &ldquo;Are you really
+      determined to make love to me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don't mock me!&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;What I am saying to you comes from my
+      heart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed at him quietly. There was just a little break in her
+      voice, however.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be absurd!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing absurd about it,&rdquo; he replied, with a note of sadness in
+      his tone. &ldquo;I felt it from the moment we met. I struggled against it, but I
+      have felt it growing day by day. I came here with my mind filled with
+      different purposes. I had no thought of amusing myself, no thought of
+      seeking here the happiness which up till now I seem to have missed. I came
+      as a servant because I was sent, a mechanical being. You have changed
+      everything. For you I feel what I have never felt for any woman before. I
+      place before you my career, my freedom, my honour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa sighed very softly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mind ringing the bell?&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The bell?&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;What for?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want Helen to hear you,&rdquo; she confided, with a wonderful little smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, don't mock me,&rdquo; he pleaded. &ldquo;If this is only amusement to you,
+      tell me so and let me go away. It is the first time in my life that a
+      woman has come between me and my work. I am no longer master of myself. I
+      am obsessed with you. I want nothing else in life but your love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face. The banter which
+      had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon as her
+      defensive weapon, was suddenly useless. Lessingham had created an
+      atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you in earnest?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;God knows I am!&rdquo; he insisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You&mdash;you care for me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So much,&rdquo; he answered passionately, &ldquo;that for your sake I would sacrifice
+      my honour, my country, my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I've only known you for such a short time,&rdquo; Philippa protested, &ldquo;and
+      you're an enemy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I discard my birth. I renounce my adopted country,&rdquo; he declared fiercely.
+      &ldquo;You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition and patriotism.
+      You have filled it with one thing only&mdash;a great, consuming love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you forgotten my husband?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should have
+      dared to speak? Ask yourself how you can continue to live with him? You
+      can call him which you will. Both are equally disgraceful. Your heart
+      knows the truth. He is either a coward or a philanderer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white. Her eyes flashed. His words had
+      stung her to the quick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A coward?&rdquo; she repeated furiously. &ldquo;You dare to call Henry that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet. He moved restlessly about the room.
+      His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do!&rdquo; he pronounced. &ldquo;Philippa, look at this matter without prejudice.
+      Do you believe that there is a single man of any country, of your
+      husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the seas for fish
+      whilst his country's blood is being drained dry? Who would weigh a
+      codling,&rdquo; he added, pointing scornfully to the scales, &ldquo;whilst the funeral
+      march of heroes is beating throughout the world? The thing is insensate,
+      impossible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's head drooped. Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't!&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;I have suffered so much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Forgive me,&rdquo; he begged, with a sudden change of voice. &ldquo;If I am mistaken
+      in your husband&mdash;and there is always the chance&mdash;I am sorry. I
+      will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him, but I can only
+      judge from what I have seen and from that there is no one in the world who
+      would not agree with me that your husband is unworthy of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, please stop!&rdquo; Philippa cried. &ldquo;Stop at once!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham came back to his place by her side. His voice was still
+      shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, forgive me,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;If you only knew how it hurts to see
+      you like this! Yet I must speak. There is just once in every man's
+      lifetime when he must tell the truth. That time has come with me&mdash;I
+      love you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So does my husband,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,&rdquo;
+       Lessingham continued. &ldquo;He sets your wishes at defiance. He who should be
+      an example in a small place like this, is only an object of contempt in
+      the neighbourhood. Even I, who have only lived here for so short a time,
+      have caught the burden of what people say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa wiped her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Please, do you mind,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;not saying anything more about Henry.
+      You are only reminding me of things which I try all the time to forget.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me,&rdquo; Lessingham answered wistfully, &ldquo;I am only too content to
+      ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you are the
+      woman who has changed my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child who
+      has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you must not&mdash;you must not talk to me like this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His hand closed upon hers. It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold, yet
+      passive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo; he whispered. &ldquo;I have the one unalterable right, and I am
+      willing to pay the great price.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Right?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The right of loving you&mdash;the right of loving you better than any
+      woman in the world.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly aware, to
+      the emotion of the moment. A door behind them had opened. Philippa's
+      quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps. Lessingham rose
+      deliberately to his feet. In his heart he welcomed the interruption. This
+      might, perhaps, be the decisive moment. Sir Henry was strolling towards
+      them. His manner and his tone, however, were alike good-natured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he announced.
+      &ldquo;Sinclair has been sent for&mdash;a night route march, or some such horror&mdash;and
+      they want you to make a four.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham hesitated. He had a passionate inclination to face the
+      situation, to tell this man the truth. Sir Henry's courteous indifference,
+      however, was like a harrier. He recognised the inevitable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid I am rather out of practice,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I shall be
+      delighted to do my best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers. For a mild-mannered
+      and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That fellow was making love to you,&rdquo; he said bluntly, as soon as the door
+      was closed behind Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was doing it very nicely, too,&rdquo; she admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean to say that you let him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I listened to what he had to say,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;It didn't occur to
+      you, I suppose,&rdquo; her husband remarked, with somewhat strained sarcasm,
+      &ldquo;that you were another man's wife?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am doing my best to forget that fact,&rdquo; Philippa reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see! And he is to help you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Possibly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall turn the fellow out of the house,&rdquo; he declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why don't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side. &ldquo;Look here, Philippa,
+      don't let's wrangle,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I'm afraid you'll have to make up your
+      mind to see a good deal less of your friend Lessingham, anyway.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's brows were knitted. She was conscious of a vague uneasiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really? And why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For one thing,&rdquo; her husband explained, &ldquo;because I don't intend to have
+      him hanging about my house during my absence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The best way to prevent that would be not to go away,&rdquo; Philippa
+      suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, in all probability,&rdquo; he announced guardedly, &ldquo;I am not going away
+      again&mdash;at least not just yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's manner suddenly changed. She laid down her work. Her hand
+      rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing excursions
+      of yours?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the present I am,&rdquo; he assured her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And are you going to do something&mdash;some work, I mean?&rdquo; she asked
+      breathlessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after you,&rdquo;
+       he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's face fell. Her manner became notably colder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are very wise,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is a most fascinating
+      person. We are all half in love with him&mdash;even Helen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fellow must have a way with him,&rdquo; Sir Henry conceded grudgingly. &ldquo;As
+      a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless they have
+      immediate connections in the neighbourhood. Even Griffiths, who since they
+      made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions, seems inclined to accept
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths dined here the other night,&rdquo; Philippa remarked, &ldquo;and I
+      noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt,&rdquo; Sir Henry began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course he is,&rdquo; Philippa interrupted. &ldquo;Helen likes him quite as much as
+      I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does he make love to Helen, too?&rdquo; Sir Henry ventured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't talk nonsense!&rdquo; Philippa retorted. &ldquo;He isn't that sort of a man at
+      all. If he has made love to me, he has done so because I have encouraged
+      him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and took a
+      cigarette from an open box.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite time I stayed at home, I can see. All the same, the fellow's rather
+      a puzzle. I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making such an easy
+      conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for her flirtations,
+      and a young woman who is madly in love with another man. He hasn't&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hasn't what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He hasn't,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he had been
+      holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, &ldquo;been in the position of
+      being able to render you or Helen any service, has he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't understand you,&rdquo; Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's nothing to understand,&rdquo; Sir Henry went on. &ldquo;I was simply trying
+      to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think you need go any further than the fact,&rdquo; Philippa observed,
+      &ldquo;that he is well-bred, charming and companionable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Incidentally,&rdquo; Sir Henry queried, &ldquo;do you happen to have come across any
+      one here who ever heard of him before?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't remember any one,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;He was at college with
+      Richard, you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen,&rdquo; he
+      admitted. &ldquo;And by-the-by, that reminds me,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;I never saw such
+      a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen. A few weeks ago you
+      were fretting yourselves to death about Dick. Now you don't seem to
+      mention him, you both of you look as though you hadn't a care in the
+      world, and yet you say you haven't heard from him. Upon my word, this is
+      getting to be a house of mysteries!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Me?&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive. What is
+      there mysterious about me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your ignominious life,&rdquo; was the cold reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jove, I got it that time!&rdquo; he groaned,&mdash;&ldquo;got it in the neck! But
+      didn't I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then prove it,&rdquo; Philippa pleaded. &ldquo;Let me write to Rayton and beg him to
+      use his influence to get you something to do. I am sure you would be
+      happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would make to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing,&rdquo; he confided. &ldquo;You
+      know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war. They'd make me
+      take some one's place at home behind a desk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But even if they did,&rdquo; she protested, &ldquo;even if they put you in a coal
+      cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping your
+      country? Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry made a wry face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear,&rdquo; he
+      grumbled. &ldquo;However&mdash;now what the dickens is the matter?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but Jimmy
+      Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hullo? What is it, Jimmy?&rdquo; his patron demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Beg your pardon, sir,&rdquo; was the almost incoherent reply. &ldquo;I've run all the
+      way up, and there's a rare wind blowing. There's one of our&mdash;our
+      trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green and six yellow
+      balls.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whiting, by God!&rdquo; Sir Henry exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whiting!&rdquo; Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust. &ldquo;What does this mean,
+      Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It must be a shoal,&rdquo; her husband explained. &ldquo;It means that we've got to
+      get amongst them quick. Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She there all right, sir,&rdquo; was the somewhat doubtful reply, &ldquo;but us'll
+      have a rare job to get away, sir. That there nor'easter is blowing great
+      guns again and it's a cruel tide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've got to get out somehow,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared. &ldquo;Mills, my oilskins
+      and flask at once. I sha'n't change a thing, but you might bring a
+      cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills withdrew, a little dazed. Philippa, whose fingers were clenched
+      together, found her tongue at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry!&rdquo; she exclaimed furiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it, my dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean to tell me that after your promise,&rdquo; she continued, &ldquo;after
+      what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for another fishing
+      expedition?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whiting, my dear,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained. &ldquo;One can't possibly miss whiting.
+      Where the devil are my keys?&mdash;Here they are. Now then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+      rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed to be
+      a couple of charts in oilskin cases. All the time the wind was shaking the
+      windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the panes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy,&rdquo; Sir Henry invited, as he
+      buttoned up his coat. &ldquo;You'll need it all presently.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thank you kindly, sir,&rdquo; Jimmy replied. &ldquo;I am thinking that we'll both
+      need a drink before we're through this night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of half
+      and half. Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+      indignantly, once more found words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry, you are incorrigible!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Listen to me if you please.
+      I insist upon it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her. &ldquo;Philippa, I really
+      can't stop now,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;But you must! You shall!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;You
+      shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before you go. What I said the
+      other day I repeat a thousandfold now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door. The
+      fisherman made an awkward exit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A thousandfold,&rdquo; Philippa repeated passionately. &ldquo;You hear, Henry? I do
+      not consider myself any more your wife. If I am here when you return, it
+      will be simply because I find it convenient. Your conduct is disgraceful
+      and unmanly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear girl!&rdquo; he remonstrated. &ldquo;I may be back in twenty-four&mdash;possibly
+      twelve hours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a matter of indifference to me when you return,&rdquo; was the curt
+      reply. &ldquo;I have finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door was thrown open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your oilskins, sir, and flask,&rdquo; Mills announced, hurrying in, a little
+      breathless. &ldquo;You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it scarcely seems a
+      fit night to leave home.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Got to be done this once, Mills,&rdquo; his master replied, struggling into his
+      coat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in. Nora, who
+      was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, where's Dad going?&rdquo; she cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It appears,&rdquo; Philippa explained sarcastically, &ldquo;that a shoal of whiting
+      has arrived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very uncertain fish, whiting,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed, &ldquo;here to-day and gone
+      to-morrow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir,&rdquo; Harrison remarked
+      doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Jimmy will see to that,&rdquo; was the confident reply. &ldquo;I expect we shall be
+      amongst them at daybreak. Good-by, everybody! Good-by, Philippa!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His eyes sought his wife's in vain. She had turned towards Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;I want
+      you to show me that new Patience.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be delighted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry turned slowly away. For a moment his face darkened as his eyes
+      met Lessingham's. He seemed about to speak but changed his mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, good-by, every one,&rdquo; he called out. &ldquo;I shall be back before
+      midnight if we don't get out.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And if you do?&rdquo; Nora cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we do, Heaven help the whiting!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!&rdquo; Philippa
+      declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean by coming to a place like this?&rdquo; Lessingham queried, looking
+      around the crowded restaurant. &ldquo;We are not, in that case, the only
+      sinners.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't mean the mere fact of being here,&rdquo; Philippa explained, &ldquo;but
+      being here with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot,&rdquo; he said gloomily, &ldquo;that I was such a black sheep.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be silly,&rdquo; she admonished. &ldquo;You're nothing of the sort. But, of
+      course, we are skating on rather thin ice. If I had Henry to consider in
+      any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should be more careful.
+      As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately. Dreymarsh has got upon
+      my nerves. The things that I thought most of in life seem to have crumbled
+      away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ought I to be sorry?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;I am not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But why are you so unsympathetic?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild,&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped before
+      their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a glance at Philippa,
+      moved away with him to the little space reserved for the dancers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a chaperon I am!&rdquo; Philippa sighed. &ldquo;I scarcely know anything about
+      the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's regiment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I did not hear it,&rdquo; Lessingham observed, &ldquo;but I feel deeply grateful to
+      him. It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to you alone like this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems incredible that we have talked so long,&rdquo; Philippa said, glancing
+      at the watch upon her wrist. &ldquo;I really feel now that I know all about you&mdash;your
+      school days, your college days, and your soldiering. You have been very
+      frank, haven't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have nothing to conceal&mdash;from you,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;If there is
+      anything more you want to know&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing,&rdquo; she interrupted uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are wise,&rdquo; he reflected, &ldquo;and yet some day, you know, you
+      will have to hear it all, over and over again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will not be made love to in a restaurant,&rdquo; she declared firmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are so particular as to localities,&rdquo; he complained. &ldquo;You could not
+      see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider a
+      suitable environment?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;And
+      there is some one there who wants to speak to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before their
+      table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death. He remained
+      perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly to be drawn from his
+      cheeks. Yet the newcomer himself seemed in no way terrifying. He was tall
+      and largely built, clean-shaven, and with the humourous mouth of an
+      Irishman or an American. Neither was there anything threatening in his
+      speech.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Glad to run up against you, Lessingham,&rdquo; he said, holding out his hand.
+      &ldquo;Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very,&rdquo; Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a dream.
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend&mdash;Mr.
+      Hayter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in trivial
+      conversation. Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I must be joining my friends,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Look in and see me sometime,
+      Lessingham&mdash;Number 72, Milan Court. You know what a nightbird I am.
+      Perhaps you will call and have a final drink with me when you have
+      finished here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall be very glad,&rdquo; Lessingham promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to judge
+      by his interrupted progress. Lady Cranston looked at her companion. She
+      was puzzled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that a recent acquaintance,&rdquo; she asked, &ldquo;as he addressed you by the
+      name of Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; was the quiet reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't wish to talk about him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little party
+      presently broke up. Lessingham drove the two women to their hotel in Dover
+      Street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've had a most delightful evening,&rdquo; Philippa assured him, as they said
+      good night. &ldquo;You are coming round to see us in the morning, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I may,&rdquo; Lessingham assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night. She had
+      nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;May I sit down for a few moments?&rdquo; she asked, a little nervously. &ldquo;Your
+      fire is so much better than mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before which she
+      was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace. She felt a forewarning
+      of what was coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, dear,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Have you enjoyed your evening?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much, in a way,&rdquo; was the somewhat hesitating reply. &ldquo;Of course,
+      nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice to talk with
+      some one who knows him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Agreeable conversation,&rdquo; Philippa remarked didactically, &ldquo;is one of the
+      greatest pleasures in life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew up an
+      easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose you know that he's in love with you?&rdquo; Helen began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope he is a little, my dear,&rdquo; was the smiling reply. &ldquo;I'm sure I've
+      tried my best.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Won't you talk seriously?&rdquo; Helen pleaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't altogether see the necessity,&rdquo; Philippa protested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do, and I'll tell you why,&rdquo; Helen answered. &ldquo;I don't think Mr.
+      Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed. I think
+      that he is in deadly earnest about you. I think that he was in deadly
+      earnest from the first. You don't really care for him, do you, dear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking of,&rdquo;
+       was the quiet reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then please send him away,&rdquo; Helen begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, how can I?&rdquo; Philippa objected. &ldquo;He has done us an immense
+      service, and he can't disobey his orders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't want him to go away, then?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was silent for several moments. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;I don't
+      think that I do.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't care for Henry any more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just as much as ever,&rdquo; was the somewhat bitter reply. &ldquo;That's what I
+      resent so much. I should like Henry to believe that he had killed every
+      spark of love in me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair. She felt that
+      she was going to be very daring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you any idea at the back of your mind, dear,&rdquo; she asked &ldquo;of making
+      use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How hatefully downright you are!&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;I don't know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;if you have any such idea in your mind, I
+      think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham. You know perfectly well that
+      anything else between you and him would be impossible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be ridiculous!&rdquo; Helen exclaimed vigorously. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham may
+      have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has attached
+      himself to a country which no English man or woman will be able to think
+      of without shuddering, for many years to come. You can't dream of cutting
+      yourself adrift from your friends and your home and your country! It's too
+      unnatural! I'm not even arguing with you, Philippa. You couldn't do it!
+      I'm wholly concerned with Mr. Lessingham. I cannot forget what we owe him.
+      I think it would be hatefully cruel of you to spoil his life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary. She made a little
+      grimace. She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You underrate my charm, Helen,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I really believe that I
+      could make his life instead of spoiling it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you would pay the price?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair. There
+      was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sometimes think,&rdquo; she said calmly, &ldquo;that I would pay any price in the
+      world to make Henry understand how I feel. There, now run along, dear.
+      You're full of good intentions, and don't think it horrid of me, but
+      nothing that you could say would make any difference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You wouldn't do anything rash?&rdquo; Helen pleaded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise that
+      I'll send cards out first. Whatever I do, impulse will probably decide.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Impulse!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not? I trust mine. Can't you?&rdquo; Philippa added, with a little shrug of
+      the shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes,&rdquo; Helen sighed, &ldquo;they are such wild horses, you know. They lead
+      one to such terrible places.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And sometimes,&rdquo; Philippa replied, &ldquo;they find their way into the heaven
+      where our soberer thoughts could never take us. Good night, dear!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan Court,
+      was a very altered personage. He extended no welcoming salutation to his
+      midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;is your task finished that you are in London?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My task,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, &ldquo;might just as well never have been entered
+      upon. The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an ordinary sport-loving
+      Englishman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really! You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and that is
+      your impression of him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; Lessingham assented. &ldquo;He has been away sea-fishing, half the
+      time, but I have searched his house thoroughly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Searched his papers, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Every one I could find, and hated the job. There are a good many charts
+      of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wonderful!&rdquo; Hayter scoffed. &ldquo;My young friend, you may yet find
+      distinction in some other walk of life. Our secret service, I fancy, will
+      very soon be able to dispense with your energies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I with your secret service,&rdquo; Lessingham agreed heartily. &ldquo;I dare say
+      there may be some branches of it in which existence is tolerable. That,
+      however, does not apply to the task upon which I have been engaged.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have been completely duped,&rdquo; Hayter told him calmly, &ldquo;and the
+      information you have sent us is valueless. Sir Henry Cranston, instead of
+      being the type of man whom you have described, is one of the greatest
+      experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the English Admiralty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham laughed shortly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That,&rdquo; he declared, &ldquo;is perfectly absurd.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is,&rdquo; Hayter repeated, with emphasis, &ldquo;the precise truth. Sir Henry
+      Cranton's fishing excursions are myths. He is simply transferred from his
+      fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of so-called mine sweepers, from
+      which he conducts his operations. Nearly every one of the most important
+      towns on the east coast are protected by minefields of his design.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham was dumbfounded. His companion's manner was singularly
+      convincing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?&rdquo; he
+      protested. &ldquo;Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him because
+      she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood gossips over
+      his slackness.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled,&rdquo; Hayter retorted. &ldquo;There are
+      one or two who know, however.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are one or two,&rdquo; Lessingham observed grimly, &ldquo;who are beginning to
+      suspect me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is a pity,&rdquo; Hayter admitted, &ldquo;because it will be necessary for you
+      to return to Dreymarsh at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Return to Dreymarsh at once? But Cranston is away. There is nothing for
+      me to do there in his absence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night,&rdquo; was the confident reply.
+      &ldquo;He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of a town on the
+      east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to bombard. We must have
+      that chart.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Could you possibly get me relieved?&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;The fact is&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We could not, and we will not,&rdquo; Hayter interrupted fiercely. &ldquo;Unless you
+      wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a coward, you will go
+      through with the work which has been allotted to you. Your earlier
+      mistakes will be forgiven if that chart is in my hands by Friday.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But how do you know that he will have it?&rdquo; Lessingham protested.
+      &ldquo;Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the minefields
+      you speak of, I should think the last thing he would do would be to bring
+      the chart back to Dreymarsh.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do,&rdquo; Hayter assured
+      his listener. &ldquo;He is bringing it back for the inspection of one of the
+      commissioners for the east coast defense, who is to meet him at his house.
+      And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom, that you will have very little
+      time. For some reason or other, Cranston is dissatisfied with the secrecy
+      under which he has been compelled to work, and has applied to the
+      Admiralty for recognition of his position. Immediately this is given, I
+      gather that his house will be inaccessible to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire. His
+      thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear. Cranston
+      was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be. Philippa's whole
+      point of view might well be changed by this discovery&mdash;especially now
+      that Cranston had made up his mind to assert himself for his wife's sake.
+      There was an icy fear in his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You understand,&rdquo; Hayter persisted coldly, &ldquo;what it is you have to do?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly. I shall return by the afternoon train,&rdquo; was the despairing
+      reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you succeed,&rdquo; Hayter continued, &ldquo;I shall see that you get the usual
+      acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your transfer to
+      another branch of the service. I am not questioning your patriotism or
+      your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the man for this work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are right,&rdquo; Lessingham said. &ldquo;I am not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not my affair,&rdquo; Hayter proceeded, &ldquo;to enquire too closely into the
+      means used by our agents in carrying out our designs. That I find you in
+      London in company with the wife of the man whom you are appointed to
+      watch, may be a fact capable of the most complete and satisfactory
+      explanation. I ask no questions. I only remind you that your country, even
+      though it be only your adopted country, demands from you, as from all
+      others in her service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by the
+      claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour. Have I said enough?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have said as much as it is wise for you to say,&rdquo; Lessingham replied,
+      his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is all, then,&rdquo; the other concluded. &ldquo;You know where to send or bring
+      the chart when you have it? If you bring it yourself, it is possible that
+      something which you may regard as a reward, will be offered to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet. His farewell to Hayter was
+      cold and lifeless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with a sense
+      of intolerable depression. The streets through which he passed were sombre
+      and unlit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to their
+      homes. There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere. An intense and
+      gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted thoroughfares.
+      Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like shadows. Policemen lurked in
+      the shadows of the houses. The few vehicles left crawled about with
+      insufficient lights. Even the warning horns of the taxicab men sounded
+      furtive and repressed. Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt
+      curiously in sympathy with his environment. Hayter's news brought him face
+      to face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the dominant
+      factor in his life. For the first time he knew what love was. He felt the
+      wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities, the strange idealism called
+      so unexpectedly into being. He recognized the vagaries of Philippa's
+      disposition, and yet, during the last few days, he had convinced himself
+      that she was beginning to care. Her strained relations with her husband
+      had been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards the acceptance of
+      his proffered devotion. Now he told himself with eager hopefulness that
+      some portion of it, however minute, must be for his own sake. The
+      relations between husband and wife, he reminded himself, must, at any
+      rate, have been strained during the last few months, or Cranston would
+      never have been able to keep his secret. In his gloomy passage through
+      this land of ill omens, however, he shivered a little as he thought of the
+      other possibility&mdash;tortured himself with imagining what might happen
+      during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the truth. A sense
+      of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed to lift him into
+      some lofty state of aloofness, from which he could look down and despise
+      himself, the poor, tired plodder wearing the heavy chains of duty. There
+      was a life so much more wonderful, just the other side of the clouds, a
+      very short distance away, a life of alluring and passionate happiness.
+      Should he ever find the courage, he wondered, to escape from the treadmill
+      and go in search of it? Duty, for the last two years, had taken him by the
+      hand and led him along a pathway of shame. He had never been a hypocrite
+      about the war. He was one of those who had acknowledged from the first
+      that Germany had set forth, with the sword in her hand, on a war of
+      conquest. His own inherited martial spirit had vaguely approved; he, too,
+      in those earlier days, had felt the sunlight upon his rapier. Later had
+      come the enlightenment, the turbulent waves of doubt, the nightmare of a
+      nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in his own soul. It was in a
+      depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser degree by millions of those whose
+      ranks he had joined, that he felt this passionate craving for escape into
+      a world which took count of other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented himself at
+      the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall porter to take a
+      seat in the lounge. Philippa entered, a few minutes later, her eyes and
+      cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise she had been taking, her slim
+      figure most becomingly arrayed in grey cloth and chinchilla.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I lost Helen in Harrod's,&rdquo; she announced, &ldquo;but I know she's lunching with
+      friends, so it really doesn't matter. You'll have to take care of me, Mr.
+      Lessingham, until the train goes, if you will.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For even longer than that, if you will,&rdquo; he murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She laughed. &ldquo;More pretty speeches? I don't think I'm equal to them before
+      luncheon.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This time I am literal,&rdquo; he explained. &ldquo;I am coming back to Dreymarsh
+      myself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him. Philippa's
+      expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm so glad,&rdquo; she assured him. &ldquo;Do you know, I was thinking only as I
+      came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first little
+      impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the fire. She turned
+      towards him gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;After all, do you think you are wise?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Of course, I don't
+      think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but you know
+      Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and&mdash;well, you're safely away
+      now. You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful altogether,&rdquo; she
+      went on, &ldquo;that I couldn't bear it if trouble were to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think I know what is at the back of your mind,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You think
+      that I am coming back entirely on your account. As it happens, this is not
+      so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Surely,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;you have satisfied yourself that there is no
+      field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought that I had,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;It seems that I am wrong. I have had
+      orders to return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Orders to return?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;From whom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, I ought not to have asked that,&rdquo; she proceeded hastily, &ldquo;but
+      it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions and messages
+      from Germany, here in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany,&rdquo; he reminded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So they say,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;but one doesn't come into contact with it.
+      So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;With you, if I may?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; she agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced at the clock. &ldquo;We might almost be starting for lunch,&rdquo; he
+      suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded. &ldquo;As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+      morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to the
+      Carlton. Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham walked with
+      his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the left.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?&rdquo; she asked him. &ldquo;There
+      must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for instance?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nine years makes a lot of difference,&rdquo; he reminded her, &ldquo;and besides, I
+      have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition really
+      takes place. So long as I do not look into any one's face, I feel quite
+      safe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than the
+      Carlton?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes no difference,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;My credentials have been
+      wonderfully established for me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm so glad,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;I know it's most unfashionable, but I do
+      like these big places. If ever I had my way, I should like to live in
+      London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living in the country
+      and being just an hotel dweller in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if New York would not do?&rdquo; he ventured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect I should like New York,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave here I
+      shall go to the United States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him and turned suddenly away. They arrived just then at
+      their destination, and the moment passed. Lessingham left his companion in
+      the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to secure his table and
+      order lunch. When he came back, he found Philippa sitting very upright and
+      with a significant glitter in her eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look over there,&rdquo; she whispered, &ldquo;by the palm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He followed the direction which she indicated. A man was standing against
+      one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously a foreigner,
+      wrapped in wonderful furs. There was something familiar about his figure
+      and the slight droop of his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, it's Sir Henry!&rdquo; Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My husband,&rdquo; Philippa faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+      shortsightedness. He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham and his
+      wife without recognition or any sign of flinching. At that distance it was
+      impossible to see the tightening of his lips and the steely flash in his
+      blue eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whiting seem to have brought him a long way,&rdquo; Philippa said, with an
+      unnatural little laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shall I go and speak to him?&rdquo; Lessingham asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For heaven's sake, no!&rdquo; she insisted. &ldquo;Don't leave me. I wouldn't have
+      him come near me for anything in the world. It is only a few weeks ago
+      that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said that he hated the
+      place. You don't know&mdash;the woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She looks like a foreigner,&rdquo; was all he could say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Take me in to lunch at once,&rdquo; Philippa begged, rising abruptly to her
+      feet. &ldquo;This is really the last straw.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry was
+      standing. He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with his
+      companion, and did not even turn around. Philippa's little face seemed to
+      have hardened as she took her seat. Only her eyes were still unnaturally
+      bright.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am so sorry if this has annoyed you,&rdquo; Lessingham regretted. &ldquo;You would
+      not care to go elsewhere?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I? Go anywhere else?&rdquo; she exclaimed scornfully. &ldquo;Thank you, I am
+      perfectly satisfied here. And with my companion,&rdquo; she added, with a
+      brilliant little smile. &ldquo;Now tell me about New York. Have you ever been
+      there?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Twice,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;At present the dream of my life is to go there with
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder if you really care,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;Men get so much into the habit
+      of saying that sort of thing to women. Sometimes it seems to me they must
+      do a great deal of mischief. But you&mdash;Is that really your wish?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life,&rdquo; he
+      declared, with his face aglow, &ldquo;for its realization.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you would be a deserter from your country,&rdquo; she pointed out. &ldquo;You
+      would never be able to return. Your estates would be confiscated. You
+      would be homeless.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Home,&rdquo; he said softly, &ldquo;is where one's heart takes one. Home is just
+      where love is.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft. Then she
+      began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare notes of countries
+      which they had both visited, even of people whom they had met. They were
+      obliged to leave early to catch their train. As they passed down the
+      crowded restaurant they once more found themselves within a few feet of
+      Sir Henry. His back was turned to them, and he was apparently ignorant of
+      their near presence. The party had become a partie Carríe, another man,
+      and a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course,&rdquo; Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, &ldquo;I am behaving
+      like an idiot. I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what I think of him,
+      or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion. We lose so much,
+      don't we, by stifling our instincts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For the next few minutes,&rdquo; he replied, glancing at his watch, &ldquo;I think we
+      had better concentrate our attention upon catching our train.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare. Grover,
+      however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for them,
+      ensconced in a corner. She accepted the news of Lessingham's return with
+      resignation. Philippa became thoughtful as they drew towards the close of
+      their journey and the slow, frosty twilight began to creep down upon the
+      land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose we don't really know what war is,&rdquo; she observed, looking out of
+      the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with a background
+      of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church. &ldquo;The people are safe
+      in their homes. You must appreciate what that means, Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Indeed I do,&rdquo; he answered gravely. &ldquo;I have seen the earth torn and
+      dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel. A few
+      blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful village stood; men
+      and women running about like lunatics stricken with a mortal fear. And all
+      the time a red glow on the horizon, a blood-red glow, and little specks of
+      grey or brown lying all over the fields; even the cattle racing round in
+      terror. And every now and then the cry of Death! You are fortunate in
+      England.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa leaned forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you believe that our turn will come?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;Do you believe that
+      the wave will break over our country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who can tell?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ah, no, but answer me,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;Is it possible for you to land an
+      army here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that all things are possible to the military
+      genius of Germany. The only question is whether it is worth while. Germans
+      are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know. I rather doubt it. There is
+      nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so much as the news of a
+      German invasion of Great Britain. On the other hand, there is a great
+      party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one, which is continually
+      reminding the Government that, without Great Britain as a market, Germany
+      would never recover from the financial strain of the war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is all too impersonal,&rdquo; Philippa objected. &ldquo;Do you, in your heart,
+      believe that the time might come when in the night we should hear the guns
+      booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad soldiers forming up on
+      the beach and scaling our cliffs?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That will not be yet,&rdquo; he pronounced. &ldquo;It has been thought of. Once it
+      was almost attempted. Just at present, no.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+      landing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;I can even go a little further. I can tell you
+      that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected place, in an
+      unexpected fashion.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at first-hand,&rdquo;
+       Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner. &ldquo;I suppose we are
+      really two disgraceful women, Helen and I&mdash;traitors and all the rest
+      of it. Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he were one of our best
+      friends.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I refuse to be called an enemy,&rdquo; Lessingham protested. &ldquo;There are times
+      when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality. I am just a
+      human being, born into the same world and warmed by the same sun as you.
+      Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow creatures.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreymarsh once more,&rdquo; Philippa announced, looking out of the window. &ldquo;And
+      you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham. Come round and see us
+      after dinner&mdash;if it doesn't interfere with your work.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; he murmured under his breath. &ldquo;Thank you very much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XVIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very blank
+      expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty Square. He was
+      alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the walls of which were so
+      hung with charts that it had almost the appearance of a schoolroom
+      prepared for an advanced geography class. The table from which he had
+      risen was covered with an amazing number of scientific appliances, some
+      samples of rock and sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the outlook,
+      turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself confronted by an elderly
+      gentleman of cheerful appearance, who at that moment had entered the room.
+      From the fact that he had done so without knocking, it was obvious that he
+      was an intimate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, my gloomy friend,&rdquo; the newcomer demanded, &ldquo;what's wrong with you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor. He pushed a chair
+      towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box of cigars
+      upon his desk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your little Laranagas,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Try one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, then, get at it, Henry,&rdquo; he enjoined. &ldquo;I've a Board in half-an-hour,
+      and three dispatches to read before I go in. What's your trouble?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Rayton,&rdquo; was the firm reply, &ldquo;I want to chuck this infernal
+      hole-and-corner business. I tell you I've worked it threadbare at
+      Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The newcomer grinned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Poor chap!&rdquo; he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards. &ldquo;You're
+      in a nasty mess, you know, Henry. Did I tell you that I had a letter from
+      your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't find you a job?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the joke.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all very well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but we are on the point of a separation,
+      or something of the sort. I'll admit it was all right at first to run the
+      thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted up by now. Why, according
+      to your own reports, they know all about me on the other side.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a doubt about it,&rdquo; the other agreed. &ldquo;I'm not sure that you haven't
+      got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm quite sure of it,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied grimly. &ldquo;The brute was lunching
+      with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would have it, I was
+      landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and sister-in-law. You're breaking
+      up the happy home, that's what you're doing, Rayton!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing. He laughed
+      until the tears stood in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should love to have seen Philippa's face,&rdquo; he chuckled, &ldquo;when she
+      walked into the restaurant and saw you there! You're supposed to be off on
+      a fishing expedition, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went out after whiting,&rdquo; Sir Henry groaned, &ldquo;and I'd just promised to
+      chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway,&rdquo; his visitor promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be an ass!&rdquo; Sir Henry exclaimed irritably. &ldquo;I don't want the fellow
+      touched at present. Why, he's been a sort of persona grata at my house.
+      Hangs around there all the time when I'm away.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should say,&rdquo;
+       was the cheerful reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and Miss
+      Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!&rdquo; Sir Henry retorted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I forgot that,&rdquo; his friend confessed ruminatively. &ldquo;He's a gentlemanly
+      sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy. What do you want done
+      with him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Leave him for me to deal with,&rdquo; Sir Henry insisted. &ldquo;I have a little
+      scheme on hand in which he is concerned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems,&rdquo; he reminded his friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't run any risks,&rdquo; Sir Henry promised. &ldquo;I just want him left there,
+      that's all. And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from you. I quite
+      agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the time when I was up in
+      Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer with the people who count.
+      Every one in Germany knows that I'm a mine-field specialist, so I don't
+      see why the dickens I should pose any longer as a sort of half-baked
+      idiot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical disclosure
+      of your greatness,&rdquo; he laughed. &ldquo;Poor Philippa will fall upon her knees.
+      You will be the hero of the village, which will probably present you with
+      some little article of plate. You've a good time coming, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Talk sense, there's a good fellow,&rdquo; the other begged. &ldquo;You go and see the
+      Chief and put it to him. There isn't a single reason why I shouldn't own
+      up now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll see what I can do,&rdquo; Rayton promised, &ldquo;but what about this fellow
+      Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there? There's a chap
+      named Griffiths&mdash;Commandant, isn't he?&mdash;been writing us about
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I won't have Lessingham touched,&rdquo; Sir Henry insisted. &ldquo;He can't do any
+      particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a drawing of mine
+      down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Henry, old fellow,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I do sympathise with you up to a
+      certain point. I tell you what I'll do. I shall have to answer Philippa's
+      letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if she is as clever a little
+      woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint. Of course,&rdquo; he went on
+      ruminatively, &ldquo;it is rather a misfortune that the Princess Ollaneff and
+      her sister are such jolly good-looking women. Makes it look a little
+      fishy, doesn't it? What I mean to say is, it's a far cry from fishing for
+      whiting in the North Sea to lunching with a beautiful princess at the
+      Carlton&mdash;when you think your wife's down in Norfolk.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw open the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;You get back
+      and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of voices
+      in the corridor, and departed. The door had scarcely been closed when two
+      younger men presented themselves&mdash;Miles Ensol, Sir Henry's secretary,
+      a typical-looking young sailor minus his left arm; and a pale-faced,
+      clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian clothes. Sir Henry shook
+      hands with the latter and pointed to the easy-chair which his previous
+      visitor had just vacated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Welcome back again, Horridge,&rdquo; he said cordially. &ldquo;Miles, I'll ring when
+      I want you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very good, sir,&rdquo; the secretary replied. &ldquo;There's a fisherman from Norfolk
+      downstairs, when you're at liberty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll see him presently. Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+      Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;that eavesdropping extends to these
+      premises, or that our voices could reach outside. Still, a ha'porth of
+      prevention, eh? Have a cigar, Horridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look as though they'd put you through it,&rdquo; Sir Henry remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His visitor smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and we were out for
+      twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff. You know what the weather's
+      been like in the North Sea. Before that, the last word of writing I saw on
+      German soil was a placard, offering a reward of five thousand marks for my
+      detention, with a disgustingly lifelike photograph at the top. I had about
+      fifty yards of quay to walk in broad daylight, and every other man I
+      passed turned to stare after me. It gives you the cold shivers down your
+      back when you daren't look round to see if you're being followed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle of
+      whisky and a syphon of soda water. His visitor nodded approvingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary,&rdquo; he
+      observed. &ldquo;My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my life. Do
+      you mind, sir, if I lock the door?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go ahead,&rdquo; Sir Henry assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room. Horridge resumed
+      his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly. For a moment or two he
+      shook as though he had an ague. Then, just as suddenly as it had come upon
+      him, the fit passed. He drained the contents of the tumbler at a gulp, set
+      it down empty by his side, and stretched out his hand for a cigar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The end of my journey didn't help matters any,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I daren't
+      even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually by a tramp
+      steamer from Newcastle to London with coals. I hadn't been on board more
+      than an hour before a submarine which had been following overhauled us. I
+      thought it was all up then, but the fog lifted, and we found ourselves
+      almost in the midst of a squadron of destroyers from Harwich. I made
+      another transfer, and they landed me in time to catch the early morning
+      train from Felixstowe.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Did they get the submarine?&rdquo; his listener asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get it!&rdquo; the other repeated, with a smile. &ldquo;They blew it into scrap
+      metal.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Plenty of movement in your life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I've run the gauntlet over there once too often,&rdquo; Horridge said grimly.
+      &ldquo;Just look at me now, Sir Henry. I'm twenty-nine years old, and it's only
+      two years and a half since I was invalided out of the navy and took this
+      job on. The last person I asked to guess my age put me down at fifty. What
+      should you have said?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Somewhere near it,&rdquo; was the candid admission. &ldquo;Never mind, Horridge,
+      you've done your bit. You shall pass on your experience to a new hand,
+      take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few months. Now
+      let's get on with it. You know what I want to hear about.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're there, sir,&rdquo; he announced, &ldquo;coaled to the scuppers, every man
+      standing to stations and steam up. There's the list.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fast cruiser squadron,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;Hm! Three new ships we haven't
+      any note of. No transports, then, Horridge?'&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not a sign of one, sir,&rdquo; was the reply. &ldquo;They're after a bombardment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+      certain port on the east coast. Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're sure?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a certainty,&rdquo; Horridge replied. &ldquo;I've been on three of those ships.
+      I've dined with four of the officers. They're under sealed orders, and the
+      crew believes that they're going to escort out half a dozen commerce
+      destroyers. But I have the truth. That's their objective,&rdquo; Horridge
+      repeated, touching once more the spot upon the map, &ldquo;and they are waiting
+      just for one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know what they're waiting for,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Perhaps if they'd a Herr
+      Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before now. As it is&mdash;well,
+      I'm not sure,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;It seems a pity to disappoint them, doesn't
+      it? I'd love to give them a run for their money.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Horridge smiled faintly. He knew a good deal about his companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They're spoiling for it, sir,&rdquo; he admitted. Sir Henry spoke down a
+      telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room,&rdquo; his chief directed, &ldquo;and one of
+      our confidential typists. You can make out your report at your leisure,&rdquo;
+       he went on. &ldquo;Come in and see me when it's all finished.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Certainly, sir,&rdquo; Horridge replied, rising.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry held out his hand. He looked with something like wonder at the
+      nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain air of
+      briskness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Horridge,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I wish I had your pluck.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any, sir,&rdquo;
+       was the quiet reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XIX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the scene of
+      his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the moorland,
+      seawards. Above him, the sky was covered with little masses of quickly
+      scudding clouds. A fugitive and watery sunshine shone feebly upon a
+      wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape. He found a certain grim
+      satisfaction in comparing the disorderliness of the day with the tumult in
+      his own life. He felt that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater than
+      his capacity, for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable. And
+      behind him was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a few
+      hours ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+      decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation. Great
+      events wait upon you. The object of your search is necessary for our
+      imminent operations.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him. Captain Griffiths, on a great
+      bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the roadside, and then
+      pulled up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Back again, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As you see.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment. Then he approached a
+      little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When the fancy takes me,&rdquo; was the equable reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you come out to see our new guns?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had no idea,&rdquo; Lessingham answered indifferently, &ldquo;that you had any.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from the
+      south of England,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The secret of their coming and their locality
+      has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for the last week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They most of them spotted the guns,&rdquo; his companion continued, &ldquo;but not
+      many of them have found the searchlights yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems a little late in the year,&rdquo; Lessingham observed, &ldquo;to be making
+      preparations against Zeppelins.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, they cross here pretty often, you know,&rdquo; Griffiths reminded him.
+      &ldquo;It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to grief on
+      this common. We picked up their observation car not fifty yards from where
+      you are sitting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember hearing about it,&rdquo; Lessingham acknowledged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By-the-by,&rdquo; the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck, &ldquo;didn't
+      you arrive that evening or the evening after?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe I did.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Liverpool Street or King's Cross? The King's Cross train was very nearly
+      held up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I didn't come by train at all,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, glancing for a moment
+      into the clouds, &ldquo;And now I come to think of it, it must have been the
+      evening after.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Fine county for motoring,&rdquo; Griffiths continued, stroking his horse's
+      head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The roads I have been on seem very good,&rdquo; was the somewhat bored
+      admission.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You haven't a car of your own here, have you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments. Then
+      he turned once more towards his companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you are aware that I am Commandant here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, &ldquo;that Lady Cranston told me so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty, therefore,&rdquo; Griffiths went on, &ldquo;to take a little more than
+      ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this time of the year.
+      The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston is, of course, an
+      entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence here. At the same time,
+      there is certain information concerning strangers of which we keep a
+      record, and in your case there is a line or two which we have not been
+      able to fill up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I can be of any service,&rdquo; Lessingham murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely,&rdquo; the other interrupted. &ldquo;I knew you would feel like that. Now
+      your arrival here&mdash;we have the date, I think&mdash;October 6th. As
+      you have just remarked, you didn't come by train. How did you come?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that a question which you ask me to answer&mdash;officially?&rdquo; he
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not putting official questions to you at all,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;nor am I
+      cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the circumstances, simply
+      because your friendship with the Cranstons is, of course, a guarantee as
+      to your position. But on the other hand, I think it would be reasonable if
+      you were to answer my question.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you are right,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;As you can tell by finding me here
+      this afternoon, I am a great walker. I arrived&mdash;on foot.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; Griffiths reflected. &ldquo;The other question which we usually ask is,
+      where was your last stopping place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Stopping place?&rdquo; Lessingham murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?&rdquo; Griffiths
+      persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful memory.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I did not sleep at all,&rdquo; he complained. &ldquo;It was one of the worst
+      nights which I have ever spent in my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said with clumsy sarcasm, &ldquo;I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+      Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered my
+      questions. I won't bother you any more just at present. Shall I see you
+      to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston has asked me to dine,&rdquo; was the somewhat reserved reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His inquisitor nodded and cantered away. Lessingham looked after him until
+      he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh and walked
+      steadily into the lowering afternoon. Twilight was falling as he reached
+      Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some callers, to whom
+      she promptly introduced him. Lessingham gathered, almost in the first few
+      minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was becoming a subject of comment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think,&rdquo; a lady by
+      whose side he found himself observed. &ldquo;You perhaps didn't hear my name&mdash;Mrs.
+      Johnson?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I congratulate you upon your husband,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;I remember
+      him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I revoked.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear me!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;He must have taken a fancy to you, then. As a
+      rule, they rather complain about him at bridge.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I formed the impression,&rdquo; Lessingham continued, &ldquo;that he was rather a
+      better player than the majority of the performers there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady, smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He thinks so, at any rate,&rdquo; she conceded. &ldquo;Didn't he tell me that you
+      were invalided home from the front?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite sure that it was not mentioned,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We walked home
+      together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of the golf
+      and some shooting in the neighbourhood.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+      suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing. There was a little
+      commotion. Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to help collect the
+      fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper in his ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be careful. That woman is a cat. Stay and talk to me. Please don't
+      bother, Mr. Lessingham. Won't you ring the bell instead?&rdquo; she continued,
+      raising her voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs. Johnson's
+      inviting smile as he returned. Philippa made room for him by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;of
+      the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and both had
+      just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity. You never played, did you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No such luck. In any case, Richard would have been in well before me. I
+      always maintained that he was the first of our googlie bowlers.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?&rdquo; another caller remarked in
+      mild wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends,&rdquo; Philippa explained.
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+      disappointment. The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance in
+      Dreymarsh was practically strangled. Mrs. Johnson, however, fired a
+      parting shot as she rose to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+      Lessingham?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;No,&rdquo; he answered calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was busy with her adieux. Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; she persisted. &ldquo;You must forgive
+      my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military affairs.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham bowed courteously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all,&rdquo; he said coolly, &ldquo;but
+      as a matter of fact I am in the Guards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable. Her good-by to
+      Lessingham was most affable. She walked up the road with the vicar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Vicar,&rdquo; she said severely, &ldquo;that for a small place, Dreymarsh is
+      becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew. Every one has
+      been saying all sorts of unkind things about that charming Mr. Lessingham,
+      and there you are&mdash;Major Felstead's friend and a Guardsman! Somehow
+      or other, I felt that he belonged to one of the crack regiments. I shall
+      certainly ask him to dinner one night next week.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The vicar nodded benignly. He had the utmost respect for Mrs. Johnson's
+      cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to which the object of
+      their discussion had attained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time,&rdquo; he pronounced,
+      with ample condescension. &ldquo;I noticed him in church last Sunday morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed
+      pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers. &ldquo;The
+      Guards, indeed!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I told the dear lady the truth. You will find my name
+      well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the Prussian Guards.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She threw herself back in her chair and laughed. &ldquo;How amusing it would be
+      if it weren't all so terrible! You really are a perfect political Raffles.
+      Do you know that this afternoon you have absolutely reestablished
+      yourself? Mr. Johnson will probably call on you to-morrow&mdash;they may
+      even ask you to dine&mdash;the vicar will write and ask for a
+      subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you to play golf with her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do not turn my head,&rdquo; he begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;All the same,&rdquo; Philippa continued, more gravely, &ldquo;I shall never have a
+      moment's peace whilst you are in the place. I was thinking about you last
+      night. I don't believe I have ever realised before how terrible it would
+      be if you really were discovered. What would they do to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever they might do,&rdquo; he replied, a little wearily, &ldquo;I must obey
+      orders. My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told that I might
+      go, I should find it hard.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you mean that?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think you know,&rdquo; he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You men are so strange,&rdquo; she went on, after a moment's pause. &ldquo;You give
+      us so little time to know you, you show us so little of yourselves and you
+      expect so much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We offer everything,&rdquo; he reminded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to avoid platitudes,&rdquo; she said thoughtfully, &ldquo;but is love quite
+      the same thing for a man as for a woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sometimes it is more,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;Sometimes love, for a
+      woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the blending of
+      all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that he has learned
+      from books and from life. Sometimes a man can see no further and needs to
+      look no further.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger. There was something in her
+      heart of which she had never before been conscious, some music, some
+      strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or the words themselves.
+      It was madness, she told herself breathlessly. She was in love with her
+      husband, if any one. She could not have lost all feeling for him so soon.
+      She clasped her hands tightly. Lessingham seemed conscious of his
+      advantage, and leaned towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I were not offering you my whole life,&rdquo; he pleaded, &ldquo;believe me, I
+      would not open my lips. If I were thinking of episodes, I would throw
+      myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even your fingers. But
+      you, and you alone, could fill the place in my life which I have always
+      prayed might be filled, not for a year or even a decade of years, but for
+      eternity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, but you forget!&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember so much,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;that I know it is hard for you to
+      speak. There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your fingers shrink
+      from tearing them asunder. If it were not for this, Philippa&mdash;hear
+      the speech of a renegade&mdash;my mandate should be torn in pieces. My
+      instructions should flutter into the waste-paper basket, To-morrow should
+      see us on our way to a new country and a new life. But you must be very
+      sure indeed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it because of me that you are staying here?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my honour, no,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;I must stay here a little longer,
+      whatever it may mean for me. And so I am content to remain what I am to
+      you at this minute. I ask from you only that you remain just what you are.
+      But when the moment of my freedom comes, when my task here is finished and
+      I turn to go, then I must come to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open the
+      window. The breeze swept through the room, flapping the curtains, blowing
+      about loose articles into a strange confusion. She stood there for several
+      moments, as though in search of some respite from the emotional atmosphere
+      upon which she had turned her back. When she finally closed the window,
+      her hair was in little strands about her face. Her eyes were soft and her
+      lips quivering.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You make me feel,&rdquo; she said, taking his hand for a moment and looking at
+      him almost piteously, &ldquo;you make me feel everything except one thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Except one thing?&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't you understand?&rdquo; she continued, stretching out her hand with a
+      quick, impulsive little movement. &ldquo;I am here in Henry's house, his wife,
+      the mistress of his household. All the years we've been married I have
+      never thought of another man. I have never indulged in even the idlest
+      flirtation. And now suddenly my life seems upside down. I feel as though,
+      if Henry stood before me now, I would strike him on the cheek. I feel sore
+      all over, and ashamed, but I don't know whether I have ceased to love him.
+      I can't tell. Nothing seems to help me. I close my eyes and I try to think
+      of that new world and that new life, and I know that there is nothing
+      repulsive in it. I feel all the joy and the strength of being with you.
+      And then there is Henry in the background. He seems to have had so much of
+      my love.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+      encouragingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Just
+      think these things out. It isn't really a matter for sorrow,&rdquo; he
+      continued. &ldquo;Love must always mean happiness&mdash;for the one who is
+      loved.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She leaned back in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her, her
+      eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet. He sat by her side, fingering
+      some of the things in her work basket. Once she held out her hand and
+      seemed to find comfort in his clasp. He raised her fingers to his lips
+      without any protest from her. She looked at him with a little smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine,&rdquo; she declared. &ldquo;I can't see my
+      way like those wonderful emancipated women.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yet,&rdquo; he said thoughtfully, &ldquo;the way to the simple things is so clear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of Nora
+      and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked in for a game
+      of billiards. Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the latter had returned
+      to their game. His tone and manner now were completely changed. He seemed
+      ill at ease and unhappy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow,&rdquo; he told Philippa, &ldquo;but I
+      must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates. They all tell
+      me that your husband has any number of charts of the coast. Do you think I
+      could borrow one?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, of course,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;if we can find it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers as
+      were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly. By the
+      time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a little
+      collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know where else to look,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;You might go through those
+      and see if they are of any use. What is it, Mills?&rdquo; she added, turning to
+      the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at Sir
+      Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour. He looked away towards his
+      mistress, however, as he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The young woman has called with reference to a situation as parlour-maid,
+      your ladyship,&rdquo; he announced. &ldquo;I have shown her into the sewing room.&rdquo;
+       Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes,&rdquo; she promised Lessingham.
+      &ldquo;Just look through those till I come back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room. He stood for a
+      moment listening. On the left-hand side, through the door which had been
+      left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls and occasional peals
+      of laughter. On the right-hand side there was silence. He moved swiftly
+      across the room and closed the door leading into the billiard room,
+      deposited on the sofa the charts which he had been carrying, and hurried
+      back to the secretary. With a sickening feeling of overwhelming guilt, he
+      drew from his pocket a key and opened, one by one, the drawers through
+      which they had not searched. It took him barely five minutes to discover&mdash;nothing.
+      With an air of relief he rearranged everything. When Philippa returned, he
+      was sitting on the lounge, going through the charts which they had looked
+      out together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is nothing here,&rdquo; he decided, &ldquo;which will help me very much. With
+      your permission I will take this,&rdquo; he added, selecting one at random.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded and they replaced the others. Then she touched him on the arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+      coming?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He listened for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't hear any one,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;They've started a four-handed game
+      of pool in the billiard room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret. See!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She touched the spring in the side of the secretary. The false back, with
+      its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up. The large and
+      very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so much of his time,
+      was revealed. Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;That has been a great labour of love with Henry. It is
+      the chart, on a great scale, from which he works. I don't know a thing
+      about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry that you have seen it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued to examine the chart earnestly. Not a part of it escaped him.
+      Then he turned back to Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?&rdquo; he
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't exactly know where it is,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;Every time Henry finds
+      out anything new, he comes and works at it. I believe that very soon it
+      will be perfect. Then he will start on another part of the coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?&rdquo; Lessingham
+      enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe it is the fifth,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;They all disappear when they
+      are finished, but I have no idea where to. To me they seem to represent a
+      shocking waste of time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham was suddenly taciturn. He held out his hand. &ldquo;You are dining
+      with us to-morrow night, remember,&rdquo; she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not likely to forget,&rdquo; he assured her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And don't get drowned,&rdquo; she concluded. &ldquo;I don't know any of these
+      fishermen&mdash;I hate them all&mdash;but I'm told that Oates is the
+      worst.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think that we shall be quite all right,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;Thanks very
+      much for finding me the charts. What I have seen will help me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+      perfunctory. Lessingham was almost thankful to escape. There was an
+      unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his heart.
+      All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous quest had faded
+      away. No sense of duty or patriotism could revive his drooping spirits. He
+      felt himself suddenly an unclean and dishonoured being.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous wind of
+      an uncertain morning settled down to worse things. It tore the spray from
+      the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even against the French
+      windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down the open spaces
+      cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean artillery. A little group
+      of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the railing and discussed the chances
+      of Ben Oates bringing his boat in safely. Philippa, also, distracted by a
+      curious anxiety, stood before the blurred window, gazing into what seemed
+      almost a grey chaos. &ldquo;Captain Griffiths, your ladyship.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned around quickly at the announcement. Even an unwelcome caller at
+      that moment was almost a relief to her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+      Griffiths,&rdquo; she exclaimed, as they shook hands. &ldquo;Helen is over at the
+      Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem most
+      dolefully alone.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in the way
+      of enlivenment. He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than ever, and his
+      tone was almost threatening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I came
+      specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away. There seemed to
+      her something sinister in his manner. She was suddenly conscious that
+      there was a new danger to be faced, and that this man's attitude towards
+      her was, for some reason or other, inimical. After the first shock,
+      however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you seem very mysterious,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;I haven't broken any
+      laws, have I? No lights flashing from any of my windows?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort,&rdquo; the
+      Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint. &ldquo;My
+      call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a friendly one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How nice!&rdquo; she sighed. &ldquo;Then you'll have some tea, won't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not at present, if you please,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I have come to talk to you
+      about Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really?&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed. &ldquo;Whatever has that poor man been doing now.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreymarsh,&rdquo; her visitor proceeded, &ldquo;having been constituted, during the
+      last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and enquire
+      into the business of any stranger who appears here. Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+      has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his friendship with
+      you. I regret to state, however, that certain facts have come to my
+      knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself may not in some
+      measure have been deceived.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This sounds very ridiculous,&rdquo; Philippa interposed quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A few weeks ago,&rdquo; Captain Griffith continued, &ldquo;we received information
+      that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by some person connected
+      with the Secret Service of Germany. There is strong evidence that the
+      person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+      visitor at my father's house in Cheshire,&rdquo; Philippa observed, with faint
+      sarcasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston,&rdquo; Captain
+      Griffiths rejoined, &ldquo;has, I must confess, only just occurred to me. The
+      authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to, and no one of the
+      name of Lessingham was there during any one of your brother's terms.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa took the blow well. She simply stared at her caller in a
+      noncomprehending manner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have also information,&rdquo; he continued gravely, &ldquo;from Wood Norton Hall&mdash;from
+      your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston&mdash;that no college friend of your
+      brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Go on,&rdquo; Philippa begged, a little faintly. &ldquo;Did I ever live there myself?
+      Was Richard ever at Magdalen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to finish
+      and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of which
+      I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his last
+      habitation. He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced fashion. He
+      practically declined to give me any account of himself.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose I must give you some tea,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;although you seem to have
+      come here on purpose to make my head ache.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My object in coming here,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little stiffly,
+      &ldquo;is to save you some measure of personal annoyance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful,&rdquo; Philippa begged. &ldquo;Of
+      course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get to the
+      bottom of it presently&mdash;Tell me what you think of the storm?&rdquo; she
+      added, as Mills entered with the tea tray. &ldquo;Do you think it will get any
+      worse, because I am terrified to death already?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am no judge of the weather here,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;I believe the
+      fishermen are preparing for something unusual.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing her
+      duties as hostess. Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm and addressed
+      him with an air of complete candour.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Now, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;do listen to me. Just one moment of
+      common sense, if you please. What do you suppose there could possibly be
+      in our harmless seaside village to induce any one to risk his life by
+      coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of Germany?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dreymarsh,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths replied, &ldquo;was not made a prohibited area
+      for nothing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, my dear man, be reasonable,&rdquo; Philippa persisted. &ldquo;There are perhaps
+      a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations along the cliff
+      for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, and a couple of
+      searchlights. There isn't a grocer's boy in the place who doesn't know all
+      this. There's no concealment about it. You must admit that Germany doesn't
+      need to send over a Secret Service agent to acquaint herself with these
+      insignificant facts.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her visitor smiled very faintly. It was the first time he had relaxed even
+      so far as this.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you, Lady
+      Cranston,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I am not prepared to accept your statement that
+      Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than the things which you
+      have mentioned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now. The suggestion
+      contained in her visitor's words had really left her in a state of wonder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are making my flesh creep!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;You don't mean to say
+      that we have secrets here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon the
+      subject,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;You will understand, I am sure, that I am not here
+      in the character of an inquisitor. I simply thought it my duty, in view of
+      the fact that you had made yourself the social sponsor for Mr. Lessingham,
+      to place certain information before you, and to ask, unofficially, of
+      course, if you have any explanation to give? You may even,&rdquo; he went on,
+      hesitatingly, &ldquo;appreciate the motives which led me to do so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear man, what explanation could I have?&rdquo; Philippa protested, &ldquo;it is
+      an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at Magdalen with
+      my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood Norton. I know both these
+      things of my own knowledge. The only possible explanation, therefore, is
+      that you have been misinformed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Or,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths ventured, &ldquo;that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in those days
+      passed under another name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Another name?&rdquo; Philippa faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Some such name, perhaps,&rdquo; he continued, &ldquo;as Bertram Maderstrom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a short silence. Captain Griffiths had leaned back in his chair
+      and was caressing his upper lip. His eyes were fixed upon Philippa and
+      Philippa saw nothing. Her little heel dug hard into the carpet. In a few
+      seconds the room ceased to spin. Nevertheless, her voice sounded to her
+      pitifully inadequate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What an absurdity all this is!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, &ldquo;was, curiously enough,
+      an intimate college friend of your brother's. He was also a visitor at
+      Wood Norton Hall. At neither place is there any trace of Mr. Hamar
+      Lessingham. Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady Cranston. Perhaps you
+      have recognised the man and failed to remember his name. If so, now is the
+      moment to declare it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am very much obliged to you,&rdquo; Philippa retorted, &ldquo;but I have never met
+      or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Baron Maderstrom,&rdquo; he interrupted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I remember
+      perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup and
+      rising slowly to his feet. &ldquo;We cannot help one another, then.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember perfectly,
+      into a German baron whom I never heard of,&rdquo; Philippa declared boldly, &ldquo;I
+      am afraid that we can't.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swedish or German, I know nothing of him,&rdquo; Philippa persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There remains, then, nothing more to be said.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am afraid not,&rdquo; Philippa agreed sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Under the circumstances,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths asked, &ldquo;you will not, I am
+      sure, expect me to dine to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+      whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible for that
+      little storm of passion which for a moment transformed his appearance. He
+      quickly recovered, however.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may still,&rdquo; he concluded, moving towards the door, &ldquo;be forced to
+      present myself here in another capacity.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+      visitor, stifled Philippa. Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf around
+      her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to the railing,
+      dragged herself along to where the fishermen were gathered together in a
+      little group. The storm as yet showed no signs of abatement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Will she get in?&rdquo; Philippa asked eagerly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She's weathering it grand,&rdquo; the fisherman to whom she had first spoken,
+      declared. &ldquo;We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning on getting 'em
+      ashore all right. Lucky for Ben that the gentleman along with him is a
+      fine sailor. Look at that, mum!&rdquo; he added in excitement. &ldquo;See the way he
+      brought her head round to it, just in time. Boys, they'll come in on the
+      next one!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+      wave-splashed beach. There were a few more minutes of breathless anxiety.
+      Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight, hidden by a
+      huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to the top of it, to
+      hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and the surf and a great
+      green mass of waters, and then finally, with a harsh crash of timbers and
+      a shout from the fishermen, to be flung high and dry upon the stones.
+      Philippa, clutching the iron railing, saw for a moment nothing but chaos.
+      Her knees became weak. She was unable to move. There was a queer dizziness
+      in her ears. The sound of voices sounded like part of an unreal nightmare.
+      Then she was aware of a single figure climbing the steps towards her.
+      There was blood trickling down his face from the wound in the forehead,
+      and he was limping slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham!&rdquo; she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took an eager step towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Why, what are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was frightened,&rdquo; she faltered. &ldquo;Are you hurt?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not in the least,&rdquo; he assured her. &ldquo;We had a rough sail home, that's all,
+      and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious. Come along, let me
+      help you up the steps and out of this.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the house.
+      Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and Helen came
+      hurrying to them from the background.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I went out to see the storm,&rdquo; Philippa explained weakly, &ldquo;and I saw Mr.
+      Lessingham's boat brought in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once,&rdquo; Helen insisted. &ldquo;I
+      haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going to bind
+      his head up.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa began to feel her strength returning. The horror which lay behind
+      those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind. Mills had
+      hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were preparing to follow.
+      She stopped them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;listen. Captain Griffiths has been here. He
+      knows or guesses everything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen must bind your head up, of course,&rdquo; she continued. &ldquo;After that,
+      think! What can we do? Captain Griffiths knows that there was no Hamar
+      Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited Wood Norton, that
+      there is some mystery about your arrival here, and he told me to my face
+      that he believes you to be Bertram Maderstrom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a meddlesome fellow!&rdquo; Lessingham grumbled, holding his handkerchief
+      to his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, please be serious!&rdquo; Helen begged, looking up from the bandage which
+      she was preparing. &ldquo;This is horrible!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't I know it!&rdquo; Philippa groaned. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham, you must please try
+      and escape from here. You can have the car, if you like. There must be
+      some place where you can go and hide until you can get away from the
+      country.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I'm dining here to-night,&rdquo; Lessingham protested. &ldquo;I'm not going to
+      hide anywhere.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Can't I make you understand!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed pathetically. &ldquo;You're in
+      danger here&mdash;really in danger!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course, I can quite understand,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that Griffiths is
+      suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have broken
+      the law here, and I shall not make things any better by attempting an
+      opera bouffe flight. Can I have my head tied up and come and talk to you
+      about it later on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, if you like,&rdquo; Philippa assented weakly. &ldquo;I can't argue.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes. When she came
+      down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the library, with a
+      piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. His
+      head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed quite at his ease.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know,&rdquo; he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her, &ldquo;that
+      man Griffiths doesn't like me. He never took to me from the first, I could
+      see that. If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths. He is one of those
+      mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very well do without.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her bedroom,
+      tried to be firm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you know that we are both your friends. Do
+      listen, please. Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a position of
+      authority. He has a very large power. I honestly believe that it is his
+      intention to have you arrested&mdash;if not to-night, within a very few
+      days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not see how he can,&rdquo; Lessingham objected, helping himself to another
+      piece of toast. &ldquo;I have committed no crime here. I have played golf with
+      all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and I have given the
+      committee some excellent advice as to the two new holes. I have played
+      bridge down at the club&mdash;we will call it bridge!&mdash;and I have
+      kept my temper like an angel. I have dined at Mess and told them at least
+      a dozen new stories. I have kept my blinds drawn at night, and I have not
+      a wireless secreted up the chimney. I really cannot see what they could do
+      to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa tried bluntness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have served in the German army, and you are living in a protected
+      area under a false name,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;but
+      even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should do no good by
+      running away. To be perfectly serious,&rdquo; he added, setting his cup down,
+      &ldquo;there is only one thing at the present moment which would take me out of
+      Dreymarsh, and that is if you believe that my presence here would further
+      compromise you and Miss Fairclough.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was beginning to find her courage. &ldquo;We're in it already, up to
+      the neck,&rdquo; she observed. &ldquo;I really don't see that anything matters so far
+      as we are concerned.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In that case,&rdquo; he decided, &ldquo;I shall have the honour of presenting myself
+      at the usual time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before eight
+      that evening. Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a model of
+      simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that undefinable appeal to
+      the mysterious which even the greatest artist frequently fails to create
+      out of any form of colour. Some fancy had induced her to strip off her
+      jewels at the last moment, and she wore no ornaments save a band of black
+      velvet around her neck. Helen looked at her curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?&rdquo; she asked, as they stood
+      together by the log fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't know what I was thinking about, really,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;Is that
+      the exact time, I wonder?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Two minutes to eight,&rdquo; Helen replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual,&rdquo; Philippa murmured. &ldquo;I wonder if
+      Captain Griffiths would dare!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've done our best to warn him,&rdquo; Helen reminded her friend. &ldquo;The man is
+      simply pig-headed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can't help feeling that he's right,&rdquo; Philippa declared, &ldquo;when he argues
+      that they couldn't really prove anything against him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does that matter,&rdquo; Helen asked anxiously, &ldquo;so long as he is an enemy,
+      living under a false name here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't think they'd&mdash;they'd&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Shoot him?&rdquo; Helen whispered, lowering her voice. &ldquo;They couldn't do that!
+      They couldn't do that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The clock began to chime. Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening, gave
+      a little exclamation of relief.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear his voice!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Thank goodness!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's. A moment later
+      Mills ushered in their guest. He was still wearing his bandage, but his
+      colour had returned. He seemed, in fact, almost gay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing has happened, then?&rdquo; Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon as the
+      door was closed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing at all,&rdquo; he assured them. &ldquo;Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+      afraid of making a mistake.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine. Never mind, you'll have to take
+      care of us both,&rdquo; she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll do my best,&rdquo; he promised, offering his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it seemed
+      only to heighten the merriment of their little repast. Philippa had
+      ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining room, the many
+      appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded, the glow of the
+      wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon the table, seemed in
+      delicious contrast to the fury of the storm outside. They all three
+      appeared completely successful in a strenuous effort to dismiss all
+      disconcerting subjects from their minds. Lessingham talked chiefly of the
+      East. He had travelled in Russia, Persia, Afghanistan, and India, and he
+      had the unusual but striking gift of painting little word pictures of some
+      of the scenes of his wanderings. It was half-past nine before they rose
+      from the table, and Lessingham accompanied them into the library. With the
+      advent of coffee, they were for the first time really alone. Lessingham
+      sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a low chair close at hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;that I can venture now to tell you some news.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen put down her work. Philippa looked at him in silence, and her eyes
+      seemed to dilate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have hesitated to say anything about it,&rdquo; Lessingham went on, &ldquo;because
+      there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I believe that it is
+      now finally arranged. I think that within the next week or ten days&mdash;perhaps
+      a little before, perhaps a little later&mdash;your brother Richard will be
+      set at liberty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick? Dick coming home?&rdquo; Philippa cried, springing up from her reclining
+      position.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick?&rdquo; Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap. &ldquo;Mr.
+      Lessingham, do you mean it? Is it possible?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is not only possible,&rdquo; Lessingham assured them, &ldquo;but I believe that it
+      will come to pass. I have had to exercise a little duplicity, but I fancy
+      that it has been successful. I have insisted that without help from an
+      influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot bring my labours here to a
+      satisfactory conclusion, and I have named as the price of that help,
+      Richard's absolute and immediate freedom. I heard only this morning that
+      there would be no difficulty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I will come back in a few minutes,&rdquo; she promised, her voice a little
+      broken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place. There
+      were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a faint patch of
+      colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite steady. She caught at
+      his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, my dear, dear friend!&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;If only that little nightmare part
+      of you did not exist. If only you could be just what you seem, and one
+      could feel that you were there in our lives for always! I feel that I want
+      to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you. What shall I call
+      you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bertram, please,&rdquo; he whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then Bertram, dear,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;for my sake, because you have really
+      become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of your danger,
+      and because&mdash;see how honest I am&mdash;I am a little afraid of myself&mdash;will
+      you go away? The thought of your danger is like a nightmare to me. It all
+      seems so absurd and unreasonable&mdash;I mean that the danger which I fear
+      should be hanging over you. But I think that there is just a little
+      something back of your brain of which you have never spoken, which it was
+      your duty to keep to yourself, and it is just that something which brings
+      the danger.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not afraid for myself, Philippa,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I took a false step
+      in life when I came here. What it was that attracted me I do not know. I
+      think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst the clouds, and the
+      starlight. It seemed such a wonderful beginning to any enterprise. And,
+      Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the part which concerns you, it
+      was a gorgeous prelude, and for the other&mdash;well, it just does not
+      count because I have no fear. I have faith in my fortune, do you know
+      that? I believe that I shall leave this place unharmed, but I believe that
+      if I leave it without you, I shall go back to the worst hell in which a
+      man could ever...&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bertram,&rdquo; she pleaded, &ldquo;think of it all. Even if I cared enough&mdash;and
+      I don't&mdash;there is something unnatural about it. Doesn't it strike you
+      as horrible? My brother, my cousins, my father, are all fighting the men
+      of the nation whose cause you have espoused! There is a horrible, eternal
+      cloud of hatred which it will take generations to get rid of, if ever it
+      disappears. How can we two speak of love! What part of the world could we
+      creep into where people would not shrink away from us? I may have lost a
+      little of my heart to you, Bertram, I may miss you when you go away, I may
+      waste weary hours thinking, but that is all. Oh, you know that it must be
+      all!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not,&rdquo; he answered stubbornly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, you must be reasonable,&rdquo; she begged, with a little break in her
+      voice. &ldquo;You know very well that I ought not to listen to you. I ought not
+      to welcome you here. I ought to be strong and close my ears.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you will not do that!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; she faltered. &ldquo;Please don't come any nearer. I&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She broke off suddenly. The struggle in her face was ended, her expression
+      transformed. Her finger was held up as though to bid him listen. With her
+      other hand she clutched the back of the couch. Her eyes were fixed upon
+      the door. The little patch of wonderful colour faded from her cheeks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen!&rdquo; she cried, with a note of terror in her voice. &ldquo;That was the
+      front door! Some one has come! Can't you hear them?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket. She caught the glitter of
+      something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a half-stifled moan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not before you, dear,&rdquo; he promised. &ldquo;Please do not be afraid. If this is
+      the end, leave me alone with Griffiths. I shall not hurt him. I shall not
+      forget. And if by any chance,&rdquo; he added, &ldquo;this is to be our farewell,
+      Philippa, you will remember that I love you as the flowers of the world
+      love their sun. Courage!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The door facing them was opened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; Mills announced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers and
+      Inspector Fisher. Griffiths came into the room alone, however, and waited
+      until the door was closed before he spoke. He carried himself as awkwardly
+      as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to have taken to itself a new
+      expression. He had the air of a man indulging in some strange pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit here
+      is official.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What is it?&rdquo; she asked hoarsely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I spoke to
+      you this afternoon,&rdquo; he went on. &ldquo;I am sorry to disturb you at such an
+      hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a charge of espionage.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A most objectionable word,&rdquo; he remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A most villainous profession,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths retorted. &ldquo;Thank heaven
+      that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with its
+      disciples.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is all a hideous mistake,&rdquo; Philippa declared feverishly. &ldquo;I assure
+      you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that he was
+      well-known to me years ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As the Baron Maderstrom! What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston, to
+      induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not know, but
+      the facts are very clear.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?&rdquo; Lessingham remarked, turning to
+      Philippa. &ldquo;And as I gather that a portion of the British Army, assisted by
+      the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside, perhaps I had better
+      humour him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It would be as well, sir,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths assented grimly. &ldquo;I am glad
+      to find you in the humour for jesting.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham turned once more to Philippa. This time his tone was more
+      serious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston,&rdquo; he begged, &ldquo;won't you please leave us?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo; she answered hysterically. &ldquo;I know why you want me to, and I won't
+      go! You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you. I will not
+      leave the room, and you shall not&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat. She broke down
+      in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you have any weapon in your possession, sir,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you had better
+      hand it over to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, do you know,&rdquo; Lessingham replied, &ldquo;I scarcely see the necessity.
+      One thing I will promise you,&rdquo; he added, with a sudden flash in his eyes,
+      &ldquo;a single step nearer&mdash;a single step, mind&mdash;and you shall have
+      as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the rest of your life.
+      Remember that so long as you are reasonable I do not threaten you. Help me
+      to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Captain Griffiths was out of his depths. He was not a coward, but he had
+      no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's threat and
+      in the flash of his eyes. While he hesitated, there was a knock upon the
+      door. Mills came silently in. He carried a telegram upon a salver.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For you, sir,&rdquo; he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths. &ldquo;An orderly
+      has just brought it down.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned. He tore it open,
+      however, without a word. As he read, his long, upper teeth closed in upon
+      his lip. So he stood there until two little drops of blood appeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he turned to Mills.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is no answer,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The man bowed and left the room. He walked slowly and he looked back from
+      the doorway. It was scarcely possible for even so perfectly trained a
+      servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Something tells me,&rdquo; Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the door was
+      closed, &ldquo;that that message concerns me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The Commandant made no immediate reply. He straightened out the telegram
+      and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to be sure there was
+      no possible mistake. Then he folded it up and placed it in his waistcoat
+      pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The notion of your arrest, sir,&rdquo; he said to Lessingham harshly, &ldquo;is
+      apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not digested my
+      information. I am withdrawing my men for the present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not going to arrest him?&rdquo; Philippa cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not,&rdquo; Captain Griffiths answered. &ldquo;But,&rdquo; he added, turning to
+      Lessingham, &ldquo;this is only a respite. I have more evidence behind all that
+      I have offered. You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom, a German spy, living
+      here in a prohibited area under a false name. That I know, and that I
+      shall prove to those who have interfered with me in the execution of my
+      duty. This is not the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa. Lessingham
+      looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully. Then he shrugged his
+      shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; he declared.
+      &ldquo;There is no breeding about the fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain Griffiths
+      and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance. The crisis,
+      with its bewildering denouement, had affected her curiously. Lessingham
+      rose presently to his feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; he asked, &ldquo;if I could have a whisky and soda?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're not natural!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;Whisky and soda!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I don't know,&rdquo; he protested mildly, helping himself from the table
+      in the background. &ldquo;I rather thought I was being particularly British.
+      When in doubt, take a drink. That is Richard all the world over, you
+      know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!&rdquo; she exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He crossed the room towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I am, dear,&rdquo; he confessed. &ldquo;I want you just to sit up and lose
+      that unnatural look. I am not really full of cheap bravado, but I am a
+      philosopher. Something has happened to postpone&mdash;the end. Good luck
+      to it, I say!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty. Philippa rose to
+      her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll try and be reasonable too,&rdquo; she promised, resuming her seat. &ldquo;I was
+      right, you see. Captain Griffiths has discovered everything. Can you tell
+      me what possible reason any one in London could have had for
+      interference?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?&rdquo; he
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;This is aging me terribly,&rdquo; Philippa declared, throwing herself back into
+      her seat. &ldquo;All my life I have hated mysteries. Here I am face to face with
+      two absolutely insoluble ones. Captain Griffiths has assured me that there
+      is here in Dreymarsh something of sufficient importance to account for the
+      presence of a foreign spy. You have confirmed it. I have been torturing my
+      brain about that for the last twenty-four hours. Now there happens
+      something more inexplicable still. You are arrested, and you are not
+      arrested. Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is forbidden to do
+      his duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It seems puzzling, does it not?&rdquo; Lessingham agreed. &ldquo;I shouldn't worry
+      about the first, but this last little episode takes some explaining.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,&rdquo;
+       Philippa sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And something is going to happen,&rdquo; Lessingham declared, rising to his
+      feet. &ldquo;Did you hear that?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a gun from
+      almost underneath the window. The room was suddenly lightened by a single
+      vivid flash.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A mortar!&rdquo; Lessingham exclaimed. &ldquo;And that was a rocket, unless I'm
+      mistaken.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The signal for the lifeboat!&rdquo; Philippa announced. &ldquo;I wonder if we can see
+      anything.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening of the
+      door. Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mummy, there's a wreck!&rdquo; the former cried in excitement. &ldquo;I heard
+      something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the window,
+      watching. I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling now for the
+      other one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's quite true, Philippa,&rdquo; Helen declared. &ldquo;We're going to try and fight
+      our way down to the beach.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll go, too,&rdquo; Lessingham decided. &ldquo;Perhaps I may be of use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We'll all go,&rdquo; Philippa agreed. &ldquo;Wait while I get my things on. What is
+      it, Mills?&rdquo; she added, as the door opened and the latter presented
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your ladyship,&rdquo;
+       he announced. &ldquo;They have just sent up from the beach to know if we can
+      take some of the crew in. They are landing them as well as they can on the
+      line.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course we can,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;Tell them to send as many as
+      they want to. We will find room for them, somehow. I'll go upstairs and
+      see about the fires. You'll all come back?&rdquo; she added, turning around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will all come back,&rdquo; Lessingham promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They fought their way down to the beach. At first the storm completely
+      deafened all sound. The lanterns, waved here and there by unseen hands,
+      seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the only background was the
+      raging of the storm. Then suddenly, with a startling hiss, another rocket
+      clove its way through the darkness. They had an instantaneous but
+      brilliant view of all that was happening,&mdash;saw the trawler lying on
+      its side, apparently only a few yards from the shore, saw the line
+      stretched to the beach, on which, even at that moment, a man was being
+      drawn ashore, licked by the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair
+      clearly visible. Then all was darkness again more complete than ever. They
+      struggled down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of fishermen
+      were hard at work with the line. Almost the first person they ran across
+      was Jimmy Dumble. He was standing on the edge of the breakwater with a
+      great lantern in his hand, superintending the line, and, as they drew
+      near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could hear his voice above
+      the storm. He was shouting towards the wreck, his hand to his mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line. Do you
+      hear?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+      Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whom do you mean by 'master'?&rdquo; he demanded. Dumble scarcely glanced at
+      his interlocutor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure,&rdquo; was the agitated answer. &ldquo;These
+      lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line won't stand
+      for more than another one or two,&rdquo; he added, dropping his voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself into a
+      great drama before Lessingham's eyes. Sir Henry was on that ship as near
+      as any man might wish to be to death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;'Ere's the next,&rdquo; Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass vigorously.
+      &ldquo;Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill fearful
+      yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's hearing.
+      Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach by Jimmy's side.
+      The line had broken. The body of its suspended traveller had disappeared!
+      And just then, strangely enough, for the first time for over an hour, the
+      heavens opened in one great sheet of lightning, and they could see the
+      figure of one man left on the ship, clinging desperately to the rigging.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tie the line around me,&rdquo; Jimmy shouted. &ldquo;Let her go. Get the other end on
+      the windlass.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They paid out the rope through their hands. Jimmy kicked off his boots and
+      plunged into the cauldron. He swam barely a dozen strokes before he was
+      caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about like a cork and flung
+      back upon the beach, where he lay groaning. There was a little murmur
+      amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean over him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water,&rdquo; one of them
+      declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed it
+      around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are the young ladies?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck,&rdquo; some
+      one informed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham stooped down. Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord from
+      Jimmy's waist. He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots. Some
+      helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line around his
+      own waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We've sent for more rockets,&rdquo; one man shouted in his ear. &ldquo;The man will
+      be back in half an hour.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham pushed them on one side. He stood on the edge of the beach and,
+      borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity. Then suddenly he
+      vanished. They looked after him. They could see nothing but the rope
+      slipping past their feet, inch by inch. Sometimes it was stationary,
+      sometimes it was drawn taut. The first great wave that came flung a yard
+      or so of slack amongst them. Then, after the roar of its breaking had died
+      away, they saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and the
+      excitement began to thicken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That 'un didn't get him, anyway,&rdquo; one of them muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He'll go through the next, with luck,&rdquo; another declared hopefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half stunned by
+      the roar of the waters about him, still felt the exhilaration of that
+      great struggle. He looked once into seas which seemed to touch the clouds,
+      drew himself stiff, and plunged into the depths of a mountain of foaming
+      waters, whose summit seemed to him like one of those grotesque and
+      nightmare-distorted efforts of the opium-eating brain. Then the roar
+      sounded all behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers. He
+      swam to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain. It was Sir
+      Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My God, that was a swim!&rdquo; the latter declared, as he pulled his rescuer
+      up, not in the least recognising him. &ldquo;Let's have the end of that cord,
+      quick! So!&rdquo; he went on, paying it out through his fingers until the end of
+      the rope appeared. &ldquo;You'd better get your breath, young man, and then over
+      you go. I'll follow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm damned if I do!&rdquo; was the vigorous reply. &ldquo;You start off while I get
+      my breath.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray. Sir Henry held
+      Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept overboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Get one arm through the chains, man,&rdquo; he shouted. &ldquo;My God!&rdquo; he added,
+      peering through the gloom. &ldquo;Lessingham!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, don't stop to worry about that,&rdquo; was the fierce reply. &ldquo;Let's get
+      on with our job.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Follow me when they wave the lantern twice,&rdquo; he directed. &ldquo;If we either
+      of us get the knock&mdash;well, thanks!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and went
+      overboard into the darkness. Then, with one arm through the chains, he
+      drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which Sir Henry had thrown
+      upon the deck. Gradually it came within reach of his disengaged hand. He
+      seized it, shook it out, and dived eagerly into the breast pocket. There
+      were several small articles which he threw ruthlessly away, and then a
+      square packet, wrapped in oilcloth, which bent to his fingers. Another
+      breaking wave threw him on his back. One arm was still through the chain,
+      the other gripped what some illuminating instinct had already convinced
+      him was the chart! As soon as he had recovered his breath, a grim effort
+      of humour parted his lips. He lay there for a moment and laughed till the
+      spray, this time with a rush of green water underneath, very nearly swept
+      him from his place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to his
+      feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and groped
+      about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had fastened to a
+      staple below the chains. Then he drew a long breath, gripped the rope and
+      shouted. A second or two later he was back in the cauldron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea. Whatever
+      happened, he must not lose consciousness. The packet was still there
+      against the calf of his leg. It must be his own hands which removed his
+      clothes. It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces, those half a dozen
+      rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied a hundredfold. It was
+      an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which patted him on the back and
+      welcomed him, lanterns like the stars flashing everywhere around. He set
+      his teeth and fought against the buzzing in his ears. He tried to speak,
+      and his voice sounded like a weak, far away whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all right,&rdquo; he kept on saying.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms. His feet followed the
+      mesmeric influence of their movement. Was he going into the clouds, he
+      wondered? They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading to the gardens of
+      Mainsail Haul. How did he get there? He had no idea. More movements of his
+      feet, and then unexpected warmth. He looked around him. There were voices.
+      He listened. The one voice? The one face bending over his, her eyes wet
+      with tears, her whispers an incoherent stream of broken words. Then the
+      warmth seemed to come back to his veins. He sat up and found himself on
+      the couch in the library, the rain dripping from him in little pools, and
+      he knew that he had succeeded. He had not fainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am all right,&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;What a mess I am making!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand which held
+      a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Drink it all,&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+      through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf of his
+      leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost steady.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's a hot bath ready,&rdquo; Philippa told him; &ldquo;some dry clothes, and a
+      bedroom with a fire in. Do let Mills show you the way.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He rose at once, prepared to follow her. His feet were not quite so steady
+      as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable show. Mills, with
+      a little apology, held out his arm. Philippa walked by his other side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry clothes,&rdquo;
+       Philippa whispered, &ldquo;please ring, or send Mills to let us know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was even able to smile at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am quite all right,&rdquo; he assured her once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXV
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the empty
+      breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang the bell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mills,&rdquo; she enquired, &ldquo;is no one down?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship,&rdquo; the man answered,
+      &ldquo;and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship,&rdquo; Mills continued, looking carefully behind
+      him as though to be sure that the door was closed, &ldquo;has disappeared.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Disappeared?&rdquo; Philippa repeated. &ldquo;What do you mean, Mills?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship,&rdquo; Mills explained, &ldquo;in a
+      suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed&mdash;I
+      should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock. I called
+      him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty. The bed had
+      not been slept in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Was there no note or message?&rdquo; Philippa asked incredulously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, your ladyship. One of the maid servants believes that she heard
+      the front door open at five o'clock this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Ring up the hotel,&rdquo; Philippa instructed, &ldquo;and see if he is there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills departed to execute his commission. Philippa stood looking out of
+      the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the beach. There
+      was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell from the day before.
+      The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining brilliantly. Sir Henry,
+      Helen, and Nora were strolling about the beach as though searching for
+      something. About fifty yards out, the wrecked trawler was lying completely
+      on its side, with the end of one funnel visible. Scattered groups of the
+      villagers were examining it from the sands. In due course Mills returned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship, beyond
+      the fact that he did not return last night. They received a message from
+      Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to say that their mechanic
+      had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning to Norwich, where he had
+      caught the mail train to London, The boy was to say that Mr. Lessingham
+      would be back in a day or so.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the beach.
+      She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand to the
+      others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?&rdquo; Sir Henry observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+      response. Helen pointed to the wreck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It doesn't seem possible, does it,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;that men's lives should
+      have been lost in that little space. Two men were drowned, they say,
+      through the breaking of the rope. They recovered the bodies this morning.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat,&rdquo; Sir
+      Henry grumbled. &ldquo;I was down here at daylight, looking for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your coat!&rdquo; Philippa repeated scornfully. &ldquo;Fancy thinking of that, when
+      you only just escaped with your life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But to tell you the truth, my dear,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained, &ldquo;my pocketbook
+      and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat. I can't think
+      how I came to forget them. I think it was the surprise of seeing that
+      fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like a drowned rat. Jove,
+      what a pluck he must have!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fishermen can talk of nothing else,&rdquo; Nora put in excitedly. &ldquo;Mummy,
+      it was simply splendid! Helen and I had gone up with two of the rescued
+      men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the rope round his
+      waist and watch him plunge in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How is he this morning?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone,&rdquo; Philippa replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They all looked at her in surprise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Gone?&rdquo; Sir Henry repeated. &ldquo;What, back to the hotel, do you mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His bed has not been slept in,&rdquo; Philippa told them. &ldquo;He must have slipped
+      away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car, and motored
+      to Norwich. From there he went on to London. He has sent word that he will
+      be back in a few days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hope to God he won't!&rdquo; Sir Henry muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa swung round upon him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What do you mean by that?&rdquo; she demanded. &ldquo;Don't you want to thank him for
+      saving your life?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear, I certainly do,&rdquo; Sir Henry replied, &ldquo;but just now&mdash;well, I
+      am a little taken aback. Gone to London, eh? Tore away without warning in
+      the middle of the night to London! And coming back, too&mdash;that's the
+      strange part of it!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding food for
+      much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden disappearance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham,&rdquo; he added thoughtfully. &ldquo;He
+      must have&mdash;yes, by God, he must have&mdash;In that storm, too!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you could speak coherently, Henry,&rdquo; Philippa observed, &ldquo;I should like
+      to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham has
+      deserted us so precipitately.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him. He
+      shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Of
+      course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I have. Isn't
+      it true that people have begun to make curious remarks about him?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How did you know that, Henry?&rdquo; Philippa demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, one hears things,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I should gather, from what I heard,
+      that his position here had become a little precarious. Hence his sudden
+      disappearance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But he is coming back again,&rdquo; Philippa reminded her husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+      behind with her. They walked side by side up the gravel path. Philippa
+      kept her hands clasped behind her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;I feel
+      very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but I must
+      confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you lunching at the
+      Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days ago, when you left here
+      with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and also why you return here on a
+      trawler which belongs to another part of the coast?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry made a grimace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead,&rdquo; he observed
+      good-humouredly. &ldquo;If you wouldn't mind giving me another&mdash;well, to be
+      on the safe side let us say eight days&mdash;I think I shall be able to
+      offer you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; &ldquo;I see no reason why
+      you should not answer such simple questions at once.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take his
+      wife's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa, be a little brick,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;I know I seem to have been
+      playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a sort of
+      reason for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What reason could there possibly be,&rdquo; she demanded, &ldquo;which you could not
+      confide in me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He was silent for a moment. When he spoke again there was a new
+      earnestness in his tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;I have been working for some time at a little scheme
+      which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but which may lead to
+      something which I hope will alter your opinion. You couldn't see your way
+      clear to trust me a little longer, could you?&rdquo; he begged, with rather a
+      plaintive gleam in his blue eyes. &ldquo;It would make it so much easier for me
+      to say no more but just have you sit tight.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wonder,&rdquo; she answered coldly, &ldquo;if you realise how much I have suffered,
+      sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to do something!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My fishing excursions,&rdquo; he went on desperately, &ldquo;have not been altogether
+      a matter of sport.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know that quite well,&rdquo; she replied. &ldquo;You have been making that chart
+      you promised your miserable fishermen. None of those things interest me,
+      Henry. I fear&mdash;I am very much inclined to say that none of your
+      doings interest me. Least of all,&rdquo; she went on, her voice quivering with
+      passion, &ldquo;do I appreciate in the least these mysterious appeals for my
+      patience. I have some common sense, Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You're a suspicious little beast,&rdquo; he told her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Suspicious!&rdquo; she scoffed. &ldquo;What a word to use from a man who goes off
+      fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days afterwards,
+      with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was a trifle awkward,&rdquo; Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst of
+      candour, &ldquo;but it goes in with the rest, Philippa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then it can stay with the rest,&rdquo; she retorted, &ldquo;exactly where I have
+      placed it in my mind. Please understand me. Your conduct for the last
+      twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between us. If this
+      explanation that you promise comes&mdash;in time, and I feel like it, very
+      well. Until it does, I am perfectly free, and you, as my husband, are
+      non-existent. That is my reply, Henry, to your request for further
+      indulgence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Rather a foolish one, my dear,&rdquo; he answered, patting her shoulder, &ldquo;but
+      then you are rather a child, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She swung away from him angrily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't touch me!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;I mean every word of what I have said.
+      As for my being a child&mdash;well, you may be sorry some day that you
+      have persisted in treating me like one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure. There was
+      an unusual shade of trouble in his face. His love for and confidence in
+      his wife had been so absolute that even her threats had seemed to him like
+      little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to him out of the froth of her
+      temper. Yet at that moment a darker thought crossed his mind. Lessingham,
+      he realised, was not a rival, after all, to be despised. He was a man of
+      courage and tact, even though Sir Henry, in his own mind, had labelled him
+      as a fool. If indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh, what could it be
+      for? How much had Philippa known about him? He stood there for a few
+      moments in indecision. A great impulse had come to him to break his
+      pledge, to tell her the truth. Then he made his disturbed way into the
+      breakfast room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where's your mother, Nora?&rdquo; he asked, as Helen took Philippa's place at
+      the head of the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room.&rdquo; Nora explained.
+      &ldquo;The wind made her giddy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You going away again, Daddy?&rdquo; Nora asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to London this morning,&rdquo; he replied, a little absently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To London?&rdquo; Helen repeated. &ldquo;Does Philippa know?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't told her yet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen turned towards Nora.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee, there's
+      a dear,&rdquo; she suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nora acquiesced at once. As soon as she had left the room, Helen leaned
+      over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't go to London, Henry,&rdquo; she begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But my dear Helen, I must,&rdquo; he replied, a little curtly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I wouldn't if I were you,&rdquo; she persisted. &ldquo;You know, you've tried
+      Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional state. She
+      is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave her alone if I
+      were you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he leaned
+      towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?&rdquo; he asked
+      bluntly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No, I don't,&rdquo; Helen replied, &ldquo;but I think she is more furious with you
+      than you believe. For months you have acted&mdash;well, how shall I say?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool. Go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,&rdquo; Helen
+      continued, &ldquo;and you have given her none. You have treated her like
+      something between a doll and a child. Philippa is as good and sweet as any
+      woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to you that women are
+      rather mysterious beings? They may sometimes do, out of a furious sense of
+      being wrongly treated, out of a sort of aggravated pique, what they would
+      never do for any other reason. If you must go, come back to-night, Henry.
+      Come back, and if you are obstinate, and won't tell Philippa all that she
+      has a right to know, tell her about that luncheon in town.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's all very well, you know, Helen,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but a woman ought to
+      trust her husband.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am your friend, remember,&rdquo; Helen replied, &ldquo;and upon my word, I couldn't
+      trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have done for the
+      last twelve months.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry made a grimace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, that settles it, I suppose, then,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;I'll have one more
+      try and see what I can do with Philippa. Perhaps a hint of what's going on
+      may satisfy her.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at his
+      wife's door. There was no reply. He tried the handle and found the door
+      locked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you there, Philippa?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; she replied coldly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am going to London this morning. Can I have a few words with you
+      first?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be silly, Philippa,&rdquo; he persisted. &ldquo;I may be away for four or five
+      days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no answer. Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance from a
+      newly added bathroom. He availed himself of it and found Philippa seated
+      in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her breakfast. She raised her
+      eyebrows at his entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;These are my apartments,&rdquo; she reminded him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be a little fool,&rdquo; he exclaimed impatiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up her
+      book, and became at once immersed in it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't wish to talk to me, then?&rdquo; he demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not,&rdquo; she agreed. &ldquo;You have had all the opportunities which any man
+      should need, of explaining certain matters to me. My curiosity in them has
+      ended; also my interest&mdash;in you. You say you are going to London.
+      Very well. Pray do not hurry home on my account.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake of a
+      man arguing with a woman&mdash;he attempted to have the last word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps so,&rdquo; Philippa assented sweetly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought&mdash;solitude. She
+      had walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on the other
+      side of a spur of the cliffs. Before her stretched a long and level plain,
+      a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly beach. There was not a sign of any
+      human being in sight, and of buildings only a quaint tower on the far
+      horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down, her
+      hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward. She had come out
+      here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and transient her thoughts
+      became. Her husband was always there in the background, but in those
+      moments it was Lessingham who was the predominant figure. She remembered
+      his earnestness, his tender solicitude for her, the courage which, when
+      necessity demanded, had flamed up in him, a born and natural quality. She
+      remembered the agony of those few minutes on the preceding day, when
+      nothing but what still seemed a miracle had saved him. At one moment she
+      felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back. At another,
+      her heart ached to see him once more. She knew so well that if he came it
+      would be for her sake, that he would come to ask her finally the question
+      with which she had fenced. She knew, too, that his coming would be the
+      moment of her life. She was so much of a woman, and the passionate craving
+      of her sex to give love for love was there in her heart, almost
+      omnipotent. And in the background there was that bitter desire to bring
+      suffering upon the man who had treated her like a child, who had placed
+      her in a false position with all other women, who had dawdled and idled
+      away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every serious obligation.
+      When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear, and yet, behind it all,
+      there was that cold impulse of almost Victorian prudishness, the
+      inheritance of a long line of virtuous women, a prudishness which she had
+      once, when she had believed that it was part of her second nature, scoffed
+      at as being the outcome of one of the finer forms of selfishness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision came no
+      nearer to her. A late afternoon star shone weakly in the sky. A faint,
+      vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in tangled wreaths upon the
+      face of the sea. Only that line of sand seemed still clear-cut and
+      distinct, and as she glanced along it her eyes were held by something
+      approaching, something which seemed at first nothing but a black, moving
+      speck, then gradually resolved itself into the semblance of a man on
+      horseback, galloping furiously. She watched him as he drew nearer and
+      nearer, the sand flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless, his
+      eyes apparently fixed upon some distant spot. It was not until he had come
+      within fifty yards of her that she recognised him. His horse shied at the
+      sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a powerful wrist. Little
+      specks of sand, churned up in the momentary stampede of hoofs, fell upon
+      her skirt. For the rest, she watched the struggle composedly, a struggle
+      which was over almost as soon as it was begun. Captain Griffiths leaned
+      down from his trembling but subdued horse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston!&rdquo; he exclaimed in astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's me,&rdquo; she replied, smiling up at him. &ldquo;Have you been riding off
+      your bad temper?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides. Back as far as one could
+      see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Am I bad-tempered?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she observed, &ldquo;I don't know you well enough to answer that
+      question. I was simply thinking of yesterday evening.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He slipped from his horse and stood before her. His long, severe face had
+      seldom seemed more malevolent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had enough to make me bad-tempered,&rdquo; he declared. &ldquo;I had tracked down a
+      German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for arrest&mdash;expecting
+      it, even&mdash;and then I got that wicked message.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What was that wicked message after all?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That doesn't matter,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;It was from a quarter where they
+      ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest. I have sent to
+      the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying that they may change
+      their minds.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa sighed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you hadn't received that telegram last night,&rdquo; she observed, &ldquo;it seems
+      to me that I should have been a widow to-day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, I heard of that,&rdquo; he admitted. &ldquo;I dare say if he hadn't gone,
+      though, some one else would.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Would you have gone if you had been there?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you had told me to,&rdquo; he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa felt a little shiver. There was something ominous in the
+      intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to impart to
+      his tone. She rose to her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;don't let me keep you here. I am getting cold.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse. &ldquo;I will walk with you,
+      if I may,&rdquo; he proposed. She made no reply, and they set their faces
+      homewards.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I hear Lessingham has left the place,&rdquo; he remarked, a little abruptly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I expect he'll come back,&rdquo; Philippa replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with German
+      spies?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't be foolish&mdash;or impertinent,&rdquo; she enjoined. &ldquo;You are making a
+      ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He laughed unpleasantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No need for us to fence,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You and I know who he is. What I do
+      want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from the point there&mdash;four
+      miles of hard galloping and one question&mdash;why are you his friend?
+      What is he to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Really, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she protested, looking up at him, &ldquo;of what
+      possible interest can that be to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it is, anyhow,&rdquo; he answered gruffly. &ldquo;Anything that concerns you is
+      of interest to me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what it all
+      meant. She realised the significance of those apparently purposeless
+      afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had to send for Helen
+      to help her out; the significance of those long silences, the melancholy
+      eyes which seemed to follow her movements. She felt an unaccountable
+      desire to laugh, and then, at the first twitchings of her lips, she
+      restrained herself. She knew that tragedy was stalking by her side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think, Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; she said gravely, &ldquo;that you are talking
+      nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it. Won't you please ride
+      on?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He made no movement to mount his horse. He plodded along the soft sand by
+      her side&mdash;a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed upon the
+      ground.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard,&rdquo; he persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was never so hard?&rdquo; she repeated. &ldquo;Do you imagine that I have ever for
+      a single moment considered my demeanour towards you&mdash;you of all
+      persons in the world? I simply don't remember when you have been there and
+      when you haven't. I don't remember the humours in which I have been when
+      we have conversed. All that you have said seems to me to be the most
+      arrant nonsense.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank you,&rdquo; he said bitterly, &ldquo;I understand. Only let me tell you this,&rdquo;
+       he went on, his whip poised in his hand. &ldquo;You may have powerful friends
+      who saved your&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that he had
+      wished to say in his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My what?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His courage failed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; he proceeded, &ldquo;from arrest. But if he shows his face
+      here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him. I shall shoot him
+      on sight and chance the consequences.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They'll hang you!&rdquo; she declared savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He laughed at her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy? They
+      won't dare! They won't even dare to place me under arrest for an hour.
+      Why, when the truth becomes known,&rdquo; he went on, his voice gaining courage
+      as the justice of his case impressed itself upon him, &ldquo;what do you suppose
+      is going to happen to two women who took this fellow in and befriended
+      him, introduced him under a false name to their friends, gave him the run
+      of their house&mdash;this man whom they knew all the time was a German?
+      You, Lady Cranston, chafing and scolding your husband by night and by day
+      because he isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so patriotic that
+      you cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you&mdash;the hostess,
+      the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom! It will be a
+      pretty tale when it's all told!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I really think,&rdquo; Philippa asserted calmly, &ldquo;that you are the most utterly
+      impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face was dangerous for a moment. They had not yet reached the
+      promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, &ldquo;I could make myself
+      even more obnoxious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite possibly,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;only I want to tell you this. If you come
+      a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your friend or your husband, eh?&rdquo; he scoffed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She waved him on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;that either of them would be quite capable of
+      ridding the world of a coward like you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A coward?&rdquo; he repeated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Precisely! Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't want to terrorise you,&rdquo; he said sulkily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire to make
+      yourself agreeable,&rdquo; she pointed out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned suddenly upon her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am a fool, I know,&rdquo; he declared bitterly. &ldquo;I'm an awkward, nervous,
+      miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in the Mess, turning
+      the people against me I want to have like me, stumbling into every blunder
+      a fool can. I'm the sort of man women make sport of, and you've done it
+      for them cruelly, perfectly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths!&rdquo; she protested. &ldquo;When have I ever been anything but
+      kind and courteous to you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy! There's a curse upon my
+      tongue,&rdquo; he went on desperately. &ldquo;I'm not like other men. I don't know how
+      to say what I feel. I can't put it into words. Every one misunderstands
+      me. You, too! Here I rode up to you this afternoon and my heart was
+      beating for joy, and in five minutes I had made an enemy of you. Damn that
+      fellow Lessingham! It is all his fault!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon his
+      horse's flanks. The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off, riding at
+      a furious gallop. Philippa watched him with immense relief. In the far
+      distance she could see two little specks growing larger and larger. She
+      hurried on towards them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?&rdquo; Nora demanded. &ldquo;Why he
+      passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman, and his face
+      looked&mdash;well, what did it look like, Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Like a man riding for his enemy,&rdquo; she declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across the
+      luncheon table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I suppose one misses the child,&rdquo; Helen said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I feel too depressed for words,&rdquo; Philippa admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A few days ago,&rdquo; Helen reminded her companion, &ldquo;we were getting all the
+      excitement that was good for any one.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And a little more,&rdquo; Philippa agreed. &ldquo;I don't know why things seem so
+      flat now. We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;and
+      Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have reverted to
+      the normal, haven't we? I wonder&mdash;if Mr. Lessingham has gone back.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do not think so,&rdquo; Philippa murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen frowned slightly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Personally,&rdquo; she said, with some emphasis, &ldquo;I hope that he has.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If we are considering the personal point of view only,&rdquo; Philippa
+      retorted, &ldquo;I hope that he has not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen looked her disapproval.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire,&rdquo; she
+      observed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;One never has until one has burned one's fingers,&rdquo; Philippa sighed. &ldquo;I
+      know perfectly well what is the matter with you,&rdquo; she continued severely.
+      &ldquo;You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's favourite dish.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not such a baby,&rdquo; Helen protested. &ldquo;All the same, it does make one
+      think. I wonder&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know exactly what you were going to say,&rdquo; Philippa interrupted. &ldquo;You
+      were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham would keep his
+      promise.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whether he would be able to,&rdquo; Helen corrected. &ldquo;It does seem so
+      impossible, doesn't it?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So does Mr. Lessingham himself,&rdquo; Philippa reminded her. &ldquo;It isn't exactly
+      a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and well-bred young man
+      step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You really believe, then,&rdquo; Helen asked eagerly, &ldquo;that he will be able to
+      keep his promise?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa nodded confidently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you know,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some means or
+      another, would keep any promise he ever made. I am expecting to see Dick
+      at any moment now, so you can get on with your lunch, dear, and not sit
+      looking at the curry with tears in your eyes.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It isn't the curry so much as the chutney,&rdquo; Helen protested faintly. &ldquo;He
+      never would touch any other sort.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the bottle,&rdquo;
+       Philippa declared. &ldquo;I have a feeling this morning that something is going
+      to happen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long has Nora gone away for?&rdquo; Helen enquired, after a moment's pause.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A fortnight or three weeks,&rdquo; Philippa answered. &ldquo;Her grandmother wired
+      that she would be glad to have her until Christmas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Just why,&rdquo; Helen asked seriously, &ldquo;have you sent her away?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she regretted
+      Mills' absence from the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I thought it best,&rdquo; she said quietly. &ldquo;You see, I am not quite sure what
+      the immediate future of this menage is going to be.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear,&rdquo; she sighed, &ldquo;it worries me so to hear you talk like that.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it, that
+      at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry. It isn't fair,
+      you know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To whom isn't it fair?&rdquo; Philippa demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;To Mr. Lessingham.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; she admitted, &ldquo;that is a point of view which I have not
+      sufficiently considered.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen pressed home her advantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think you realise, Philippa,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;how madly in love with
+      you the man is. In a perfectly ingenuous way, too. No one could help
+      seeing it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Then where does the unfairness come in?&rdquo; Philippa asked. &ldquo;It is within my
+      power to give him all that he wants.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you wouldn't do it, Philippa. You know that you wouldn't!&rdquo; Helen
+      objected. &ldquo;You may play with the idea in your mind, but that's just as far
+      as you'd ever get.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face. &ldquo;I disagree with you,
+      Helen,&rdquo; she said. Helen set down the glass which she had been in the act
+      of raising to her lips. It was her first really serious intimation of the
+      tragedy which hovered over her future sister-in-law's life. Somehow or
+      other, Philippa had seemed, even to her, so far removed from that
+      strenuous world of over-drugged, over-excited feminine decadence, to whom
+      the changing of a husband or a lover is merely an incident in the day's
+      excitements. Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike beauty, her
+      love of the wholesome ways of life, and her strong affections, represented
+      other things. Now, for the first time, Helen was really afraid, afraid for
+      her friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But you couldn't ever&mdash;you wouldn't leave Henry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing,&rdquo; she confided.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced. Their
+      conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the wonderful thing happened. The windows of the dining room faced
+      the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a motor car turn
+      in at the gate and stop at the front door. It was obviously a hired car,
+      as the driver was not in livery, but the tall, mulled-up figure in
+      unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front seat was for the moment a
+      mystery to them. Only Helen seemed to have some wonderful premonition of
+      the truth, a premonition which she was afraid to admit even to herself.
+      Her hand began to shake. Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Who on
+      earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+      agitation. She sprang to her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen, you don't imagine&mdash;&rdquo; she gasped. &ldquo;Listen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a voice in the hail&mdash;a familiar voice, though strained a
+      little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent. And
+      then&mdash;Major Richard Felstead!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick!&rdquo; Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms. &ldquo;Oh, Dick!
+      Dick!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was an incoherent, breathless moment. Somehow or other, Philippa found
+      herself sharing her brother's embrace. Then the fire of questions and
+      answers was presently interrupted by Mills, triumphantly bearing in a
+      fresh dish of curry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!&rdquo; he said.
+      &ldquo;It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the day, isn't it,
+      Philippa, but can I have some champagne?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You can have the whole cellarful,&rdquo; Philippa assured him joyously. &ldquo;Be
+      sure you bring the best, Mills.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship,&rdquo; was the murmured reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they found
+      themselves seated once more at the table. They sat one on either side of
+      him, watching his glass and his plate. By degrees their questions and his
+      answers became more intelligible.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When did you get here?&rdquo; they wanted to know.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning,&rdquo; he told them; &ldquo;came
+      across from Holland. I hired a car and drove straight here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When did you know you were coming home?&rdquo; Helen asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only two days ago,&rdquo; he replied. &ldquo;I never was so surprised in my life.
+      Even now I can't realise my good luck. I can't see what I've done. The
+      last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream. Jove!&rdquo; he went
+      on, as he drank his wine, &ldquo;I never thought I should be such a pig as to
+      care so much for eating and drinking!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And think what weeks of it you have before you?&rdquo; Helen explained,
+      clapping her hands. &ldquo;Philippa and I will have a new interest in life&mdash;to
+      make you fat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It won't be very difficult,&rdquo; he promised them. &ldquo;I had several months of
+      semi-starvation before the miracle happened. It was all just the chance of
+      having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been serving in the German Army&mdash;Bertram
+      Maderstrom was his name. You remember him, Philippa? He was a Swede in
+      those days.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been so
+      faithful!&rdquo; Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's a real good sort,&rdquo; Felstead declared enthusiastically, &ldquo;although
+      Heaven knows why he's turned German! He worked like a slave for me. I dare
+      say he didn't find it so difficult to get me better quarters and a
+      servant, and decent food, but when they told me that I was free&mdash;well,
+      it nearly knocked me silly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The dear fellow!&rdquo; Philippa murmured pensively.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do you remember him, either of you?&rdquo; Felstead continued. &ldquo;Rather
+      good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I&mdash;seem to remember,&rdquo; Philippa admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The name sounds familiar,&rdquo; Helen echoed. &ldquo;Do have some more chutney,
+      Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thanks! What a pig I am making of myself!&rdquo; he observed cheerfully. &ldquo;You
+      girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom, but the whole
+      business beats me so completely. Of course, we were great pals, in a way,
+      but I never thought that I was the apple of his eye, or anything of that
+      sort. How he got the influence, too, I can't imagine. And oh! I knew there
+      was something else I was going to ask you girls,&rdquo; Felstead went on. &ldquo;Have
+      you ever had a letter, or rather a letter each, uncensored? Just a line or
+      two? I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I should not have been allowed
+      to do in the ordinary prison letters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the quick
+      glance which passed between the two women.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, we had them, Dick,&rdquo; Philippa told him. &ldquo;It was one afternoon&mdash;it
+      doesn't seem so very long ago. And oh, how thankful we were!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He got them across all right, then. Tell me, did they come through
+      Holland? What was the postmark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The postmark,&rdquo; Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully. &ldquo;You heard what
+      Dick asked, Helen? The postmark?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think there was one,&rdquo; Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+      Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead set down his glass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No postmark? You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose? They were posted in
+      England, eh?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They came to us, Dick,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;by hand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished. He turned round in his chair
+      towards Philippa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;By hand?&rdquo; he repeated. &ldquo;Do you mean to say that they were actually
+      brought here by hand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Perhaps something in his manner warned them. Philippa laughed as she bent
+      over his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We will tell you how they came, presently,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;but not until
+      you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that champagne, and
+      had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has been decanting so
+      carefully. After that we will see. Just now I have only one feeling, and I
+      know that Helen has it, too. Nothing else matters except that we have you
+      home again.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his and
+      kissed her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's so wonderful to be at home!&rdquo; he exclaimed apologetically. &ldquo;But I
+      must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive. I went out to the war
+      with a certain amount of respect for the Germans. I have come back
+      loathing them like vermin. I spent&mdash;but I won't go on.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I beg your ladyship's pardon,&rdquo; he said, as he filled Felstead's glass,
+      &ldquo;but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library, waiting to see
+      you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXVIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without significance.
+      For the first time he became conscious, however, of something which seemed
+      almost like a secret understanding between his sister and his fiancée.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he will
+      kindly wait,&rdquo; Philippa instructed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is Mr. Lessingham?&rdquo; Richard enquired, as soon as the door had closed
+      behind Mills. &ldquo;Seems a queer time to call.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood,&rdquo; the latter
+      replied. &ldquo;You will probably make his acquaintance before long.
+      Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sounds exciting,&rdquo; Richard observed. &ldquo;What form of destruction was Henry
+      courting?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm,&rdquo; Philippa explained. &ldquo;You
+      can see it from all the front windows. Henry was on board, returning from
+      one of his fishing excursions. They were trying to find Dumble's anchorage
+      and were driven in on to that low ridge of rock. A rope broke, or
+      something, they had no more rockets, and Mr. Lessingham swam out with the
+      line.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sounds like a plucky chap,&rdquo; Richard admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I expect he has come to wish us good-by,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;I'll leave you with
+      Helen, Dick. Don't let her overfeed you. And you know where the cigars
+      are, Helen. Take Dick into the gun room afterwards. You'll have it all to
+      yourselves and there is a fire there.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she was
+      glad to have some reasonable excuse. She held out both her hands to
+      Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick is back&mdash;just arrived!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;I can't tell you how
+      happy we are, and how grateful!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am glad,&rdquo; he said simply. &ldquo;Do you mean that he is in the house here,
+      now?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He is in the dining room with Helen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you think,&rdquo; he suggested, &ldquo;that it would be better to keep us
+      apart?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I was wondering,&rdquo; she confessed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Have you told him about my bringing the letters?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We nearly did. Then I stopped&mdash;I wasn't sure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were wise,&rdquo; he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you wise?&rdquo; she asked him quickly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In coming back here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths knows everything,&rdquo; she reminded him. &ldquo;He is simply
+      furious because your arrest was interfered with. I really believe that he
+      is dangerous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham was unmoved.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I had to come back,&rdquo; he said simply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why did you go away so suddenly?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I had to do that, too,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;only the governing causes were
+      very different. We will speak, if you do not mind, only of the cause which
+      has brought me back. That I believe you know already.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was curiously afraid. She looked towards the door as though with
+      some vague hope of escape. She realised that the necessity for decision
+      had arrived.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;do you see what this is?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He handed her two folded slips of paper. She started. At the top of one
+      she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What are they?&rdquo; she asked. &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They are passports for America,&rdquo; he told her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For&mdash;for me?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;For you and me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They slipped from her fingers. He picked them up from the carpet. Her face
+      was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know so well how you are feeling,&rdquo; he said humbly. &ldquo;I know how terrible
+      a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near. You are so different
+      from the other women who might do this thing. It is so much harder for you
+      than for them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She lifted her head. There was still something of the look of a scared
+      child in her face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't imagine me better than I am,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;I am not really
+      different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort of
+      thing has ever come into my life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know. You see,&rdquo; he went on, a little wistfully, &ldquo;you have not taken me,
+      as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa. You know that I love you
+      as a man loves only once. It sounds like an empty phrase to say it, but if
+      you will give me your life to take care of, I shall only have one thought&mdash;to
+      make you happy. Could I succeed? That is what you have to ask yourself.
+      You are not happy now. Do you think that, if you stay on here, the future
+      is likely to be any better for you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She shook her head drearily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I believe,&rdquo; she confessed, &ldquo;that I have reached the very limit of my
+      endurance.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He came a little nearer. His hands rested upon her shoulders very lightly,
+      yet they seemed like some enveloping chain. More than ever in those few
+      moments she realised the spiritual qualities of his face. His eyes were
+      aglow. His voice, a little broken with emotion, was wonderfully tender. He
+      looked at her as though she were some precious and sacred thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am rich,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and there are few parts of the world where we could
+      not live. We could find our way to the islands, like your great writer
+      Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands full of colour, and
+      wonderful birds, and strange blue skies; islands where the peace of the
+      tropics dulls memory, and time beats only in the heart. The world is a
+      great place, Philippa, and there are corners where the sordid crime of
+      this ghastly butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and the
+      taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and moon are
+      still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon the sapphire
+      seas.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It sounds like a fairy tale,&rdquo; she murmured, with a half pathetic smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Love always fashions life like a fairy tale,&rdquo; he replied.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She stood perfectly still.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must have my answer now, at this moment?&rdquo; she asked at last.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are yet some hours,&rdquo; he told her. &ldquo;I have a very powerful
+      automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon. If we leave here at
+      ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon. Everything has
+      been made very easy for me. And fortune, too, is with us&mdash;your
+      vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in London. You see, you have
+      the whole afternoon for thought. I want you only for your happiness. At
+      ten o'clock I shall come here. If you are coming with me, you must be
+      ready then. You understand?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I understand,&rdquo; she assented, under her breath. &ldquo;And now,&rdquo; she went on,
+      raising her eyes, &ldquo;somehow I think that you are right. It would be better
+      for you and Dick not to meet.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sure of it,&rdquo; he agreed. &ldquo;I shall come for my answer at ten o'clock.
+      I wonder&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her face.
+      There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass, even, for
+      affection, and yet something which, behind it all, chilled his confidence.
+      He left his sentence uncompleted and turned towards the door. Suddenly she
+      called him back. She held up her finger. Her whole expression had changed.
+      She was alarmed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Wait!&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;I can hear Dick's voice. Wait till he has crossed the
+      hail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They both stood, for a moment, quite silent. Then they heard a little
+      protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from Richard. The
+      door was thrown open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?&rdquo; her brother
+      asked. &ldquo;We're not&mdash;My God!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the threshold,
+      the picture of distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard took a quick step forward. His hands were outstretched.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Bertram!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Is this a miracle? You here with my sister?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham held out his hand. Suddenly Richard dropped his. His expression
+      had become sterner.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't understand,&rdquo; he said simply. &ldquo;Somebody please explain.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXIX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon themselves the
+      onus of speech. Richard's amazement seemed to increase upon reflection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom!&rdquo; he exclaimed. &ldquo;Bertram! What in the name of all that's
+      diabolical are you doing here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am just a derelict,&rdquo; Lessingham explained, with a faint smile. &ldquo;Glad to
+      see you, Richard. You are a day earlier than I expected.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You knew that I was coming, then?&rdquo; Richard demanded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; Lessingham replied. &ldquo;I had the great pleasure of arranging
+      for your release.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here,&rdquo; Richard went on, &ldquo;I'm groping about a bit. I don't
+      understand. Forgive me if I run off the track. I'm not forgetting our
+      friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came and found me
+      at Wittenburg. But for all that, you have served in the German Army and
+      are an enemy, and I want to know what you are doing here, in England, in
+      my brother-in-law's house.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No particular harm, Richard, I promise you,&rdquo; Lessingham replied mildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are here under a false name!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind,&rdquo; the other assented. &ldquo;I prefer my
+      own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would ensure me a very
+      warm welcome over here just now. Besides,&rdquo; he added, with a glance at
+      Philippa, &ldquo;I have to consider the friends whose hospitality I have
+      enjoyed.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard. His tone
+      became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;we met last under different circumstances. I will
+      admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an honourable
+      imprisonment. I am not so sure that yours is an honourable freedom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!&rdquo; she
+      begged.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would never have lived through it,&rdquo; Helen echoed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are talking to Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; Philippa protested, &ldquo;as though he
+      were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard waved them away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must leave this to us,&rdquo; he insisted. &ldquo;Maderstrom and I will be able
+      to understand one another, at any rate. What are you doing in this house&mdash;in
+      England? What is your mission here?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished,&rdquo; Lessingham said gravely.
+      &ldquo;At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Accomplished?&rdquo; Richard repeated. &ldquo;What the devil do you mean?
+      Accomplished? Are you playing the spy in this country?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You would probably consider my mission espionage,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck. &ldquo;Dick,&rdquo; she pleaded,
+      &ldquo;please listen. Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this district, ever since
+      he landed in England. What possible harm could he do? We haven't a single
+      secret to be learned. Everybody knows where our few guns are. Everybody
+      knows where our soldiers are quartered. We haven't a harbour or any secret
+      fortifications. We haven't any shipping information which it would be of
+      the least use signalling anywhere. Mr. Lessingham has spent his time
+      amongst trifles here. Take Helen away somewhere and forget that you have
+      seen him in the house. Remember that he has saved Henry's life as well as
+      yours.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I invite no consideration upon that account,&rdquo; Lessingham declared. &ldquo;All
+      that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted to do, for
+      my old friend. Your release was different. I am forced to admit that it
+      was the price paid for my sojourn here. I will only ask you to remember
+      that the bargain was made without your knowledge, and that you are in no
+      way responsible for it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A price,&rdquo; Richard pronounced fiercely, &ldquo;which I refuse to pay!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The alternative,&rdquo; he confessed, &ldquo;is in your hands.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard moved towards the telephone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am sorry, Maderstrom,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but my duty is clear. Who is
+      Commandant here, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone. There was a queer,
+      angry patch of colour in her cheeks. Her eyes were on fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Richard,&rdquo; she exclaimed, &ldquo;you shall not do this from my house! I forbid
+      you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Do what?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Give information. Do you know what it would mean if they believed you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Death,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he came to
+      this country under a false name.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perfectly,&rdquo; Lessingham admitted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But I won't have it!&rdquo; Philippa protested. &ldquo;He has become our friend. Day
+      by day we have grown to like him better and better. He has saved your
+      life, Dick. He has brought you back to us. Think what it is that you
+      purpose!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is what every soldier has to face,&rdquo; Richard declared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!&rdquo; Philippa cried
+      desperately. &ldquo;The war is in your brains, I think. You would carry it from
+      the battlefields into your daily life. Because two great countries are at
+      war, is everything to go by&mdash;chivalry?&mdash;all the finer, sweeter
+      feelings of life? If you two met on the battlefield, it would be
+      different. Here in my drawing-room, I will not have this black demon of
+      the war dragged in as an excuse for murder! Take Dick away, Helen!&rdquo; she
+      begged. &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham is leaving to-night. I will pledge my word that
+      until then he remains a harmless citizen.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Women don't understand these things, Philippa&mdash;&rdquo; Richard began.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!&rdquo; Philippa
+      interrupted fiercely. &ldquo;You have but one idea&mdash;to strike&mdash;the
+      narrow idea of men that breeds warfare. I tell you that if ever universal
+      peace comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror of this lust for
+      blood, this criminal outrage against civilisation, it is the women who
+      will become the teachers, because amongst your instincts the brutish ones
+      of force are the first to leap to the surface at the slightest
+      provocation. We women see further, we know more. I swear to you, Richard,
+      that if you interfere I will never forgive you as long as I live!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard stared at his sister in amazement. There seemed to be some new
+      spirit born within her. Throughout all their days he had never known her
+      so much in earnest, so passionately insistent. He looked from her to the
+      man whom she sought to protect, and who answered, unasked, the thoughts
+      that were in his mind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Whatever harm I may have been able to do,&rdquo; Lessingham announced, &ldquo;is
+      finished. I leave this place to-night, probably for ever. As for the
+      Commandant,&rdquo; he went on with a faint smile, &ldquo;he is already upon my track.
+      There is nothing you can tell him about me which he does not know. It is
+      just a matter of hours, the toss of a coin, whether I get away or not.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They've found you out, then?&rdquo; Richard exclaimed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago,&rdquo; Lessingham acknowledged.
+      &ldquo;Your Commandant here is at the present moment in London for the sole
+      purpose of denouncing me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?&rdquo; Richard observed
+      incredulously. &ldquo;I'm hanged if I can see through this!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; Lessingham explained gently. &ldquo;I am a fatalist!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room. He looked back from
+      the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;you know quite well how personally I feel towards
+      you. I am grateful for what you have done for me, even though I am
+      beginning to understand your motives. But as regards the other things we
+      are both soldiers. I am going to talk to Helen for a time. I want to
+      understand a little more than I do at present.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Let me help you,&rdquo; he begged. &ldquo;Here is the issue in plain words. All that
+      I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any case for the sake
+      of our friendship. Your freedom would probably never have been granted to
+      me but for my mission, although even that I might have tried to arrange. I
+      brought your letters here, and I traded them with your sister and Miss
+      Fairclough for the shelter of their hospitality and their guarantees. Now
+      you know just where friendship ended and the other things began. Do what
+      you believe to be your duty.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him. Lessingham looked
+      down into Philippa's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are more wonderful even than I thought,&rdquo; he continued softly. &ldquo;You
+      say so little and you live so near the truth. It is those of us who feel
+      as you do&mdash;who understand&mdash;to whom this war is so terrible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I want to ask you one question before I send you away,&rdquo; she told him.
+      &ldquo;This journey to America?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is a mission on behalf of Germany,&rdquo; he explained, &ldquo;but it is, after
+      all, an open one. I have friends&mdash;highly placed friends&mdash;in my
+      own country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the war. It is through
+      them that I am able to turn my back upon Europe. I have done my share of
+      fighting,&rdquo; he went on sadly, &ldquo;and the horror of it will never quite leave
+      me. I think that no one has ever charged me with shirking my duty, and yet
+      the sheer, black ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal
+      inutility, have got into my blood so that I think I would rather pass out
+      of the world in some simple way than find myself back again in that
+      debauch of blood. Is this cowardice, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked at him with shining eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There isn't any one in the world,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;who could call you a
+      coward. Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you, that at
+      least I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He kissed her fingers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;At ten o'clock,&rdquo; he began&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But listen,&rdquo; she interrupted. &ldquo;Apart from anything which Dick might do,
+      you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you really have
+      accomplished something. Why not go now, at this moment? Why wait? These
+      few hours may make all the difference.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life,&rdquo; he answered. &ldquo;That
+      is for you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room. Philippa
+      moved to the window and watched him until he had disappeared. Then very
+      slowly she left the room, walked up the stairs, made her way to her own
+      little suite of apartments, and locked the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that evening at
+      Mainsail Haul. Philippa was at times unusually silent, but Helen had
+      expanded in the joy of her great happiness. Richard, shaved and with his
+      hair cut, attired once more in the garb of civilisation, seemed a
+      different person. Even in these few hours the lines about his mouth seemed
+      less pronounced. They talked freely of Maderstrom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem,&rdquo; Richard declared, balancing his wine
+      glass between his fingers, &ldquo;a problem, too, which I can't say I have
+      solved altogether yet. The only thing is that if he is really going
+      to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter drift out of my
+      mind.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is so much better,&rdquo; Helen agreed. &ldquo;Try as hard as ever I can, I cannot
+      picture his doing any harm to anybody. And as for any information he may
+      have gained here, well, I think that we can safely let him take it back to
+      Germany.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He was always,&rdquo; Richard continued reminiscently, &ldquo;a sort of cross between
+      a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman. There was never anything of the
+      practical man of affairs about him. He was scrupulously honourable, and
+      almost a purist in his outlook upon life. I have met a great many
+      Germans,&rdquo; Richard went on, &ldquo;and I've killed a few, thank God!&mdash;but he
+      is about as unlike the ordinary type as any one I ever met. The only pity
+      is that he ever served his time with them.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa had been listening attentively. She was more than ever silent
+      after her brother's little appreciation of his friend. Richard glanced at
+      her good-humouredly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+      Philippa,&rdquo; he observed. &ldquo;One would think that you were going on a
+      journey.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I may go for a walk,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;and leave you two young people to talk
+      secrets. I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;When is Henry coming back?&rdquo; her brother enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have no idea,&rdquo; she confessed. &ldquo;He comes and goes as the whim seizes
+      him, and I very seldom know where he is. One week it is whiting and
+      another codling. Lately he seems to have shown some partiality for London
+      life.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing whatever.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But what excuse does he give&mdash;or rather I should say reason?&rdquo;
+       Richard persisted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an office,&rdquo;
+       Philippa replied. &ldquo;That is what he says. His point of view is so
+      impossible that I can not even discuss it with him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's the rummest go I ever came across,&rdquo; Richard remarked reminiscently.
+      &ldquo;I should have said that old Henry would have been up and at 'em at the
+      Admiralty before the first gun was fired.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;On the contrary,&rdquo; Philippa rejoined, &ldquo;he took advantage of the war to
+      hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after hostilities had
+      commenced.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's a rum go,&rdquo; Richard repeated. &ldquo;I can't fancy Henry as a skulker.
+      Forgive me, Philippa,&rdquo; he added.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are entirely forgiven,&rdquo; she assured him drily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He comes of such a fine fighting stock,&rdquo; Richard mused. &ldquo;I suppose his
+      health is all right?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His health,&rdquo; Philippa declared, &ldquo;is marvellous. I should think he is one
+      of the strongest men I know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her brother patted her hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl,&rdquo; he said
+      affectionately. &ldquo;It's no good doing that, you know. You wait and let me
+      have a talk with Henry.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; she replied, &ldquo;that nearly everything possible has already been
+      said to him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps you've put his back up a bit,&rdquo; Richard suggested, &ldquo;and he may
+      really be on the lookout for something all the time.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It has been a long search!&rdquo; Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm. &ldquo;Let
+      us talk about something else.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made their
+      plans for the week&mdash;Richard must report at the War Office at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close. It was at
+      Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment over his
+      port. She kept her arm through her friend's as they crossed the hall into
+      the drawing-room, and closed the door behind them. Philippa stood upon the
+      hearth rug. Already her mouth had come together in a straight line. Her
+      eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen,&rdquo; she began, &ldquo;and I warn
+      you that it will be of no use.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?&rdquo; she asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am,&rdquo; was the calm response. &ldquo;I made up my mind this afternoon. We are
+      leaving to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Motoring?&rdquo; she enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Naturally,&rdquo; Philippa replied. &ldquo;You know there are no trains leaving here
+      to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You'll have a cold ride,&rdquo; Helen remarked. &ldquo;I should take your heavy fur
+      coat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa stared at her companion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You don't seem much upset, Helen!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I think,&rdquo; Helen declared, looking up, &ldquo;that nothing that has ever
+      happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I can see that you
+      have reasoned it all out, and there is not a single argument I could use
+      which you haven't already discounted. It is your life, Philippa, not
+      mine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Since you are so philosophical,&rdquo; Philippa observed, &ldquo;let me ask you&mdash;should
+      you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should not,&rdquo; was the firm reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa laughed heartily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, I know what you are going to say!&rdquo; Helen continued quickly. &ldquo;You'll
+      tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental. I think in your heart you
+      rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard. You would call it cowlike,
+      or something of that sort. There is a difference between us, Philippa, and
+      that is why I am afraid to argue with you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What should you do,&rdquo; Philippa demanded, &ldquo;if Richard failed you in some
+      great thing?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I might suffer,&rdquo; Helen confessed, &ldquo;but my love would be there all the
+      same. Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I should never
+      be able to see with those who judged him hardly.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think, then,&rdquo; Philippa persisted, &ldquo;that I ought still to remain
+      Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst the
+      pastimes of his life&mdash;when he feels inclined, for instance, to wander
+      from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my complexion, or when
+      he settles down at home for a few days after a fortnight's sport on the
+      sea and expects me to tell him the war news?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I don't think that I should do that,&rdquo; Helen admitted quietly, &ldquo;but I am
+      quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why not?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Because I should be punishing myself too much.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Helen,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;you are not such a fool as you try to make me think.
+      Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my mind? Can't you
+      realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring, it will punish Henry
+      more?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I see,&rdquo; Helen observed. &ldquo;You are running away with Mr. Lessingham to
+      annoy Henry?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!&rdquo; Philippa laughed sardonically. &ldquo;He has
+      terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to him. He'll be
+      remarkably sheepish for some time to come. He may even feel a few little
+      stabs. When I have time, I am going to write him a letter which he can
+      keep for the rest of his life. It won't please him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where are you&mdash;and Mr. Lessingham going to live?&rdquo; Helen enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In America, to start with. I've always longed to go to the States.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What shall you do,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;if you don't get out of the country
+      safely?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall,&rdquo; Philippa replied, &ldquo;and he
+      seems a person of many expedients. Of course, if we didn't, I should go
+      back to Cheshire. I should have gone back there, anyway, before now, if
+      Mr. Lessingham hadn't come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, it all seems very simple,&rdquo; Helen admitted. &ldquo;I think Mr. Lessingham
+      is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder if you didn't now
+      and then almost imagine that you were happy.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to be taking my going very coolly,&rdquo; Philippa remarked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I told you how I felt about it just now,&rdquo; Helen reminded her. &ldquo;Your going
+      is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing larger and larger,
+      day by day. I think that, in his way, Dick will suffer just as much as
+      Henry. We shall all be utterly miserable.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?&rdquo; Philippa demanded.
+      &ldquo;You sit there talking about it as though I were going on an ordinary
+      country-house visit.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled with
+      tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa dear,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;if I thought that all the tears that were ever
+      shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's heart, could have
+      any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now and implore you to give up
+      this idea. But I think&mdash;you won't be angry with me, dear?&mdash;I
+      think you would go just the same.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You seem to think that I am obstinate,&rdquo; Philippa complained.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see, you are temperamental, dear,&rdquo; Helen reminded her. &ldquo;You have a
+      complex nature. I know very well that you need the daily love that Henry
+      doesn't seem to have been willing to give you lately, and I couldn't stop
+      your turning towards the sun, you know. Only&mdash;all the time there's
+      that terrible anxiety&mdash;are you quite sure it is the sun?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?&rdquo; Philippa asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I do indeed,&rdquo; Helen replied. &ldquo;I am not quite sure, though, that I believe
+      in you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was a little startled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, I never!&rdquo; she exclaimed. &ldquo;Exactly what do you mean by that, Helen?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not quite sure,&rdquo; Helen continued, &ldquo;that when the moment has really
+      come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched, and your feet
+      have left this world in which you are now, I am not quite sure that you
+      will find all that you seek.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You think he doesn't love me?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am not convinced,&rdquo; Helen replied calmly, &ldquo;that you love him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why, you idiot,&rdquo; Philippa declared feverishly, &ldquo;of course I love him! I
+      think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I ever knew, and as
+      to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he were a Fiji Islander or
+      a Chinese.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Helen nodded sympathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I agree with you,&rdquo; she said, &ldquo;but listen. You know that I haven't uttered
+      a single word to dissuade you. Well, then, grant me just one thing. Before
+      you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham the truth, whatever it may
+      be, the truth which you haven't told me. It very likely won't make any
+      difference. Two people as nice as you and he, who are going to join their
+      lives, generally do, I believe, find the things they seek. Still, tell
+      him.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa made no reply. Richard opened the door and lingered upon the
+      threshold. Helen rose to her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am coming, Dick,&rdquo; she called out cheerfully. &ldquo;There's a gorgeous fire
+      in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just the time I
+      have been looking forward to all day. You'll tell me things, won't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to him, her
+      face full of the one happiness. He passed his arm around her waist.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll try, dear,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You won't be lonely, Philippa?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'll come and disturb you when I am,&rdquo; she promised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door closed. She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to their
+      footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he had
+      just descended, glanced at the huge tyres and the tins of petrol lashed on
+      behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing more you want, chauffeur?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nothing, sir,&rdquo; was the almost inaudible reply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have the route map?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the drive of
+      Mainsail Haul. Decidedly it was the moment of his life. He was
+      hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths. A few hours now was
+      all the start he could reasonably expect. He was face to face with a very
+      real and serious danger, which he could no longer ignore, and from which
+      escape was all the time becoming more difficult. And yet all the
+      emotionalism of this climax was centred elsewhere. It was from Philippa's
+      lips that he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer which would
+      fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in his rush
+      through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent as to its
+      result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of suspended
+      animation, which knew no hope and feared no disappointment. Just before he
+      reached the front door, the postern gate in the wall on his left-hand side
+      opened, and Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat, framed in
+      the faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of seabounded
+      space. He moved eagerly towards her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I heard the car,&rdquo; she whispered. &ldquo;Come and sit down for a moment. It
+      isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the sea. I
+      came out,&rdquo; she went on, as he walked obediently by her side, &ldquo;because the
+      house somehow stifled me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She led him to a seat. Below, the long waves were breaking through upon
+      the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air. The village
+      which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless&mdash;there was, indeed, a
+      curious absence of sound, except when the incoming waves broke upon the
+      rocks and ground the pebbles together in their long, backward swish. Very
+      soon the sleeping country, now wrapped in shadows, would take form and
+      outline in the light of the rising moon; hedges would divide the square
+      fields, the black woods would take shape and the hills their mystic
+      solemnity. But those few minutes were minutes of suspense. Lessingham was
+      to some extent conscious of their queer, allegorical significance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I have come,&rdquo; he reminded her quite steadily, &ldquo;for my answer.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched her
+      cloak. She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; she told him, &ldquo;here I am.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      His face was suddenly transformed. She was almost afraid of the effect of
+      her words. She found herself struggling in his arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Not yet,&rdquo; she begged. &ldquo;Please remember where we are.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He released her reluctantly. A few yards away, they could hear the soft
+      purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the passing
+      moments. He caught her by the hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; he whispered passionately. &ldquo;Every moment is precious.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated no longer. The open postern gate seemed to him suddenly to
+      lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid life. He was to be
+      one of those favoured few to whom was given the divine prize. And then he
+      stopped short, even while she walked willingly by his side. He knew so
+      well the need for haste. The gentle murmur of that engine was inviting him
+      all the while. Yet he knew there was one thing more which must be said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa,&rdquo; he began, &ldquo;you know what we are doing? We can escape, I
+      believe. My flight is all wonderfully arranged. But there will be no
+      coming back. It will be all over when our car passes over the hills there.
+      You will not regret? You care enough even for this supreme sacrifice?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall never reproach you as long as I live,&rdquo; she promised. &ldquo;I have made
+      up my mind to come, and I am ready.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But it is because you care?&rdquo; he pleaded anxiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is because I care, for one reason.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the great way?&rdquo; he persisted. &ldquo;In the only way?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She hesitated. He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his. He saw her
+      frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't ask me quite that,&rdquo; she begged breathlessly. &ldquo;Be content to know
+      that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He felt the chill of impending disaster. He closed the little gate through
+      which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back to it. In that
+      faint light which seemed to creep over the world before the moon itself
+      was revealed, she seemed to him at that moment the fairest, the most
+      desirable thing on earth. Her face was upturned towards his, half
+      pathetic, half protesting against the revelation which he was forcing from
+      her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen, Philippa,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing. I
+      put it on one side. It did not seem to be possible. Now I must ask you a
+      question. You have some other motive, have you not, for choosing to come
+      away with me? It is not only because you love me better than any one else
+      in the world, as I do you, and therefore that we belong to one another and
+      it is right and good that we should spend our lives in one another's
+      company? There is something else, is there not, at the root of your
+      determination? Some ally?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a strange moment for Philippa. Nothing had altered within her, and
+      yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at her emotions,
+      bringing a sob into her throat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean&mdash;Henry?&rdquo; she faltered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I mean your husband,&rdquo; he assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was suddenly passionately angry with herself. It seemed to her that
+      the days of childishness were back. She was behaving like an imbecile
+      whilst he played the great game.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, &ldquo;this is one of
+      those moments in both our lives when anything except the exact truth would
+      mean shipwreck. You still love your husband?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am such a fool!&rdquo; she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You were willing to go away with me,&rdquo; he continued mercilessly, &ldquo;partly
+      because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out of revenge, and
+      just a little because you liked me. Is that not so?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Her head pressed upon his arm. She nodded. It was just that convulsive
+      movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair and its plain
+      black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his hopes. She was just
+      a child once more&mdash;and she trusted him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Very well, then,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;just let me think&mdash;for a moment.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She understood enough not to raise her head. Lessingham was gazing out
+      through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from which the
+      moon was rising. Already the pain had begun, and yet with it was that
+      queer sense of exaltation which comes with sacrifice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have been very nearly foolish,&rdquo; he told her, with grave kindliness.
+      &ldquo;It is well, perhaps, that we were in time. Those windows which lead into
+      your library,&mdash;through which I first came to you, by-the-by,&mdash;&rdquo;
+       he added, with a strange, reminiscent little sigh, &ldquo;are they open?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes!&rdquo; she whispered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come, then,&rdquo; he invited. &ldquo;Before I leave there is something I want to
+      make clear to you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little terraced
+      walk. Philippa opened the window and closed it again behind them. The room
+      was empty. Lessingham, watching her closely, almost groaned as he saw the
+      wonderful relief in her face. She threw off the cloak, and he groaned
+      again as he remembered how nearly it had been his task to remove it. In
+      her plain travelling dress, she turned and looked at him very
+      pathetically.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?&rdquo; he enquired.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;A newspaper? Why, yes, the Times,&rdquo; she answered, a little surprised.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it under the
+      lamplight. Presently he called to her. His forefinger rested upon a
+      certain column.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Read this,&rdquo; he directed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for special
+      services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting Rear-Admiral.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;What does it mean?&rdquo; she asked feverishly. &ldquo;Henry? A D.S.O. for Henry for
+      special services?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It means,&rdquo; he told her, with a forced smile, &ldquo;that your husband is, as
+      you put it in your expressive language, a fraud.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet. Lessingham led her to a
+      chair. From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the motor horn,
+      calling to its dilatory passenger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can not, of course, explain everything to you,&rdquo; he began, in a tone of
+      unusual restraint, &ldquo;but I do know that for the last two years your husband
+      has been responsible to the Admiralty for most of the mine fields around
+      your east coast. To begin with, his stay in Scotland was a sham. He was
+      most of the time with the fleet and round the coasts. His fishing
+      excursions from here have been of the same order, only more so. All the
+      places of importance, from here to the mouth of the Thames, have been
+      mined, or rather the approaches to them have been mined, under his
+      instructions. My mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh&mdash;do not
+      shrink from me if you can help it&mdash;was to obtain a copy of his mine
+      protection scheme of a certain town on the east coast.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Why should I shrink from you?&rdquo; she murmured. &ldquo;This is all too wonderful!
+      What a little beast Henry must think me!&rdquo; she added, with truly feminine
+      and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You and Miss Fairclough,&rdquo; Lessingham went on, &ldquo;have rather scoffed at my
+      presence here on behalf of our Secret Service. It seemed to you both very
+      ridiculous. Now you understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It makes no difference,&rdquo; Philippa protested tearfully. &ldquo;You always told
+      us the truth.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I shall continue to do so,&rdquo; Lessingham assured her. &ldquo;I am not a
+      clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune favoured me
+      the night your husband was shipwrecked. I succeeded in stealing from him,
+      on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of the mine field which I was sent
+      over to procure.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Of course you had to do it if you could,&rdquo; Philippa sobbed. &ldquo;I think it
+      was very clever of you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He smiled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There are others who might look at the matter differently,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I
+      am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but I must
+      have your answer to take away with me. If you had known all the time that
+      your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you thought him, was really
+      doing splendid work for his country, you would not have listened to me for
+      one moment, would you? You would not have let me grow to love you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She clutched his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You are the dearest man in the world,&rdquo; she exclaimed, her lips still
+      quivering, &ldquo;but, as you say, you know the answer. I was always in love
+      with Henry. It was because I loved him that I was so furious. I liked you
+      so much that it was mean of me ever to think of&mdash;of what so nearly
+      happened.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So nearly happened!&rdquo; he repeated, with a sudden access of the bitterest
+      self-pity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a little more
+      impatient, broke the silence. Philippa was filled with an unreasoning
+      terror.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must go!&rdquo; she implored. &ldquo;You must go this minute! If they were to
+      take you, I couldn't bear it. And that man Griffiths&mdash;he has sworn
+      that if he can not get the Government authority, he will shoot you!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Griffiths has gone to London,&rdquo; he reminded her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, but he may be back by this train,&rdquo; she cried, glancing at the clock,
+      &ldquo;and I have a strange sort of fancy&mdash;I have had it all day&mdash;that
+      Henry might come, too. It is overdue now. Any one might arrive here. Oh,
+      please, for my sake, hurry away!&rdquo; she begged, the tears streaming from her
+      eyes. &ldquo;If anything should happen, I could never forgive myself. It is
+      because you have been so dear, so true and honourable, that all this time
+      has been wasted. If it were to cost you your life!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a paroxysm.
+      She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to the door. And then
+      she stopped for a moment to listen. Her eyes became distended. Her lips
+      were parted. She shook as though with an ague.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is too late!&rdquo; she faltered hysterically. &ldquo;I can hear Henry's voice!
+      Quick! Come to the window. You must get out that way and through the
+      postern gate.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Your husband will have seen the car,&rdquo; he protested. &ldquo;And besides, there
+      is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall tell him everything,&rdquo; she declared wildly. &ldquo;Nothing matters
+      except that you escape. Oh, hurry! I can hear Henry talking to Jimmy
+      Dumble&mdash;for God's sake&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The words died away upon her lips. The door had been opened and closed
+      again immediately. There was the quick turn of the lock, sounding like the
+      click of fate. Sir Henry, well inside the room, nodded to them both
+      affably.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Well, Philippa? You weren't expecting me, eh? Hullo, Lessingham! Not gone
+      yet? Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Perhaps,&rdquo; he admitted, &ldquo;a trifle too fine.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm. Philippa had thrown herself into
+      his arms. Her fingers were locked around his neck. Her lips, her eyes,
+      were pleading with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry! Henry, you must forgive me! I never knew&mdash;I never dreamed
+      what you were really doing. I shall never forgive myself, but you&mdash;you
+      will be generous.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's all right, dear,&rdquo; he promised, stooping down to kiss her. &ldquo;Partly
+      my fault, of course. I had to humour those old ladies down at Whitehall
+      who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless idiot. You see,&rdquo; he went
+      on, glancing towards Lessingham, &ldquo;they were always afraid that my steps
+      might be dogged by spies, if my position were generally known.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa did not relinquish her attitude. She was still clinging to her
+      husband. She refused to let him go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;oh, listen to me! I have so much to confess, so much
+      of which I am ashamed! And yet, with it all, I want to entreat&mdash;to
+      implore one great favour from you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is it one I can grant?&rdquo; he asked gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If you want me ever to be happy again, you will,&rdquo; she sobbed. &ldquo;For
+      Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham took a quick step forward. He had the air of one who has
+      reached the limits of his endurance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;but I desire no
+      intervention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from him.
+      There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment. His mouth
+      had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw seemed more
+      apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there was a ring of
+      authority in his tone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Come,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;let us understand one another, Philippa, and you had
+      better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham. I can promise you that your chances of
+      escape will not be diminished by my taking up these few minutes of your
+      time. Philippa,&rdquo; he went on, turning back to her, &ldquo;you have always posed
+      as being an exceedingly patriotic Englishwoman, yet it seems to me that
+      you have made a bargain with this man, knowing full well that he was in
+      the service of Germany, to give him shelter and hospitality here, access
+      to my house and protection amongst your friends, in return for certain
+      favours shown towards your brother.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was speechless. It was a view of the matter which she and Helen
+      had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But, Henry,&rdquo; she protested, &ldquo;his stay here seemed so harmless. You
+      yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh. There is
+      nothing to discover. There is nothing going on here which the whole world
+      might not know.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That was never my plea,&rdquo; Lessingham intervened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Nor is it the truth,&rdquo; Sir Henry added sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to gain
+      access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could, certain plans
+      and charts prepared by me.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa began to tremble. She seemed bereft of words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He told me this,&rdquo; she faltered. &ldquo;He told me not half an hour ago.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a tapping at the door. Sir Henry moved towards it but did not
+      turn the key.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Who is that?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir,&rdquo; Mills announced. &ldquo;He has
+      seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed to come in.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      CHAPTER XXXIII
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room. Philippa made eager
+      signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows. Lessingham, however,
+      shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I prefer,&rdquo; he said gently, &ldquo;to finish my conversation with your
+      husband.&rdquo;'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was another and more insistent summons from outside. This time it
+      was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry Cranston,&rdquo; he called out, &ldquo;I am here with authority. I beg to
+      be admitted.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is your escort?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;In the hall.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;If I let you come in,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, &ldquo;will you come alone?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I should prefer it,&rdquo; was the eager reply. &ldquo;I wish to make this business
+      as little unpleasant to&mdash;to everybody as possible.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted Griffiths.
+      The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham. He would have hastened
+      at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand upon his arm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments,&rdquo; he insisted.
+      &ldquo;This is a private conference. Your business with the Baron Maderstrom can
+      be adjusted later.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is my duty,&rdquo; Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, &ldquo;to arrest that man as
+      a spy. I have authority, granted me this morning in London.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Quite so,&rdquo; Sir Henry observed, &ldquo;but we are in the midst of a very
+      interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude. Your turn will
+      come later, Captain Griffiths.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I can countenance no discussion with such men as that,&rdquo; Griffiths
+      declared scornfully. &ldquo;I am here in the execution of my duty, and I resent
+      any interference with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No one wishes to interfere with you,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him, &ldquo;but until I
+      say the word you will obey my orders.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;So far as I am concerned,&rdquo; Lessingham intervened, &ldquo;I wish it to be
+      understood that I offer no defence.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You have no defence,&rdquo; Sir Henry reminded him suavely. &ldquo;I gather that not
+      only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket in the midst
+      of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have capped this exploit with
+      a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself. His eyes glowed. His
+      long fingers twitched. He kept edging a little nearer to Lessingham.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Both charges,&rdquo; the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes, &ldquo;are
+      true.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Philippa found herself. She saw the sudden flash in her husband's
+      eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face. She stepped once more forward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Henry,&rdquo; she insisted, &ldquo;you must listen to what I have to say.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;We have had enough words,&rdquo; Griffiths interposed savagely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am listening, Philippa,&rdquo; he said calmly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr. Lessingham
+      to-night,&rdquo; she told him deliberately.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The devil it was!&rdquo; Sir Henry muttered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;As for the reason, you know it,&rdquo; she continued, her tone full of courage.
+      &ldquo;I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all the same I was
+      hardly treated. I was made the scapegoat of your stupid promise. You kept
+      me in ignorance of things a wife should know. You even encouraged me to
+      believe you a coward, when a single word from you would have changed
+      everything. Therefore, I say that it is you who are responsible for what I
+      nearly did, and what I should have done but for him&mdash;listen, Henry&mdash;but
+      for him!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But for him,&rdquo; her husband repeated curiously.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was Mr. Lessingham,&rdquo; she declared, &ldquo;who opened my eyes concerning you.
+      It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger. Look at my
+      coat there. My bag is on that table. I was ready to leave with him
+      to-night. Before we went, he insisted on telling me everything about you.
+      He could have escaped, and I was willing to go with him. Instead, he spent
+      those precious minutes telling me the truth about you. That was the end.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Lady Cranston omits to add,&rdquo; Lessingham put in, &ldquo;that before I did so she
+      told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm friendliness&mdash;that
+      her love was given to her husband, and her husband only.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;How long is this to go on?&rdquo; Griffiths asked harshly. &ldquo;I have the
+      authority here and the power to take that man. These domestic explanations
+      have nothing to do with the case.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Excuse me,&rdquo; Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, &ldquo;they have a great
+      deal to do with it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am Commandant of this place&mdash;&rdquo; Griffiths commenced.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute,&rdquo; Sir
+      Henry reminded him sternly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a moment's tense silence. Griffiths set his teeth hard, but his
+      hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I am now,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, &ldquo;going to announce to you a piece of
+      news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+      newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known. During
+      last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed to cross
+      the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of considerable
+      importance to us.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain. He had the air
+      of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Incidentally,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued, &ldquo;three-quarters of the squadron also
+      found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter met our
+      own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not return.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet. One could almost fancy that
+      Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned towards him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself,&rdquo; he said,
+      &ldquo;which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+      specially prepared for you. You see, our own Secret Service is not
+      altogether asleep. Those very safe and inviting-looking channels for
+      British and Allied traffic&mdash;I marked them very clearly, didn't I?&mdash;were
+      where I'd laid my mines. The channels which your cruisers so carefully
+      avoided were the only safe avenues. So you see why it is, Maderstrom, that
+      I have no grudge against you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man. There was a
+      look of dull horror in his eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Is this the truth?&rdquo; he gasped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It is the truth,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Does this conclude the explanations?&rdquo; Captain Griffiths demanded
+      impatiently. &ldquo;Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry. As regards this felon&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry held up his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom's fate,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;is mine to deal with and not yours, Captain
+      Griffiths.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was standing
+      only a few feet from her. She threw herself upon his arm and dragged down
+      the revolver which he had raised. Sir Henry, with a shout of fury, was
+      upon them at once. He took Griffiths by the throat and threw him upon the
+      sofa. The revolver clattered harmlessly on to the carpet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen,&rdquo; he thundered. &ldquo;You know
+      that I possess superior authority here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That man shall not escape!&rdquo; Griffiths shouted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He struggled for his whistle. Sir Henry snatched it from him and picked up
+      the revolver from the carpet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Look here, Griffiths,&rdquo; he remonstrated severely, &ldquo;one single move in
+      opposition to my wishes will cost you your career. Let there be no
+      misunderstanding about it. That man will not be arrested by you to-night.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths staggered to his feet. He was half cowed, half furious.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?&rdquo; he demanded thickly.
+      &ldquo;The man is a proved traitor. If you assist him to escape, you are subject
+      to penalties&mdash;&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw open the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Captain Griffiths,&rdquo; he interrupted, &ldquo;I am not ignorant of my position in
+      this matter. Believe me, your last chance of retaining your position here
+      is to remember that you have had specific orders to yield to my authority
+      in all matters. Kindly leave this room and take your soldiers back to
+      their quarters.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Griffiths hesitated for a single moment. He had the appearance of a man
+      half demented by a passion which could find no outlet. Then he left the
+      room, without salute, without a glance to the right or to the left. Out in
+      the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh voice of command. The hall
+      door was opened and closed behind the sound of retreating footsteps.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Sir Henry,&rdquo; Lessingham reminded him, &ldquo;I have not asked for your
+      intervention.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear fellow, you wouldn't,&rdquo; was the prompt reply. &ldquo;As for the little
+      trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it too much to
+      heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent you here.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The fault of the people who sent me here,&rdquo; Lessingham repeated. &ldquo;I
+      scarcely understand.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's simple enough,&rdquo; Sir Henry continued. &ldquo;You see, you are about as fit
+      to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective. You possess
+      the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts of a gentleman.&mdash;Come,
+      come,&rdquo; he went on, &ldquo;we have nothing more to say to one another. Open that
+      window and take the narrow path down to the beach. Jimmy Dumble is waiting
+      for you at the gate. He will row you out to a Dutch trawler which is lying
+      even now off the point.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You mean me to get away?&rdquo; Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Believe me, it will cost nothing,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him. &ldquo;I was not
+      bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme authority here.
+      He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights in aiding your escape.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing. She gave him her
+      hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Dear friend,&rdquo; she begged, &ldquo;so wonderful a friend as you have been, don't
+      refuse this last thing.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom,&rdquo; Sir Henry said. &ldquo;Remember that you
+      can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by playing
+      the Quixote.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Besides,&rdquo; Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, &ldquo;it is, after
+      all, only an exchange. You have saved Henry's life, set Richard free, and
+      brought us happiness. Why should you hesitate to accept your own liberty?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light out at
+      sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;There's your trawler,&rdquo; he pointed out, &ldquo;and remember the tide will turn
+      in half an hour. I don't wish to hurry you.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I shall think of you both always,&rdquo; he said simply. &ldquo;You are very
+      wonderful people.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned towards the window. Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat from the
+      table by his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Better take your hat,&rdquo; he suggested.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You knew from the first?&rdquo; he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;From the very first,&rdquo; Sir Henry assured him. &ldquo;Don't look so confounded,&rdquo;
+       he went on consolingly. &ldquo;Remember that espionage is the only profession in
+      which it is an honour to fail.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned back
+      into the room. The tenderness in his own face, however, and a little catch
+      in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve which had grown up
+      between them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;My dear little woman!&rdquo; he murmured. &ldquo;My little sweetheart! You don't know
+      how I've ached to explain everything to you&mdash;including the Russian
+      ladies.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Explain them at once, sir!&rdquo; Philippa insisted, pretending to draw her
+      face away for a moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral, Draskieff,
+      who was sent over to report upon our method of mine laying,&rdquo; he told her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow or
+      the next day.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!&rdquo; Philippa exclaimed ruefully. &ldquo;I imagined&mdash;all
+      sorts of things. But, Henry dear,&rdquo; she went on, &ldquo;do you know that we have
+      a great surprise for you&mdash;here in the house?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;No surprise, dear,&rdquo; he assured her, shaking his head. &ldquo;I knew the very
+      hour that Richard left Wittenberg. And here he is, by Jove!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard and Helen entered together. Philippa could not even wait for the
+      conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting which passed
+      between the two men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Listen to me, both of you!&rdquo; she cried incoherently. &ldquo;Helen, you
+      especially! You never heard anything so wonderful in your life! They
+      weren't fishing excursions at all. There weren't any whiting. Henry was
+      laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the German fleet! It's
+      all in the Times this morning. He's got a D.S.O.&mdash;Henry has&mdash;and
+      he's a Rear-Admiral! Oh, Helen, I want to cry!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      The two women wandered into a far corner of the room. Richard wrung his
+      brother-in-law's hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Philippa isn't exactly coherent,&rdquo; he remarked, &ldquo;but it sounds all right.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You see,&rdquo; Sir Henry explained, &ldquo;I've been mine laying ever since the war
+      started. I always had ideas of my own about mine fields, as you may
+      remember. I started with Scotland, and then they moved me down here. The
+      Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and they insisted upon my
+      keeping my job secret. It led to a little trouble with Philippa, but I
+      think we are through with all that.&mdash;I suppose you know that those
+      two young women have been engaged in a regular conspiracy, Dick?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I know a little,&rdquo; Richard replied gravely, &ldquo;and I'm sure you will believe
+      that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd had any idea what
+      they were up to.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I'm sure you wouldn't,&rdquo; Sir Henry agreed. &ldquo;Anyway, it led to no harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Maderstrom, then,&rdquo; Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+      apprehension of the affair, &ldquo;was over here to spy upon you?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;That's the ticket,&rdquo; Sir Henry assented.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Richard frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Don't you worry about that,&rdquo; his brother-in-law begged. &ldquo;They must have
+      known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do any harm.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Where is he now?&rdquo; Richard asked eagerly. &ldquo;Helen insisted upon keeping me
+      out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours. The Commandant has
+      been up here after him, hasn't he?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear! I don't like the
+      fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And Maderstrom?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?&rdquo; Sir Henry observed. &ldquo;Well, to tell you
+      the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for in the
+      history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You, too?&rdquo; Richard exclaimed. &ldquo;Why, every one seems crazy about the
+      fellow.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry nodded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I remember him in your college days, Dick. He was a gentleman and a good
+      sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German. He did his bit of
+      soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the war, got a
+      knock and volunteered for the Secret Service. They sent him over here. The
+      fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare say you know, they let
+      him down from the observation car of a Zeppelin. He finds his way here all
+      right, makes his silly little bargain with our dear but gullible
+      womenkind, and sets himself to watch&mdash;to watch me, mind. The whole
+      affair is too ridiculously transparent. For a time he can't bring himself
+      even to touch my papers here, although, as it happens, they wouldn't have
+      done him the least bit of good. It was only the stress and excitement of
+      the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the chart which I had so
+      carefully prepared for him. I really think, if he hadn't done that, I
+      should have had to slip it into his pocket or absolutely force it upon him
+      somehow. He sends it off like a lamb and behold the result! We've crippled
+      the German Navy for the rest of the war.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It was a faked chart, then, of course?&rdquo; Richard demanded breathlessly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;And quite the cleverest I ever prepared,&rdquo; Sir Henry acknowledged. &ldquo;I can
+      assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself, if he'd got
+      hold of it.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;But where is Maderstrom now, sir?&rdquo; Richard asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the last
+      few moments, had softly taken her place. Her eyes were watching a green
+      light bobbing up and down in the distance. Suddenly she gave a little
+      exclamation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;It's moving!&rdquo; she cried. &ldquo;He's off!&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;He's safe on a Dutch trawler,&rdquo; Sir Henry declared. &ldquo;And I think,&rdquo; he
+      added, moving towards the sideboard, &ldquo;it's time you and I had a drink
+      together, Dick.&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      They helped themselves to whisky and soda. There were still many
+      explanations to be given. Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa stood
+      with her eyes turned seawards. The green light was dimmer now, and the
+      low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over the glittering track
+      of moonlight. She gave a little start as it came into sight. There was a
+      sob in her throat, tears burning in her eyes. Her fingers clutched the
+      curtains almost passionately. She stood there watching until her eyes
+      ached. Then she felt an arm around her waist and her husband's whisper in
+      her ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?&rdquo;
+     </p>
+    <p>
+      She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his extended
+      arms. Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      &ldquo;You know,&rdquo; she murmured.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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diff --git a/old/zplnp10.txt b/old/zplnp10.txt
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Zeppelin's Passenger, by Oppenheim
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+The Zeppelin's Passenger
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+by E. Phillips Oppenheim
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+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+This Etext prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer.
+
+
+
+
+
+The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+"Never heard a sound," the younger of the afternoon callers
+admitted, getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his
+low chair.  "No more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough.  Done
+splendidly, thanks.   No, I went to bed last night soon after
+eleven--the Colonel had been route marching us all off our legs
+--and I never awoke until reveille this morning.  Sleep of the
+just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly sell, all the same!
+You hear anything of it, sir?" he asked, turning to his companion,
+who was seated a few feet away.
+
+Captain Griffiths shook his head.  He was a man considerably older
+than his questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair
+streaked with grey.  His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a
+soldier, curiously sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which
+was considerable, he was awkward, at times almost uncouth.  His
+voice was hard and unsympathetic, and his contributions to the
+tea-table talk had been almost negligible.
+
+"I was up until two o'clock, as it happened," he replied, "but I
+knew nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice
+officially."
+
+Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her
+absent hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the
+circumstances of the case entitled her.
+
+"I heard it distinctly," she declared; "in fact it woke me up.  I
+hung out of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly
+as though it were over the golf links."
+
+The young subaltern sighed.
+
+"Rotten luck I have with these things," he confided.  "That's three
+times they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one.  This
+time they say that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming
+down.  Of course, you've heard of the observation car found on
+Dutchman's Common this morning?"
+
+The girl assented.
+
+"Did you see it?" she enquired.
+
+"Not a chance," was the gloomy reply.  "It was put on two covered
+trucks and sent up to London by the first train.  Captain Griffiths
+can tell you what it was like, I dare say.  You were down there,
+weren't you, sir?"
+
+"I superintended its removal," the latter informed them.  "It was
+a very uninteresting affair."
+
+"Any bombs in it?" Helen asked.
+
+"Not a sign of one.  Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and
+a telephone.  It seems to have got caught in some trees and been
+dragged off."
+
+"How exciting!" the girl murmured.  "I suppose there wasn't any one
+in it?"
+
+Griffiths shook his head.
+
+"I believe," he explained, "that these observation cars, although
+they are attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night
+raids."
+
+"I should like to have seen it, all the same," Helen confessed.
+
+"You would have been disappointed," her informant assured her.
+"By-the-by," he added, a little awkwardly, "are you not expecting
+Lady Cranston back this evening?"
+
+"I am expecting her every moment.  The car has gone down to the
+station to meet her."
+
+Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+undemonstrative satisfaction.  He leaned back in his chair with
+the air of one who is content to wait.
+
+"Have you heard, Miss Fairclough," his younger companion enquired,
+a little diffidently, "whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?"
+
+Helen Fairclough looked away.  There was a slight mist before her
+eyes.
+
+"I had a letter this morning," she replied.  "She seems to have
+heard nothing at all encouraging so far."
+
+"And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?"
+
+The girl shook her head.
+
+"Not a line," she sighed.  "It's two months now since we last had
+a letter."
+
+"Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well," the
+young man observed sympathetically.
+
+"It all seems very cruel," Helen agreed.  "He wasn't really fit to
+go back, but the Board passed him because they were so short of
+officers and he kept worrying them.  He was so afraid he'd get
+moved to another battalion.  Then he was taken prisoner in that
+horrible Pervais affair, and sent to the worst camp in Germany.
+Since then, of course, Philippa and I have had a wretched time,
+worrying."
+
+"Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?"
+Griffiths enquired.
+
+"And my only fianc�," she replied, with a little grimace.  "However,
+don't let us talk about our troubles any more," she continued, with
+an effort at a lighter tone.  "You'll find some cigarettes on that
+table, Mr. Harrison.  I can't think where Nora is.  I expect she
+has persuaded some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's
+Common."
+
+"The road all the way is like a circus," the young soldier observed,
+"and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there.  The naval
+airmen were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths
+wasn't far behind them.  You didn't leave much for the sightseers,
+sir," he concluded, turning to his neighbour.
+
+"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
+had to have the Common searched.  With the exception of the
+observation car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences
+in telling you that we discovered nothing of interest."
+
+"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was
+flying so low?" Helen enquired.
+
+"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented.
+"Two patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her.
+An old man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a
+long, black cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost
+deafened by the noise of the engines.  Personally, I cannot believe
+that they would come down so low unless she was in some trouble."
+
+The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
+suddenly thrown open.  An exceedingly alert-looking young lady,
+very much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long
+plaits of the schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind.  In her hand
+she carried a man's Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+
+"Come in, Arthur," she shouted to a young subaltern who was
+hovering in the background.  "Look what I've got, Helen!  A trophy!
+Just look, Mr. Harrison and Captain Griffiths!  I found it in a
+bush, not twenty yards from where the observation car came down."
+
+Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+
+"But, my dear child," she exclaimed, "this is nothing but an
+ordinary hat!  People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things
+like that.  How do you do, Mr. Somerfield?" she added, smiling at
+the young man who had followed Nora into the room.
+
+"Don't they!" the latter retorted, with an air of superior
+knowledge.  "Just look here!"
+
+She turned down the lining and showed it to them.  "What do you
+make of that?" she asked triumphantly.
+
+Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+
+"Read it out," Nora insisted.
+
+Helen obeyed:
+
+               "Schmidt,
+                    Berlin,
+                         Unter den Linden, 127."
+
+"That sounds German," she admitted.
+
+"It's a trophy, all right," Nora declared.  "One of the crew--
+probably the Commander--must have come on board in a hurry and
+changed into uniform after they had started."
+
+"It is my painful duty, Miss Nora," Harrison announced solemnly,
+"to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles
+of whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's
+Common, which might possibly have belonged to any one in the
+Zeppelin, must be sent at once to the War Office."
+
+"Rubbish!" Nora scoffed.  "The War Office aren't going to have my
+hat."
+
+"Duty," the young man began--
+
+"You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,"
+Nora interrupted, "but you're not going to have my hat.  I'd throw
+it into the fire sooner than give it up."
+
+"Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora," Captain Griffiths
+ventured thoughtfully.
+
+"Nothing so important as hats," Harrison put in.  "You see they fit
+--somebody."
+
+The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing.  "I'd listen to
+anything Captain Griffiths had to say," she declared, "but you boys
+who are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit.
+There's nothing in your textbook about hats.  If you're going to
+make yourselves disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the
+regiment."
+
+The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay.  Nora took a
+chocolate from a box.
+
+"Be merciful, Miss Nora!" Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+
+"Don't break the regiment up altogether," Somerfield begged, with a
+little catch in his voice.
+
+"All very well for you two to be funny," Nora went on, revisiting
+the chocolate box, "but you've heard about the Seaforths coming,
+haven't you?  I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?"
+
+"Every woman does," Helen admitted, smiling.  "I suppose the child
+really can keep the hat, can't she?" she added, turning to the
+Commandant.
+
+"Officially the matter is outside my cognizance," he declared.  "I
+shall have nothing to say."
+
+The two young men exchanged glances.
+
+"A hat," Somerfield ruminated, "especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely
+an appurtenance of warfare."
+
+His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object
+in question.  Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+
+"I shall take the whole responsibility," he decided magnanimously,
+"of saying nothing about the matter.  We can't afford to quarrel
+with Miss Nora, can we, Somerfield?"
+
+"Not on your life," that young man agreed.
+
+"Sensible boys!" Nora pronounced graciously.
+
+"Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them
+in their folly.  You can take me as far as the post-office when
+you go, Arthur," she continued, turning to the fortunate possessor
+of the side-car, "and we'll have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if
+you like."
+
+"Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?" Helen invited.
+
+"Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough," the man replied; "we had
+tea some time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora."
+
+Nora suddenly held up her finger.  "Isn't that the car?" she asked.
+"Why, it must be mummy, here already.  Yes, I can hear her voice!"
+
+Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+
+"It is Lady Cranston," he announced solemnly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful.  She
+had masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long
+railway journey, deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost
+porcelain-like complexion, and a sensitive, delightfully shaped
+mouth.  Her figure was small and dainty, and just at that moment she
+had an appearance of helplessness which was almost childlike.  Nora,
+after a vigorous embrace, led her stepmother towards a chair.
+
+"Come and sit by the fire, Mummy," she begged.  "You look tired and
+cold."
+
+Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests.  She was
+still wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was
+unmistakable.  Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since
+her entrance, wheeled an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into
+which she sank with a murmured word of thanks.
+
+"You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?" Helen enquired.
+
+Philippa shook her head.  Her eyes met her friend's for a moment
+--it was only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual
+sorrow seemed curiously revealed in that unspoken question and
+answer.  The two young subalterns prepared to take their leave.
+Nora, kneeling down, stroked her stepmother's hand.
+
+"No news at all, then?" Helen faltered.
+
+"None," was the weary reply.
+
+"Any amount of news here, Mummy," Nora intervened cheerfully, "and
+heaps of excitement.  We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last
+night, and she lost her observation car.  Mr. Somerfield took me
+up there this afternoon, and I found a German hat.  No one else got
+a thing, and, would you believe it, those children over there tried
+to take it away from me."
+
+Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+
+"I expect you are keeping the hat, dear," she observed.
+
+"I should say so!" Nora assented.
+
+Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting
+to take their leave.
+
+"You must come and dine one night this week, both of you," she said.
+"My husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm
+sure he will be glad to have you."
+
+"Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted," Harrison
+declared.
+
+"Rather!" his companion echoed.
+
+Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+Philippa's chair.
+
+"And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said, smiling
+pleasantly up at him.  "Must you hurry away?"
+
+"I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns," he answered,
+resuming his seat.
+
+"Do!" Philippa begged him.  "I have had such a miserable time in
+town.  You can't think how restful it is to be back here."
+
+"I am afraid," he observed, "that your journey has not been
+successful."
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+"It has been completely unsuccessful," she sighed.  "I have not
+been able to hear a word about my brother.  I am so sorry for poor
+Helen, too.  They were only engaged, you know, a few days before he
+left for the front this last time."
+
+Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I never met Major Felstead," he remarked, "but every one who has
+seems to like him very much.  He was doing so well, too, up to that
+last unfortunate affair, wasn't he?"
+
+"Dick is a dear," Philippa declared.  "I never knew any one with so
+many friends.  He would have been commanding his battalion now, if
+only he were free.  His colonel wrote and told me so himself."
+
+"I wish there were something I could do," Griffiths murmured, a
+little awkwardly.  "It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset."
+
+She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+
+"Nobody can do anything," she bemoaned.  "That is the unfortunate
+part of it all."
+
+He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was
+when he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which
+he had no idea what to do with.
+
+"You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?" he
+asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+unpleasant voice.  She shook her head.
+
+"Perhaps one morning later," she replied, a little vaguely.  "I
+haven't any heart for anything just now."
+
+He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out
+into the twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things
+which he had meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten
+them.  Philippa, to whom his departure had been, as it always was,
+a relief, was already leaning forward in her chair with her arm
+around Helen's neck.
+
+"I thought that extraordinary man would never go," she exclaimed,
+"and I was longing to send for you, Helen.  London has been such a
+dreary chapter of disappointments."
+
+"What a sickening time you must have had, dear!"
+
+"It was horrid," Philippa assented sadly, "but you know Henry is
+no use at all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone.
+I have been to every friend at the War Office, and every friend
+who has friends there.  I have made every sort of enquiry, and I
+know just as much now as I did when I left here--that Richard was
+a prisoner at Wittenberg the last time they heard, and that they
+have received no notification whatever concerning him for the last
+two months."
+
+Helen glanced at the calendar.
+
+"It is just two months to-day," she said mournfully, "since we heard."
+
+"And then," Philippa sighed, "he hadn't received a single one of our
+parcels."
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet.  She was a tall, fair girl of the
+best Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every
+promise, indeed, of a fuller and more gracious development in the
+years to come.  She was barely twenty-two years old, and, as is
+common with girls of her complexion, seemed younger.  Her bright,
+intelligent face was, above all, good-humoured.  Just at that moment,
+however, there was a flush of passionate anger in her cheeks.
+
+"It makes me feel almost beside myself," she exclaimed, "this
+hideous incapacity for doing anything!  Here we are living in luxury,
+without a single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on
+earth to both of us, is being starved and goaded to death in a foul
+German prison!"
+
+"We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear," Philippa
+remonstrated.  "What is it, Mills?"
+
+The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band,
+bowed as he arranged it upon a side table.
+
+"I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+ladyship," he announced, "and some hot buttered toast.  Cook has
+sent some of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally
+fancies."
+
+"It is very kind of you, Mills," Philippa said, with rather a wan
+little smile.  "I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad.
+You might take my coat, please."
+
+She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her
+slim, elegant little body.
+
+"Shall I light up, your ladyship?" Mills enquired.
+
+"You might light a lamp," Philippa directed, "but don't draw the
+blinds until lighting-up time.  After the noise of London," she went
+on, turning to Helen, "I always think that the faint sound of the
+sea is so restful."
+
+The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to
+his mistress.
+
+"We should be glad to hear, your ladyship," he said, "if there is
+any news of Major Felstead?"  Philippa shook her head.
+
+"None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills!  Still, we must hope for
+the best.  I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as
+we imagine."
+
+"We must hope not, your ladyship," was the somewhat dismal reply.
+"Shall I fasten the windows?"
+
+"You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills," Philippa
+directed.  "I am not at home, if any one should call.  See that
+we are undisturbed for a little time."
+
+"Very good, your ladyship."
+
+The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone.
+Philippa held out her arms.
+
+"Helen, darling, come and be nice to me," she begged.  "Let us both
+pretend that no news is good news.  Oh, I know what you are
+suffering, but remember that even if Dick is your lover, he is my
+dear, only brother--my twin brother, too.  We have been so much to
+each other all our lives.  He'll stick it out, dear, if any human
+being can.  We shall have him back with us some day."
+
+"But he is hungry," Helen sobbed.  "I can't bear to think of his
+being hungry.  Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me."
+
+"I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like,"
+Philippa murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+
+"He always used to love one about this time," Helen faltered,
+glancing at the clock.
+
+"And cigarettes!" Philippa exclaimed.  "I wonder whether they give
+him anything to smoke."
+
+"Nasty German tobacco, if they do," Helen rejoined indignantly.
+"And to think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his
+favourite Egyptians!"
+
+She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side.  Their arms
+were intertwined, their cheeks touching.  One of those strange,
+feminine silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while
+under its thrall.  Then, almost at the same moment, a queer
+awakening came for both of them.  Helen's arm was stiffened.
+Philippa turned her head, but her eyes were filled with incredulous
+fear.  A little current of cool air was blowing through the room.
+The French windows stood half open, and with his back to them, a
+man who had apparently entered the room from the gardens and passed
+noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing by the door,
+listening.  They heard him turn the key.  Then, in a businesslike
+manner, he returned to the windows and closed them, the eyes of
+the two women following him all the time.  Satisfied, apparently,
+with his precautions, he turned towards them just as an expression
+of indignant enquiry broke from Philippa's lips.  Helen sprang to
+her feet, and Philippa gripped the sides of her chair.  The newcomer
+advanced a few steps nearer to them.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual
+silence was, that in those few seconds they jointly conceived
+definite and lasting impressions of the man who was to become,
+during the next few weeks, an object of the deepest concern to
+both of them.  The intruder was slightly built, of little more than
+medium height, of dark complexion, with an almost imperceptible
+moustache of military pattern, black hair dishevelled with the
+wind, and eyes of almost peculiar brightness.  He carried himself
+with an assurance which was somewhat remarkable considering the
+condition of his torn and mud stained clothes, the very quality
+of which was almost undistinguishable.  They both, curiously enough,
+formed the same instinctive conviction that, notwithstanding his
+tramplike appearance and his burglarious entrance, this was not a
+person to be greatly feared.
+
+The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and
+opened the conversation with some ceremony.
+
+"Ladies," he began, with a low bow, "in the first place let me
+offer my most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance
+to your house."
+
+Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him.  The firelight
+played upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness
+from her face.  Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had
+almost the appearance of a framed cameo.  Her voice was quite steady,
+although its inflection betrayed some indignation.
+
+"Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+extraordinary behaviour?" she demanded.
+
+"It is my earnest intention to do so without delay," he assured her,
+his eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa.  "Kindly pardon me."
+
+He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell,
+had made a stealthy attempt to slip past him.  Her eyes flashed as
+she felt his fingers upon her arm.
+
+"How dare you attempt to stop me!" she exclaimed.
+
+"My dear Miss Fairclough," he remonstrated, "in the interests of all
+of us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+conversation.  I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure
+of addressing Miss Fairclough?"
+
+There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in
+its way, impressive yet irritating.  Helen appeared bereft of words
+and retreated to her place almost mildly.  Philippa's very delicate
+eyebrows were drawn together in a slight frown.
+
+"You are acquainted with our names, then?"
+
+"Perfectly," was the suave reply.  "You, I presume, are Lady Cranston?
+I may be permitted to add," he went on, looking at her steadfastly,
+"that the description from which I recognise you does you less than
+justice."
+
+"I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent," Philippa
+told him coldly.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.  There was a slight smile upon his lips
+and his eyes twinkled.
+
+"Alas!" he murmured, "for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+circumstances of our meeting.  Permit me to offer you what I trust
+you will accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction."
+
+"A letter of introduction," Philippa repeated, glancing at his
+disordered clothes, "and you come in through the window!"
+
+"Believe me," the intruder assured her, "it was the only way."
+
+"Perhaps you will tell me, then," Philippa demanded, her anger
+gradually giving way to bewilderment, "what is wrong with my front
+door?"
+
+"For all I know, dear lady," the newcomer confessed, "yours may be
+an excellent front door.  I would ask you, however, to consider my
+appearance I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of
+my journey in somewhat ignominious fashion.  My clothes--they were
+quite nice clothes, too, when I started," he added, looking down at
+himself ruefully--"have suffered.  And, as you perceive, I have
+lost my hat."
+
+"Your hat?" Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+
+"Precisely!  I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as
+belonging to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon
+my clothes, and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have
+necessitated an explanation which I thought better avoided.  I make
+myself quite clear, I trust?"
+
+"Clear?" Philippa murmured helplessly.
+
+"Clear?" Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+
+"I mean, of course," their visitor explained, "so far as regards my
+choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your
+house."
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards
+the bell.  The intruder, however, barred her way.  She looked up
+into his face and found it difficult to maintain her indignation.
+His expression, besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a
+respectful admiration.
+
+"Will you please let me pass?" she insisted.
+
+"Madam," he replied, "I am afraid that it is your intention to ring
+the bell."
+
+"Of course it is," she admitted.  "Don't dare to prevent me."
+
+"Madam, I do not wish to prevent you," he assured her.  "A few
+moments' delay--that is all I plead for."
+
+"Will you explain at once, sir," Philippa demanded, "what you mean
+by forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and
+by locking that door?"
+
+"I am most anxious to do so," was the prompt reply.  "I am correct,
+of course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston--and you
+Miss Fairclough?" he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them.
+"A very great pleasure!  I recognised you both quite easily, you see,
+from your descriptions."
+
+"From our descriptions?" Philippa repeated.
+
+The newcomer bowed.
+
+"The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated,
+of your brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fianc�, Miss
+Fairclough."
+
+"Richard?" Philippa almost shrieked.
+
+"You have seen Dick?" Helen gasped.
+
+The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes.
+He handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+
+"My letters of introduction," he explained, with a little sigh of
+relief.  "I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to
+have some tea.  I am almost starving."
+
+The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+
+"One moment, I beg," their visitor interposed.  "I have established,
+I trust, my credentials.  May I remind you that I was compelled to
+ensure the safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by
+locking that door.  Are you likely to be disturbed?"
+
+"No, no!  No chance at all," Philippa assured him.
+
+"If we are, we'll explain," Helen promised.
+
+"In that case," the intruder begged, "perhaps you will excuse me."
+
+He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew
+the curtains carefully across the French windows.  Afterwards he
+made his way towards the tea-table.  A little throbbing cry had
+broken from Helen's lips.
+
+"Philippa," she exclaimed, "it's from Dick!  It's Dick's handwriting!"
+
+Philippa's reply was incoherent.  She was tearing open her own
+envelope.  With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these
+communications seized a sandwich in one hand and poured himself out
+some tea with the other.  He ate and drank with the restraint of
+good-breeding, but with a voracity which gave point to his plea of
+starvation.  A few yards away, the breathless silence between the
+two women had given place to an almost hysterical series of
+disjointed exclamations.
+
+"It's from Dick!" Helen repeated.  "It's his own dear handwriting.
+How shaky it is!  He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a
+friend."
+
+"I know--I know," Philippa murmured tremulously.  "Our parcels have
+been discovered, and he got them all at once.  Just fancy, Helen,
+he's really not so ill, after all!"
+
+They drew a little closer together.
+
+"You read yours out first," Helen proposed, "and then I'll read mine."
+
+Philippa nodded.  Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+
+  MY DEAREST SISTER,
+
+  I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+  really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+  but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+  friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+  heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+  that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+  me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+  promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+
+  You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+  man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+
+  Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+  all the difference.
+
+  My love to you and to Henry.
+                                 Your affectionate brother, RICHARD.
+
+  P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+  scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+  hope he came out all right.
+
+Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her
+teeth as though determined to ignore it.
+
+"Isn't it wonderful!" she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with
+glowing eyes.  "Now yours, dear?"
+
+Helen's voice trembled as she read.  Her eyes, too, at times were
+misty:
+
+  DEAREST,
+
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+
+                                               Always your lover,
+                                                       DICK.
+
+There were a few moments of significant silence.  The girls were
+leaning together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads
+almost touching.  Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and
+drink.  He rose at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and
+coughed.  They started, suddenly remembering his presence.  Philippa
+turned impulsively towards him with outstretched hands.
+
+"I can't tell you how thankful we are to you," she declared.
+
+"Both of us," Helen echoed.
+
+He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+tea-table.
+
+"You permit?" he asked.
+
+"Of course," Philippa assented eagerly.  "You will find some matches
+on the tray there.  Do please help yourself.  I am afraid that I
+must have seemed very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing.
+Won't you have some fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like
+some more sandwiches?"
+
+"Nothing more at present, thank you," he replied.  "If you do not
+mind, I would rather continue our conversation."
+
+"These letters are wonderful," Philippa told him gratefully.  "You
+know from whom they come, of course.  Dick is my twin brother, and
+until the war we had scarcely ever been parted.  Miss Fairclough
+here is engaged to be married to him.  It is quite two months since
+we had a line, and I myself have been in London for the last three
+days, three very weary days, making enquiries everywhere."
+
+"I am very happy," he said, "to have brought you such good news."
+
+Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose
+itself upon the two women.  They remembered the locked door, the
+secrecy of their visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+
+"May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?" Philippa
+enquired.
+
+"My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham," was the suave reply.
+
+"For the present?" Philippa repeated.  "You have perhaps, some
+explanations to make," she went on, with some hesitation; "the
+condition of your clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?"
+
+"With your permission."
+
+"One moment," Helen intervened eagerly.  "Is it possible, Mr.
+Lessingham, that you have seen Major Felstead lately?"
+
+"A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough.  I am happy to
+tell you that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite
+reasonably well."
+
+Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came
+over to their visitor's side.
+
+"This was taken just before he went out the first time," she
+continued.  "Is he anything like that now?"
+
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+
+"You must expect," he warned her, "that prison and hospital have
+had their effect upon him.  He was gaining strength every day,
+however, when I left."
+
+Philippa held out her hand.  She had been looking curiously at
+their visitor.
+
+"Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us
+about Dick," she insisted.  "First there are some questions which
+I must ask."
+
+He bowed slightly and drew himself up.  For a moment it seemed as
+though they were entering upon a duel--the slight, beautiful woman
+and the man in rags.
+
+"Just now," she began, "you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+brother, fifty-six hours ago."
+
+"That is so," he assented.
+
+"But it is impossible!" she pointed out.  "My brother is a prisoner
+of war in Germany."
+
+"Precisely," he replied, "and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp.  Let us talk about
+him, shall we?"
+
+"Are you mad," Helen demanded, "or are you trying to confuse us?"
+
+"My dear young lady!" he protested.  "Why suppose such a thing?  I
+was flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were,
+under the circumstances, perfectly rational."
+
+"But you are talking nonsense," Philippa insisted.  "You say that
+you saw Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago.  You cannot mean us to
+believe that fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg."
+
+"That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you," he agreed.
+
+"But it isn't possible!" Helen gasped.
+
+"Quite, I assure you," he continued; "in fact, we should have been
+here before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along
+the coast.  There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here,
+which we were credibly informed had once been fired without the
+slightest accident."
+
+Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+
+"He's raving!" she decided.
+
+"He isn't!" Helen cried, with sudden divination.  "Is that your hat?"
+she asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+
+"It is," he admitted with a smile, "but I do not think that I will
+claim it."
+
+"You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!"
+
+Lessingham extended his hand.
+
+"Softly, please," he begged.  "You have, I gather, arrived at the
+truth, but for the moment shall it be our secret?  I made an
+exceedingly uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the
+Zeppelin which passed over Dutchman's Common last night."
+
+"Then," Philippa cried, "you are a German!"
+
+"My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune," Lessingham
+confessed.  "Do you think that none other than Germans ride in
+Zeppelins?"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation.  The
+conversation, never without its emotional tendencies, at once
+changed its character.  Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat
+lurking all the time in her tone and manner, became its guiding
+spirit.
+
+"We may enquire your name?" she asked.
+
+"I am the Baron Maderstrom," was the prompt reply.  "For the purpose
+of my brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the
+name of Mr. Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment."
+
+"Maderstrom," Philippa repeated.  "You were at Magdalen with my
+brother."
+
+"For three terms," he assented.
+
+"You have visited at Wood Norton.  It was only an accident, then,
+that I did not meet you."
+
+"It is true," he answered, with a bow.  "I received the most charming
+hospitality there from your father and mother."
+
+"Why, you are the friend," Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his
+hands, "of whom Dick speaks in his letter!"
+
+"It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+Felstead," was the grave admission.  "He and I, during our college
+days, were more than ordinarily intimate.  I saw his name in one of
+the lists of prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg."
+
+A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa
+brushed her away.
+
+"Please let me speak," she said.  "You have brought us these letters
+from Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you
+did not risk your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply
+as his ambassador.  There is something beyond this in your visit to
+this country.  You may be a Swede, but is it not true that at the
+present moment you are in the service of an enemy?"
+
+Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+
+"You are entirely right," he murmured.
+
+"Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask
+of us?"
+
+"Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration," Lessingham
+assured her.  "I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for
+those which I have rendered and those which I may yet render to your
+brother."
+
+"And that favour?"
+
+Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+
+"A suit of your brother's clothes," he replied, "and a room in which
+to change.  The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to
+your ingenuity."
+
+"Anything else?"
+
+"It is my wish," he continued, "to remain in this neighbourhood for
+a short time--perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month.  I should
+value your introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of
+such hospitality as may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances."
+
+"As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+
+"Beyond a doubt."
+
+There was a moment's silence.  Philippa's face had become almost
+stony.  She took a step towards the telephone.  Lessingham, however,
+held out his hand.
+
+"Your purpose?" he enquired.
+
+"I am going to ring up the Commandant here," she told him, "and
+explain your presence in this house."
+
+"An heroic impulse," he observed, "but too impulsive."
+
+"We shall see," she retorted.  "Will you let me pass?"
+
+His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+
+"Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you," he suggested.
+"I am here at your mercy.  I promise you that under no circumstances
+will I attempt any measure of violence.  From any fear of that, I
+trust my name and my friendship with your brother will be sufficient
+guarantee."
+
+"Continue, then," Philippa assented.
+
+"You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case," he begged.
+
+"We must!" Helen exclaimed.  "We must, Philippa!  Please!"
+
+"You shall have your ten minutes," Philippa conceded.
+
+He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+hearth-rug, his hands behind him.  He addressed himself to Philippa.
+It was Philippa who had become his judge.
+
+"I will claim nothing from you," he began, "for the services which
+I have rendered to Richard.  Our friendship was a real thing, and,
+finding him in such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances,
+have done all that I have done.  I am well paid for this by the
+thanks which you have already proffered me."
+
+"No thanks--nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+recompense," Helen declared energetically.
+
+"Let me speak for a moment of the future," he continued.  "Supposing
+you ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here?
+Well, that will be the end of me, without a doubt.  You will have
+done what seemed to you to be the right thing, and I hope that that
+consciousness will sustain you, for, believe me, though it may not
+be at my will, your brother's life will most certainly answer for
+mine."
+
+There was a slight pause.  A sob broke from Helen's throat.  Even
+Philippa's lip quivered.
+
+"Forgive me," he went on, "if that sounds like a threat.  It was not
+so meant.  It is the simple truth.  Let me hurry on to the future.
+I ask so little of you.  It is my duty to live in this spot for one
+month.  What harm can I do?  You have no great concentration of
+soldiers here, no docks, no fortifications, no industry.  And in
+return for the slight service of allowing me to remain here
+unmolested, I pledge my word that Richard shall be set at liberty
+and shall be here with you within two months."
+
+Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted
+with eagerness.  She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her
+whole attitude an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+
+"Philippa, you will not hesitate?  You cannot?"
+
+"I must," Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation.  "I love
+Dick more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen,
+we have to remember, before everything, that we are English women.
+We have to put our human feelings behind us.  We are learning every
+day to make sacrifices.  You, too, must learn, dear.  My answer to
+you, Baron Maderstrom--or Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call
+yourself--is no."
+
+"Philippa, you are mad!" Helen exclaimed passionately.  "Didn't I
+have to realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully,
+the day after we were engaged?  Haven't I realised the duty of
+cheerfulness and sacrifice through all these weary months?  But
+there is a limit to these things, Philippa, a sense of proportion
+which must be taken into account.  It's Dick's life which is in
+the balance against some intangible thing, nothing that we could
+ever reproach ourselves with, nothing that could bring real harm
+upon any one.  Oh, I love my country, too, but I want Dick!  I
+should feel like his murderess all my life, if I didn't consent!"
+
+"It occurs to me," Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa,
+"that Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered."
+
+"Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?" Philippa
+demanded, with a little break in her voice.  "Richard is my twin
+brother, he is the dearest thing in life to me.  Can't you realise,
+though, that what you ask of us is treason?"
+
+"It really doesn't amount to that," Lessingham assured her.  "In my
+own heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand.
+No object that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is
+worth the life of a man like Richard Felstead."
+
+"Oh, he's right!" Helen exclaimed.  "Think, Philippa!  What is there
+here which the whole world might not know?  There are no secrets in
+Dreymarsh.  We are miles away from everywhere.  For my sake,
+Philippa, I implore you not to be unreasonable."
+
+"In plain words," Lessingham intervened, "do not be quixotic, Lady
+Cranston.  There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life
+on the other.  You see, the scales do not balance."
+
+"Can't you realise, though," Philippa answered, "what that idea
+means?  It is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs
+from a principle."
+
+"What are principles against love?" Helen demanded, almost fiercely.
+"A sister may prate about them, Philippa.  A wife couldn't.  I'd
+sacrifice every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect,
+myself and all that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!"
+
+There was a brief, throbbing silence.  Helen was feverishly clutching
+Philippa's hand.  Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face
+into which he gazed.  There were no women like this in his own
+country.
+
+"Dear lady," he said, and for the first time his own voice shook,
+"I abandon my arguments.  I beg you to act as you think best for
+your own future happiness.  The chances of life or death are not
+great things for either men like your brother or for me.  I would
+not purchase my end, nor he his life, at the expense of your
+suffering.  You see, I stand on one side.  The telephone is there
+for your use."
+
+"You shan't use it!" Helen cried passionately.  "Phillipa, you
+shan't!"
+
+Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone
+out of her face.  Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth
+was twitching with emotion.  She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+
+"My dear, I can't!  I can't!" she sobbed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+Philippa's breakdown was only momentary.  With a few brusque words
+she brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered
+equanimity.
+
+"To be practical," she began, "we have no time to lose.  I will go
+and get a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take
+Mr. Lessingham into the gun room.  Afterwards, perhaps you will have
+time to ring up the hotel."
+
+Lessingham took a quick step towards her,--almost as though he were
+about to make some impetuous withdrawal.  Philippa turned and met his
+almost pleading gaze.  Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+self-abnegation.
+
+"I am in command of the situation," she continued, a little more
+lightly.  "Every one must please obey me.  I shan't be more than
+five minutes."
+
+She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the
+door for her.  He stood for a moment looking at the place where
+she had vanished.  Then he turned round.
+
+"Major Felstead's description," he said quietly, "did not do his
+sister justice."
+
+"Philippa is a dear," Helen declared enthusiastically.  "Just for
+a moment, though, I was terrified.  She has a wonderful will."
+
+"How long has she been married?"
+
+"About six years."
+
+"Are there--any children?"
+
+Helen shook her head.
+
+"Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us."
+
+"Six years!" Lessingham repeated.  "Why, she seems no more than a
+child.  Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior."
+
+"Sixteen years," Helen told him.  "Philippa is twenty-nine.  And now,
+don't be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me.  I want to
+show you where to change your clothes."
+
+She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a
+small apartment across the passage.
+
+"If you'll wait in there," she begged, "I'll bring the clothes to
+you directly they come.  I am going to telephone now."
+
+"So many thanks," he answered.  "I should like a pleasant bedroom
+and sitting room, and a bathroom if possible.  My luggage you will
+find already there.  A friend in London has seen to that."
+
+She looked at him curiously.
+
+"You are very thorough, aren't you?" she remarked.
+
+"The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are,"
+he replied.  "One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the
+mightiest chain."
+
+She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+
+"Number three, please," she began.  "Are you the hotel?  The manager?
+Good!  I am speaking for Lady Cranston.  She wishes a sitting-room,
+bedroom and bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving
+to-day--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham.  You have his luggage already, I
+believe.  Please do the best you can for him.--Certainly.--Thank
+you very much."
+
+She set down the receiver.  The door was quickly opened and shut.
+Philippa reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+
+"Why, you've brought his grey suit," Helen cried in dismay, "the
+one he looks so well in!"
+
+"Don't be an idiot," Philippa scoffed.  "I had to bring the first
+I could find.  Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's
+sake see that he hurries!  Henry's train is due, and he may be here
+at any moment."
+
+"I'll tell him," Helen promised.  "I'll smuggle him out of the back
+way, if you like."
+
+Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+
+"A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!"
+she observed.  "No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes,
+but, if the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and
+introduce him.  Henry isn't likely to notice anything," she added,
+a little bitterly.
+
+Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+
+"You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?" the former asked
+anxiously.
+
+"I don't know," Philippa replied, without turning her head.  "I don't
+know what may come of it, Helen.  I have a queer sort of feeling
+about that man."
+
+Helen sighed.  "I suppose," she confessed, "I am the narrowest
+person on earth.  I can think of one thing, and one thing only.
+If Mr. Lessingham keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a
+month, perhaps six weeks--certainly soon!"
+
+"He will keep his word," Philippa said quietly.  "He is that sort
+of man."
+
+The door on the other side of the room was softly opened.
+Lessingham's head appeared.
+
+"Could I have a necktie?" he asked diffidently.  Philippa stretched
+out her hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+
+"Better give him this," she said, handing it over to Helen.  "It is
+one of Henry's which I was mending.--Stop!"
+
+She put up her finger.  They all listened.
+
+"The car!" Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet.  "That
+is Henry!  Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen," she continued, "and
+wait until he is ready.  Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller,
+and bring him in presently."
+
+Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+
+Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door.  In a moment it
+was thrown open.  Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+
+"I went to meet him, Mummy," she explained.  "No uniform--isn't it
+a shame!"
+
+Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife.  There was
+a shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather
+hesitating approach.
+
+"Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil," he told her.  "I had to
+make a call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street.  Any
+luck?"
+
+She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+
+"Henry," she said earnestly, "do you know I am so much more anxious
+to hear your news."
+
+"Mine will keep," he replied.  "What about Richard?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I spent the whole of my time making enquiries," she sighed, "and
+every one was fruitless.  I failed to get the least satisfaction
+from any one at the War Office.  They know nothing, have heard
+nothing."
+
+"I'm ever so sorry to hear it," Sir Henry declared sympathetically.
+"You mustn't worry too much, though, dear.  Where's Helen?"
+
+"She is in the gun room with a caller."
+
+"With a caller?" Nora exclaimed.  "Is it any one from the Depot?
+I must go and see."
+
+"You needn't trouble," her stepmother replied.  "Here they are,
+coming in."
+
+The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and
+Hamar Lessingham and Helen entered together.  Lessingham was
+entirely at his ease,--their conversation, indeed, seemed almost
+engrossing.  He came at once across the room on realising Sir
+Henry's presence.
+
+"This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham--my husband," Philippa said.  "Mr.
+Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and
+he have been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences."
+
+The two men shook hands.
+
+"I found time also to examine your Leech prints," Lessingham remarked.
+"You have some very admirable examples."
+
+"Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days," Sir Henry admitted.
+"One or two of them are very good, I believe.  Are you staying in
+these parts long, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"Perhaps for a week or two," was the somewhat indifferent reply.
+"I am told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I
+have come down here to pull up again after a slight illness."
+
+"A dreary spot just now," Sir Henry observed, "but the air's all
+right.  Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"I have done a little of it," the visitor confessed.  Sir Henry's
+face lit up.  He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+
+"I don't mind telling you," he confided as he cut the string, "that
+I don't think there's another sport like it in the world.  I have
+tried most of them, too.  When I was a boy I was all for shooting,
+perhaps because I could never get enough.  Then I had a season or
+two at Melton, though I was never much of a horseman.  But for real,
+unadulterated excitement, for sport that licks everything else into
+a cocked hat, give me a strong sea rod, a couple of traces, just
+enough sea to keep on the bottom all the time, and the codling
+biting.  Look here, did you ever see a mackerel spinner like that?"
+he added, drawing one out of the parcel which he had untied.  "Look
+at it, all of you."
+
+Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers.  Philippa, a little
+ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a
+newspaper.
+
+"Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of
+sport just now," Sir Henry explained good-humouredly.  "All the
+same I argue that one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or
+other."
+
+"Quite right, Dad!" Nora agreed.  "We must carry on, as the Colonel
+says.  All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval
+uniform, with lots of gold braid on your sleeve.  I think they might
+have made you an admiral, Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge."
+
+"I am afraid," her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the
+spinner which Lessingham was holding, "that that is a consideration
+which didn't seem to weigh with them much.  Look at the glitter of
+it," he went on, taking up another of the spinners.  "You see, it's
+got a double swivel, and they guarantee six hundred revolutions a
+minute."
+
+"I must plead ignorance," Lessingham regretted, "of everything
+connected with mackerel spinning."
+
+"It's fine sport for a change," Sir Henry declared.  "The only thing
+is that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars
+in.  By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa?  Have you heard
+whether there are any mackerel in?"
+
+Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+
+"Mackerel!" she repeated sarcastically.
+
+"Have you any objection to the fish, dear?" Sir Henry enquired
+blandly.
+
+Philippa made no reply.  Her husband frowned and turned towards
+Lessingham.
+
+"You see," he complained a little irritably, "my wife doesn't approve
+of my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but,
+hang it all, what are you to do when you reach my age?  Thinks I
+ought to be a special constable, don't you, Philippa?"
+
+"Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?" she asked, without
+looking up from her paper.
+
+Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+
+"See something more of you, I hope," Sir Henry remarked hospitably,
+as he conducted his guest to the door.  "Where are you staying
+here?"
+
+"At the hotel."
+
+"Which?"
+
+"I did not understand that there was more than one," Lessingham
+replied.  "I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh."
+
+"There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa
+observed, turning towards him.  "Why do you ask such an absurd
+question, Henry?  The 'Grand' is full of soldiers.  Come and see
+us whenever you feel inclined, Mr. Lessingham."
+
+"I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,"
+were the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself
+out.
+
+Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda.  Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though
+waiting patiently for his return.  Helen and Nora had already
+obeyed the summons of the dressing bell.
+
+"Henry, I want to hear your news," she insisted.  He threw himself
+into an easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's
+workbasket.
+
+"Where's that tie of mine you were mending?" he asked.  "Is it
+finished yet?"
+
+"It is upstairs somewhere," she replied.  "No, I have not finished
+it.  Why do you ask?  You have plenty, haven't you?"
+
+"Drawers full," he admitted cheerfully.  "Half of them I can never
+wear, though.  I like that black and white fellow.  Your friend
+Lessingham was wearing one exactly like it."
+
+"It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"Seems to have the family taste in clothes," Sir Henry continued,
+stroking his chin.  "That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the
+same pattern as the suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw
+him in mufti."
+
+"They probably go to the same tailor," Philippa remarked equably.
+
+Sir Henry abandoned the subject.  He was once more engrossed in an
+examination of the mackerel spinners.
+
+"You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble," he ventured
+presently.
+
+Philippa turned and looked at him.  Her eyes were usually very
+sweet and soft and her mouth delightful.  Just at that moment,
+however, there were new and very firm lines in her face.
+
+"Henry," she said sternly, "you are purposely fencing with me.
+Mr. Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and
+goings, are not what I want to hear or talk about.  You went to
+London, unwillingly enough, to keep your promise to me.  I want to
+know whether you have succeeded in getting anything from the
+Admiralty?"
+
+"Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear," he answered with a little
+chuckle.
+
+"Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?" she
+persisted.  "You may have been out of the service too long for
+them to start you with a modern ship, but surely they could have
+given you an auxiliary cruiser, or a secondary command of some sort?"
+
+"They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear," he confessed.  "My
+name's on a list, they said--"
+
+"Oh, that list!" Philippa interrupted angrily.  "Henry, I really
+can't bear it.  Couldn't they find you anything on land?"
+
+"My dear girl," he replied a little testily, "what sort of a figure
+should I cut in an office!  No one can read my writing, and I
+couldn't add up a column of figures to save my life.  What is it?"
+he added, as the door opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+
+"Dumble is here to see you, sir."
+
+"Show him in at once," his master directed with alacrity.  "Come
+in, Jimmy," he went on, raising his voice.  "I've got something
+to show you here."
+
+Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together.  She swept past
+her husband on her way to the door.
+
+"I hope you will be so good," she said, looking back, "as to spare
+me half an hour of your valuable time this evening.  This is a
+subject which I must discuss with you further at once."
+
+"As urgent as all that, eh?" Sir Henry replied, stopping to light
+a cigarette.  "Righto!  You can have the whole of my evening, dear,
+with the greatest of pleasure.--Now then, Jimmy!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity
+for silence.  He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his
+hat in his hand.  Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did
+not for a moment address his visitor.  There was a subtle but
+unmistakable change in his appearance as he stood with his hands in
+his pockets, and a frown on his forehead, whistling softly to
+himself, his eyes fixed upon the door through which his wife had
+vanished.  He swung round at last towards the telephone.
+
+"Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?" he directed.
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+Sir Henry took up the receiver.  He dropped his voice a little,
+although it was none the less distinct.
+
+"Number one--police-station, please.--Hullo there!  The inspector
+about?--That you, Inspector?--Sir Henry Cranston speaking.  Could
+you just step round?--Good!  Tell them to show you straight into
+the library.  You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights,
+eh?  Thank you."
+
+He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+
+"Well, Jimmy," he enquired, "all serene down in the village, eh?"
+
+"So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke
+as shouldn't be."
+
+"A lazy lot they are," Sir Henry observed.
+
+"They don't look far beyond the end of their noses."
+
+"Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't," was the cautious
+reply.
+
+Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+
+"Perhaps you are right, Jimmy," he admitted.
+
+"That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with
+ideas."
+
+"He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble," Dumble
+declared.  "He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know
+he put Grice's lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday
+week, but that don't amount to anything.  He was dead drunk for
+three days afterwards."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy," he confided, as he
+threw open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the
+further wall.  "No strangers about, eh?"
+
+"Not a sign of one, sir."
+
+Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+
+"Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?" his visitor asked.
+
+"I don't think it is necessary," Sir Henry replied.  "They've all
+gone up to change.  Now listen to me, Jimmy."
+
+He leaned forward and touched a spring.  The false back of the
+cabinet, with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks
+and tackle, slowly rolled back.  Before them stood a huge chart,
+wonderfully executed in red, white and yellow.
+
+"That's a marvellous piece of work, sir," the fisherman observed
+admiringly.
+
+"Best thing I ever did in my life," Sir Henry agreed.  "Now see
+here, Jimmy.  We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat,
+according to the wind.  We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass
+Dead Man's Rock on the left side of the waterway, and keep straight
+on until we get Budden Wood on the church tower.  You follow me?"
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+
+"We make for the headland from there.  You see, we shall be outside
+the Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up.  Put all
+the fishing tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait.  We must
+never lose sight of the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our
+lives is to catch fish."
+
+"That's right, sir," was the hearty assent.
+
+"We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then," Sir Henry decided.
+
+"The tide'll be on the flow by that time," Jimmy observed, "and
+we'll get off from the staith breakwater.  That do be a fine piece
+of work and no mistake," he added, as the false back of the cabinet
+glided slowly to its place.
+
+Sir Henry chuckled.
+
+"It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy," he said.
+"I've got the seaweed on that, pretty well.  You'll take a drop of
+whisky on your way out?" he added.  "Mills will look after you."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir."
+
+Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+
+"The inspector is here to see you, sir," he announced.  "He did
+mention something about the lights.  I'm sure we've all been most
+careful.  Even her ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom."
+
+"Show the inspector in," Sir Henry directed, "and I'll hear what
+he has to say.  And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a
+cigar."
+
+"Wishing you good night, sir," the latter said, as he followed
+Mills.  "I'll be punctual in the morning.  Looks to me as though
+we might have good sport."
+
+"We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy," his employer replied cheerfully.
+"Come in, Inspector."
+
+The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+attention.  Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door.
+He remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+
+"Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector," he observed, sitting
+on the edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette.
+"Any fresh arrivals?"
+
+"None, sir," the man reported, "of any consequence that I can see.
+There are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady
+for the Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night.
+There was a commercial traveller came in the first train this
+morning, but he went on during the afternoon."
+
+"Hm!  What about a Mr. Lessingham--a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+
+"I haven't heard of him, sir."
+
+"Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?"
+
+"Not this evening, sir.  I met the Midland and Great Northern train
+in myself.  Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here."
+
+"And I came the other way myself," Sir Henry reflected.
+
+"Now you come to mention the matter, sir," the inspector continued,
+"I was up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about
+addressed to a name somewhat similar to that."
+
+"Probably sent on in advance, eh?"
+
+"There could be no other way, sir," the inspector replied, "unless
+the registration paper has been mislaid.  I'll step up to the hotel
+this evening and make sure."
+
+"You'll oblige me very much, if you will.  By Jove," Sir Henry
+added, looking towards the door, "I'd no idea it was so late!"
+
+Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black
+net gown, was standing in the doorway.  She looked at the inspector,
+and for a moment the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+
+"Is anything the matter?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+"Nothing in the world, my dear," her husband assured her.  "I am
+frightfully sorry I'm so late.  Jimmy stayed some time, and then
+the inspector here looked in about our lights.  Just a little
+more care in this room at night, he thinks.  We'll see to it,
+Inspector."
+
+"I am very much obliged, sir," the man replied.  "Sorry to be under
+the necessity of mentioning it."
+
+Sir Henry opened the door.
+
+"You'll find your own way out, won't you?" he begged.  "I'm a
+little late."
+
+The inspector saluted and withdrew.  Sir Henry glanced round.
+
+"I won't be ten minutes, Philippa," he promised.  "I had no idea
+it was so late."
+
+"Come here one moment, please," she insisted.
+
+He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small
+table near which she had paused.
+
+"What is it, dear?" he enquired.  "We are going to leave our talk
+till after dinner, aren't we?"
+
+She looked him in the face.  There was an anxious light in her eyes,
+and she was certainly not herself.  "Of course!  I only wanted to
+know--it seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to
+the inspector, as I came into the room.  Are you sure that it was
+the lights he came around about?  There isn't anything else wrong,
+is there?"
+
+"What else could there be?" he asked wonderingly.
+
+"I have no idea," she replied, with well-simulated indifference.
+"I was only asking you whether there was anything else?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Nothing!"
+
+She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+
+"Thank you," she said.  "Do hurry, please.  I have a new cook and
+she asked particularly whether we were punctual people."
+
+"Six minutes will see me through it," Sir Henry promised, making
+for the door.  "Come to think of it, I missed my lunch.  I think
+I'll manage it in five."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening.  The
+new cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having
+dined exceedingly well.  He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before
+a blazing wood fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of
+cigarettes, and his wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few
+feet away.
+
+"Quite a remarkable change in Helen," he observed.  "She was in the
+depths of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems
+positively cheerful."
+
+"Helen varies a great deal," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found
+her more depressed than ever," Sir Henry went on.  "She hoped so
+much from your trip to London, and you apparently accomplished 
+nothing."
+
+"Nothing at all."
+
+"And you have had no letters?"
+
+"None."
+
+"Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's
+natural inconsistency.--Philippa, dear!"
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"I am glad to be at home.  I am glad to see you sitting there.  I
+know you are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch
+at me.  Won't you launch it and let's get it over?"
+
+Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned
+to face her husband.  He made a little grimace.
+
+"Don't look so severe," he begged.  "You frighten me before you
+begin."
+
+"I'm sorry," she said, "but my face probably reflects my feelings.
+I am hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry."
+
+"That's a good start, anyway," he groaned.
+
+"We have been married six years," Philippa went on, "and I admit at
+once that I have been very happy.  Then the war came.  You know
+quite well, Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very
+fond of you, yet it never occurred to me for a moment but that, like
+every other woman, I should have to lose my husband for a time.
+--Stop, please," she insisted, as he showed signs of interrupting.
+"I know quite well that it was through my persuasions you retired
+so early, but in those days there was no thought of war, and I
+always had it in my mind that if trouble came you would find your
+way back to where you belonged."
+
+"But, my dear child, that is all very well," Sir Henry protested,
+"but it's not so easy to get back again.  You know very well that
+I went up to the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the
+war started."
+
+"Yes, and what happened?" Philippa demanded.  "You were, in a
+measure, shelved.  You were put on a list and told that you would
+hear from them--a sort of Micawber-like situation with which you
+were perfectly satisfied.  Then you took that moor up in Scotland
+and disappeared for nearly six months."
+
+"I was supplying the starving population with food," he reminded her
+genially.  "We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market,
+not to speak of the salmon.  We had some very fair golf, too, some
+of the time."
+
+"Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your
+diversions!" Philippa said scornfully.  "Sometimes," she continued,
+"I wonder whether you are quite responsible, Henry.  How you can
+even talk of these things when every man of your age and strength
+is fighting one way or another for his country, seems marvellous to
+me.  Do you realise that we are fighting for our very existence?
+Do you realise that my own father, who is fifteen years older than
+you, is in the firing line?  This is a small place, of course, but
+there isn't a man left in it of your age, with your physique, who
+has had the slightest experience in either service, who isn't doing
+something."
+
+"I can't do more than send in applications," he grumbled.  "Be
+reasonable, my dear Philippa.  It isn't the easiest thing in the
+world to find a job for a sailor who has been out of it as long as
+I have."
+
+"So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all
+did in London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there
+is generally a polite little silence.  No one believes it.  I don't
+believe it."
+
+"Philippa!"
+
+Sir Henry turned in his chair.  His cigar was burning now idly
+between his fingers.  His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+
+"Well, I don't," she reiterated.  "You can be angry, if you will
+--in fact I think I should prefer you to be angry.  You take no
+pains at the Admiralty.  You just go there and come away again,
+once a year or something like that.  Why, if I were you, I
+wouldn't leave the place until they'd found me something--indoors
+or outdoors, what does it matter so long as your hand is on the
+wheel and you are doing your little for your country?  But you
+--what do you care?  You went to town to get a job--and you come
+back with new mackerel spinners!  You are off fishing to-morrow
+morning with Jimmy Dumble.  Somewhere up in the North Sea, to-day
+and to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives for
+their country.  What do you care?  You will sit there smoking your
+pipe and catching dabs!"
+
+"Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?" her husband said
+quietly.
+
+"I want to be," she retorted.  "I should like you to feel that I am.
+In any case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall
+hold with you on the subject."
+
+"Well, thank God for that, anyway!" he observed, strolling to the
+chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack.  "I think you've
+said about enough."
+
+"I haven't finished," she told him ominously.
+
+"Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over," he
+begged.
+
+"Oh, you're impossible!" Philippa exclaimed bitterly.  "Listen.
+I give you one chance more.  Tell me the truth?  Is there anything
+in your health of which I do not know?  Is there any possible
+explanation of your extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason
+or other, you have kept to yourself?  Give me your whole confidence."
+
+Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough.  He stood looking down
+at her a little wistfully.
+
+"My dear," he told her, "I have nothing to say except this.  You
+are my very precious wife.  I have loved you and trusted you since
+the day of our marriage.  I am content to go on loving and trusting
+you, even though things should come under my notice which I do not
+understand.  Can't you accept me the same way?"
+
+Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+
+"Accept you the same way?  How can I!  There is nothing in my life
+to compare in any way with the tragedy of your--"
+
+She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence.  He waited
+patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+
+"Of my what?"
+
+Philippa compromised.
+
+"Lethargy," she pronounced triumphantly.
+
+"An excellent word," he murmured.
+
+"It is too mild a one, but you are my husband," she remarked.
+
+"That reminds me," he said quietly.  "You are my wife."
+
+"I know it," she admitted, "but I am also a woman, and there are
+limits to my endurance.  If you can give me no explanation of your
+behaviour, Henry, if you really have no intention of changing it,
+then there is only one course left open for me."
+
+"That sounds rather alarming--what is it?" he demanded.
+
+Philippa lifted her head a little.  This was the pronouncement
+towards which she had been leading.
+
+"From to-day," she declared, "I cease to be your wife."
+
+His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he
+was filling his pipe.  He turned and looked at her.
+
+"You what?"
+
+"I cease to be your wife."
+
+"How do you manage that?" he asked.
+
+"Don't jest," she begged.  "It hurts me so.  What I mean is surely
+plain enough.  I will continue to live under your roof if you wish
+it, or I am perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton.  I will
+continue to bear your name because I must, but the other ties
+between us are finished."
+
+"You don't mean this, Philippa," he said gravely.
+
+"But I do mean it," she insisted.  "I mean every word I have spoken.
+So far as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance."
+
+There was a knock at the door.  Mills entered with a note upon a
+salver.  Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife,
+and tore open the envelope.
+
+"There will be no answer, Mills," he said.
+
+The man withdrew.  Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:--
+
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+  SIR,
+
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+
+                                           Respectfully yours,
+                                              JOHN HAYLOCK.
+
+"Is your note of interest?" Philippa enquired.
+
+"In a sense, yes," he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat
+pocket.  "I presume we can consider our late subject of conversation
+finished with?"
+
+"I have nothing more to say," she pronounced.
+
+"Very well, then," her husband agreed, "let us select another topic.
+This time, supposing I choose?"
+
+"You are welcome."
+
+"Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+Philippa had taken up her work.  Her fingers ceased their labours,
+but she did not look up.
+
+"About Mr. Hamar Lessingham," she repeated.  "Rather a limited
+subject, I am afraid."
+
+"I am not so sure," he said thoughtfully.  "For instance, who is he?"
+
+"I have no idea," she replied.  "Does it matter?  He was at college
+with Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton.  That is all
+that we know.  Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any
+reasonable hospitality?"
+
+"I am not disputing it," Sir Henry assured her.  "On the face of it,
+it seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him.  On
+the other hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his
+coming here just now."
+
+"Really?" Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower
+over her work.
+
+"In the first place," her husband continued, "how did he arrive here?"
+
+"For all I know," she replied, "he may have walked."
+
+"A little unlikely.  Still, he didn't come from London by either of
+the evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for
+him until about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to
+the hotel.  So, you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief
+he did get here."
+
+"I took his rooms?" Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch
+at her heart.
+
+"Some one from here rang up, didn't they?" Sir Henry went on
+carelessly.  "I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel."
+
+"Where did you hear that?" she demanded.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+
+"I have no doubt," he continued, "that the whole subject of Mr.
+Hamar Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing.  Yet he does seem to
+have arrived here under a little halo of coincidence."
+
+"I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that," Philippa remarked;
+"in fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing
+in the world.  After all, although one scarcely remembers that since
+the war, this is a health resort, and the man has been ill."
+
+"Quite right," Sir Henry agreed.  "You are not going to bed, dear?"
+
+Philippa had folded up her work.  She stood for a moment upon the
+hearth-rug.  The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+
+"May I say just one word more," she begged, "about our previous--our
+only serious subject of conversation?  I have tried my best since we
+were married, Henry, to make you happy."
+
+"You know quite well," he assured her, "that you have succeeded."
+
+"Grant me one favour, then," she pleaded.  "Give up your fishing
+expedition to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let
+me write to Lord Rayton.  I am sure he would do something for you."
+
+"Of course he'd do something!"  Her husband groaned.  "I should get
+a censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth."
+
+"Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?" she asked,
+"than go on living the life you are living now?"
+
+"To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't," he declared
+bluntly.  "What on earth use should I be in a land appointment?  Why,
+no one could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely
+out of date.  Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time."
+
+"You refuse to let me write, then?" she persisted.
+
+"Absolutely."
+
+"You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Wouldn't miss it for anything," he confessed.
+
+Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+
+"Henry, I've finished," she declared, holding out her hand to keep
+him away from her.  "I've finished with you entirely.  I would
+rather be married to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his
+country than to you.  What I have said, I mean.  Don't come near me.
+Don't try to touch me."
+
+She swept past him on her way to the door.
+
+"Not even a good-night kiss?" he asked, stooping down.
+
+She looked him in the eyes.
+
+"I am not a child," she said scornfully.
+
+He closed the door after her.  For a moment he remained as though
+undecided whether to follow or not.  His face had softened with
+her absence.  Finally, however, he turned away with a little shrug
+of the shoulders, threw himself into his easy-chair and began to
+smoke furiously.
+
+The telephone bell disturbed his reflection.  He rose at once and
+took up the receiver.
+
+"Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh.  Trunk call?  All right, I am here."
+
+He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+
+"Cranston?"
+
+"Speaking."
+
+"That's right.  The message is Odino Berry, you understand?
+O-d-i-n-o b-e-r-r-y."
+
+"I've got it," Sir Henry replied.  "Good night!"  He hung up the
+receiver, crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers,
+and produced a black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock.
+He drew a key from his watch chain, opened the book, and ran his
+fingers down the O's.
+
+"Odino," he muttered to himself.  "Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+information from Berlin.'  Now Berry."  He turned back.  "'You are
+being watched by an enemy secret service agent.'"
+
+He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk.  Then he
+strolled over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda from the tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+
+"We have trustworthy information from Berlin," he repeated to
+himself, "that you are being watched by an enemy secret service
+agent."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+"Tell me, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa insisted, "exactly what are you
+thinking of?  You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below
+that I've climbed up on purpose to ask you."
+
+Lessingham held out his hand to steady her.  They were standing on
+a sharp spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces,
+thrashing into little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which
+the twilight was already resting.  For a moment or two neither of
+them could speak.
+
+"I was thinking of my country," he confessed.  "I was looking
+through the shadows there, right across the North Sea."
+
+"To Germany?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Further away--to Sweden."
+
+"I forgot," she murmured.  "You looked as though you were posing for
+a statue of some one in exile," she observed.  "Come, let us go a
+little lower down--unless you want to stay here and be blown to
+pieces."
+
+"I was on my way back to the hotel," he answered quickly, as he
+followed her lead, "but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little
+lonely."
+
+"That," she declared, "is your own fault.  I asked you to come to
+Mainsail Haul whenever you felt inclined."
+
+"As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived," he
+remarked with a smile, "you might, perhaps, by this time have had
+a little too much of me."
+
+"On the contrary," she told him, "I quite expected you yesterday
+afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been
+doing.  So you were thinking about--over there?" she added,
+moving her head seawards.
+
+"Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts," he confessed,
+"and the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks."
+
+"Well, I should like to hear about the first half," she insisted.
+
+"Do you know," he replied, "there are times when even now this war
+seems to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading
+about, some wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable
+poets.  I can't believe that millions of the flower of Germany's
+manhood and yours have perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly.
+And France--poor decimated France!"
+
+"Well, Germany started the war, you know," she reminded him.
+
+"Did she?" he answered.  "I sometimes wonder.  Even now I fancy, if
+the official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side,
+with their own case stated from their own point of view, even you
+might feel a little confused about that.  Still, I am going to be
+very honest with you.  I think myself that Germany wanted war."
+
+"There you are, then," she declared triumphantly.  "The whole thing
+is her responsibility."
+
+"I do not quite go so far as that," he protested.  "You see, the
+world is governed by great natural laws.  As a snowball grows larger
+with rolling, so it takes up more room.  As a child grows out of its
+infant clothes, it needs the vestments of a youth and then a man.
+And so with Germany.  She grew and grew until the country could not
+hold her children, until her banks could not contain her money,
+until she stretched her arms out on every side and felt herself
+stifled.  Germany came late into the world and found it parcelled
+out, but had she not a right to her place?  She made herself great.
+She needed space."
+
+"Well," Philippa observed, "you couldn't suppose that other nations
+were going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their
+possessions, could you?"
+
+"Perhaps not," he admitted.  "And yet, you see, the immutable law
+comes in here.  The stronger must possess--not only the stronger
+by arms, mind, but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in
+science, by utilitarianism.  The really cruel part, the part I was
+thinking of then, as I looked out across the sea, is that this
+crude and miserable resort to arms should be necessary."
+
+"If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as
+you," Philippa sighed, "one feels that there might be some hope for
+the future!"
+
+"I am not alone," he assured her, "but, you see, all over Germany
+there is spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen
+--devotion to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser.
+Independent thought has made Germany great in science, in political
+economy, in economics.  But independent thought is never turned
+towards her political destinies.  Those are shaped for her.  For
+good or for evil her children have learnt obedience."
+
+They were descending the hillside now.  At their feet lay the little
+town, black and silent.
+
+"You have helped me to understand a little," Philippa said.  "You
+put things so gently and yet so clearly.  Now tell me, will you not,
+how it is that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for
+Germany?"
+
+"That is very simple," he confessed.  "My mother was a German, and
+when she died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a
+very considerable fortune.  These I could never have inherited
+unless I had chosen to do my military service in Germany.  My family
+is an impoverished one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent
+upon me.  Under the circumstances, hesitation on my part was
+impossible."
+
+"But when the war came?" she queried.
+
+He looked at her in surprise.
+
+"What was there left for me then?" he demanded.  "Naturally I heard
+nothing but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey.  I was in
+that mad rush through Belgium.  I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else
+I should have followed hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat
+of yours.  As it was, I lay for many months in hospital.  I joined
+again--shall I confess it?--almost unwillingly.  The bloodthirstiness
+of it all sickened me.  I fought at Ypres, but I think that it was
+something of the courage of despair, of black misery.  I was wounded
+again and decorated.  I suppose I shall never be fit for the front
+again.  I tried to turn to account some of my knowledge of England
+and English life.  Then they sent me here."
+
+"Here, of all places in the world!" Philippa repeated wonderingly.
+"Just look at us!  We have a single line of railway, a perfectly
+straightforward system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers
+being trained, no mysteries, no industries--nothing.  What terrible
+scheme are you at work upon, Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+He smiled.
+
+"Between you and me," he confided, "I am not at all sure that I am
+not here on a fool's errand--at least I thought so when I arrived."
+
+She glanced up at him.
+
+"And why not now?"
+
+He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly
+away.  There was a moment's queer, strained silence.  Before them
+loomed up the outline of Mainsail Haul.
+
+"You will come in and have some tea, won't you?" she invited.
+
+"If I may.  Believe me," he added, "it has only been a certain
+diffidence that has kept me away so long."
+
+She made no reply, and they entered the house together.  They found
+Helen and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having
+tea in the drawing-room.  Lessingham slipped very easily into the
+pleasant little circle.  If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners,
+and a sense of humour which every now and then displayed itself,
+were most attractive.
+
+"Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir,"
+Harrison asked him.  "He was at Magdalen a few years after Major
+Felstead, and I am sure you'd find plenty to talk about."
+
+"I am quite sure that we should," Lessingham replied.  "May I come,
+perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous
+efforts to lead an absolutely quiet life here."
+
+"Whenever you like, sir.  We sha'n't be able to show you anything
+very wild in the way of dissipation.  Vintage port and a decent
+cigar are the only changes we can make for guests."
+
+Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit
+with her in a distant corner of the room.
+
+"I knew there was something I wanted to say to you," she began, "but
+somehow or other I forgot when I met you.  My husband was very much
+struck with Helen's improved spirits.  Don't you think that we had
+better tell him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major
+Felstead?"
+
+Lessingham agreed.
+
+"Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary
+way," he advised.  "I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of
+your husband, that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible
+that he might have associated them with me if you had mentioned them
+the other night.  When is he coming back?"
+
+"I never know," Philippa answered with a sigh.  "Perhaps to-night,
+perhaps in a week.  It depends upon what sport he is having.  You
+are not smoking."
+
+Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+
+"I find your husband," he said quietly, "rather an interesting type.
+We have no one like that in Germany.  He almost puzzles me."
+
+Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+
+"There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one," she
+complained bitterly.  "He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted
+to amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him.  Why do
+you look at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping
+something back?  I am not, I can assure you."
+
+"Perhaps I was wondering," he confessed, "how you really felt towards
+a husband whose outlook was so unnatural."
+
+She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+
+"Do you know," she said softly, "I feel, somehow or other, although
+we have known one another such a short time, as though we were
+friends, and yet that is a question which I could not answer.  A
+woman must always have some secrets, you know."
+
+"A man may try sometimes to preserve his," he sighed, "but a woman
+is clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out."
+
+A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks.  She welcomed Helen's
+approach almost eagerly.
+
+"A woman must first feel the will," she murmured, without glancing
+at him.  "Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come
+and dine?"
+
+"Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion," Lessingham
+begged eagerly.
+
+"I haven't the least idea of doing so," Helen laughed, "so long as
+I may have--say just ten minutes to talk about Dick."
+
+"It is a bargain," he promised.
+
+"We shall be quite alone," Philippa warned him, "unless Henry arrives."
+
+"It is the great attraction of your invitation," he confessed.
+
+"At eight o'clock, then."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+"Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship."
+
+Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the
+piano before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival.
+Then she glanced at the clock.  It was ten minutes to eight.
+
+"You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me."
+
+Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room--awkward, unwieldly,
+nervous as usual.  He entered as though in a hurry, and there was
+nothing in his manner to denote that he had spent the last few
+hours making up his mind to this visit.
+
+"I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston," he
+said, watching the closing of the door.  "I will not take up more
+than five minutes of your time."
+
+"We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,"
+Philippa said hospitably.  "Do sit down, please."
+
+Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+
+"It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston," he
+continued apologetically.  "The fact of it is, however, that as
+Commandant here it is my duty to examine the bona fides of any
+strangers in the place.  There is a gentleman named Lessingham
+staying at the hotel, who I understand gave your name as
+reference."
+
+Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent,
+as she gazed up at her visitor.
+
+"Why, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said.  "Mr. Lessingham
+was at college with my brother, and one of his best friends.  He
+has shot down at my father's place in Cheshire."
+
+"You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?"
+
+"My only brother."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston," Captain Griffiths
+declared.  "I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+Lessingham."
+
+Philippa laughed.
+
+"It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about
+any one down here," she observed.  "It really is a very harmless
+neighbourhood, isn't it?"
+
+"There isn't much going on, certainly," the Commandant admitted.
+"Very dull the place seems at times."
+
+"Now be perfectly frank," Philippa begged him.  "Is there a single
+fact of importance which could be learnt in this place, worth
+communicating to the enemy?  Is the danger of espionage here worth
+a moment's consideration?"
+
+"That," Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, "is
+not a question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand."
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to
+Helen, who had just entered the room.
+
+"Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths!  He is making me
+feel quite creepy.  There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants
+to know all about Mr. Lessingham."
+
+Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+
+"Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?"
+she observed, as she shook hands.
+
+"We can do more," Philippa declared.  "We can help him to judge for
+himself.  We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain
+Griffiths. Do stay."
+
+"I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this," Captain
+Griffiths replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice
+sound hoarser and more unpleasant.  "It is most kind of you, Lady
+Cranston.  Perhaps you will give me another opportunity."
+
+"I sha'n't think of it," Philippa insisted.  "You must stay and
+dine to-night.  We shall be a partie carr�e, for Nora goes to bed
+directly after dinner.  I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set
+an extra place," she added.
+
+Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+complacency.  He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced,
+with very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in
+every way a success.  Towards its close, Philippa became a little
+thoughtful.  She glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was
+sitting by her side, almost in admiration.  His conversation, gay
+at times, always polished, was interlarded continually with those
+little social reminiscences inevitable amongst men moving in a
+certain circle of English society.  Apparently Richard Felstead
+was not the only one of his college friends with whom he had kept
+in touch.  The last remnants of Captain Griffiths' suspicions
+seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although his
+manner became in no way more genial.
+
+"Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?" Philippa
+asked her favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out
+a bridge table.
+
+"One adapts one's methods to one's adversary," he murmured, with a
+smile, "Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional
+suspicions.  The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance
+with the ordinary English sports, is quite sufficient with a man
+like that."
+
+Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room.
+Philippa raised her eyes to her companion's.
+
+"You become more of a mystery than ever," she declared.  "You are
+making me even curious.  Tell me really why you have paid us this
+visit from the clouds?"
+
+She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question.  For a
+moment the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed.
+His eyes glowed.
+
+"In search of new things," he answered.
+
+"Guns?  Fortifications?"
+
+"Neither."
+
+A spirit of mischief possessed her.  Lessingham's manner was baffling
+and yet provocative.  For a moment the political possibilities of
+his presence faded away from her mind.  She had an intense desire to
+break through his reserve.
+
+"Won't you tell me--why you came?"
+
+"I could tell you more easily," he answered in a low tone, "why it
+will be the most miserable day of my life when I leave."
+
+She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+
+"How delightful to be flirted with again!" she sighed.  "And I
+thought all German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone
+compliments.  Still, your secret, sir, please?  That is what I want
+to know."
+
+"If you will have just a little patience!" he begged, leaning so
+close to her that their heads almost touched, "I promise that I will
+not leave this place before I tell it to you."
+
+Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his.  She knew
+perfectly well what she ought to have done and she was singularly
+indisposed to do it.  It was a most piquant adventure, after all,
+and it almost helped her to forget the trouble which had been
+sitting so heavily in her heart.  Still avoiding his eyes, she
+called the others.
+
+"We are quite ready for bridge," she announced.
+
+They played four or five rubbers.  Lessingham was by far the most
+expert player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners.
+The two men stood together for a moment or two at the sideboard,
+helping themselves to whisky and soda.  Griffiths had become more
+taciturn than ever, and even Philippa was forced to admit that the
+latter part of the evening had scarcely been a success.
+
+"Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?" Griffiths asked.
+
+"Never," was the calm reply.
+
+"You are head and shoulders above our class down here."
+
+"Very good of you to say so," Lessingham replied courteously.  "I
+held good cards to-night."
+
+"I wonder," Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and
+keeping his eyes fixed upon his companion, "what the German
+substitute for bridge is."
+
+"I wonder," Lessingham echoed.
+
+"As a nation," his questioner proceeded, "they probably don't waste
+as much time on cards as we do."
+
+Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent.
+He strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa.  She, for her
+part, was watching Captain Griffiths.
+
+"So many thanks, Lady Cranston," Lessingham murmured, "for your
+hospitality."
+
+"And what about that secret?" she asked.
+
+"You see, there are two," he answered, looking down at her.  "One
+I shall most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the
+one secret which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself.
+As for the other--"
+
+He hesitated.  There was something almost like pain in his face.
+She broke in hastily.
+
+"I did not call you away to ask about either.  I happened to notice
+Captain Griffiths just now.  Do you know that he is watching you
+very closely?"
+
+"I had an idea of it," Lessingham admitted indifferently.  "He is
+rather a clumsy person, is he not?"
+
+"You will be careful?" she begged earnestly.  "Remember, won't you,
+that Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if
+anything should come out."
+
+"Nothing shall," he promised her.  "I think you know, do you not,
+that, whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to
+protect you."
+
+For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly
+reprove his boldness.  She had even to struggle to keep her tone as
+careless as her words.
+
+"You really are a delightful person!" she exclaimed.  "How long is
+it since you descended from the clouds?"
+
+"Sometimes I think that I am there still," he answered, "but I have
+known you about seventy-six hours."
+
+"What precision?" she laughed.  "It's a national characteristic,
+isn't it?  Captain Griffiths," she continued, as she observed his
+approach, "if you really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with
+you.  He is making fun of me.  I don't allow even Dick's friends
+to do that."
+
+Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+
+"You must both come again very soon," their hostess concluded, as
+she shook hands.  "I enjoyed our bridge immensely."
+
+The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden
+idea seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths.  He turned back.
+
+"By-the-by, Lady Cranston," he asked, "have you heard anything from
+your brother?"
+
+Philippa shook her head sadly.  Helen, who, unlike her friend, had
+not had the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur
+dramatic stage, turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+"Not a word," was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+
+Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+
+"Bad luck!" he said.  "I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston.  Good night once
+more."
+
+This time their departure was uninterrupted.  Helen removed her
+handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at
+the closed door.
+
+"Do you believe," Helen asked seriously, "that Captain Griffiths
+has any suspicions?"
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"If he has, who cares?" she replied, a little defiantly.  "The
+very idea of a duel of wits between those two men is laughable."
+
+"Perhaps so," Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+customary walks.  The crystalline October sunshine, in which every
+distant tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed
+to gain a new clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed
+fields, the yellowing bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees,
+while the west wind, which had strewn the sea with white-flecked
+waves, brought down the leaves to form a carpet for their feet, and
+played strange music along the wood-crested slope.  In the broken
+land through which they made their way, a land of trees and moorland,
+with here and there a cultivated patch, the yellow gorse still glowed
+in unexpected corners; queer, scentless flowers made splashes of
+colour in the hedgerows; a rabbit scurried sometimes across their
+path; a cock pheasant, after a moment's amazed stare, lowered his
+head and rushed for unnecessary shelter.  The longer they looked
+upwards, the bluer seemed the sky.  The grass beneath their feet was
+as green and soft as in springtime.  Driven by the wind, here and
+there a white-winged gull sailed over their heads,--a cloud of them
+rested upon a freshly turned little square of ploughed land between
+two woods.  A flight of pigeons, like torn leaves tossed about by
+the wind, circled and drifted above them.  Philippa seated herself
+upon the trunk of a fallen tree and gazed contentedly about her.
+
+"If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be
+perfectly happy," she sighed.  "I am sure my hair must look awful."
+
+Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+
+"I decline to say the correct thing," she declared.  "I will only
+remind you that there will be no one here to look at it."
+
+"I am not so sure," Philippa replied.  "These are the woods which
+the special constables haunt by day and by night.  They gaze up
+every tree trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind
+hedges and watch for mysterious flashes."
+
+"Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?" Helen enquired,
+lazily.  "I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the
+equipment of the melodramatic spy.  As to Zeppelins, don't you
+remember he told us that he hated them and was terrified of bombs."
+
+"My dear," Philippa remonstrated, "Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude."
+
+"And yet,--" Helen began.
+
+"Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head,"
+Philippa interrupted.  "Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I
+believe that Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come
+over here to see if I am really like it."
+
+"He does behave rather like that," her companion admitted drily.
+
+Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+
+"Helen," she said severely, "don't be a cat."
+
+"If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour," Helen went on,
+picking up a pine cone and examining it, "I might astonish you."
+
+"You have an evil mind," Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette
+case.  "What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes
+forgets to talk about Dick."
+
+"The poor man doesn't get much chance," Helen retorted, watching the
+blue smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+"Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?"
+
+"Literature--English and German," Philippa murmured demurely.  "Mr.
+Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our
+English poets than any man I have met for years."
+
+"I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing."
+
+"Once more, don't be a cat," Philippa enjoined.  "If you want me to
+confess it, I will own up at once.  You know what a simple little
+thing I am.  I admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a
+most interesting companion."
+
+"You mean," her friend observed drily "the Baron Maderstrom."
+Philippa looked around and frowned.
+
+"You are most indiscreet, Helen," she declared.  "I have learnt
+something of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you
+that all spoken or written words are dangerous.  There is a
+thoroughly British squirrel in that tree overhead, and I am sure
+he heard."
+
+"I suppose the sunshine has got into your head," Helen groaned.
+
+"If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+right," Philippa assented.  "As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+depressed.  Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast
+this morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or
+to-morrow.  They must have landed somewhere down the coast."
+
+"You are a most undutiful wife," Helen pronounced severely.  "I am
+sure Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little
+irresponsible, and it is almost pathetic to remember how much you
+were in love with him, a year or two ago."
+
+Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+
+"That was before the war," she sighed.
+
+"I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand
+him," Helen said thoughtfully.
+
+"No doubt," Philippa assented, "but you'd find the not understanding
+him a little more galling, if you were his wife.  You see, I didn't
+know that I was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole."
+
+"I wonder," Helen reflected, "how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get
+on when they see more of one another."
+
+"I really don't care," Philippa observed indifferently.
+
+"I used to notice sometimes--that was soon after you were married,"
+Helen continued, "that Henry was just a little inclined to be
+jealous."
+
+Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea.  There was a queer little
+smile upon her lips.
+
+"Well, if he still is," she said, "I'll give him something to be
+jealous about."
+
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham!" Helen murmured.
+
+Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham?" she repeated.  "I don't think you'll find
+that he'll be in the least sorry for himself."
+
+"He may be in earnest," Helen reminded her friend.  "You can be
+horribly attractive when you like, you know, Philippa."
+
+Philippa smiled sweetly.
+
+"It is just possible," she said, "that I may be in earnest myself.
+I've quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a
+helpless creature without a little admiration."
+
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet.  Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+approaching through the wood.
+
+"You really aren't respectable, Philippa," she declared.  "Throw
+away your cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up.  Some one is
+coming."
+
+Philippa only moved her head lazily.  The sunlight, which came down
+in a thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell
+straight upon her rather pale, defiant little face, with its
+unexpressed evasive charm, and seemed to find a new depth of colour
+in the red-gold of her disordered hair.  Her slim, perfect body was
+stretched almost at full length, one leg drawn a little up, her hands
+carelessly drooping towards the grass.  The cigarette was still
+burning in the corner of her lips.
+
+"I decline," she said, "to throw away my cigarette for any one."
+
+"Least of all, I trust," a familiar voice interposed, "for me."
+
+Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+resentfully at Lessingham.  He was wearing a brown tweed
+knickerbocker suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+
+"Whatever are you doing up here," she demanded, "and do you know
+anything about our game laws?  You can't come out into the woods
+here and shoot things just because you feel like it."
+
+He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+
+"That is quite all right," he assured her.  "Your neighbour, Mr.
+Windover, to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring
+my gun out this morning and try and get a woodcock."
+
+"Gracious!  You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?" Philippa
+demanded, looking around.  Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"His car came for him at the other side of the wood," he explained.
+"He was wanted to go on the Bench.  I elected to walk home."
+
+"And the woodcock?" she asked.  "I adore woodcock."
+
+He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was
+lying amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin
+feathers under the silk band.
+
+"There," he said, handing it to her, "the first woodcock of the
+season.  We got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope
+that you would like it.  I shall leave it with the estimable Mills,
+on my return."
+
+"You must come and share it," Philippa insisted.  "Those boys of
+Nora's are coming in to dinner.  Your gift shall be the piece de
+resistance."
+
+"Then may I dine another night?" he begged.  "This place encourages
+in me the grossest of appetites."
+
+"Have no fear," she replied.  "You will never see that woodcock
+again.  I shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow.  I ordered dinner
+before I came out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise
+that you shall not go away hungry."
+
+"Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?" he asked,
+dropping his voice for a moment.
+
+She turned and studied him.  Helen, who had strolled a few yards
+away, was knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some
+gorgeously coloured leaves from a solitary bramble bush.  Lessingham
+had thrown his cap onto the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the
+unusual colour in his cheeks were both, in their way, becoming.  His
+loose but well-fitting country clothes, his tie and soft collar, were
+all well-chosen and suitable.  She admired his high forehead and his
+firm, rather proud mouth.  His eyes as well as his tone were full of
+seriousness.
+
+"You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away
+across that terrible North Sea," she laughed.
+
+"There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do,"
+he whispered.
+
+She picked up her hat and sighed.
+
+"Really," she said, "I think things are quite complicated enough as
+they are.  I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your
+mission here and your real identity.  I simply could not include a
+flirtation amongst my excitements."
+
+"I have never flirted," he assured her gravely.
+
+"Wise man," she pronounced, rising to her feet.  "Come, let us go
+and help Helen pick leaves.  She is scratching her fingers terribly,
+and I'm sure you have a knife.  A dear, economical creature, Helen,"
+she added, as they strolled along.  "I am perfectly certain that
+those are destined to adorn my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums
+at sixpence each, you can't imagine how welcome they are.  Come,
+produce the knife, Mr. Lessingham."
+
+The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+homeward.  Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of
+the wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful
+fields, the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling
+stretch of green turf on the crown of the cliffs.  Beyond was the
+foam-flecked blue sea, dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+
+"Would one believe," she asked satirically, "that there should be
+scope here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a--Mr.
+Lessingham!"
+
+"Remember that I was sent," he protested.  "The error, if error
+there be, is not mine."
+
+"And after all," Helen reminded them both, "think how easily one
+may be misled by appearances.  You couldn't imagine anything more
+honest than the faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees
+about, yet do you know, Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by
+burglars last night?"
+
+"Seriously?" he asked.
+
+"Without a doubt.  Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to
+thieves.  They could get in anywhere.  Last night they chose the
+French windows and seem to have made themselves at home in the
+library."
+
+"I trust," Lessingham said, "that they did not take anything of value?"
+
+"They took nothing at all," Philippa sighed.  "That is the
+humiliating part of it.  They evidently didn't like our things."
+
+"How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?"
+Lessingham enquired.
+
+"So practical!" Philippa murmured.  "As a matter of fact, I heard
+some one moving about, and I rang the alarm bell.  Mills was
+downstairs almost directly and we heard some one running down the
+drive.  The French windows were open, a chair was overturned in the
+library, and a drawer in my husband's desk was wide open."
+
+"The proof," Lessingham admitted, "is overwhelming.  You were visited
+by a burglar.  Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?"
+
+"Henry hasn't anything of value in the world," Philippa replied
+drily, "except his securities, and they are at the bank."
+
+"Without going so far as to contradict you," Lessingham observed, with
+a smile, "I still venture to disagree!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they
+had been weighing, admiringly.
+
+"You see that, Mills?  You see that, Jimmy?" he pointed out.  "Six
+and three-quarter pounds!  I was right almost to an ounce.  He's a
+fine fellow!"
+
+"A very extraordinary fish, sir," the butler observed.  "Will you
+allow me to take your oilskins?  Dinner was served nearly an hour
+ago."
+
+Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+
+"That's all right," he replied.  "Listen.  Don't say a word about
+my arrival to your mistress at present.  I have some writing to do.
+Bring me a glass of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can
+do so without being missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some
+whisky and soda."
+
+"But what about your own dinner, sir?"
+
+"I'll have a tray in the gun room," his master decided, "say in
+twenty minutes' time.  And, Mills, who did you say were dining?"
+
+"Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir--Mr. Harrison and
+Mr. Sinclair--and Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before
+his writing-table.  "Mills," he added, in a confidential whisper,
+"what port did you serve?"
+
+The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+
+"Not the vintage, sir," he announced with emphasis.  "Some very
+excellent wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons.
+The young gentlemen like it."
+
+"You're a jewel, Mills," his master declared.  "Now you understand
+--an aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and
+not a word about my being here.  Good night, Jimmy.  Sorry we were
+too late for the mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same.
+You'll have a day or two's rest ashore now."
+
+"Aye, aye, sir!" Dumble replied.  "We got in just in time.  There's
+something more than a squall coming up nor'ards."
+
+Sir Henry listened for a moment.  The French windows shook, the rain
+beat against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly
+audible from outside.
+
+"We timed that excellently," he agreed.  "Come up and have a chat
+to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you."
+
+"I'll be round before eleven, sir," the fisherman promised, with a
+grin.
+
+Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door.  Then he leaned forward
+for several moments.  He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned
+from a week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he
+loved best.  The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather
+than increased.  There were black lines under his eyes which seemed
+to speak of sleepless nights, and a beard of several days' growth
+was upon his chin.  He drank the cocktail which Mills presently
+brought him, at a gulp, and watched with satisfaction while the mixer
+was vigorously shaken and a second one poured out.
+
+"We've had a rough time, Mills," he observed, as he set down the
+glass.  "Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing."
+
+"I'm sorry to hear it, sir," was the respectful reply.  "If I may
+be allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired."
+
+"I am tired," Sir Henry admitted.  "I think, if I tried, I could go
+to sleep now for twenty-four hours."
+
+"You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters,
+that there is no post out tonight, sir," Mills proceeded.  "I have
+prepared a warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change."
+
+"Capital!" Sir Henry exclaimed.  "It isn't a letter that's bothering
+me, though, Mills.  There are just a few geographical notes I want
+to make.  You know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of
+the coast round here.  That fellow Groocock--Jimmy Dumble's uncle
+--very nearly lost his motor boat last week through trusting to the
+old one."
+
+"Just so, sir," Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass
+upon his tray.  "If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the
+dining room."
+
+"Quite right," his master assented.  "They won't be out just yet,
+will they?"
+
+"Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir
+--not before that."
+
+Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently.  Directly the door was closed
+he rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his
+fishing cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring.
+With the aid of a little electric torch which he took from his
+pocket, he studied particularly a certain portion of the giant chart,
+made some measurements with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and
+closed it up again with an air of satisfaction.  Then he resumed his
+seat, drew a folded slip of paper from his breast pocket, a chart
+from another, turned up the lamp and began to write.  His face, as
+he stooped low, escaped the soft shade and was for a moment almost
+ghastly.  Every now and then he turned and made some calculations on
+the blotting-paper by his side.  At last he leaned back with a little
+sigh of relief.  He had barely done so before the door behind him
+was opened.
+
+"Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+drawing-room?" Nora asked.
+
+"In here, I think," he heard Philippa reply.
+
+Then they both came in, followed by Helen.  Nora was the first to
+see him and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+
+"Why, here's Dad!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+"Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are
+having dinner!  When did you get back?  What a fish!"
+
+Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came
+forward to meet his wife.
+
+"Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!" he agreed.  "Well, Philippa, how are
+you?  Pleased to see me, I hope?  Another new frock, I believe, and
+in war time!"
+
+"Fancy your remembering that it was war time!" she answered, standing
+very still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+
+"Nasty one for me," Sir Henry observed good-humouredly.  "How well
+you're looking, Helen!  Any news of Dick yet?"
+
+Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+success.
+
+"Nothing fresh," she answered.
+
+"Well, well, no news may be good news," Sir Henry remarked
+consolingly.  "Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again!
+This morning has been the only patch of decent weather we've had."
+
+"This morning was lovely," Helen assented.  "Philippa and I went and
+sat up in the woods."
+
+Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her
+husband critically.
+
+"We have some men dining," she said.  "They will be out in a few
+minutes.  Don't you think you had better go and make yourself
+presentable?  You smell of fish, and you look as though you hadn't
+shaved for a week."
+
+"Guilty, my dear," Sir Henry admitted.  "Mills is just getting me
+something to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a
+bath and change my clothes."
+
+"And shave, Dad," Nora reminded him.
+
+"And shave, you young pest," her father agreed, patting her on the
+shoulder.  "Run away and play billiards with Helen.  I want to talk
+to your mother until my dinner's ready."
+
+Nora acquiesced promptly.
+
+"Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up.   Or perhaps you'd
+like to play shell out?" she proposed.  "Arthur Sinclair says I have
+improved in my potting more than any one he ever knew."
+
+Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them.  Then he returned
+and seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side.  She glanced up
+at him as though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards
+her work-basket, took up some knitting.
+
+"I really think I should change at once, if I were you," she
+suggested.
+
+"Presently.  I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a
+word or two with you first.  I've been away for nearly a fortnight,
+haven't I?"
+
+"You have," Philippa assented.  "Perhaps that is the reason why
+I feel that I haven't very much to say to you."
+
+"That sounds just a trifle hard," he said slowly.
+
+"I am hard sometimes," Philippa confessed.  "You know that quite
+well.  There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart
+at all, nor any sympathy; when every sensation I might have had
+seems shrivelled up inside me."
+
+"Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me,
+Philippa?" he asked.
+
+Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+
+"You had every warning," she told him.  "I tried to make you
+understand exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you
+went away."
+
+"Yes, I remember," he admitted.  "I'm afraid, dear, you think I
+am a worthless sort of a fellow."
+
+Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch.  She bent lower still over
+her knitting.  There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her
+mouth was unrecognisable.
+
+"Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?" her husband
+remarked presently.
+
+"Yes," Philippa assented, "he is dining to-night.  You will probably
+see him in a few minutes."
+
+Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+
+"You're so keen about that sort of thing," he said, "what about
+Lessingham?  He is not soldiering or anything, is he?"
+
+"I have no idea," Philippa replied.  "He walks with a slight limp
+and admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us
+very much about himself."
+
+"I wonder you haven't tackled him," Sir Henry continued.  "You're
+such an ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing
+his bit of butchery."
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "is a very delightful friend, whose stay
+here every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative
+stranger.  I feel no responsibility as to his actions."
+
+"And you do as to mine?"
+
+"Naturally."
+
+Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of
+the lounge.  He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining
+room beyond.
+
+"Hm!" he observed.  "Has he been here often while I've been away?"
+
+"As often as he chose," Philippa replied.  "He has become very popular
+in the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest
+here at any time."
+
+"Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?"
+
+"He is here most days.  We are always rather disappointed when he
+doesn't come."
+
+Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+
+"What's the attraction?" he demanded.
+
+Philippa smiled.  It was the smile which those who knew her best,
+feared.
+
+"Well," she confided, "I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I
+think that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but
+Dick and their college days.  I am rather inclined to fancy that it
+must be me."
+
+"You, indeed!" he grunted.  "Are you aware that you are a married
+woman?"
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work.  Her eyebrows were raised, and
+her expression was one of mild surprise.
+
+"How queer that you should remind me of it!" she murmured.  "I am
+afraid that the sea air disturbs your memory."
+
+Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+
+"Oh, damn!" he exclaimed.
+
+He walked to the door.  His guests were still lingering over their
+wine.  He could hear their voices more distinctly than ever.  Then
+he came back to the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+
+"Philippa, old girl," he pleaded, "don't let us quarrel.  I have had
+such a hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the
+dirtiest seas I've ever known at this time of the year.  For five days
+I hadn't a dry stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once.
+We were all in the water together, and there was a nasty green wave
+that looked like a mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat
+bending over us as though it meant to squeeze our ribs in.  It looked
+like ten to one against us, Phil, and I got a worse chill than the
+sea ever gave me when I thought that I shouldn't see you again."
+
+Philippa laid down her knitting.  She looked searchingly into her
+husband's face.  She was very far from indifferent to his altered
+tone.
+
+"Henry," she said, "that sounds very terrible, but why do you run
+such risks--unworthily?  Do you think that I couldn't give you all
+that you want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with
+a story like this and I knew that you had been facing death
+righteously and honourably for your country's sake?  Why, Henry,
+there isn't a man in the world could have such a welcome as I could
+give you.  Do you think I am cold?  Of course you don't!  Do you
+think I want to feel as I have done this last fortnight towards you?
+Why, it's misery!  It makes me feel inclined to commit any folly,
+any madness, to get rid of it all."
+
+Her husband hesitated.  A frown had darkened his face.  He had the
+air of one who is on the eve of a confession.
+
+"Philippa," he began, "you know that when I go out on these fishing
+expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+anxious to prepare for the fishermen."
+
+Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+
+"Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry!  I'm as sick with
+them as I am with you.  You can see twenty or thirty of them any
+morning, lounging about the quay, strapping young fellows who
+shelter themselves behind the plea of privileged employment.  We are
+notorious down here for our skulkers, and you--you who should be
+the one man to set them an example, are as bad as they are.  You
+deliberately encourage them."
+
+Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face
+darkened and his eyes flashed.
+
+"Skulkers?" he repeated furiously.
+
+Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+
+"Yes!  Don't you like the word?"
+
+The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come.  He
+laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box,
+and lit it.
+
+"It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?" he observed, thrusting
+his hands into his jacket pockets strolling away.  "If one doesn't
+feel the call--well, there you are, you see.  Jove, that's a fine
+fish."
+
+He stood admiring the codling upon the scales.  Philippa continued
+her work.
+
+"If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us," she told
+him calmly, "please let me remind you again that we have guests for
+dinner.  Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely
+becoming."
+
+He turned away and came back towards her.  As he passed the lamp,
+she started.
+
+"Why, you're wet," she exclaimed, "wet through!"
+
+"Of course I am," he admitted, feeling his sleeve, "but to tell you
+the truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten
+it.  Here come our guests, before I have had time to escape.  I can
+hear your friend Lessingham's voice."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle.
+Sir Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+
+"No idea that you were back, sir," Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+
+Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly.  "I turned up about
+three quarters of an hour ago," he explained, "just too late to
+join you at dinner."
+
+"Bad luck, sir," Sinclair remarked.  "I hope that you had good sport?"
+
+"Not so bad," Sir Henry admitted.  "We had to go far enough for it,
+though.  What do you think of that for an October codling?"
+
+They all approached the scales and admired the fish.  Sir Henry
+stood with his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+
+"You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?" he
+enquired.
+
+"One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+delightfully hospitable a place," was the somewhat measured reply.
+
+"You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?" Sir Henry
+continued.
+
+"In a very small way," Lessingham acknowledged.  "I have been out
+once or twice."
+
+"With Ben Oates, eh?"
+
+"I believe that was the man's name."
+
+Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of
+surprise.
+
+"I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham.  Whatever made you choose
+Ben Oates?  He is a most disgraceful person."
+
+"It was entirely by accident," Lessingham explained.  "I met him on
+the front.  It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather
+pressing in his invitation."
+
+"I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport," Sir Henry observed.
+"From what Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken
+you in entirely the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide."
+
+"We had a small catch," Lessingham replied.  "I really went more for
+the sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed."
+
+"The coast itself," Sir Henry remarked, "is rather an interesting
+one."
+
+"I should imagine so," Lessingham assented.  "Mr. Ben Oates, indeed,
+told me some wonderful stories about it.  He spoke of broad channels
+down which a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of
+the land."
+
+"He is quite right, too," his host agreed.
+
+"There's a lot of deep water about here.  The whole of the coast is
+very curious in that way.  What the--what the dickens is this?"
+
+Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a
+Homburg hat from the far side of a table of curios.  Philippa glanced
+up at his exclamation.
+
+"That's Nora's trophy," she explained.  "I told her to take it up to
+her own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends."
+
+"Nora's trophy?" Sir Henry repeated.  "Why, it's nothing but an
+ordinary man's hat."
+
+"Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir," Harrison pointed out.
+"Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+observation car was found there."
+
+Sir Henry held out the hat.
+
+"But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in
+this sort of headgear, does she?" he demanded.
+
+"If you'll just look inside the lining, sir," Sinclair suggested.
+
+Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly.  "By Jove, it's a
+German hat, all right!" he exclaimed.  "Doesn't look a bad shape,
+either."
+
+He tried it on.  There was a little peal of laughter from the men.
+Philippa had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch.
+Sir Henry looked at himself in the looking-glass.
+
+"Well, that's funny," he observed.  "I shouldn't have thought it
+would have been so much too small for me.  Here, just try how you'd
+look in it, Mr. Lessingham," he added, handing it across to him.
+
+Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+carefully on his head.
+
+"It doesn't feel particularly comfortable," he remarked.
+
+"That may be," Sir Henry suggested, "because you have it on wrong
+side foremost.  If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would
+find it a very good fit."
+
+Lessingham at once obeyed.  Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+
+"Excellent!" he exclaimed.  "Look at that, Philippa.  Might have
+been made for him, eh?"
+
+Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from
+his head with, some casual observation.  He was entirely at his ease.
+His host turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+
+"Captain Griffiths, sir," the latter announced.
+
+Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+
+"How are you, Griffiths?" he said.  "Glad to see you.  Excuse my
+costume, but I am just back from a fishing expedition.  We are all
+admiring Mr. Lessingham in his magic hat."
+
+Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others,
+and turned towards Lessingham.
+
+"Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham," Sir Henry
+begged.  "You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's
+slipper.  The hat which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's
+Common fits our friend like a glove.  I never thought the Germans
+made such good hats, did you, Griffiths?"
+
+"I always thought they imported their felt hats," Captain Griffiths
+acknowledged.  "Is that really the one with the German name inside,
+which Miss Nora brought home?"
+
+"This is the genuine article," Lessingham assented, taking it from
+his head and passing it on to the newcomer.  "Notwithstanding the
+name inside, I should still believe that it was an English hat.  It
+feels too comfortable for anything else."
+
+The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully.
+He drew out the lining and looked all the way round.  Suddenly he
+gave vent to a little exclamation.
+
+"Here are the owner's initials," he declared, "rather faint but
+still distinguishable,--B. M.  Hm!  There's no doubt about its
+being a German hat."
+
+"B. M.," Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder.  "How very
+interesting!  B. M.," he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had
+recommenced her knitting.  "Is it my fancy, or is there something
+a little familiar about that?"
+
+"I am sure that I have no idea," Philippa replied.  "It conveys
+nothing to me."
+
+There was a brief but apparently pointless silence.  Philippa's
+needles flashed through her wool with easy regularity.  Lessingham
+appeared to be sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed
+concerning the hat.  Sir Henry was standing with knitted brows, in
+the obvious attitude of a man seeking to remember something.
+
+"B. M.," he murmured softly to himself.  "There was some one I've
+known or heard of in England--What's that, Mills?"
+
+"Your dinner is served, sir," Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+announced.
+
+Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible
+owner.  He threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed
+a new interest in life.
+
+"Jove, I'm ravenous!" he confessed.  "You'll excuse me, won't you?
+Mills, see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes--in the
+billiard room, I should think.  You'll find the young people there.
+I'll come in and have a game of pills later."
+
+The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry
+at once from the room.  Lessingham, however, lingered.  He stood
+with his hands behind him, looking at the closed door.
+
+"Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?"
+Philippa asked.
+
+"If I may," he answered, without changing his position.
+
+Philippa looked at him curiously.
+
+"Do you see ghosts through that door?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Do you know," he said, as he seated himself by her side, "there
+are times when I find your husband quite interesting."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+Philippa leaned back in her place.
+
+"Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?" she demanded.
+
+He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+towards her.
+
+"I must confess," he said, "that sometimes your husband puzzles me."
+
+"Not nearly so much as he puzzles me," Philippa retorted, a little
+bitterly.
+
+"Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?"
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"More or less, but never quite to this extent.  The thing has become
+an obsession with him lately.  If you are really going to stay and
+talk with me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband?  Just now
+the subject is rather a painful one with me."
+
+"I can quite understand that," Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+
+"What do you think of Captain Griffiths?" she asked, a little
+abruptly.
+
+"I have thought nothing more about him.  Should I?  Is he of any
+real importance?"
+
+"He is military commandant here."
+
+Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+
+"I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my
+track," he observed.
+
+"I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was," Philippa
+said drily.  "I have told you that he came and asked about you the
+other night, when he dined here.  He seemed perfectly satisfied then,
+but he is here again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits
+anywhere in an ordinary way."
+
+"Are you uneasy about me?" Lessingham enquired.
+
+"I am not sure," she answered frankly.  "Sometimes I am almost
+terrified and would give anything to hear that you were on your way
+home.  And at other times I realise that you are really very clever,
+that nothing is likely to happen to you, and that the place will
+seem duller than ever when you do go."
+
+"That is very kind of you," he said.  "In any case, I fear that my
+holiday will soon be coming to an end."
+
+"Your holiday?" she repeated.  "Is that what you call it?"
+
+"It has been little else," he replied indifferently.  "There is
+nothing to be learnt here of the slightest military significance."
+
+"We told you that when you arrived," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"I was perhaps foolish not to believe you," he acknowledged.
+
+"So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in
+failure, after all!" she went on, a moment or two later.
+
+"Failure?  No, I should not call it failure."
+
+"You have really made some discoveries, then?" she enquired dubiously.
+
+"I have made the greatest discovery in the world."
+
+Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered,
+her eyes fell.
+
+"Dear me!  In this quiet spot?" she sighed.
+
+"Yes!"
+
+"Is it Helen or me?"
+
+"Philippa!" he protested.
+
+Her eyebrows were more raised than ever.  Her mouth had lost its
+alluring curve.
+
+"Really, Mr. Lessingham!" she exclaimed.  "Have I ever given you
+the right to call me by my Christian name?"
+
+"In my country," he answered, "we do not wait to ask.  We take."
+
+"Rank Prussianism," she murmured.  "I really think you had better
+go back there.  You are adopting their methods."
+
+"I may have to at any moment," he admitted, "or to some more distant
+country still.  I want something to take back with me."
+
+"You want a keepsake, of course," Philippa declared, looking around
+the room.  "You can have my photograph--the one over there.  Helen
+will give you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her.  She is
+just as grateful to you about Richard as I am."
+
+"But from you," he said earnestly, "I want more than gratitude."
+
+"Dear me, how persistent you are!" Philippa murmured.  "Are you
+really determined to make love to me?"
+
+"Ah, don't mock me!" he begged.  "What I am saying to you comes from
+my heart."
+
+Philippa laughed at him quietly.  There was just a little break in
+her voice, however.
+
+"Don't be absurd!"
+
+"There is nothing absurd about it," he replied, with a note of
+sadness in his tone.  "I felt it from the moment we met.  I struggled
+against it, but I have felt it growing day by day.  I came here with
+my mind filled with different purposes.  I had no thought of amusing
+myself, no thought of seeking here the happiness which up till now
+I seem to have missed.  I came as a servant because I was sent, a
+mechanical being.  You have changed everything.  For you I feel what
+I have never felt for any woman before.  I place before you my career,
+my freedom, my honour."
+
+Philippa sighed very softly.
+
+"Do you mind ringing the bell?" she begged.
+
+"The bell?" he repeated.  "What for?"
+
+"I want Helen to hear you," she confided, with a wonderful little
+smile.
+
+"Philippa, don't mock me," he pleaded.  "If this is only amusement
+to you, tell me so and let me go away.  It is the first time in my
+life that a woman has come between me and my work.  I am no longer
+master of myself.  I am obsessed with you.  I want nothing else in
+life but your love."
+
+There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face.  The banter
+which had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon
+as her defensive weapon, was suddenly useless.  Lessingham had
+created an atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+
+"Are you in earnest?" she faltered.
+
+"God knows I am!" he insisted.
+
+"You--you care for me?"
+
+"So much," he answered passionately, "that for your sake I would
+sacrifice my honour, my country, my life."
+
+"But I've only known you for such a short time," Philippa protested,
+"and you're an enemy."
+
+"I discard my birth.  I renounce my adopted country," he declared
+fiercely.  "You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition
+and patriotism.  You have filled it with one thing only--a great,
+consuming love."
+
+"Have you forgotten my husband?"
+
+"Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should
+have dared to speak?  Ask yourself how you can continue to live
+with him?  You can call him which you will.  Both are equally
+disgraceful.  Your heart knows the truth.  He is either a coward or
+a philanderer."
+
+Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white.  Her eyes flashed.  His words
+had stung her to the quick.
+
+"A coward?" she repeated furiously.  "You dare to call Henry that?"
+
+Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet.  He moved restlessly about the
+room.  His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+
+"I do!" he pronounced.  "Philippa, look at this matter without
+prejudice.  Do you believe that there is a single man of any country,
+of your husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the
+seas for fish whilst his country's blood is being drained dry?  Who
+would weigh a codling," he added, pointing scornfully to the scales,
+"whilst the funeral march of heroes is beating throughout the world?
+The thing is insensate, impossible!"
+
+Philippa's head drooped.  Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+
+"Don't!" she pleaded, "I have suffered so much."
+
+"Forgive me," he begged, with a sudden change of voice.  "If I am
+mistaken in your husband--and there is always the chance--I am
+sorry.  I will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him,
+but I can only judge from what I have seen and from that there is
+no one in the world who would not agree with me that your husband
+is unworthy of you."
+
+"Oh, please stop!" Philippa cried.  "Stop at once!"
+
+Lessingham came back to his place by her side.  His voice was still
+shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+
+"Philippa, forgive me," he repeated.  "If you only knew how it hurts
+to see you like this!  Yet I must speak.  There is just once in
+every man's lifetime when he must tell the truth.  That time has
+come with me--I love you."
+
+"So does my husband," she murmured.
+
+"I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,"
+Lessingham continued.  "He sets your wishes at defiance.  He who
+should be an example in a small place like this, is only an object
+of contempt in the neighbourhood.  Even I, who have only lived here
+for so short a time, have caught the burden of what people say."
+
+Philippa wiped her eyes.
+
+"Please, do you mind," she begged, "not saying anything more about
+Henry.  You are only reminding me of things which I try all the
+time to forget."
+
+"Believe me," Lessingham answered wistfully, "I am only too content
+to ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you
+are the woman who has changed my life."
+
+Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child
+who has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+
+"But you must not--you must not talk to me like this!"
+
+His hand closed upon hers.  It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold,
+yet passive.
+
+"Why not?" he whispered.  "I have the one unalterable right, and I
+am willing to pay the great price."
+
+"Right?" she faltered.
+
+"The right of loving you--the right of loving you better than any
+woman in the world."
+
+There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly
+aware, to the emotion of the moment.  A door behind them had opened.
+Philippa's quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps.
+Lessingham rose deliberately to his feet.  In his heart he welcomed
+the interruption.  This might, perhaps, be the decisive moment.  Sir
+Henry was strolling towards them.  His manner and his tone, however,
+were alike good-natured.
+
+"I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham," he
+announced.  "Sinclair has been sent for--a night route march, or
+some such horror--and they want you to make a four."
+
+Lessingham hesitated.  He had a passionate inclination to face the
+situation, to tell this man the truth.  Sir Henry's courteous
+indifference, however, was like a harrier.  He recognised the
+inevitable.
+
+"I am afraid I am rather out of practice," he said, "but I shall be
+delighted to do my best."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers.  For a
+mild-mannered and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+
+"That fellow was making love to you," he said bluntly, as soon as
+the door was closed behind Lessingham.
+
+Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+
+"He was doing it very nicely, too," she admitted.
+
+"You mean to say that you let him?"
+
+"I listened to what he had to say," she confessed.  "It didn't occur
+to you, I suppose," her husband remarked, with somewhat strained
+sarcasm, "that you were another man's wife?"
+
+"I am doing my best to forget that fact," Philippa reminded him.
+
+"I see!  And he is to help you?"
+
+"Possibly."
+
+Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+
+"I shall turn the fellow out of the house," he declared.
+
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+
+"Why don't you?"
+
+He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side.  "Look here,
+Philippa, don't let's wrangle," he begged.  "I'm afraid you'll have
+to make up your mind to see a good deal less of your friend
+Lessingham, anyway."
+
+Philippa's brows were knitted.  She was conscious of a vague
+uneasiness.
+
+"Really?  And why?"
+
+"For one thing," her husband explained, "because I don't intend to
+have him hanging about my house during my absence."
+
+"The best way to prevent that would be not to go away," Philippa
+suggested.
+
+"Well, in all probability," he announced guardedly, "I am not
+going away again--at least not just yet."
+
+Philippa's manner suddenly changed.  She laid down her work.  Her
+hand rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+
+"You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing
+excursions of yours?"
+
+"For the present I am," he assured her.
+
+"And are you going to do something--some work, I mean?" she asked
+breathlessly.
+
+"For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after
+you," he replied.
+
+Philippa's face fell.  Her manner became notably colder.
+
+"You are very wise," she declared.  "Mr. Lessingham is a most
+fascinating person.  We are all half in love with him--even Helen."
+
+"The fellow must have a way with him," Sir Henry conceded grudgingly.
+"As a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless
+they have immediate connections in the neighbourhood.  Even Griffiths,
+who since they made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions,
+seems inclined to accept him."
+
+"Captain Griffiths dined here the other night," Philippa remarked,
+"and I noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well."
+
+"The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt," Sir Henry began.
+
+"Of course he is," Philippa interrupted.  "Helen likes him quite as
+much as I do."
+
+"Does he make love to Helen, too?" Sir Henry ventured.
+
+"Don't talk nonsense!" Philippa retorted.  "He isn't that sort of
+a man at all.  If he has made love to me, he has done so because I
+have encouraged him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault."
+
+Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and
+took a cigarette from an open box.
+
+"Quite time I stayed at home, I can see.  All the same, the fellow's
+rather a puzzle.  I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making
+such an easy conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for
+her flirtations, and a young woman who is madly in love with another
+man.  He hasn't--"
+
+"Hasn't what?"
+
+"He hasn't," Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he
+had been holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, "been in
+the position of being able to render you or Helen any service, has
+he?"
+
+"I don't understand you," Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+
+"There's nothing to understand," Sir Henry went on.  "I was simply
+trying to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici."
+
+"I don't think you need go any further than the fact," Philippa
+observed, "that he is well-bred, charming and companionable."
+
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry queried, "do you happen to have come
+across any one here who ever heard of him before?"
+
+"I don't remember any one," Philippa replied.  "He was at college
+with Richard, you know."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen," he
+admitted.  "And by-the-by, that reminds me," he went on, "I never
+saw such a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen.
+A few weeks ago you were fretting yourselves to death about Dick.
+Now you don't seem to mention him, you both of you look as though
+you hadn't a care in the world, and yet you say you haven't heard
+from him.  Upon my word, this is getting to be a house of mysteries!"
+
+"The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry," she declared.
+
+"Me?" he protested.  "I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive.
+What is there mysterious about me?"
+
+"Your ignominious life," was the cold reply.
+
+"Jove, I got it that time!" he groaned,--"got it in the neck!  But
+didn't I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?"
+
+"Then prove it," Philippa pleaded.  "Let me write to Rayton and beg
+him to use his influence to get you something to do.  I am sure you
+would be happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would
+make to me."
+
+"It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing," he confided.
+"You know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war.
+They'd make me take some one's place at home behind a desk."
+
+"But even if they did," she protested, "even if they put you in a
+coal cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping
+your country?  Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?"
+
+Sir Henry made a wry face.
+
+"It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear,"
+he grumbled.  "However--now what the dickens is the matter?"
+
+The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but
+Jimmy Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the
+room.
+
+"Hullo?  What is it, Jimmy?" his patron demanded.
+
+"Beg your pardon, sir," was the almost incoherent reply.  "I've run
+all the way up, and there's a rare wind blowing.  There's one of our
+--our trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green
+and six yellow balls."
+
+"Whiting, by God!" Sir Henry exclaimed.
+
+"Whiting!" Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust.  "What does this
+mean, Henry?"
+
+"It must be a shoal," her husband explained.  "It means that we've
+got to get amongst them quick.  Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?"
+
+"She there all right, sir," was the somewhat doubtful reply, "but
+us'll have a rare job to get away, sir.  That there nor'easter is
+blowing great guns again and it's a cruel tide."
+
+"We've got to get out somehow," Sir Henry declared.  "Mills, my
+oilskins and flask at once.  I sha'n't change a thing, but you might
+bring a cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda."
+
+Mills withdrew, a little dazed.  Philippa, whose fingers were
+clenched together, found her tongue at last.
+
+"Henry!" she exclaimed furiously.
+
+"What is it, my dear?"
+
+"Do you mean to tell me that after your promise," she continued,
+"after what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for
+another fishing expedition?"
+
+"Whiting, my dear," Sir Henry explained.  "One can't possibly miss
+whiting.  Where the devil are my keys?--Here they are.  Now then."
+
+He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed
+to be a couple of charts in oilskin cases.  All the time the wind
+was shaking the windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the
+panes.
+
+"Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy," Sir Henry invited, as he
+buttoned up his coat.  "You'll need it all presently."
+
+"I thank you kindly, sir," Jimmy replied.  "I am thinking that we'll
+both need a drink before we're through this night."
+
+He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of
+half and half.  Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+indignantly, once more found words.
+
+"Henry, you are incorrigible!" she exclaimed.  "Listen to me if you
+please.  I insist upon it."
+
+Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her.  "Philippa, I
+really can't stop now," he protested.  "But you must!  You shall!"
+she cried.  "You shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before
+you go.  What I said the other day I repeat a thousandfold now."
+
+Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door.
+The fisherman made an awkward exit.
+
+"A thousandfold," Philippa repeated passionately.  "You hear, Henry?
+I do not consider myself any more your wife.  If I am here when you
+return, it will be simply because I find it convenient.  Your conduct
+is disgraceful and unmanly."
+
+"My dear girl!" he remonstrated.  "I may be back in twenty-four--
+possibly twelve hours."
+
+"It is a matter of indifference to me when you return," was the curt
+reply.  "I have finished."
+
+The door was thrown open.
+
+"Your oilskins, sir, and flask," Mills announced, hurrying in, a
+little breathless.  "You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it
+scarcely seems a fit night to leave home."
+
+"Got to be done this once, Mills," his master replied, struggling
+into his coat.
+
+The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in.  Nora,
+who was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+
+"Why, where's Dad going?" she cried.
+
+"It appears," Philippa explained sarcastically, "that a shoal of
+whiting has arrived."
+
+"Very uncertain fish, whiting," Sir Henry observed, "here to-day
+and gone to-morrow."
+
+"You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir," Harrison
+remarked doubtfully.
+
+"Jimmy will see to that," was the confident reply.  "I expect we
+shall be amongst them at daybreak.  Good-by, everybody!  Good-by,
+Philippa!"
+
+His eyes sought his wife's in vain.  She had turned towards
+Lessingham.
+
+"You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?" she asked.  "I
+want you to show me that new Patience."
+
+"I shall be delighted."
+
+Sir Henry turned slowly away.  For a moment his face darkened as
+his eyes met Lessingham's.  He seemed about to speak but changed
+his mind.
+
+"Well, good-by, every one," he called out.  "I shall be back before
+midnight if we don't get out."
+
+"And if you do?" Nora cried.
+
+"If we do, Heaven help the whiting!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+"Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!" Philippa
+declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+
+"You mean by coming to a place like this?" Lessingham queried,
+looking around the crowded restaurant.  "We are not, in that case,
+the only sinners."
+
+"I didn't mean the mere fact of being here," Philippa explained,
+"but being here with you."
+
+"I forgot," he said gloomily, "that I was such a black sheep."
+
+"Don't be silly," she admonished.  "You're nothing of the sort.  But,
+of course, we are skating on rather thin ice.  If I had Henry to
+consider in any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should
+be more careful.  As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately.
+Dreymarsh has got upon my nerves.  The things that I thought most of
+in life seem to have crumbled away."
+
+"Ought I to be sorry?" he asked.  "I am not."
+
+"But why are you so unsympathetic?"
+
+"Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild," he whispered.
+
+A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped
+before their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a
+glance at Philippa, moved away with him to the little space
+reserved for the dancers.
+
+"What a chaperon I am!" Philippa sighed.  "I scarcely know anything
+about the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's
+regiment."
+
+"I did not hear it," Lessingham observed, "but I feel deeply
+grateful to him.  It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to
+you alone like this."
+
+"It seems incredible that we have talked so long," Philippa said,
+glancing at the watch upon her wrist.  "I really feel now that I
+know all about you--your school days, your college days, and your
+soldiering.  You have been very frank, haven't you?"
+
+"I have nothing to conceal--from you," he replied.  "If there is
+anything more you want to know--"
+
+"There is nothing," she interrupted uneasily.
+
+"Perhaps you are wise," he reflected, "and yet some day, you know,
+you will have to hear it all, over and over again."
+
+"I will not be made love to in a restaurant," she declared firmly.
+
+"You are so particular as to localities," he complained.  "You could
+not see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider
+a suitable environment?"
+
+Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+
+"Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!" she begged.
+"And there is some one there who wants to speak to you."
+
+Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before
+their table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death.
+He remained perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly
+to be drawn from his cheeks.  Yet the newcomer himself seemed in
+no way terrifying.  He was tall and largely built, clean-shaven,
+and with the humourous mouth of an Irishman or an American.
+Neither was there anything threatening in his speech.
+
+"Glad to run up against you, Lessingham," he said, holding out his
+hand.  "Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?"
+
+"Very," Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a
+dream.  "Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend
+--Mr. Hayter."
+
+Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in
+trivial conversation.  Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+
+"I must be joining my friends," he observed.  "Look in and see me
+sometime, Lessingham--Number 72, Milan Court.  You know what a
+nightbird I am.  Perhaps you will call and have a final drink
+with me when you have finished here."
+
+"I shall be very glad," Lessingham promised.
+
+Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to
+judge by his interrupted progress.  Lady Cranston looked at her
+companion.  She was puzzled.
+
+"Is that a recent acquaintance," she asked, "as he addressed you by
+the name of Lessingham?"
+
+"Yes," was the quiet reply.
+
+"You don't wish to talk about him?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little
+party presently broke up.  Lessingham drove the two women to their
+hotel in Dover Street.
+
+"We've had a most delightful evening," Philippa assured him, as they
+said good night.  "You are coming round to see us in the morning,
+aren't you?"
+
+"If I may," Lessingham assented.
+
+Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night.  She
+had nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+
+"May I sit down for a few moments?" she asked, a little nervously.
+"Your fire is so much better than mine."
+
+Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before
+which she was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace.  She
+felt a forewarning of what was coming.
+
+"Of course, dear," she replied.  "Have you enjoyed your evening?"
+
+"Very much, in a way," was the somewhat hesitating reply.  "Of
+course, nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice
+to talk with some one who knows him."
+
+"Agreeable conversation," Philippa remarked didactically, "is one
+of the greatest pleasures in life."
+
+"You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?" Helen asked.
+
+Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew
+up an easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+
+"So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?"
+
+"I suppose you know that he's in love with you?"  Helen began.
+
+"I hope he is a little, my dear," was the smiling reply.  "I'm
+sure I've tried my best."
+
+"Won't you talk seriously?" Helen pleaded.
+
+"I don't altogether see the necessity," Philippa protested.
+
+"I do, and I'll tell you why," Helen answered.  "I don't think Mr.
+Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed.
+I think that he is in deadly earnest about you.  I think that he
+was in deadly earnest from the first.  You don't really care for
+him, do you, dear?"
+
+"Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking
+of," was the quiet reply.
+
+"Then please send him away," Helen begged.
+
+"My dear, how can I?" Philippa objected.  "He has done us an
+immense service, and he can't disobey his orders."
+
+"You don't want him to go away, then?"
+
+Philippa was silent for several moments.  "No," she admitted, "I
+don't think that I do."
+
+"You don't care for Henry any more?"
+
+"Just as much as ever," was the somewhat bitter reply.  "That's what
+I resent so much.  I should like Henry to believe that he had killed
+every spark of love in me."
+
+Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair.  She
+felt that she was going to be very daring.
+
+"Have you any idea at the hack of your mind, dear," she asked "of
+making use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?"
+
+Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+
+"How hatefully downright you are!" she murmured.  "I don't know."
+
+"Because," Helen continued, "if you have any such idea in your mind,
+I think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham.  You know perfectly
+well that anything else between you and him would be impossible."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"Don't be ridiculous!" Helen exclaimed vigorously.  "Mr. Lessingham
+may have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has
+attached himself to a country which no English man or woman will be
+able to think of without shuddering, for many years to come.  You
+can't dream of cutting yourself adrift from your friends and your
+home and your country!  It's too unnatural!  I'm not even arguing
+with you, Philippa.  You couldn't do it!  I'm wholly concerned with
+Mr. Lessingham.  I cannot forget what we owe him.  I think it
+would be hatefully cruel of you to spoil his life."
+
+Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary.  She made a
+little grimace.  She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+
+"You underrate my charm, Helen," she declared.  "I really believe
+that I could make his life instead of spoiling it."
+
+"And you would pay the price?"
+
+Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair.
+There was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+
+"I sometimes think," she said calmly, "that I would pay any price
+in the world to make Henry understand how I feel.  There, now run
+along, dear.  You're full of good intentions, and don't think it
+horrid of me, but nothing that you could say would make any
+difference."
+
+"You wouldn't do anything rash?" Helen pleaded.
+
+"Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise
+that I'll send cards out first.  Whatever I do, impulse will probably
+decide."
+
+"Impulse!"
+
+"Why not?  I trust mine.  Can't you?" Philippa added, with a little
+shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"Sometimes," Helen sighed, "they are such wild horses, you know.
+They lead one to such terrible places."
+
+"And sometimes," Philippa replied, "they find their way into the
+heaven where our soberer thoughts could never take us.  Good
+night, dear!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan
+Court, was a very altered personage.  He extended no welcoming
+salutation to his midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a
+chair.
+
+"Well," he began, "is your task finished that you are in London?"
+
+"My task," Lessingham replied, "might just as well never have been
+entered upon.  The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an
+ordinary sport-loving Englishman."
+
+"Really!  You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and
+that is your impression of him?"
+
+"It is," Lessingham assented.  "He has been away sea-fishing, half
+the time, but I have searched his house thoroughly."
+
+"Searched his papers, eh?"
+
+"Every one I could find, and hated the job.  There are a good many
+charts of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen."
+
+"Wonderful!" Hayter scoffed.  "My young friend, you may yet find
+distinction in some other walk of life.  Our secret service, I
+fancy, will very soon be able to dispense with your energies."
+
+"And I with your secret service," Lessingham agreed heartily.  "I
+dare say there may be some branches of it in which existence is
+tolerable.  That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I
+have been engaged."
+
+"You have been completely duped," Hayter told him calmly, "and the
+information you have sent us is valueless.  Sir Henry Cranston,
+instead of being the type of man whom you have described, is one
+of the greatest experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the
+English Admiralty."
+
+Lessingham laughed shortly.
+
+"That," he declared, "is perfectly absurd."
+
+"It is," Hayter repeated, with emphasis, "the precise truth.  Sir
+Henry Cranton's fishing excursions are myths.  He is simply
+transferred from his fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of
+so-called mine sweepers, from which he conducts his operations.
+Nearly every one of the most important towns on the east coast are
+protected by minefields of his design."
+
+Lessingham was dumbfounded.  His companion's manner was singularly
+convincing.
+
+"But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?" he
+protested.  "Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him
+because she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood
+gossips over his slackness."
+
+"The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled," Hayter retorted.  "There
+are one or two who know, however."
+
+"There are one or two," Lessingham observed grimly, "who are
+beginning to suspect me."
+
+"That is a pity," Hayter admitted, "because it will be necessary
+for you to return to Dreymarsh at once."
+
+"Return to Dreymarsh at once?  But Cranston is away.  There is
+nothing for me to do there in his absence."
+
+"He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night," was the confident
+reply.  "He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of
+a town on the east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to
+bombard.  We must have that chart."
+
+Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+
+"Could you possibly get me relieved?" he begged.  "The fact is--"
+
+"We could not, and we will not," Hayter interrupted fiercely.
+"Unless you wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a
+coward, you will go through with the work which has been allotted
+to you.  Your earlier mistakes will be forgiven if that chart
+is in my hands by Friday."
+
+"But how do you know that he will have it?" Lessingham protested.
+"Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the
+minefields you speak of, I should think the last thing he would
+do would be to bring the chart back to Dreymarsh."
+
+"As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do," Hayter
+assured his listener.  "He is bringing it back for the inspection
+of one of the commissioners for the east coast defense, who is
+to meet him at his house.  And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom,
+that you will have very little time.  For some reason or other,
+Cranston is dissatisfied with the secrecy under which he has been
+compelled to work, and has applied to the Admiralty for recognition
+of his position.  Immediately this is given, I gather that his
+house will be inaccessible to you."
+
+Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire.
+His thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear.
+Cranston was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be.
+Philippa's whole point of view might well be changed by this
+discovery--especially now that Cranston had made up his mind to
+assert himself for his wife's sake.  There was an icy fear in
+his heart.
+
+"You understand," Hayter persisted coldly, "what it is you have
+to do?"
+
+"Perfectly.  I shall return by the afternoon train," was the
+despairing reply.
+
+"If you succeed," Hayter continued, "I shall see that you get the
+usual acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your
+transfer to another branch of the service.  I am not questioning
+your patriotism or your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the
+man for this work."
+
+"You are right," Lessingham said.  "I am not."
+
+"It is not my affair," Hayter proceeded, "to enquire too closely
+into the means used by our agents in carrying out our designs.
+That I find you in London in company with the wife of the man
+whom you are appointed to watch, may be a fact capable of the
+most complete and satisfactory explanation.  I ask no questions.
+I only remind you that your country, even though it be only your
+adopted country, demands from you, as from all others in her
+service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by the
+claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour.  Have I said
+enough?"
+
+"You have said as much as it is wise for you to say," Lessingham
+replied, his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+
+"That is all, then," the other concluded.  "You know where to send
+or bring the chart when you have it?  If you bring it yourself, it
+is possible that something which you may regard as a reward, will
+be offered to you."
+
+Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet.  His farewell to
+Hayter was cold and lifeless.
+
+He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with
+a sense of intolerable depression.  The streets through which he
+passed were sombre and unlit.
+
+A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to
+their homes.  There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere.
+An intense and gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted
+thoroughfares.  Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like
+shadows.  Policemen lurked in the shadows of the houses.  The few
+vehicles left crawled about with insufficient lights.  Even the
+warning horns of the taxicab men sounded furtive and repressed.
+Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt curiously in
+sympathy with his environment.  Hayter's news brought him face to
+face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the
+dominant factor in his life.  For the first time he knew what love
+was.  He felt the wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities,
+the strange idealism called so unexpectedly into being.  He
+recognized the vagaries of Philippa's disposition, and yet,
+during the last few days, he had convinced himself that she was
+beginning to care.  Her strained relations with her husband had
+been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards the acceptance
+of his proffered devotion.  Now he told himself with eager
+hopefulness that some portion of it, however minute, must be for
+his own sake.  The relations between husband and wife, he reminded
+himself, must, at any rate, have been strained during the last
+few months, or Cranston would never have been able to keep his
+secret.  In his gloomy passage through this land of ill omens,
+however, he shivered a little as he thought of the other
+possibility--tortured himself with imagining what might happen
+during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the truth.
+A sense of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed
+to lift him into some lofty state of aloofness, from which he
+could look down and despise himself, the poor, tired plodder
+wearing the heavy chains of duty.  There was a life so much more
+wonderful, just the other side of the clouds, a very short distance
+away, a life of alluring and passionate happiness.  Should he ever
+find the courage, he wondered, to escape from the treadmill and
+go in search of it?  Duty, for the last two years, had taken him
+by the hand and led him along a pathway of shame.  He had never
+been a hypocrite about the war.  He was one of those who had
+acknowledged from the first that Germany had set forth, with the
+sword in her hand, on a war of conquest.  His own inherited
+martial spirit had vaguely approved; he, too, in those earlier
+days, had felt the sunlight upon his rapier.  Later had come the
+enlightenment, the turbulent waves of doubt, the nightmare of a
+nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in his own soul.  It was
+in a depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser degree by millions
+of those whose ranks he had joined, that he felt this passionate
+craving for escape into a world which took count of other things.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented
+himself at the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall
+porter to take a seat in the lounge.  Philippa entered, a few
+minutes later, her eyes and cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise
+she had been taking, her slim figure most becomingly arrayed in
+grey cloth and chinchilla.
+
+"I lost Helen in Harrod's," she announced, "but I know she's
+lunching with friends, so it really doesn't matter.  You'll have
+to take care of me, Mr. Lessingham, until the train goes, if you
+will."
+
+"For even longer than that, if you will," he murmured.
+
+She laughed.  "More pretty speeches?  I don't think I'm equal to
+them before luncheon."
+
+"This time I am literal," he explained.  "I am coming back to
+Dreymarsh myself."
+
+He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him.
+Philippa's expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+
+"I'm so glad," she assured him.  "Do you know, I was thinking only
+as I came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you."
+
+She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first
+little impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the
+fire.  She turned towards him gravely.
+
+"After all, do you think you are wise?" she asked.  "Of course, I
+don't think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but
+you know Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and--well, you're
+safely away now.  You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful
+altogether," she went on, "that I couldn't bear it if trouble were
+to come."
+
+He smiled at her.
+
+"I think I know what is at the back of your mind," he said.  "You
+think that I am coming back entirely on your account.  As it
+happens, this is not so."
+
+She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+
+"Surely," she exclaimed, "you have satisfied yourself that there is
+no field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?"
+
+"I thought that I had," he admitted.  "It seems that I am wrong.  I
+have had orders to return."
+
+"Orders to return?" she repeated.  "From whom?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"Of course, I ought not to have asked that," she proceeded hastily,
+"but it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions
+and messages from Germany, here in London."
+
+"Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany," he reminded
+her.
+
+"So they say," she admitted, "but one doesn't come into contact with
+it.  So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!"
+
+"With you, if I may?"
+
+"Naturally," she agreed.
+
+He glanced at the clock.  "We might almost be starting for lunch,"
+he suggested.
+
+She nodded. "As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage."
+
+She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to
+the Carlton.  Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham
+walked with his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the
+left.
+
+"Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?" she asked him.
+"There must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for
+instance?"
+
+"Nine years makes a lot of difference," he reminded her, "and besides,
+I have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition
+really takes place.  So long as I do not look into any one's face,
+I feel quite safe."
+
+"You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than
+the Carlton?"
+
+"It makes no difference," he assured her.  "My credentials have been
+wonderfully established for me."
+
+"I'm so glad," she confessed.  "I know it's most unfashionable, but
+I do like these big places.  If ever I had my way, I should like to
+live in London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living
+in the country and being just an hotel dweller in London."
+
+"I wonder if New York would not do?" he ventured.
+
+"I expect I should like New York," she murmured.
+
+"I think," he said, "in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave
+here I shall go to the United States."
+
+She looked at him and turned suddenly away.  They arrived just then
+at their destination, and the moment passed.  Lessingham left his
+companion in the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to
+secure his table and order lunch.  When he came back, he found
+Philippa sitting very upright and with a significant glitter in her
+eyes.
+
+"Look over there," she whispered, "by the palm."
+
+He followed the direction which she indicated.  A man was standing
+against one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously
+a foreigner, wrapped in wonderful furs.  There was something familiar
+about his figure and the slight droop of his head.
+
+"Why, it's Sir Henry!" Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+
+"My husband," Philippa faltered.
+
+Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+shortsightedness.  He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham
+and his wife without recognition or any sign of flinching.  At that
+distance it was impossible to see the tightening of his lips and
+the steely flash in his blue eyes.
+
+"The whiting seem to have brought him a long way," Philippa said,
+with an unnatural little laugh.
+
+"Shall I go and speak to him?" Lessingham asked.
+
+"For heaven's sake, no!" she insisted.  "Don't leave me.  I wouldn't
+have him come near me for anything in the world.  It is only a few
+weeks ago that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said
+that he hated the place.  You don't know--the woman?"
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"She looks like a foreigner," was all he could say.
+
+"Take me in to lunch at once," Philippa begged, rising abruptly to
+her feet.  "This is really the last straw."
+
+They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry
+was standing.  He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with
+his companion, and did not even turn around.  Philippa's little
+face seemed to have hardened as she took her seat.  Only her eyes
+were still unnaturally bright.
+
+"I am so sorry if this has annoyed you," Lessingham regretted.  "You
+would not care to go elsewhere?"
+
+"I?  Go anywhere else?" she exclaimed scornfully.  "Thank you, I am
+perfectly satisfied here.  And with my companion," she added, with
+a brilliant little smile.  "Now tell me about New York.  Have you
+ever been there?"
+
+"Twice," he told her.  "At present the dream of my life is to go
+there with you."
+
+She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+
+"I wonder if you really care," she said.  "Men get so much into the
+habit of saying that sort of thing to women.  Sometimes it seems to
+me they must do a great deal of mischief.  But you--Is that really
+your wish?"
+
+"I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life,"
+he declared, with his face aglow, "for its realization."
+
+"But you would be a deserter from your country," she pointed out.
+"You would never be able to return.  Your estates would be
+confiscated.  You would be homeless."
+
+"Home," he said softly, "is where one's heart takes one.  Home is
+just where love is."
+
+Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft.
+Then she began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare
+notes of countries which they had both visited, even of people whom
+they had met.  They were obliged to leave early to catch their
+train.  As they passed down the crowded restaurant they once more
+found themselves within a few feet of Sir Henry.  His back was
+turned to them, and he was apparently ignorant of their near
+presence.  The party had become a partie Carr�e, another man, and
+a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined it.
+
+"Of course," Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, "I am
+behaving like an idiot.  I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what
+I think of him, or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion.
+We lose so much, don't we, by stifling our instincts."
+
+"For the next few minutes," he replied, glancing at his watch, "I
+think we had better concentrate our attention upon catching our
+train."
+
+They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare.  Grover,
+however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for
+them, ensconced in a corner.  She accepted the news of Lessingham's
+return with resignation.  Philippa became thoughtful as they drew
+towards the close of their journey and the slow, frosty twilight
+began to creep down upon the land.
+
+"I suppose we don't really know what war is," she observed, looking
+out of the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with
+a background of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church.
+"The people are safe in their homes.  You must appreciate what that
+means, Mr. Lessingham."
+
+"Indeed I do," he answered gravely.  "I have seen the earth torn
+and dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel.
+A few blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful
+village stood; men and women running about like lunatics stricken
+with a mortal fear.  And all the time a red glow on the horizon, a
+blood-red glow, and little specks of grey or brown lying all over
+the fields; even the cattle racing round in terror. And every now
+and then the cry of Death!  You are fortunate in England."
+
+Philippa leaned forward.
+
+"Do you believe that our turn will come?" she asked.  "Do you believe
+that the wave will break over our country?"
+
+"Who can tell?"
+
+"Ah, no, but answer me," she begged.  "Is it possible for you to land
+an army here?"
+
+"I think," he replied, "that all things are possible to the military
+genius of Germany.  The only question is whether it is worth while.
+Germans are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know.  I rather doubt
+it.  There is nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so
+much as the news of a German invasion of Great Britain.  On the other
+hand, there is a great party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one,
+which is continually reminding the Government that, without Great
+Britain as a market, Germany would never recover from the financial
+strain of the war."
+
+"This is all too impersonal," Philippa objected.  "Do you, in your
+heart, believe that the time might come when in the night we should
+hear the guns booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad
+soldiers forming up on the beach and scaling our cliffs?"
+
+"That will not be yet," he pronounced.  "It has been thought of.
+Once it was almost attempted.  Just at present, no."
+
+Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+
+"Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+landing?"
+
+"Nothing," he assured her.  "I can even go a little further.  I can
+tell you that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected
+place, in an unexpected fashion."
+
+"Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at
+first-hand," Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner.
+"I suppose we are really two disgraceful women, Helen and I--traitors
+and all the rest of it.  Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he
+were one of our best friends."
+
+"I refuse to be called an enemy," Lessingham protested.  "There are
+times when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality.
+I am just a human being, born into the same world and warmed by the
+same sun as you.  Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow
+creatures."
+
+"Dreymarsh once more," Philippa announced, looking out of the window.
+"And you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham.  Come round
+and see us after dinner--if it doesn't interfere with your work."
+
+"On the contrary," he murmured under his breath.  "Thank you very
+much."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very
+blank expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty
+Square.  He was alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the
+walls of which were so hung with charts that it had almost the
+appearance of a schoolroom prepared for an advanced geography
+class.  The table from which he had risen was covered with an
+amazing number of scientific appliances, some samples of rock and
+sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+
+Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the
+outlook, turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself
+confronted by an elderly gentleman of cheerful appearance, who
+at that moment had entered the room.  From the fact that he had
+done so without knocking, it was obvious that he was an intimate.
+
+"Well, my gloomy friend," the newcomer demanded, "what's wrong with
+you?"
+
+Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor.  He pushed a
+chair towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box
+of cigars upon his desk.
+
+
+"Your little Laranagas," he observed.  "Try one."
+
+The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped
+himself.
+
+"Now, then, get at it, Henry," he enjoined.  "I've a Board in
+half-an-hour, and three dispatches to read before I go in.  What's
+your trouble?"
+
+"Look here, Rayton," was the firm reply, "I want to chuck this
+infernal hole-and-corner business.  I tell you I've worked it
+threadbare at Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable."
+
+The newcomer grinned.
+
+"Poor chap!" he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards.
+"You're in a nasty mess, you know, Henry.  Did I tell you that I
+had a letter from your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't
+find you a job?"
+
+Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the
+joke.
+
+"That's all very well," he said, "but we are on the point of a
+separation, or something of the sort.  I'll admit it was all right
+at first to run the thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted
+up by now.  Why, according to your own reports, they know all about
+me on the other side."
+
+"Not a doubt about it," the other agreed.  "I'm not sure that you
+haven't got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now."
+
+"I'm quite sure of it," Sir Henry replied grimly.  "The brute was
+lunching with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would
+have it, I was landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and
+sister-in-law.  You're breaking up the happy home, that's what
+you're doing, Rayton!"
+
+His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing.  He
+laughed until the tears stood in his eyes.
+
+"I should love to have seen Philippa's face," he chuckled, "when
+she walked into the restaurant and saw you there!  You're supposed
+to be off on a fishing expedition, aren't you?"
+
+"I went out after whiting," Sir Henry groaned, "and I'd just promised
+to chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message."
+
+"Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway," his visitor promised.
+
+"Don't be an ass!" Sir Henry exclaimed irritably.  "I don't want the
+fellow touched at present.  Why, he's been a sort of persona grata
+at my house.  Hangs around there all the time when I'm away."
+
+"All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should
+say," was the cheerful reply.
+
+"And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and
+Miss Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!" Sir Henry retorted.
+
+"I forgot that," his friend confessed ruminatively.  "He's a
+gentlemanly sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy.
+What do you want done with him?"
+
+"Leave him for me to deal with," Sir Henry insisted.  "I have a
+little scheme on hand in which he is concerned."
+
+Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+
+"The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems," he reminded his
+friend.
+
+"I won't run any risks," Sir Henry promised.  "I just want him left
+there, that's all.  And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from
+you.  I quite agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the
+time when I was up in Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer
+with the people who count.  Every one in Germany knows that I'm a
+mine-field specialist, so I don't see why the dickens I should pose
+any longer as a sort of half-baked idiot."
+
+Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+
+"You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical
+disclosure of your greatness," he laughed.  "Poor Philippa will
+fall upon her knees.  You will be the hero of the village, which
+will probably present you with some little article of plate.  You've
+a good time coming, Henry."
+
+"Talk sense, there's a good fellow," the other begged.  "You go and
+see the Chief and put it to him.  There isn't a single reason why I
+shouldn't own up now."
+
+"I'll see what I can do," Rayton promised, "but what about this
+fellow Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there?
+There's a chap named Griffiths--Commandant, isn't he?--been
+writing us about him."
+
+"I won't have Lessingham touched," Sir Henry insisted.  "He can't
+do any particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a
+drawing of mine down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to."
+
+Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+
+"Look here, Henry, old fellow," he said, "I do sympathise with you
+up to a certain point.  I tell you what I'll do.  I shall have to
+answer Philippa's letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if
+she is as clever a little woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint.
+Of course," he went on ruminatively, "it is rather a misfortune that
+the Princess Ollaneff and her sister are such jolly good-looking
+women.  Makes it look a little fishy, doesn't it?  What I mean to
+say is, it's a far cry from fishing for whiting in the North Sea to
+lunching with a beautiful princess at the Carlton--when you think
+your wife's down in Norfolk."
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+"Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton," he declared.  "You get
+back and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it."
+
+The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of
+voices in the corridor, and departed.  The door had scarcely been
+closed when two younger men presented themselves--Miles Ensol, Sir
+Henry's secretary, a typical-looking young sailor minus his left
+arm; and a pale-faced, clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian
+clothes.  Sir Henry shook hands with the latter and pointed to the
+easy-chair which his previous visitor had just vacated.
+
+"Welcome back again, Horridge," he said cordially.  "Miles, I'll
+ring when I want you."
+
+"Very good, sir," the secretary replied.  "There's a fisherman from
+Norfolk downstairs, when you're at liberty."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I'll see him presently.  Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke."
+
+The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+
+"I don't think," he explained, "that eavesdropping extends to these
+premises, or that our voices could reach outside.  Still, a ha'porth
+of prevention, eh?  Have a cigar, Horridge."
+
+"I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir."
+
+"You look as though they'd put you through it," Sir Henry remarked.
+
+His visitor smiled.
+
+"I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel," he said, "and we were
+out for twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff.  You know what
+the weather's been like in the North Sea.  Before that, the last
+word of writing I saw on German soil was a placard, offering a
+reward of five thousand marks for my detention, with a disgustingly
+lifelike photograph at the top.  I had about fifty yards of quay to
+walk in broad daylight, and every other man I passed turned to stare
+after me.  It gives you the cold shivers down your back when you
+daren't look round to see if you're being followed."
+
+Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle
+of whisky and a syphon of soda water.  His visitor nodded approvingly.
+
+"I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary,"
+he observed.  "My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my
+life.  Do you mind, sir, if I lock the door?"
+
+"Go ahead," Sir Henry assented.
+
+He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room.  Horridge
+resumed his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly.  For a moment
+or two he shook as though he had an ague.  Then, just as suddenly as
+it had come upon him, the fit passed.  He drained the contents of the
+tumbler at a gulp, set it down empty by his side, and stretched out
+his hand for a cigar.
+
+"The end of my journey didn't help matters any," he went on.  "I
+daren't even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually
+by a tramp steamer from Newcastle to London with coals.  I hadn't
+been on board more than an hour before a submarine which had been
+following overhauled us.  I thought it was all up then, but the fog
+lifted, and we found ourselves almost in the midst of a squadron of
+destroyers from Harwich.  I made another transfer, and they landed
+me in time to catch the early morning train from Felixstowe."
+
+"Did they get the submarine?" his listener asked eagerly.
+
+"Get it!" the other repeated, with a smile.  "They blew it into
+scrap metal."
+
+"Plenty of movement in your life!"
+
+"I've run the gauntlet over there once too often," Horridge said
+grimly.  "Just look at me now, Sir Henry.  I'm twenty-nine years old,
+and it's only two years and a half since I was invalided out of the
+navy and took this job on.  The last person I asked to guess my age
+put me down at fifty.  What should you have said?"
+
+"Somewhere near it," was the candid admission.  "Never mind, Horridge,
+you've done your bit.  You shall pass on your experience to a new
+hand, take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few
+months.  Now let's get on with it.  You know what I want to hear
+about."
+
+Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+
+"They're there, sir," he announced, "coaled to the scuppers, every
+man standing to stations and steam up.  There's the list."
+
+He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+
+"The fast cruiser squadron," he observed.  "Hm!  Three new ships we
+haven't any note of.  No transports, then, Horridge?'"
+
+"Not a sign of one, sir," was the reply.  "They're after a
+bombardment."
+
+He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+certain port on the east coast.  Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+
+"You're sure?"
+
+"It is a certainty," Horridge replied.  "I've been on three of those
+ships.  I've dined with four of the officers.  They're under sealed
+orders, and the crew believes that they're going to escort out half
+a dozen commerce destroyers.  But I have the truth.  That's their
+objective," Horridge repeated, touching once more the spot upon the
+map, "and they are waiting just for one thing."
+
+Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+
+"I know what they're waiting for," he said.  "Perhaps if they'd a
+Herr Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before
+now.  As it is--well, I'm not sure," he went on.  "It seems a pity
+to disappoint them, doesn't it?  I'd love to give them a run for
+their money."
+
+Horridge smiled faintly.  He knew a good deal about his companion.
+
+"They're spoiling for it, sir," he admitted.  Sir Henry spoke down
+a telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+
+"Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room," his chief directed, "and
+one of our confidential typists.  You can make out your report at
+your leisure," he went on.  "Come in and see me when it's all
+finished."
+
+"Certainly, sir," Horridge replied, rising.
+
+Sir Henry held out his hand.  He looked with something like wonder
+at the nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain
+air of briskness.
+
+"Horridge," he said, "I wish I had your pluck."
+
+"I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any,
+sir," was the quiet reply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the
+scene of his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the
+moorland, seawards.  Above him, the sky was covered with little
+masses of quickly scudding clouds.  A fugitive and watery sunshine
+shone feebly upon a wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape.
+He found a certain grim satisfaction in comparing the
+disorderliness of the day with the tumult in his own life.  He felt
+that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater than his capacity,
+for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable.  And behind him
+was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a few hours
+ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+
+Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation.
+Great events wait upon you.  The object of your search is necessary
+for our imminent operations.
+
+The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him.  Captain Griffiths, on
+a great bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the
+roadside, and then pulled up.
+
+"Back again, Mr. Lessingham?" he remarked.
+
+"As you see."
+
+The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment.  Then he
+approached a little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+
+"You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham," he remarked.
+
+"When the fancy takes me," was the equable reply.
+
+"Have you come out to see our new guns?"
+
+"I had no idea," Lessingham answered indifferently, "that you had
+any."
+
+Griffiths smiled.
+
+"We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from
+the south of England," he said.  "The secret of their coming and
+their locality has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for
+the last week."
+
+Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+
+"They most of them spotted the guns," his companion continued, "but
+not many of them have found the searchlights yet."
+
+"It seems a little late in the year," Lessingham observed, "to be
+making preparations against Zeppelins."
+
+"Well, they cross here pretty often, you know," Griffiths reminded
+him.  "It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to
+grief on this common.  We picked up their observation car not fifty
+yards from where you are sitting."
+
+"I remember hearing about it," Lessingham acknowledged.
+
+"By-the-by," the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck,
+"didn't you arrive that evening or the evening after?"
+
+"I believe I did."
+
+"Liverpool Street or King's Cross?  The King's Cross train was very
+nearly held up."
+
+"I didn't come by train at all," Lessingham replied, glancing for a
+moment into the clouds, "And now I come to think of it, it must have
+been the evening after."
+
+"Fine county for motoring," Griffiths continued, stroking his
+horse's head.
+
+"The roads I have been on seem very good," was the somewhat bored
+admission.
+
+"You haven't a car of your own here, have you?"
+
+"Not at present."
+
+Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments.
+Then he turned once more towards his companion.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," he said, "you are aware that I am Commandant here?"
+
+"I believe," Lessingham replied, "that Lady Cranston told me so."
+
+"It is my duty, therefore," Griffiths went on, "to take a little
+more than ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this
+time of the year.  The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston
+is, of course, an entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence
+here.  At the same time, there is certain information concerning
+strangers of which we keep a record, and in your case there is a line
+or two which we have not been able to fill up."
+
+"If I can be of any service," Lessingham murmured.
+
+"Precisely," the other interrupted.  "I knew you would feel like
+that.  Now your arrival here--we have the date, I think--October
+6th.  As you have just remarked, you didn't come by train.  How did
+you come?"
+
+Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+
+"Is that a question which you ask me to answer--officially?" he
+enquired.
+
+His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I am not putting official questions to you at all," he replied,
+"nor am I cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the
+circumstances, simply because your friendship with the Cranstons
+is, of course, a guarantee as to your position.  But on the other
+hand, I think it would be reasonable if you were to answer my
+question."
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+"Perhaps you are right," he admitted.  "As you can tell by finding
+me here this afternoon, I am a great walker.  I arrived--on foot."
+
+"I see," Griffiths reflected.  "The other question which we usually
+ask is, where was your last stopping place?"
+
+"Stopping place?" Lessingham murmured.
+
+"Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?" Griffiths
+persisted.
+
+Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful
+memory.
+
+"But I did not sleep at all," he complained.  "It was one of the
+worst nights which I have ever spent in my life."
+
+Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+
+"Well," he said with clumsy sarcasm, "I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered
+my questions.  I won't bother you any more just at present.  Shall
+I see you to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?"
+
+"Lady Cranston has asked me to dine," was the somewhat reserved reply.
+
+His inquisitor nodded and cantered away.  Lessingham looked after him
+until he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh
+and walked steadily into the lowering afternoon.  Twilight was falling
+as he reached Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some
+callers, to whom she promptly introduced him.  Lessingham gathered,
+almost in the first few minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was
+becoming a subject of comment.
+
+"My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think," a lady
+by whose side he found himself observed.  "You perhaps didn't hear
+my name--Mrs. Johnson?"
+
+"I congratulate you upon your husband," Lessingham replied.  "I
+remember him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I
+revoked."
+
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed.  "He must have taken a fancy to you, then.
+As a rule, they rather complain about him at bridge."
+
+"I formed the impression," Lessingham continued, "that he was rather
+a better player than the majority of the performers there."
+
+Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady,
+smiled.
+
+"He thinks so, at any rate," she conceded.  "Didn't he tell me that
+you were invalided home from the front?"
+
+Lessingham shook his head.
+
+"I am quite sure that it was not mentioned," he said.  "We walked
+home together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of
+the golf and some shooting in the neighbourhood."
+
+Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing.  There was
+a little commotion.  Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to
+help collect the fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper
+in his ear.
+
+"Be careful.  That woman is a cat.  Stay and talk to me.  Please
+don't bother, Mr. Lessingham.  Won't you ring the bell instead?"
+she continued, raising her voice.
+
+Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs.
+Johnson's inviting smile as he returned.  Philippa made room for
+him by her side.
+
+"Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham," she said,
+"of the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and
+both had just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity.  You never
+played, did you?"
+
+He shook his head.
+
+"No such luck.  In any case, Richard would have been in well before
+me.  I always maintained that he was the first of our googlie
+bowlers."
+
+"So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?" another caller
+remarked in mild wonder.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends," Philippa
+explained.  "Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire."
+
+Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+disappointment.  The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance
+in Dreymarsh was practically strangled.  Mrs. Johnson, however, fired
+a parting shot as she rose to go.
+
+"You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+Lessingham?" she asked.  "No," he answered calmly.
+
+Philippa was busy with her adieux.  Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+
+"What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?" she persisted.  "You must
+forgive my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military
+affairs."
+
+Lessingham bowed courteously.
+
+"I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all," he said coolly,
+"but as a matter of fact I am in the Guards."
+
+Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable.  Her
+good-by to Lessingham was most affable.  She walked up the road with
+the vicar.
+
+"I think, Vicar," she said severely, "that for a small place,
+Dreymarsh is becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew.
+Every one has been saying all sorts of unkind things about that
+charming Mr. Lessingham, and there you are--Major Felstead's friend
+and a Guardsman!  Somehow or other, I felt that he belonged to one
+of the crack regiments.  I shall certainly ask him to dinner one
+night next week."
+
+The vicar nodded benignly.  He had the utmost respect for Mrs.
+Johnson's cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to
+which the object of their discussion had attained.
+
+"I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time," he
+pronounced, with ample condescension.  "I noticed him in church
+last Sunday morning."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+"My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!" Philippa exclaimed
+pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers.
+"The Guards, indeed!"
+
+Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+
+"Well," he said, "I told the dear lady the truth.  You will find my
+name well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the
+Prussian Guards."
+
+She threw herself back in her chair and laughed.  "How amusing it
+would be if it weren't all so terrible!  You really are a perfect
+political Raffles.  Do you know that this afternoon you have
+absolutely reestablished yourself?  Mr. Johnson will probably call
+on you to-morrow--they may even ask you to dine--the vicar will
+write and ask for a subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you
+to play golf with her."
+
+"Do not turn my head," he begged.
+
+"All the same," Philippa continued, more gravely, "I shall never
+have a moment's peace whilst you are in the place.  I was thinking
+about you last night.  I don't believe I have ever realised before
+how terrible it would be if you really were discovered.  What would
+they do to you?"
+
+"Whatever they might do," he replied, a little wearily, "I must
+obey orders.  My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told
+that I might go, I should find it hard."
+
+"Do you mean that?" she asked.
+
+"I think you know," he answered.
+
+"You men are so strange," she went on, after a moment's pause.
+"You give us so little time to know you, you show us so little of
+yourselves and you expect so much."
+
+"We offer everything," he reminded her.
+
+"I want to avoid platitudes," she said thoughtfully, "but is love
+quite the same thing for a man as for a woman?"
+
+"Sometimes it is more," was the prompt reply.  "Sometimes love, for
+a woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the
+blending of all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that
+he has learned from books and from life.  Sometimes a man can see
+no further and needs to look no further."
+
+Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger.  There was something
+in her heart of which she had never before been conscious, some
+music, some strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or
+the words themselves.  It was madness, she told herself breathlessly.
+She was in love with her husband, if any one.  She could not have
+lost all feeling for him so soon.  She clasped her hands tightly.
+Lessingham seemed conscious of his advantage, and leaned towards
+her.
+
+"If I were not offering you my whole life," he pleaded, "believe
+me, I would not open my lips.  If I were thinking of episodes, I
+would throw myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even
+your fingers.  But you, and you alone, could fill the place in my
+life which I have always prayed might be filled, not for a year or
+even a decade of years, but for eternity."
+
+"Oh, but you forget!" she faltered.
+
+"I remember so much," he replied, "that I know it is hard for you
+to speak.  There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your
+fingers shrink from tearing them asunder.  If it were not for this,
+Philippa--hear the speech of a renegade--my mandate should be torn
+in pieces.  My instructions should flutter into the waste-paper
+basket, To-morrow should see us on our way to a new country and a
+new life.  But you must be very sure indeed."
+
+"Is it because of me that you are staying here?" she asked.
+
+"Upon my honour, no," he assured her.  "I must stay here a little
+longer, whatever it may mean for me.  And so I am content to remain
+what I am to you at this minute.  I ask from you only that you
+remain just what you are.  But when the moment of my freedom comes,
+when my task here is finished and I turn to go, then I must come
+to you."
+
+She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open
+the window.  The breeze swept through the room, flapping the
+curtains, blowing about loose articles into a strange confusion.
+She stood there for several moments, as though in search of some
+respite from the emotional atmosphere upon which she had turned
+her back.  When she finally closed the window, her hair was in
+little strands about her face.  Her eyes were soft and her lips
+quivering.
+
+"You make me feel," she said, taking his hand for a moment and
+looking at him almost piteously, "you make me feel everything except
+one thing."
+
+"Except one thing?" he repeated.
+
+"Can't you understand?" she continued, stretching out her hand with
+a quick, impulsive little movement.  "I am here in Henry's house,
+his wife, the mistress of his household.  All the years we've been
+married I have never thought of another man.  I have never indulged
+in even the idlest flirtation.  And now suddenly my life seems
+upside down.  I feel as though, if Henry stood before me now, I
+would strike him on the cheek.  I feel sore all over, and ashamed,
+but I don't know whether I have ceased to love him.  I can't tell.
+Nothing seems to help me.  I close my eyes and I try to think of
+that new world and that new life, and I know that there is nothing
+repulsive in it.  I feel all the joy and the strength of being with
+you.  And then there is Henry in the background.  He seems to have
+had so much of my love."
+
+He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+encouragingly.
+
+"Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing," he said.
+"Just think these things out.  It isn't really a matter for sorrow,"
+he continued.  "Love must always mean happiness--for the one who
+is loved."
+
+She leaned hack in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her,
+her eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet.  He sat by her side,
+fingering some of the things in her work basket.  Once she held out
+her hand and seemed to find comfort in his clasp.  He raised her
+fingers to his lips without any protest from her.  She looked at
+him with a little smile.
+
+"You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine," she declared.  "I can't
+see my way like those wonderful emancipated women."
+
+"Yet," he said thoughtfully, "the way to the simple things is so
+clear."
+
+Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of
+Nora and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked
+in for a game of billiards.  Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the
+latter had returned to their game.  His tone and manner now were
+completely changed.  He seemed ill at ease and unhappy.
+
+"I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow," he told Philippa,
+"but I must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates.
+They all tell me that your husband has any number of charts of the
+coast.  Do you think I could borrow one?"
+
+"Why, of course," she replied, "if we can find it."
+
+She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers
+as were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly.
+By the time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a
+little collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+
+"I don't know where else to look," she said.  "You might go through
+those and see if they are of any use.  What is it, Mills?" she added,
+turning to the door.
+
+Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at
+Sir Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour.  He looked away
+towards his mistress, however, as he replied.
+
+"The young woman has called with reference to a situation as
+parlour-maid, your ladyship," he announced.  "I have shown her into
+the sewing room."  Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+
+"I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes," she promised Lessingham.
+"Just look through those till I come back."
+
+She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room.  He stood
+for a moment listening.  On the left-hand side, through the door
+which had been left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls
+and occasional peals of laughter.  On the right-hand side there was
+silence.  He moved swiftly across the room and closed the door leading
+into the billiard room, deposited on the sofa the charts which he had
+been carrying, and hurried back to the secretary.  With a sickening
+feeling of overwhelming guilt, he drew from his pocket a key and
+opened, one by one, the drawers through which they had not searched.
+It took him barely five minutes to discover--nothing.  With an air
+of relief he rearranged everything.  When Philippa returned, he was
+sitting on the lounge, going through the charts which they had
+looked out together.
+
+"Well?" she asked.
+
+"There is nothing here," he decided, "which will help me very much.
+With your permission I will take this," he added, selecting one at
+random.
+
+She nodded and they replaced the others.  Then she touched him on
+the arm.
+
+"Listen," she said, "are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+coming?"
+
+He listened for a moment.
+
+"I can't hear any one," he answered.  "They've started a four-handed
+game of pool in the billiard room."
+
+She smiled.
+
+"Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret.  See!"
+
+She touched the spring in the side of the secretary.  The false back,
+with its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up.  The
+large and very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so
+much of his time, was revealed.  Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+
+"There!" she said.  "That has been a great labour of love with
+Henry.  It is the chart, on a great scale, from which he works.  I
+don't know a thing about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry
+that you have seen it."
+
+He continued to examine the chart earnestly.  Not a part of it
+escaped him.  Then he turned back to Philippa.
+
+"Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?"
+he asked.
+
+"I don't exactly know where it is," she replied.  "Every time Henry
+finds out anything new, he comes and works at it.  I believe that
+very soon it will be perfect.  Then he will start on another part of
+the coast."
+
+"This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?" Lessingham
+enquired.
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"I believe it is the fifth," she replied.  "They all disappear when
+they are finished, but I have no idea where to.  To me they seem to
+represent a shocking waste of time."
+
+Lessingham was suddenly taciturn.  He held out his hand.  "You are
+dining with us to-morrow night, remember," she said.
+
+"I am not likely to forget," he assured her.
+
+"And don't get drowned," she concluded.  "I don't know any of these
+fishermen--I hate them all--but I'm told that Oates is the worst."
+
+"I think that we shall be quite all right," he assured her.  "Thanks
+very much for finding me the charts.  What I have seen will help me."
+
+Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+perfunctory.  Lessingham was almost thankful to escape.  There was
+an unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his
+heart.  All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous
+quest had faded away.  No sense of duty or patriotism could revive
+his drooping spirits.  He felt himself suddenly an unclean and
+dishonoured being.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous
+wind of an uncertain morning settled down to worse things.  It tore
+the spray from the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even
+against the French windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down
+the open spaces cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean
+artillery.  A little group of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the
+railing and discussed the chances of Ben Oates bringing his boat
+in safely.  Philippa, also, distracted by a curious anxiety, stood
+before the blurred window, gazing into what seemed almost a grey
+chaos.  "Captain Griffiths, your ladyship."
+
+She turned around quickly at the announcement.  Even an unwelcome
+caller at that moment was almost a relief to her.
+
+"How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+Griffiths," she exclaimed, as they shook hands.  "Helen is over at
+the Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem
+most dolefully alone."
+
+Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in
+the way of enlivenment.  He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than
+ever, and his tone was almost threatening.
+
+"I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston," he said.  "I came
+specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter."
+
+Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away.  There
+seemed to her something sinister in his manner.  She was suddenly
+conscious that there was a new danger to be faced, and that this
+man's attitude towards her was, for some reason or other, inimical.
+After the first shock, however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+
+"Well, you seem very mysterious," she observed.  "I haven't broken
+any laws, have I?  No lights flashing from any of my windows?"
+
+"So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort," the
+Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint.
+"My call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a
+friendly one."
+
+"How nice!" she sighed.  "Then you'll have some tea, won't you?"
+
+"Not at present, if you please," he begged.  "I have come to talk
+to you about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"Really?" Philippa exclaimed.  "Whatever has that poor man been
+doing now."
+
+"Dreymarsh," her visitor proceeded, "having been constituted, during
+the last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and
+enquire into the business of any stranger who appears here.  Mr. Hamar
+Lessingham has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his
+friendship with you.  I regret to state, however, that certain facts
+have come to my knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself
+may not in some measure have been deceived."
+
+"This sounds very ridiculous," Philippa interposed quietly.
+
+"A few weeks ago," Captain Griffith continued, "we received
+information that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by
+some person connected with the Secret Service of Germany.  There is
+strong evidence that the person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+
+"A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+visitor at my father's house in Cheshire," Philippa observed, with
+faint sarcasm.
+
+"The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston,"
+Captain Griffiths rejoined, "has, I must confess, only just occurred
+to me.  The authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to,
+and no one of the name of Lessingham was there during any one of
+your brother's terms."
+
+Philippa took the blow well.  She simply stared at her caller in a
+noncomprehending manner.
+
+"We have also information," he continued gravely, "from Wood Norton
+Hall--from your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston--that no college
+friend of your brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton."
+
+"Go on," Philippa begged, a little faintly.  "Did I ever live there
+myself?  Was Richard ever at Magdalen?"
+
+Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to
+finish and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+
+"I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of
+which I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his
+last habitation.  He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced
+fashion.  He practically declined to give me any account of himself."
+
+Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+
+"I suppose I must give you some tea," she said, "although you seem
+to have come here on purpose to make my head ache."
+
+"My object in coming here," Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little
+stiffly, "is to save you some measure of personal annoyance."
+
+"Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful," Philippa begged.
+"Of course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get
+to the bottom of it presently--Tell me what you think of the storm?"
+she added, as Mills entered with the tea tray.  "Do you think it
+will get any worse, because I am terrified to death already?"
+
+"I am no judge of the weather here," he confessed.  "I believe the
+fishermen are preparing for something unusual."
+
+She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing
+her duties as hostess.  Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm
+and addressed him with an air of complete candour.
+
+"Now, Captain Griffiths," she began, "do listen to me.  Just one
+moment of common sense, if you please.  What do you suppose there
+could possibly be in our harmless seaside village to induce any one
+to risk his life by coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of
+Germany?"
+
+"Dreymarsh," Captain Griffiths replied, "was not made a prohibited
+area for nothing."
+
+"But, my dear man, be reasonable," Philippa persisted.  "There are
+perhaps a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations
+along the cliff for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft
+guns, and a couple of searchlights.  There isn't a grocer's boy in
+the place who doesn't know all this.  There's no concealment about
+it.  You must admit that Germany doesn't need to send over a Secret
+Service agent to acquaint herself with these insignificant facts."
+
+Her visitor smiled very faintly.  It was the first time he had
+relaxed even so far as this.
+
+"I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you,
+Lady Cranston," he said, "but I am not prepared to accept your
+statement that Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than
+the things which you have mentioned."
+
+There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now.  The
+suggestion contained in her visitor's words had really left her in
+a state of wonder.
+
+"You are making my flesh creep!" she exclaimed.  "You don't mean to
+say that we have secrets here?"
+
+"I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon
+the subject," he declared.  "You will understand, I am sure, that
+I am not here in the character of an inquisitor.  I simply thought
+it my duty, in view of the fact that you had made yourself the
+social sponsor for Mr. Lessingham, to place certain information
+before you, and to ask, unofficially, of course, if you have any
+explanation to give?  You may even," he went on, hesitatingly,
+"appreciate the motives which led me to do so."
+
+"My dear man, what explanation could I have?" Philippa protested,
+"it is an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at
+Magdalen with my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood
+Norton.  I know both these things of my own knowledge.  The only
+possible explanation, therefore, is that you have been misinformed."
+
+"Or," Captain Griffiths ventured, "that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in
+those days passed under another name."
+
+"Another name?" Philippa faltered.
+
+"Some such name, perhaps," he continued, "as Bertram Maderstrom."
+
+There was a short silence.  Captain Griffiths had leaned back in
+his chair and was caressing his upper lip.  His eyes were fixed
+upon Philippa and Philippa saw nothing.  Her little heel dug hard
+into the carpet.  In a few seconds the room ceased to spin.
+Nevertheless, her voice sounded to her pitifully inadequate.
+
+"What an absurdity all this is!" she exclaimed.
+
+"Maderstrom," Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, "was, curiously
+enough, an intimate college friend of your brother's.  He was also
+a visitor at Wood Norton Hall.  At neither place is there any trace
+of Mr. Hamar Lessingham.  Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady
+Cranston.  Perhaps you have recognised the man and failed to remember
+his name.  If so, now is the moment to declare it."
+
+"I am very much obliged to you," Philippa retorted, "but I have
+never met or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom--"
+
+"Baron Maderstrom," he interrupted.
+
+"Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I
+remember perfectly."
+
+"I am sorry," Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup
+and rising slowly to his feet.  "We cannot help one another, then."
+
+"If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember
+perfectly, into a German baron whom I never heard of," Philippa
+declared boldly, "I am afraid that we can't."
+
+"Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman," Captain Griffiths observed.
+
+"Swedish or German, I know nothing of him," Philippa persisted.
+
+"There remains, then, nothing more to be said."
+
+"I am afraid not," Philippa agreed sweetly.
+
+"Under the circumstances," Captain Griffiths asked, "you will not,
+I am sure, expect me to dine to-night."
+
+"Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham," Philippa
+replied.
+
+Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible
+for that little storm of passion which for a moment transformed
+his appearance.  He quickly recovered, however.
+
+"I may still," he concluded, moving towards the door, "be forced to
+present myself here in another capacity."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+visitor, stifled Philippa.  Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf
+around her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to
+the railing, dragged herself along to where the fishermen were
+gathered together in a little group.  The storm as yet showed no
+signs of abatement.
+
+"Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?" she enquired.
+
+An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+
+"There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!"
+
+"Will she get in?" Philippa asked eagerly.
+
+There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+
+"She's weathering it grand," the fisherman to whom she had first
+spoken, declared.  "We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning
+on getting 'em ashore all right.  Lucky for Ben that the gentleman
+along with him is a fine sailor.  Look at that, mum!" he added in
+excitement.  "See the way he brought her head round to it, just in
+time.  Boys, they'll come in on the next one!"
+
+One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+wave-splashed beach.  There were a few more minutes of breathless
+anxiety.  Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight,
+hidden by a huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to
+the top of it, to hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and
+the surf and a great green mass of waters, and then finally, with a
+harsh crash of timbers and a shout from the fishermen, to be flung
+high and dry upon the stones.  Philippa, clutching the iron railing,
+saw for a moment nothing but chaos.  Her knees became weak.  She was
+unable to move.  There was a queer dizziness in her ears.  The sound
+of voices sounded like part of an unreal nightmare.  Then she was
+aware of a single figure climbing the steps towards her.  There was
+blood trickling down his face from the wound in the forehead, and he
+was limping slightly.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham!" she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+
+He took an eager step towards her.
+
+"Philippa!" he exclaimed.  "Why, what are you doing here?"
+
+"I was frightened," she faltered.  "Are you hurt?"
+
+"Not in the least," he assured her.  "We had a rough sail home,
+that's all, and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious.
+Come along, let me help you up the steps and out of this."
+
+She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the
+house.  Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and
+Helen came hurrying to them from the background.
+
+"I went out to see the storm," Philippa explained weakly, "and I
+saw Mr. Lessingham's boat brought in."
+
+"And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once," Helen insisted.
+"I haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going
+to bind his head up."
+
+Philippa began to feel her strength returning.  The horror which lay
+behind those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind.
+Mills had hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were
+preparing to follow.  She stopped them.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "listen.  Captain Griffiths has been
+here.  He knows or guesses everything."
+
+"Everything?"
+
+Philippa nodded.
+
+"Helen must bind your head up, of course," she continued.  "After
+that, think!  What can we do?  Captain Griffiths knows that there
+was no Hamar Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited
+Wood Norton, that there is some mystery about your arrival here,
+and he told me to my face that he believes you to be Bertram
+Maderstrom."
+
+"What a meddlesome fellow!" Lessingham grumbled, holding his
+handkerchief to his forehead.
+
+"Oh, please be serious!" Helen begged, looking up from the bandage
+which she was preparing.  "This is horrible!"
+
+"Don't I know it!" Philippa groaned.  "Mr. Lessingham, you must
+please try and escape from here.  You can have the car, if you like.
+There must be some place where you can go and hide until you can
+get away from the country."
+
+"But I'm dining here to-night," Lessingham protested.  "I'm not
+going to hide anywhere."
+
+The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+
+"Can't I make you understand!" Philippa exclaimed pathetically.
+"You're in danger here--really in danger!"
+
+Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+
+"Of course, I can quite understand," he said, "that Griffiths is
+suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have
+broken the law here, and I shall not make things any better by
+attempting an opera bouffe flight.  Can I have my head tied up and
+come and talk to you about it later on?"
+
+"Oh, if you like," Philippa assented weakly.  "I can't argue."
+
+She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes.  When
+she came down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the
+library, with a piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea
+in the other.  His head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed
+quite at his ease.
+
+"You know," he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her,
+"that man Griffiths doesn't like me.  He never took to me from the
+first, I could see that.  If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths.
+He is one of those mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very
+well do without."
+
+Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her
+bedroom, tried to be firm.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "you know that we are both your friends.
+Do listen, please.  Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a
+position of authority.  He has a very large power.  I honestly
+believe that it is his intention to have you arrested--if not
+to-night, within a very few days."
+
+"I do not see how he can," Lessingham objected, helping himself to
+another piece of toast.  "I have committed no crime here.  I have
+played golf with all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and
+I have given the committee some excellent advice as to the two new
+holes.  I have played bridge down at the club--we will call it
+bridge!--and I have kept my temper like an angel.  I have dined at
+Mess and told them at least a dozen new stories.  I have kept my
+blinds drawn at night, and I have not a wireless secreted up the
+chimney.  I really cannot see what they could do to me."
+
+Philippa tried bluntness.
+
+"You have served in the German army, and you are living in a
+protected area under a false name," she declared.
+
+"Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say," he admitted,
+"but even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should
+do no good by running away.  To be perfectly serious," he added,
+setting his cup down, "there is only one thing at the present
+moment which would take me out of Dreymarsh, and that is if you
+believe that my presence here would further compromise you and Miss
+Fairclough."
+
+Philippa was beginning to find her courage.  "We're in it already,
+up to the neck," she observed.  "I really don't see that anything
+matters so far as we are concerned."
+
+"In that case," he decided, "I shall have the honour of presenting
+myself at the usual time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before
+eight that evening.  Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a
+model of simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that
+undefinable appeal to the mysterious which even the greatest
+artist frequently fails to create out of any form of colour.  Some
+fancy had induced her to strip off her jewels at the last moment,
+and she wore no ornaments save a band of black velvet around her
+neck.  Helen looked at her curiously.
+
+"Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?" she asked, as they
+stood together by the log fire.
+
+Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+
+"I don't know what I was thinking about, really," she confessed.
+"Is that the exact time, I wonder?"
+
+"Two minutes to eight," Helen replied.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual," Philippa murmured.  "I wonder
+if Captain Griffiths would dare!"
+
+"We've done our best to warn him," Helen reminded her friend.  "The
+man is simply pig-headed."
+
+"I can't help feeling that he's right," Philippa declared, "when he
+argues that they couldn't really prove anything against him."
+
+"Does that matter," Helen asked anxiously, "so long as he is an
+enemy, living under a false name here?"
+
+"You don't think they'd--they'd--"
+
+"Shoot him?" Helen whispered, lowering her voice.  "They couldn't
+do that!  They couldn't do that!"
+
+The clock began to chime.  Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening,
+gave a little exclamation of relief.
+
+"I hear his voice!" she exclaimed.  "Thank goodness!"
+
+Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's.  A moment
+later Mills ushered in their guest.  He was still wearing his
+bandage, but his colour had returned.  He seemed, in fact, almost
+gay.
+
+"Nothing has happened, then?" Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon
+as the door was closed.
+
+"Nothing at all," he assured them.  "Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+afraid of making a mistake."
+
+"So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine.  Never mind, you'll have
+to take care of us both," she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+
+"I'll do my best," he promised, offering his arm.
+
+If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it
+seemed only to heighten the merriment of their little repast.
+Philippa had ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining
+room, the many appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded,
+the glow of the wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon
+the table, seemed in delicious contrast to the fury of the storm
+outside.  They all three appeared completely successful in a strenuous
+effort to dismiss all disconcerting subjects from their minds.
+Lessingham talked chiefly of the East.  He had travelled in Russia,
+Persia, Afghanistan, and India, and he had the unusual but striking
+gift of painting little word pictures of some of the scenes of his
+wanderings.  It was half-past nine before they rose from the table,
+and Lessingham accompanied them into the library.  With the advent
+of coffee, they were for the first time really alone.  Lessingham
+sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a low chair close at
+hand.
+
+"I think," he said, "that I can venture now to tell you some news."
+
+Helen put down her work.  Philippa looked at him in silence, and her
+eyes seemed to dilate.
+
+"I have hesitated to say anything about it," Lessingham went on,
+"because there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I
+believe that it is now finally arranged.  I think that within the
+next week or ten days--perhaps a little before, perhaps a little
+later--your brother Richard will be set at liberty."
+
+"Dick?  Dick coming home?" Philippa cried, springing up from her
+reclining position.
+
+"Dick?" Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap.  "Mr.
+Lessingham, do you mean it?  Is it possible?"
+
+"It is not only possible," Lessingham assured them, "but I believe
+that it will come to pass.  I have had to exercise a little
+duplicity, but I fancy that it has been successful.  I have insisted
+that without help from an influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot
+bring my labours here to a satisfactory conclusion, and I have named
+as the price of that help, Richard's absolute and immediate freedom.
+I heard only this morning that there would be no difficulty."
+
+Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+
+"I will come back in a few minutes," she promised, her voice a
+little broken.
+
+Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place.
+There were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a
+faint patch of colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite
+steady.  She caught at his hands.
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear friend!" she said.  "If only that little nightmare
+part of you did not exist.  If only you could be just what you seem,
+and one could feel that you were there in our lives for always!  I
+feel that I want to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you.
+What shall I call you?"
+
+"Bertram, please," he whispered.
+
+"Then Bertram, dear," she went on, "for my sake, because you have
+really become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of
+your danger, and because--see how honest I am--I am a little
+afraid of myself--will you go away?  The thought of your danger is
+like a nightmare to me.  It all seems so absurd and unreasonable
+--I mean that the danger which I fear should be hanging over you.
+But I think that there is just a little something back of your brain
+of which you have never spoken, which it was your duty to keep to
+yourself, and it is just that something which brings the danger."
+
+"I am not afraid for myself, Philippa," he told her.  "I took a
+false step in life when I came here.  What it was that attracted me
+I do not know.  I think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst
+the clouds, and the starlight.  It seemed such a wonderful beginning
+to any enterprise.  And, Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the
+part which concerns you, it was a gorgeous prelude, and for the
+other--well, it just does not count because I have no fear.  I have
+faith in my fortune, do you know that?  I believe that I shall leave
+this place unharmed, but I believe that if I leave it without you, I
+shall go back to the worst hell in which a man could ever . . ."
+
+"Bertram," she pleaded, "think of it all.  Even if I cared enough--
+and I don't--there is something unnatural about it.  Doesn't it
+strike you as horrible?  My brother, my cousins, my father, are all
+fighting the men of the nation whose cause you have espoused!  There
+is a horrible, eternal cloud of hatred which it will take generations
+to get rid of, if ever it disappears.  How can we two speak of love!
+What part of the world could we creep into where people would not
+shrink away from us?  I may have lost a little of my heart to you,
+Bertram, I may miss you when you go away, I may waste weary hours
+thinking, but that is all.  Oh, you know that it must be all!"
+
+"I do not," he answered stubbornly.
+
+"Oh, you must be reasonable," she begged, with a little break in her
+voice.  "You know very well that I ought not to listen to you.  I
+ought not to welcome you here.  I ought to be strong and close my
+ears."
+
+"But you will not do that!"
+
+"No!" she faltered.  "Please don't come any nearer.  I--"
+
+She broke off suddenly.  The struggle in her face was ended, her
+expression transformed.  Her finger was held up as though to bid
+him listen.  With her other hand she clutched the back of the couch.
+Her eyes were fixed upon the door.  The little patch of wonderful
+colour faded from her cheeks.
+
+"Listen!" she cried, with a note of terror in her voice.  "That was
+the front door!  Some one has come!  Can't you hear them?"
+
+Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket.  She caught the
+glitter of something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a
+half-stifled moan.
+
+"Not before you, dear," he promised.  "Please do not be afraid.  If
+this is the end, leave me alone with Griffiths.  I shall not hurt
+him.  I shall not forget.  And if by any chance," he added, "this
+is to be our farewell, Philippa, you will remember that I love you
+as the flowers of the world love their sun.  Courage!"
+
+The door facing them was opened.
+
+"Captain Griffiths," Mills announced.
+
+Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers
+and Inspector Fisher.  Griffiths came into the room alone, however,
+and waited until the door was closed before he spoke.  He carried
+himself as awkwardly as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to
+have taken to itself a new expression.  He had the air of a man
+indulging in some strange pleasure.
+
+"Lady Cranston," he said, "I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit
+here is official."
+
+"What is it?" she asked hoarsely.
+
+"I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I
+spoke to you this afternoon," he went on.  "I am sorry to disturb
+you at such an hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a
+charge of espionage."
+
+Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+
+"A most objectionable word," he remarked.
+
+"A most villainous profession," Captain Griffiths retorted.  "Thank
+heaven that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with
+its disciples."
+
+"This is all a hideous mistake," Philippa declared feverishly.  "I
+assure you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that
+he was well-known to me years ago."
+
+"As the Baron Maderstrom!  What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston,
+to induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not
+know, but the facts are very clear."
+
+"He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?" Lessingham remarked, turning
+to Philippa.  "And as I gather that a portion of the British Army,
+assisted by the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside,
+perhaps I had better humour him."
+
+"It would be as well, sir," Captain Griffiths assented grimly.  "I
+am glad to find you in the humour for jesting."
+
+Lessingham turned once more to Philippa.  This time his tone was
+more serious.
+
+"Lady Cranston," he begged, "won't you please leave us?"
+
+"No!" she answered hysterically.  "I know why you want me to, and
+I won't go!  You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you.
+I will not leave the room, and you shall not--"
+
+His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat.  She
+broke down in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+
+"If you have any weapon in your possession, sir," he said, "you had
+better hand it over to me."
+
+"Well, do you know," Lessingham replied, "I scarcely see the
+necessity.  One thing I will promise you," he added, with a sudden
+flash in his eyes, "a single step nearer--a single step, mind--and
+you shall have as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the
+rest of your life.  Remember that so long as you are reasonable I
+do not threaten you.  Help me to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us."
+
+Captain Griffiths was out of his depths.  He was not a coward, but
+he had no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's
+threat and in the flash of his eyes.  While he hesitated, there was a
+knock upon the door.  Mills came silently in.  He carried a telegram
+upon a salver.
+
+"For you, sir," he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths.  "An
+orderly has just brought it down."
+
+Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned.  He tore it open,
+however, without a word.  As he read, his long, upper teeth closed
+in upon his lip.  So he stood there until two little drops of blood
+appeared.
+
+Then he turned to Mills.
+
+"There is no answer," he said.
+
+The man bowed and left the room.  He walked slowly and he looked
+back from the doorway.  It was scarcely possible for even so
+perfectly trained a servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+
+"Something tells me," Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the
+door was closed, "that that message concerns me."
+
+The Commandant made no immediate reply.  He straightened out the
+telegram and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to
+be sure there was no possible mistake.  Then he folded it up and
+placed it in his waistcoat pocket.
+
+"The notion of your arrest, sir," he said to Lessingham harshly,
+"is apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not
+digested my information.  I am withdrawing my men for the present."
+
+"You're not going to arrest him?" Philippa cried.
+
+"I am not," Captain Griffiths answered.  "But," he added, turning
+to Lessingham, "this is only a respite.  I have more evidence
+behind all that I have offered.  You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom,
+a German spy, living here in a prohibited area under a false name.
+That I know, and that I shall prove to those who have interfered
+with me in the execution of my duty.  This is not the end."
+
+He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa.
+Lessingham looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully.  Then he
+shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths," he declared.
+"There is no breeding about the fellow."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain
+Griffiths and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance.
+The crisis, with its bewildering denouement, had affected her
+curiously.  Lessingham rose presently to his feet.
+
+"I wonder," he asked, "if I could have a whisky and soda?"
+
+She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+
+"You're not natural!" she cried.  "Whisky and soda!"
+
+ "Well, I don't know," he protested mildly, helping himself from
+the table in the background.  "I rather thought I was being
+particularly British.  When in doubt, take a drink.  That is
+Richard all the world over, you know."
+
+She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+
+"I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!" she exclaimed.
+
+He crossed the room towards her.
+
+"Perhaps I am, dear," he confessed.  "I want you just to sit up and
+lose that unnatural look.  I am not really full of cheap bravado, but
+I am a philosopher.  Something has happened to postpone--the end.
+Good luck to it, I say!"
+
+He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty.  Philippa
+rose to her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+
+"I'll try and be reasonable too," she promised, resuming her seat.
+"I was right, you see.  Captain Griffiths has discovered everything.
+Can you tell me what possible reason any one in London could have
+had for interference?"
+
+"I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?"
+he observed.
+
+"This is aging me terribly," Philippa declared, throwing herself
+back into her seat.  "All my life I have hated mysteries.  Here I
+am face to face with two absolutely insoluble ones.  Captain
+Griffiths has assured me that there is here in Dreymarsh something
+of sufficient importance to account for the presence of a foreign
+spy.  You have confirmed it.  I have been torturing my brain about
+that for the last twenty-four hours.  Now there happens something
+more inexplicable still.  You are arrested, and you are not
+arrested.  Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is forbidden
+to do his duty."
+
+"It seems puzzling, does it not?" Lessingham agreed.  "I shouldn't
+worry about the first, but this last little episode takes some
+explaining."
+
+"If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,"
+Philippa sighed.
+
+"And something is going to happen," Lessingham declared, rising to
+his feet.  "Did you hear that?"
+
+Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a
+gun from almost underneath the window.  The room was suddenly
+lightened by a single vivid flash.
+
+"A mortar!" Lessingham exclaimed.  "And that was a rocket, unless
+I'm mistaken."
+
+"The signal for the lifeboat!" Philippa announced.  "I wonder if we
+can see anything."
+
+She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening
+of the door.  Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+
+"Mummy, there's a wreck!" the former cried in excitement.  "I heard
+something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the
+window, watching.  I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling
+now for the other one."
+
+"It's quite true, Philippa," Helen declared.  "We're going to try
+and fight our way down to the beach."
+
+"I'll go, too," Lessingham decided.  "Perhaps I may be of use."
+
+"We'll all go," Philippa agreed.  "Wait while I get my things on.
+What is it, Mills?" she added, as the door opened and the latter
+presented himself.
+
+"There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your
+ladyship," he announced.  "They have just sent up from the beach
+to know if we can take some of the crew in.  They are landing them
+as well as they can on the line."
+
+"Of course we can," was the prompt reply.  "Tell them to send as
+many as they want to.  We will find room for them, somehow.  I'll go
+upstairs and see about the fires.  You'll all come back?" she
+added, turning around.
+
+"We will all come back," Lessingham promised.
+
+They fought their way down to the beach.  At first the storm
+completely deafened all sound.  The lanterns, waved here and there
+by unseen hands, seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the
+only background was the raging of the storm.  Then suddenly, with
+a startling hiss, another rocket clove its way through the darkness.
+They had an instantaneous but brilliant view of all that was
+happening,--saw the trawler lying on its side, apparently only a
+few yards from the shore, saw the line stretched to the beach, on
+which, even at that moment, a man was being drawn ashore, licked by
+the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair clearly visible.
+Then all was darkness again more complete than ever.  They struggled
+down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of fishermen were
+hard at work with the line.  Almost the first person they ran across
+was Jimmy Dumble.  He was standing on the edge of the breakwater
+with a great lantern in his hand, superintending the line, and, as
+they drew near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could hear
+his voice above the storm.  He was shouting towards the wreck, his
+hand to his mouth.
+
+"Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line.  Do
+you hear?"
+
+There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+
+"Whom do you mean by 'master'?" he demanded.  Dumble scarcely
+glanced at his interlocutor.
+
+"Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure," was the agitated answer.
+"These lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line
+won't stand for more than another one or two," he added, dropping
+his voice.
+
+Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself
+into a great drama before Lessingham's eyes.  Sir Henry was on that
+ship as near as any man might wish to be to death.
+
+"'Ere's the next," Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass
+vigorously.  "Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!"
+
+Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill
+fearful yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's
+hearing.  Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach
+by Jimmy's side.  The line had broken.  The body of its suspended
+traveller had disappeared!  And just then, strangely enough, for
+the first time for over an hour, the heavens opened in one great
+sheet of lightning, and they could see the figure of one man left
+on the ship, clinging desperately to the rigging.
+
+"Tie the line around me," Jimmy shouted.  "Let her go.  Get the
+other end on the windlass."
+
+They paid out the rope through their hands.  Jimmy kicked off his
+boots and plunged into the cauldron.  He swam barely a dozen strokes
+before he was caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about
+like a cork and flung back upon the beach, where he lay groaning.
+There was a little murmur amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean
+over him.
+
+"Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water," one
+of them declared.
+
+Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed
+it around.
+
+"Where are the young ladies?" he asked.
+
+"Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck,"
+some one informed him.
+
+Lessingham stooped down.  Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord
+from Jimmy's waist.  He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots.
+Some helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line
+around his own waist.
+
+"We've sent for more rockets," one man shouted in his ear.  "The man
+will be back in half an hour."
+
+Lessingham pushed them on one side.  He stood on the edge of the
+beach and, borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity.  Then
+suddenly he vanished.  They looked after him.  They could see
+nothing but the rope slipping past their feet, inch by inch.
+Sometimes it was stationary, sometimes it was drawn taut.  The
+first great wave that came flung a yard or so of slack amongst
+them.  Then, after the roar of its breaking had died away, they
+saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and the
+excitement began to thicken.
+
+"That 'un didn't get him, anyway," one of them muttered.
+
+"He'll go through the next, with luck," another declared hopefully.
+
+Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half
+stunned by the roar of the waters about him, still felt the
+exhilaration of that great struggle.  He looked once into seas
+which seemed to touch the clouds, drew himself stiff, and plunged
+into the depths of a mountain of foaming waters, whose summit
+seemed to him like one of those grotesque and nightmare-distorted
+efforts of the opium-eating brain.  Then the roar sounded all
+behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers.  He swam
+to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain.  It was Sir
+Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+
+"My God, that was a swim!" the latter declared, as he pulled his
+rescuer up, not in the least recognising him.  "Let's have the end
+of that cord, quick!  So!" he went on, paying it out through his
+fingers until the end of the rope appeared.  "You'd better get your
+breath, young man, and then over you go.  I'll follow."
+
+"I'm damned if I do!" was the vigorous reply.  "You start off while
+I get my breath."
+
+They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray.  Sir Henry
+held Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept
+overboard.
+
+"Get one arm through the chains, man," he shouted.  "My God!" he
+added, peering through the gloom.  "Lessingham!"
+
+"Well, don't stop to worry about that," was the fierce reply.  "Let's
+get on with our job."
+
+Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+
+"Follow me when they wave the lantern twice," he directed.  "If we
+either of us get the knock--well, thanks!"
+
+Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and
+went overboard into the darkness.  Then, with one arm through the
+chains, he drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which
+Sir Henry had thrown upon the deck.  Gradually it came within reach
+of his disengaged hand.  He seized it, shook it out, and dived
+eagerly into the breast pocket.  There were several small articles
+which he threw ruthlessly away, and then a square packet, wrapped
+in oilcloth, which bent to his fingers.  Another breaking wave
+threw him on his back.  One arm was still through the chain, the
+other gripped what some illuminating instinct had already convinced
+him was the chart!  As soon as he had recovered his breath, a grim
+effort of humour parted his lips.  He lay there for a moment and
+laughed till the spray, this time with a rush of green water
+underneath, very nearly swept him from his place.
+
+They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to
+his feet.
+
+He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and
+groped about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had
+fastened to a staple below the chains.  Then he drew a long breath,
+gripped the rope and shouted.  A second or two later he was back in
+the cauldron.
+
+As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea.  Whatever
+happened, he must not lose consciousness.  The packet was still
+there against the calf of his leg.  It must be his own hands which
+removed his clothes.  It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces,
+those half a dozen rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied
+a hundredfold.  It was an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which
+patted him on the back and welcomed him, lanterns like the stars
+flashing everywhere around.  He set his teeth and fought against the
+buzzing in his ears.  He tried to speak, and his voice sounded like
+a weak, far away whisper.
+
+"I am all right," he kept on saying.
+
+Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms.  His feet followed
+the mesmeric influence of their movement.  Was he going into the
+clouds, he wondered?  They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading
+to the gardens of Mainsail Haul.  How did he get there?  He had no
+idea.  More movements of his feet, and then unexpected warmth.  He
+looked around him.  There were voices.  He listened.  The one voice?
+The one face bending over his, her eyes wet with tears, her whispers
+an incoherent stream of broken words.  Then the warmth seemed to
+come back to his veins.  He sat up and found himself on the couch
+in the library, the rain dripping from him in little pools, and he
+knew that he had succeeded.  He had not fainted.
+
+"I am all right," he repeated.  "What a mess I am making!"
+
+The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand
+which held a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+
+"Drink it all," she begged.
+
+He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf
+of his leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost
+steady.
+
+"There's a hot bath ready," Philippa told him; "some dry clothes,
+and a bedroom with a fire in.  Do let Mills show you the way."
+
+He rose at once, prepared to follow her.  His feet were not quite
+so steady as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable
+show.  Mills, with a little apology, held out his arm.  Philippa
+walked by his other side.
+
+"As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry
+clothes," Philippa whispered, "please ring, or send Mills to let us
+know."
+
+He was even able to smile at her.
+
+"I am quite all right," he assured her once more.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the
+empty breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang
+the bell.
+
+"Mills," she enquired, "is no one down?"
+
+"Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship," the man
+answered, "and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him."
+
+"And Mr. Lessingham?"
+
+"Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship," Mills continued, looking carefully
+behind him as though to be sure that the door was closed, "has
+disappeared."
+
+"Disappeared?" Philippa repeated.  "What do you mean, Mills?"
+
+"I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship," Mills explained,
+"in a suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed
+--I should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock.
+I called him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty.
+The bed had not been slept in."
+
+"Was there no note or message?" Philippa asked incredulously.
+
+"Nothing, your ladyship.  One of the maid servants believes that she
+heard the front door open at five o'clock this morning."
+
+"Ring up the hotel," Philippa instructed, "and see if he is there."
+
+Mills departed to execute his commission.  Philippa stood looking
+out of the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the
+beach.  There was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell
+from the day before.  The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining
+brilliantly.  Sir Henry, Helen, and Nora were strolling about the
+beach as though searching for something.  About fifty yards out, the
+wrecked trawler was lying completely on its side, with the end of
+one funnel visible.  Scattered groups of the villagers were examining
+it from the sands.  In due course Mills returned.
+
+"The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship,
+beyond the fact that he did not return last night.  They received a
+message from Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to
+say that their mechanic had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning
+to Norwich, where he had caught the mail train to London, The boy
+was to say that Mr. Lessingham would be back in a day or so."
+
+Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the
+beach.  She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand
+to the others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+
+"Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?" Sir Henry observed.
+
+He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+response.  Helen pointed to the wreck.
+
+"It doesn't seem possible, does it," she said, "that men's lives
+should have been lost in that little space.  Two men were drowned,
+they say, through the breaking of the rope.  They recovered the
+bodies this morning."
+
+"Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat,"
+Sir Henry grumbled.  "I was down here at daylight, looking for it."
+
+"Your coat!" Philippa repeated scornfully.  "Fancy thinking of that,
+when you only just escaped with your life!"
+
+"But to tell you the truth, my dear," Sir Henry explained, "my
+pocketbook and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat.
+I can't think how I came to forget them.  I think it was the surprise
+of seeing that fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like
+a drowned rat.  Jove, what a pluck he must have!"
+
+
+"The fishermen can talk of nothing else," Nora put in excitedly.
+"Mummy, it was simply splendid!  Helen and I had gone up with two of
+the rescued men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the
+rope round his waist and watch him plunge in."
+
+"How is he this morning?" Helen asked.
+
+"Gone," Philippa replied.
+
+They all looked at her in surprise.
+
+"Gone?" Sir Henry repeated.  "What, back to the hotel, do you mean?"
+
+"His bed has not been slept in," Philippa told them.  "He must have
+slipped away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car,
+and motored to Norwich.  From there he went on to London.  He has
+sent word that he will be back in a few days."
+
+"I hope to God he won't!" Sir Henry muttered.
+
+Philippa swung round upon him.
+
+"What do you mean by that?" she demanded.  "Don't you want to thank
+him for saving your life?"
+
+"My dear, I certainly do," Sir Henry replied, "but just now--well,
+I am a little taken aback.  Gone to London, eh?  Tore away without
+warning in the middle of the night to London!  And coming back, too
+--that's the strange part of it!"
+
+One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding
+food for much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden
+disappearance.
+
+"He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham," he added thoughtfully.
+"He must have--yes, by God, he must have--In that storm, too!"
+
+"If you could speak coherently, Henry," Philippa observed, "I should
+like to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham
+has deserted us so precipitately."
+
+Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him.  He
+shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+
+"The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem," he said.
+"Of course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I
+have.  Isn't it true that people have begun to make curious remarks
+about him?"
+
+"How did you know that, Henry?" Philippa demanded.
+
+"Well, one hears things," he replied.  "I should gather, from what
+I heard, that his position here had become a little precarious.
+Hence his sudden disappearance."
+
+"But he is coming back again," Philippa reminded her husband.
+
+"Perhaps!"
+
+Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+behind with her.  They walked side by side up the gravel path.
+Philippa kept her hands clasped behind her.
+
+"To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time," she began, "I
+feel very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but
+I must confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you
+lunching at the Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days
+ago, when you left here with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and
+also why you return here on a trawler which belongs to another part
+of the coast?"
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+"I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead," he observed
+good-humouredly.  "If you wouldn't mind giving me another--well,
+to be on the safe side let us say eight days--I think I shall be
+able to offer you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory."
+
+"Thank you," Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; "I see no reason
+why you should not answer such simple questions at once."
+
+Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take
+his wife's arm.
+
+"Philippa, be a little brick," he begged.  "I know I seem to have
+been playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a
+sort of reason for it."
+
+"What reason could there possibly be," she demanded, "which you
+could not confide in me?"
+
+He was silent for a moment.  When he spoke again there was a new
+earnestness in his tone.
+
+"Philippa," he said, "I have been working for some time at a little
+scheme which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but
+which may lead to something which I hope will alter your opinion.
+You couldn't see your way clear to trust me a little longer, could
+you?" he begged, with rather a plaintive gleam in his blue eyes.
+"It would make it so much easier for me to say no more but just
+have you sit tight."
+
+"I wonder," she answered coldly, "if you realise how much I have
+suffered, sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to
+do something!"
+
+"My fishing excursions," he went on desperately, "have not been
+altogether a matter of sport."
+
+"I know that quite well," she replied.  "You have been making that
+chart you promised your miserable fishermen.  None of those things
+interest me, Henry.  I fear--I am very much inclined to say that
+none of your doings interest me.  Least of all," she went on, her
+voice quivering with passion, "do I appreciate in the least these
+mysterious appeals for my patience.  I have some common sense,
+Henry."
+
+"You're a suspicious little beast," he told her.
+
+"Suspicious!" she scoffed.  "What a word to use from a man who goes
+off fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days
+afterwards, with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!"
+
+"That was a trifle awkward," Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst
+of candour, "but it goes in with the rest, Philippa."
+
+"Then it can stay with the rest," she retorted, "exactly where I
+have placed it in my mind.  Please understand me.  Your conduct for
+the last twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between
+us.  If this explanation that you promise comes--in time, and I
+feel like it, very well.  Until it does, I am perfectly free, and
+you, as my husband, are non-existent.  That is my reply, Henry, to
+your request for further indulgence."
+
+"Rather a foolish one, my dear," he answered, patting her shoulder,
+"but then you are rather a child, aren't you?"
+
+She swung away from him angrily.
+
+"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed.  "I mean every word of what I have
+said.  As for my being a child--well, you may be sorry some day
+that you have persisted in treating me like one."
+
+Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure.
+There was an unusual shade of trouble in his face.  His love for
+and confidence in his wife had been so absolute that even her threats
+had seemed to him like little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to
+him out of the froth of her temper.  Yet at that moment a darker
+thought crossed his mind.  Lessingham, he realised, was not a rival,
+after all, to be despised.  He was a man of courage and tact, even
+though Sir Henry, in his own mind, had labelled him as a fool.  If
+indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh, what could it be for?  How
+much had Philippa known about him?  He stood there for a few moments
+in indecision.  A great impulse had come to him to break his pledge,
+to tell her the truth.  Then he made his disturbed way into the
+breakfast room.
+
+"Where's your mother, Nora?" he asked, as Helen took Philippa's
+place at the head of the table.
+
+"She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room." Nora
+explained.  "The wind made her giddy."
+
+Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+
+"You going away again, Daddy?" Nora asked.
+
+"I am going to London this morning," he replied, a little absently.
+
+"To London?" Helen repeated.  "Does Philippa know?"
+
+"I haven't told her yet."
+
+Helen turned towards Nora.
+
+"I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee,
+there's a dear," she suggested.
+
+Nora acquiesced at once.  As soon as she had left the room, Helen
+leaned over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+
+"Don't go to London, Henry," she begged.
+
+"But my dear Helen, I must," he replied, a little curtly.
+
+"I wouldn't if I were you," she persisted.  "You know, you've tried
+Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional
+state.  She is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave
+her alone if I were you."
+
+Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he
+leaned towards her.
+
+"You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?" he asked
+bluntly.
+
+"No, I don't," Helen replied, "but I think she is more furious with
+you than you believe.  For months you have acted--well, how shall
+I say?"
+
+"Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool.  Go on."
+
+"She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,"
+Helen continued, "and you have given her none.  You have treated her
+like something between a doll and a child.  Philippa is as good and
+sweet as any woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to
+you that women are rather mysterious beings?  They may sometimes do,
+out of a furious sense of being wrongly treated, out of a sort of
+aggravated pique, what they would never do for any other reason.  If
+you must go, come back to-night, Henry.  Come back, and if you are
+obstinate, and won't tell Philippa all that she has a right to know,
+tell her about that luncheon in town."
+
+Sir Henry frowned.
+
+"It's all very well, you know, Helen," he said, "but a woman ought
+to trust her husband."
+
+"I am your friend, remember," Helen replied, "and upon my word, I
+couldn't trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have
+done for the last twelve months."
+
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+
+"Well, that settles it, I suppose, then," he observed.  "I'll have
+one more try and see what I can do with Philippa.  Perhaps a hint
+of what's going on may satisfy her."
+
+He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at
+his wife's door.  There was no reply.  He tried the handle and found
+the door locked.
+
+"Are you there, Philippa?" he asked.
+
+"Yes!" she replied coldly.
+
+"I am going to London this morning.  Can I have a few words with you
+first?"
+
+"No!"
+
+Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+
+"Don't be silly, Philippa," he persisted.  "I may be away for four
+or five days."
+
+There was no answer.  Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance
+from a newly added bathroom.  He availed himself of it and found
+Philippa seated in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her
+breakfast.  She raised her eyebrows at his entrance.
+
+"These are my apartments," she reminded him.
+
+"Don't be a little fool," he exclaimed impatiently.
+
+Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up
+her book, and became at once immersed in it.
+
+"You don't wish to talk to me, then?" he demanded.
+
+"I do not," she agreed.  "You have had all the opportunities which
+any man should need, of explaining certain matters to me.  My
+curiosity in them has ended; also my interest--in you.  You say
+you are going to London.  Very well.   Pray do not hurry home on
+my account."
+
+Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake
+of a man arguing with a woman--he attempted to have the last word.
+
+"Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?"
+
+"Perhaps so," Philippa assented sweetly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought--solitude.
+She had walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on
+the other side of a spur of the cliffs.  Before her stretched a
+long and level plain, a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly
+beach.  There was not a sign of any human being in sight, and of
+buildings only a quaint tower on the far horizon.
+
+She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down,
+her hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward.  She
+had come out here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and
+transient her thoughts became.  Her husband was always there in the
+background, but in those moments it was Lessingham who was the
+predominant figure.  She remembered his earnestness, his tender
+solicitude for her, the courage which, when necessity demanded,
+had flamed up in him, a born and natural quality.  She remembered
+the agony of those few minutes on the preceding day, when nothing
+but what still seemed a miracle had saved him.  At one moment she
+felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back.  At
+another, her heart ached to see him once more.  She knew so well
+that if he came it would be for her sake, that he would come to ask
+her finally the question with which she had fenced.  She knew, too,
+that his coming would be the moment of her life.  She was so much
+of a woman, and the passionate craving of her sex to give love for
+love was there in her heart, almost omnipotent.  And in the
+background there was that bitter desire to bring suffering upon
+the man who had treated her like a child, who had placed her in a
+false position with all other women, who had dawdled and idled
+away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every serious
+obligation.  When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear,
+and yet, behind it all, there was that cold impulse of almost
+Victorian prudishness, the inheritance of a long line of virtuous
+women, a prudishness which she had once, when she had believed
+that it was part of her second nature, scoffed at as being the
+outcome of one of the finer forms of selfishness.
+
+She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision
+came no nearer to her.  A late afternoon star shone weakly in the
+sky.  A faint, vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in
+tangled wreaths upon the face of the sea.  Only that line of
+sand seemed still clear-cut and distinct, and as she glanced along
+it her eyes were held by something approaching, something which
+seemed at first nothing but a black, moving speck, then gradually
+resolved itself into the semblance of a man on horseback, galloping
+furiously.  She watched him as he drew nearer and nearer, the sand
+flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless, his eyes
+apparently fixed upon some distant spot.  It was not until he had
+come within fifty yards of her that she recognised him.  His horse
+shied at the sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a
+powerful wrist.  Little specks of sand, churned up in the momentary
+stampede of hoofs, fell upon her skirt.  For the rest, she watched
+the struggle composedly, a struggle which was over almost as soon
+as it was begun.  Captain Griffiths leaned down from his trembling
+but subdued horse.
+
+"Lady Cranston!" he exclaimed in astonishment.
+
+"That's me," she replied, smiling up at him.  "Have you been riding
+off your bad temper?"
+
+He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides.  Back as far as one
+could see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+
+"Am I bad-tempered?" he asked.
+
+"Well," she observed, "I don't know you well enough to answer that
+question.  I was simply thinking of yesterday evening."
+
+He slipped from his horse and stood before her.  His long, severe
+face had seldom seemed more malevolent.
+
+"I had enough to make me bad-tempered," he declared.  "I had tracked
+down a German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for
+arrest--expecting it, even--and then I got that wicked message."
+
+"What was that wicked message after all?" she enquired.
+
+"That doesn't matter," he answered.  "It was from a quarter where
+they ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest.  I
+have sent to the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying
+that they may change their minds."
+
+Philippa sighed.
+
+"If you hadn't received that telegram last night," she observed,
+"it seems to me that I should have been a widow to-day."
+
+He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+
+"Yes, I heard of that," he admitted.  "I dare say if he hadn't
+gone, though, some one else would."
+
+"Would you have gone if you had been there?" she asked.
+
+"If you had told me to," he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+
+Philippa felt a little shiver.  There was something ominous in the
+intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to
+impart to his tone.  She rose to her feet.
+
+"Well," she said, "don't let me keep you here.  I am getting cold."
+
+He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse.  "I will walk
+with you, if I may," he proposed.  She made no reply, and they set
+their faces homewards.
+
+"I hear Lessingham has left the place," he remarked, a little
+abruptly.
+
+"Oh, I expect he'll come back," Philippa replied.
+
+"How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with
+German spies?" he asked.
+
+"Don't be foolish--or impertinent," she enjoined.  "You are making
+a ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham."
+
+He laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"No need for us to fence," he said.  "You and I know who he is.
+What I do want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from
+the point there--four miles of hard galloping and one question--
+why are you his friend?  What is he to you?"
+
+"Really, Captain Griffiths," she protested, looking up at him, "of
+what possible interest can that be to you?"
+
+"Well, it is, anyhow," he answered gruffly.  "Anything that concerns
+you is of interest to me."
+
+Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what
+it all meant.  She realised the significance of those apparently
+purposeless afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had
+to send for Helen to help her out; the significance of those long
+silences, the melancholy eyes which seemed to follow her movements.
+She felt an unaccountable desire to laugh, and then, at the first
+twitchings of her lips, she restrained herself.  She knew that
+tragedy was stalking by her side.
+
+"I think, Captain Griffiths," she said gravely, "that you are talking
+nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it.  Won't you please
+ride on?"
+
+He made no movement to mount his horse.  He plodded along the soft
+sand by her side--a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed
+upon the ground.
+
+"Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard," he
+persisted.
+
+She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+
+"I was never so hard?" she repeated.  "Do you imagine that I have
+ever for a single moment considered my demeanour towards you--you
+of all persons in the world?  I simply don't remember when you have
+been there and when you haven't.  I don't remember the humours in
+which I have been when we have conversed.  All that you have said
+seems to me to be the most arrant nonsense."
+
+He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+
+"Thank you," he said bitterly, "I understand.  Only let me tell you
+this," he went on, his whip poised in his hand.  "You may have
+powerful friends who saved your--"
+
+He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that
+he had wished to say in his face.
+
+"My what?" she asked.
+
+His courage failed him.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham," he proceeded, "from arrest.  But if he shows his
+face here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him.  I shall
+shoot him on sight and chance the consequences."
+
+"They'll hang you!" she declared savagely.
+
+He laughed at her.
+
+"Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy?
+They won't dare!  They won't even dare to place me under arrest for
+an hour.  Why, when the truth becomes known," he went on, his
+voice gaining courage as the justice of his case impressed itself
+upon him, "what do you suppose is going to happen to two women who
+took this fellow in and befriended him, introduced him under a
+false name to their friends, gave him the run of their house--this
+man whom they knew all the time was a German?  You, Lady Cranston,
+chafing and scolding your husband by night and by day because he
+isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so patriotic that you
+cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you--the hostess,
+the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom!  It will
+be a pretty tale when it's all told!"
+
+"I really think," Philippa asserted calmly, "that you are the most
+utterly impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met."
+
+His face was dangerous for a moment.  They had not yet reached the
+promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+
+"Perhaps," he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, "I could make
+myself even more obnoxious."
+
+"Quite possibly," she replied, "only I want to tell you this.  If
+you come a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you."
+
+"Your friend or your husband, eh?" he scoffed.
+
+She waved him on.
+
+"I think," she told him, "that either of them would be quite
+capable of ridding the world of a coward like you."
+
+"A coward?" he repeated.
+
+"Precisely!  Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?"
+
+"I don't want to terrorise you," he said sulkily.
+
+"Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire
+to make yourself agreeable," she pointed out.
+
+He turned suddenly upon her.
+
+"I am a fool, I know," he declared bitterly.  "I'm an awkward,
+nervous, miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in
+the Mess, turning the people against me I want to have like me,
+stumbling into every blunder a fool can.  I'm the sort of man
+women make sport of, and you've done it for them cruelly,
+perfectly."
+
+"Captain Griffiths!" she protested.  "When have I ever been
+anything but kind and courteous to you?"
+
+"It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy!  There's a curse
+upon my tongue," he went on desperately.  "I'm not like other men.
+I don't know how to say what I feel.  I can't put it into words.
+Every one misunderstands me.  You, too!  Here I rode up to you this
+afternoon and my heart was beating for joy, and in five minutes I
+had made an enemy of you.  Damn that fellow Lessingham!  It is all
+his fault!"
+
+Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon
+his horse's flanks.  The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off,
+riding at a furious gallop.  Philippa watched him with immense
+relief, In the far distance she could see two little specks growing
+larger and larger.  She hurried on towards them.
+
+"Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?"  Nora demanded.
+"Why he passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman,
+and his face looked--well, what did it look like, Helen?"
+
+Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+
+"Like a man riding for his enemy," she declared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across
+the luncheon table.
+
+"I supposes one misses the child," Helen said.
+
+"I feel too depressed for words," Philippa admitted.
+
+"A few days ago," Helen reminded her companion, "we were getting
+all the excitement that was good for any one."
+
+"And a little more," Philippa agreed.  "I don't know why things seem
+so flat now.  We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has
+happened."
+
+"What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away," Helen continued,
+"and Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have
+reverted to the normal, haven't we?  I wonder--if Mr. Lessingham
+has gone back."
+
+"I do not think so," Philippa murmured.
+
+Helen frowned slightly.
+
+"Personally," she said, with some emphasis, "I hope that he has."
+
+"If we are considering the personal point of view only," Philippa
+retorted, "I hope that he has not."
+
+Helen looked her disapproval.
+
+"I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire,"
+she observed.
+
+"One never has until one has burned one's fingers," Philippa sighed.
+"I know perfectly well what is the matter with you," she continued
+severely.  "You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's
+favourite dish."
+
+"I am not such a baby," Helen protested.  "All the same, it does
+make one think.  I wonder--"
+
+"I know exactly what you were going to say," Philippa interrupted.
+"You were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham
+would keep his promise."
+
+"Whether he would be able to," Helen corrected.  "It does seem so
+impossible, doesn't it?"
+
+"So does Mr. Lessingham himself," Philippa reminded her.  "It isn't
+exactly a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and
+well-bred young man step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room."
+
+"You really believe, then," Helen asked eagerly, "that he will be
+able to keep his promise?"
+
+Philippa nodded confidently.
+
+"Do you know," she said, "I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some
+means or another, would keep any promise he ever made.  I am
+expecting to see Dick at any moment now, so you can get on with
+your lunch, dear, and not sit looking at the curry with tears in
+your eyes."
+
+"It isn't the curry so much as the chutney," Helen protested faintly.
+"He never would touch any other sort."
+
+"Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the
+bottle," Philippa declared.  "I have a feeling this morning that
+something is going to happen."
+
+"How long has Nora gone away for?" Helen enquired, after a moment's
+pause.
+
+"A fortnight or three weeks," Philippa answered.  "Her grandmother
+wired that she would be glad to have her until Christmas."
+
+"Just why," Helen asked seriously, "have you sent her away?"
+
+Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she
+regretted Mills' absence from the room.
+
+"I thought it best," she said quietly.  "You see, I am not quite
+sure what the immediate future of this menage is going to be."
+
+Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+
+"Dear," she sighed, "it worries me so to hear you talk like that."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it,
+that at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry.
+It isn't fair, you know."
+
+"To whom isn't it fair?" Philippa demanded.
+
+"To Mr. Lessingham."
+
+Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+
+"Perhaps," she admitted, "that is a point of view which I have not
+sufficiently considered."
+
+Helen pressed home her advantage.
+
+"I don't think you realise, Philippa," she said, "how madly in love
+with you the man is.  In a perfectly ingenuous way, too.  No one
+could help seeing it."
+
+"Then where does the unfairness come in?" Philippa asked.  "It is
+within my power to give him all that he wants."
+
+"But you wouldn't do it, Philippa.  You know that you wouldn't!"
+Helen objected.  "You may play with the idea in your mind, but
+that's just as far as you'd ever get."
+
+
+Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face.  "I disagree with
+you, Helen," she said.  Helen set down the glass which she had
+been in the act of raising to her lips.  It was her first really
+serious intimation of the tragedy which hovered over her future
+sister-in-law's life.  Somehow or other, Philippa had seemed, even
+to her, so far removed from that strenuous world of over-drugged,
+over-excited feminine decadence, to whom the changing of a husband
+or a lover is merely an incident in the day's excitements.
+Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike beauty, her love of
+the wholesome ways of life, and her strong affections, represented
+other things.  Now, for the first time, Helen was really afraid,
+afraid for her friend.
+
+"But you couldn't ever--you wouldn't leave Henry!"
+
+Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+
+"That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing," she confided.
+
+Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced.  Their
+conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+
+Then the wonderful thing happened.  The windows of the dining room
+faced the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a
+motor car turn in at the gate and stop at the front door.  It was
+obviously a hired car, as the driver was not in livery, but the
+tall, mulled-up figure in unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front
+seat was for the moment a mystery to them.  Only Helen seemed to
+have some wonderful premonition of the truth, a premonition which
+she was afraid to admit even to herself.  Her hand began to shake.
+Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+
+"You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!" she exclaimed.
+"Who on earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?"
+
+Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+agitation.  She sprang to her feet.
+
+"Helen, you don't imagine--" she gasped.  "Listen!"
+
+There was a voice in the hail--a familiar voice, though strained
+a little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent.
+And then--Major Richard Felstead!
+
+"Dick!" Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms.  "Oh,
+Dick!  Dick!"
+
+It was an incoherent, breathless moment.  Somehow or other, Philippa
+found herself sharing her brother's embrace.  Then the fire of
+questions and answers was presently interrupted by Mills,
+triumphantly bearing in a fresh dish of curry.
+
+"What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?" he asked.
+
+Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+
+"Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!"
+he said.  "It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the
+day, isn't it, Philippa, but can I have some champagne?"
+
+"You can have the whole cellarful," Philippa assured him joyously.
+"Be sure you bring the best, Mills."
+
+"The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship," was the murmured reply.
+
+Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they
+found themselves seated once more at the table.  They sat one on
+either side of him, watching his glass and his plate.  By degrees
+their questions and his answers became more intelligible.
+
+"When did you get here?" they wanted to know.
+
+"I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning," he told them;
+"came across from Holland.  I hired a car and drove straight here."
+
+"When did you know you were coming home?" Helen asked.
+
+"Only two days ago," he replied.  "I never was so surprised in my
+life.  Even now I can't realise my good luck.  I can't see what I've
+done.  The last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream.
+Jove!" he went on, as he drank his wine, "I never thought I should
+be such a pig as to care so much for eating and drinking!"
+
+"And think what weeks of it you have before you?" Helen explained,
+clapping her hands.  "Philippa and I will have a new interest in
+life--to make you fat."
+
+He laughed.
+
+"It won't be very difficult," he promised them.  "I had several
+months of semi-starvation before the miracle happened.  It was all
+just the chance of having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been
+serving in the German Army--Bertram Maderstrom was his name.  You
+remember him, Philippa?  He was a Swede in those days."
+
+"What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been
+so faithful!" Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+
+"He's a real good sort," Felstead declared enthusiastically,
+"although Heaven knows why he's turned German!  He worked like a
+slave for me.  I dare say he didn't find it so difficult to get
+me better quarters and a servant, and decent food, but when they
+told me that I was free--well, it nearly knocked me silly."
+
+"The dear fellow!" Philippa murmured pensively.
+
+"Do you remember him, either of you?" Felstead continued.  "Rather
+good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman."
+
+"I--seem to remember," Philippa admitted.
+
+"The name sounds familiar," Helen echoed.  "Do have some more
+chutney, Dick."
+
+"Thanks!  What a pig I am making of myself!" he observed cheerfully.
+"You girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom,
+but the whole business beats me so completely.  Of course, we were
+great pals, in a way, but I never thought that I was the apple of
+his eye, or anything of that sort.  How he got the influence, too,
+I can't imagine.  And oh!  I knew there was something else I was
+going to ask you girls," Felstead went on.  "Have you ever had
+a letter, or rather a letter each, uncensored?  Just a line or two?
+I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I should not have been allowed
+to do in the ordinary prison letters."
+
+Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the
+quick glance which passed between the two women.
+
+"Yes, we had them, Dick," Philippa told him.  "It was one afternoon
+--it doesn't seem so very long ago.  And oh, how thankful we were!"
+
+Felstead nodded.
+
+"He got them across all right, then.  Tell me, did they come through
+Holland?  What was the postmark?"
+
+"The postmark," Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully.  "You heard
+what Dick asked, Helen?  The postmark?"
+
+"I don't think there was one," Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+Philippa.
+
+Felstead set down his glass.
+
+"No postmark?  You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose?  They were
+posted in England, eh?"
+
+Philippa shook her head.
+
+"They came to us, Dick," she said, "by hand."
+
+Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished.  He turned round in his
+chair towards Philippa.
+
+"By hand?" he repeated.  "Do you mean to say that they were actually
+brought here by hand?"
+
+Perhaps something in his manner warned them.  Philippa laughed as
+she bent over his chair.
+
+"We will tell you how they came, presently," she declared, "but not
+until you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that
+champagne, and had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has
+been decanting so carefully.  After that we will see.  Just now I
+have only one feeling, and I know that Helen has it, too.  Nothing
+else matters except that we have you home again."
+
+Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his
+and kissed her.
+
+"It's so wonderful to be at home!" he exclaimed apologetically.
+"But I must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive.  I went
+out to the war with a certain amount of respect for the Germans.  I
+have come back loathing them like vermin.  I spent--but I won't go
+on."
+
+Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+
+"I beg your ladyship's pardon," he said, as he filled Felstead's
+glass, "but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library,
+waiting to see you."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without
+significance.  For the first time he became conscious, however, of
+something which seemed almost like a secret understanding between
+his sister and his fianc�e.
+
+"Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he
+will kindly wait," Philippa instructed.
+
+"Who is Mr. Lessingham?" Richard enquired, as soon as the door had
+closed behind Mills.  "Seems a queer time to call."
+
+Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+
+"Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood," the
+latter replied.  "You will probably make his acquaintance before
+long.  Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night."
+
+"Sounds exciting," Richard observed.  "What form of destruction
+was Henry courting?"
+
+"There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm," Philippa explained.
+"You can see it from all the front windows.  Henry was on board,
+returning from one of his fishing excursions.  They were trying to
+find Dumble's anchorage and were driven in on to that low ridge of
+rock.  A rope broke, or something, they had no more rockets, and
+Mr. Lessingham swam out with the line."
+
+"Sounds like a plucky chap," Richard admitted.
+
+Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+
+"I expect he has come to wish us good-by," she said.  "I'll leave
+you with Helen, Dick.  Don't let her overfeed you.  And you know
+where the cigars are, Helen.  Take Dick into the gun room
+afterwards.  You'll have it all to yourselves and there is a fire
+there."
+
+Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she
+was glad to have some reasonable excuse.  She held out both her
+hands to Lessingham.
+
+"Dick is back--just arrived!" she exclaimed.  "I can't tell you
+how happy we are, and how grateful!"
+
+Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+
+"I am glad," he said simply.  "Do you mean that he is in the house
+here, now?"
+
+"He is in the dining room with Helen."
+
+Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+
+"Don't you think," he suggested, "that it would be better to keep
+us apart?"
+
+"I was wondering," she confessed.
+
+"Have you told him about my bringing the letters?"
+
+She shook her head.
+
+"We nearly did.  Then I stopped--I wasn't sure."
+
+"You were wise," he said.
+
+"Are you wise?" she asked him quickly.
+
+"In coming back here?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Captain Griffiths knows everything," she reminded him.  "He is
+simply furious because your arrest was interfered with.  I really
+believe that he is dangerous."
+
+Lessingham was unmoved.
+
+"I had to come back," he said simply.
+
+"Why did you go away so suddenly?"
+
+"Well, I had to do that, too," he replied, "only the governing
+causes were very different.  We will speak, if you do not mind,
+only of the cause which has brought me back.  That I believe you
+know already."
+
+Philippa was curiously afraid.  She looked towards the door as
+though with some vague hope of escape.  She realised that the
+necessity for decision had arrived.
+
+"Philippa," he went on, "do you see what this is?"
+
+He handed her two folded slips of paper.  She started.  At the top
+of one she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+
+"What are they?" she asked.  "What does it mean?"
+
+"They are passports for America," he told her.
+
+"For--for me?" she faltered.
+
+"For you and me."
+
+They slipped from her fingers.  He picked them up from the carpet.
+Her face was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+
+"I know so well how you are feeling," he said humbly.  "I know how
+terrible a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near.  You
+are so different from the other women who might do this thing.  It
+is so much harder for you than for them."
+
+She lifted her head.  There was still something of the look of a
+scared child in her face.
+
+"Don't imagine me better than I am," she begged.  "I am not really
+different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort
+of thing has ever come into my life."
+
+"I know.  You see," he went on, a little wistfully, "you have not
+taken me, as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa.  You
+know that I love you as a man loves only once.  It sounds like an
+empty phrase to say it, but if you will give me your life to take
+care of, I shall only have one thought--to make you happy.  Could
+I succeed?  That is what you have to ask yourself.  You are not
+happy now.  Do you think that, if you stay on here, the future is
+likely to be any better for you?"
+
+She shook her head drearily.
+
+"I believe," she confessed, "that I have reached the very limit
+of my endurance."
+
+He came a little nearer.  His hands rested upon her shoulders very
+lightly, yet they seemed like some enveloping chain.  More than
+ever in those few moments she realised the spiritual qualities of
+his face.  His eyes were aglow.  His voice, a little broken with
+emotion, was wonderfully tender.  He looked at her as though she
+were some precious and sacred thing.
+
+"I am rich," he said, "and there are few parts of the world where
+we could not live.  We could find our way to the islands, like
+your great writer Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands
+full of colour, and wonderful birds, and strange blue skies;
+islands where the peace of the tropics dulls memory, and time
+heats only in the heart.  The world is a great place, Philippa,
+and there are corners where the sordid crime of this ghastly
+butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and the
+taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and
+moon are still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon
+the sapphire seas."
+
+"It sounds like a fairy tale," she murmured, with a half pathetic
+smile.
+
+"Love always fashions life like a fairy tale," he replied.
+
+She stood perfectly still.
+
+"You must have my answer now, at this moment?" she asked at last.
+
+"There are yet some hours," he told her.  "I have a very powerful
+automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon.  If we leave
+here at ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon.
+Everything has been made very easy for me.  And fortune, too, is
+with us--your vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in
+London.  You see, you have the whole afternoon for thought.  I
+want you only for your happiness.  At ten o'clock I shall come
+here.  If you are coming with me, you must be ready then.  You
+understand?"
+
+"I understand," she assented, under her breath.  "And now," she
+went on, raising her eyes, "somehow I think that you are right.
+It would be better for you and Dick not to meet."
+
+"I am sure of it," he agreed.  "I shall come for my answer at ten
+o'clock.  I wonder--"
+
+He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her
+face.  There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass,
+even, for affection, and yet something which, behind it all,
+chilled his confidence.  He left his sentence uncompleted and
+turned towards the door.  Suddenly she called him back.  She held
+up her finger.  Her whole expression had changed.  She was alarmed.
+
+"Wait!" she begged.  "I can hear Dick's voice.  Wait till he has
+crossed the hail."
+
+They both stood, for a moment, quite silent.  Then they heard a
+little protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from
+Richard.  The door was thrown open.
+
+"You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?" her
+brother asked.  "We're not--My God!"
+
+There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the
+threshold, the picture of distress.
+
+"I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa."
+
+Richard took a quick step forward.  His hands were outstretched.
+
+"Bertram!" he exclaimed.  "Is this a miracle?  You here with my
+sister?"
+
+Lessingham held out his hand.  Suddenly Richard dropped his.  His
+expression had become sterner.
+
+"I don't understand," he said simply.  "Somebody please explain."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon
+themselves the onus of speech.  Richard's amazement seemed to
+increase upon reflection.
+
+"Maderstrom!" he exclaimed.  "Bertram!  What in the name of all
+that's diabolical are you doing here?"
+
+"I am just a derelict," Lessingham explained, with a faint smile.
+"Glad to see you, Richard.  You are a day earlier than I expected."
+
+"You knew that I was coming, then?" Richard demanded.
+
+"Naturally," Lessingham replied.  "I had the great pleasure of
+arranging for your release."
+
+"Look here," Richard went on, "I'm groping about a bit.  I don't
+understand.  Forgive me if I run off the track.  I'm not forgetting
+our friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came
+and found me at Wittenburg.  But for all that, you have served in
+the German Army and are an enemy, and I want to know what you are
+doing here, in England, in my brother-in-law's house."
+
+"No particular harm, Richard, I promise you," Lessingham replied
+mildly.
+
+"You are here under a false name!"
+
+"Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind," the other assented.  "I
+prefer my own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would
+ensure me a very warm welcome over here just now.  Besides," he
+added, with a glance at Philippa, "I have to consider the friends
+whose hospitality I have enjoyed."
+
+In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard.  His
+tone became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+
+"Maderstrom," he said, "we met last under different circumstances.
+I will admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an
+honourable imprisonment.  I am not so sure that yours is an
+honourable freedom."
+
+Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+
+"Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!"
+she begged.
+
+"You would never have lived through it," Helen echoed.
+
+"You are talking to Mr. Lessingham," Philippa protested, "as though
+he were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your
+life."
+
+Richard waved them away.
+
+"You must leave this to us," he insisted.  "Maderstrom and I will
+be able to understand one another, at any rate.  What are you doing
+in this house--in England?  What is your mission here?"
+
+"Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished," Lessingham said
+gravely.  "At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country
+to-night."
+
+"Accomplished?" Richard repeated.  "What the devil do you mean?
+Accomplished?  Are you playing the spy in this country?"
+
+"You would probably consider my mission espionage," Lessingham
+admitted.
+
+"And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?"
+
+"I have."
+
+Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck.  "Dick," she
+pleaded, "please listen.  Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this
+district, ever since he landed in England.  What possible harm
+could he do?  We haven't a single secret to be learned.  Everybody
+knows where our few guns are.  Everybody knows where our soldiers
+are quartered.  We haven't a harbour or any secret fortifications.
+We haven't any shipping information which it would be of the
+least use signalling anywhere.  Mr. Lessingham has spent his time
+amongst trifles here.  Take Helen away somewhere and forget that
+you have seen him in the house.  Remember that he has saved
+Henry's life as well as yours."
+
+"I invite no consideration upon that account," Lessingham declared.
+"All that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted
+to do, for my old friend.  Your release was different.  I am forced
+to admit that it was the price paid for my sojourn here.  I will
+only ask you to remember that the bargain was made without your
+knowledge, and that you are in no way responsible for it."
+
+"A price," Richard pronounced fiercely, "which I refuse to pay!"
+
+Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"The alternative," he confessed, "is in your hands."
+
+Richard moved towards the telephone.
+
+"I am sorry, Maderstrom," he said, "but my duty is clear.  Who is
+Commandant here, Philippa?"
+
+Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone.  There was a
+queer, angry patch of colour in her cheeks.  Her eyes were on fire.
+
+"Richard," she exclaimed, "you shall not do this from my house!
+I forbid you!"
+
+"Do what?"
+
+"Give information.  Do you know what it would mean if they believed
+you?"
+
+"Death," he answered.  "Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he
+came to this country under a false name."
+
+"Perfectly," Lessingham admitted.
+
+"But I won't have it!" Philippa protested.  "He has become our
+friend.  Day by day we have grown to like him better and better.
+He has saved your life, Dick.  He has brought you back to us.
+Think what it is that you purpose!"
+
+"It is what every soldier has to face," Richard declared.
+
+"You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!" Philippa cried
+desperately.  "The war is in your brains, I think.  You would
+carry it from the battlefields into your daily life.  Because two
+great countries are at war, is everything to go by--chivalry?--all
+the finer, sweeter feelings of life?  If you two met on the
+battlefield, it would be different.  Here in my drawing-room, I
+will not have this black demon of the war dragged in as an excuse
+for murder!  Take Dick away, Helen!" she begged.  "Mr. Lessingham is
+leaving to-night.  I will pledge my word that until then he remains
+a harmless citizen."
+
+"Women don't understand these things, Philippa--" Richard began.
+
+"Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!" Philippa
+interrupted fiercely.  "You have but one idea--to strike--the
+narrow idea of men that breeds warfare.  I tell you that if ever
+universal peace comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror
+of this lust for blood, this criminal outrage against civilisation,
+it is the women who will become the teachers, because amongst your
+instincts the brutish ones of force are the first to leap to the
+surface at the slightest provocation.  We women see further, we
+know more.  I swear to you, Richard, that if you interfere I will
+never forgive you as long as I live!"
+
+Richard stared at his sister in amazement.  There seemed to be some
+new spirit born within her.  Throughout all their days he had never
+known her so much in earnest, so passionately insistent.  He
+looked from her to the man whom she sought to protect, and who
+answered, unasked, the thoughts that were in his mind.
+
+"Whatever harm I may have been able to do," Lessingham announced,
+"is finished.  I leave this place to-night, probably for ever.  As
+for the Commandant," he went on with a faint smile, "he is already
+upon my track.  There is nothing you can tell him about me which
+he does not know.  It is just a matter of hours, the toss of a
+coin, whether I get away or not."
+
+"They've found you out, then?" Richard exclaimed.
+
+"Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago," Lessingham
+acknowledged.  "Your Commandant here is at the present moment in
+London for the sole purpose of denouncing me."
+
+"And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?" Richard observed
+incredulously.  "I'm hanged if I can see through this!"
+
+"You see," Lessingham explained gently.  "I am a fatalist!"
+
+It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room.  He looked
+back from the door.
+
+"Maderstrom," he said, "you know quite well how personally I feel
+towards you.  I am grateful for what you have done for me, even
+though I am beginning to understand your motives.  But as regards
+the other things we are both soldiers.  I am going to talk to
+Helen for a time.  I want to understand a little more than I do
+at present."
+
+Lessingham nodded.
+
+"Let me help you," he begged.  "Here is the issue in plain words.
+All that I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any
+case for the sake of our friendship.  Your freedom would probably
+never have been granted to me but for my mission, although even
+that I might have tried to arrange.  I brought your letters here,
+and I traded them with your sister and Miss Fairclough for the
+shelter of their hospitality and their guarantees.  Now you know
+just where friendship ended and the other things began.  Do what
+you believe to be your duty."
+
+Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him.  Lessingham
+looked down into Philippa's face.
+
+"You are more wonderful even than I thought," he continued softly.
+"You say so little and you live so near the truth.  It is those of
+us who feel as you do--who understand--to whom this war is so
+terrible."
+
+"I want to ask you one question before I send you away," she told
+him.  "This journey to America?"
+
+"It is a mission on behalf of Germany," he explained, "but it is,
+after all, an open one.  I have friends--highly placed friends
+--in my own country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the
+war.  It is through them that I am able to turn my back upon
+Europe.  I have done my share of fighting," he went on sadly, "and
+the horror of it will never quite leave me.  I think that no one
+has ever charged me with shirking my duty, and yet the sheer, black
+ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal inutility, have got
+into my blood so that I think I would rather pass out of the world
+in some simple way than find myself back again in that debauch of
+blood.  Is this cowardice, Philippa?"
+
+She looked at him with shining eyes.
+
+"There isn't any one in the world," she said, "who could call you
+a coward.  Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you,
+that at least I know."
+
+He kissed her fingers.
+
+"At ten o'clock," he began--
+
+"But listen," she interrupted.  "Apart from anything which Dick
+might do, you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you
+really have accomplished something.  Why not go now, at this
+moment?  Why wait?  These few hours may make all the difference."
+
+He smiled.
+
+"They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life," he answered.
+"That is for you."
+
+He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room.
+Philippa moved to the window and watched him until he had
+disappeared.  Then very slowly she left the room, walked up the
+stairs, made her way to her own little suite of apartments, and
+locked the door.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that
+evening at Mainsail Haul.  Philippa was at times unusually silent,
+but Helen had expanded in the joy of her great happiness.  Richard,
+shaved and with his hair cut, attired once more in the garb of
+civilisation, seemed a different person.  Even in these few hours
+the lines about his mouth seemed less pronounced.  They talked
+freely of Maderstrom.
+
+"A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem," Richard declared, balancing his
+wine glass between his fingers, "a problem, too, which I can't say
+I have solved altogether yet.  The only thing is that if he is
+really going to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter
+drift out of my mind."
+
+"It is so much better," Helen agreed.  "Try as hard as ever I can,
+I cannot picture his doing any harm to anybody.  And as for any
+information he may have gained here, well, I think that we can
+safely let him take it back to Germany."
+
+"He was always," Richard continued reminiscently, "a sort of cross
+between a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman.  There was never
+anything of the practical man of affairs about him.  He was
+scrupulously honourable, and almost a purist in his outlook upon
+life.  I have met a great many Germans," Richard went on, "and I've
+killed a few, thank God!--but he is about as unlike the ordinary
+type as any one I ever met.  The only pity is that he ever served
+his time with them."
+
+Philippa had been listening attentively.  She was more than ever
+silent after her brother's little appreciation of his friend.
+Richard glanced at her good-humouredly.
+
+"You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+Philippa," he observed.  "One would think that you were going on
+a journey."
+
+She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious
+eyes.
+
+"I may go for a walk," she said, "and leave you two young people to
+talk secrets.  I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights."
+
+"When is Henry coming back?" her brother enquired.
+
+Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+
+"I have no idea," she confessed.  "He comes and goes as the whim
+seizes him, and I very seldom know where he is.  One week it is
+whiting and another codling.  Lately he seems to have shown some
+partiality for London life."
+
+Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+
+"You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?"
+
+"Nothing whatever."
+
+"But what excuse does he give--or rather I should say reason?"
+Richard persisted.
+
+"He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an
+office," Philippa replied.  "That is what he says.  His point of
+view is so impossible that I can not even discuss it with him."
+
+"It's the rummest go I ever came across," Richard remarked
+reminiscently.  "I should have said that old Henry would have been
+up and at 'em at the Admiralty before the first gun was fired."
+
+"On the contrary," Philippa rejoined, "he took advantage of the
+war to hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after
+hostilities had commenced."
+
+"It's a rum go," Richard repeated.  "I can't fancy Henry as a
+skulker.  Forgive me, Philippa," he added.
+
+"You are entirely forgiven," she assured him drily.
+
+"He comes of such a fine fighting stock," Richard mused.  "I
+suppose his health is all right?"
+
+"His health," Philippa declared, "is marvellous.  I should think
+he is one of the strongest men I know."
+
+Her brother patted her hand.
+
+"You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl," he said
+affectionately.  "It's no good doing that, you know.  You wait and
+let me have a talk with Henry."
+
+"I think," she replied, "that nearly everything possible has already
+been said to him."
+
+"Perhaps you've put his back up a bit," Richard suggested, "and he
+may really be on the lookout for something all the time."
+
+"It has been a long search!" Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm.
+"Let us talk about something else."
+
+They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made
+their plans for the week--Richard must report at the War Office at
+once.
+
+Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close.  It
+was at Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment
+over his port.  She kept her arm through her friend's as they
+crossed the hall into the drawing-room, and closed the door behind
+them.  Philippa stood upon the hearth rug.  Already her mouth had
+come together in a straight line.  Her eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+
+"I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen," she began, "and
+I warn you that it will be of no use."
+
+Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+
+"Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?" she asked.
+
+"I am," was the calm response.  "I made up my mind this afternoon.
+We are leaving to-night."
+
+Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+
+"Motoring?" she enquired.
+
+"Naturally," Philippa replied.  "You know there are no trains
+leaving here to-night."
+
+"You'll have a cold ride," Helen remarked.  "I should take your
+heavy fur coat."
+
+Philippa stared at her companion.
+
+"You don't seem much upset, Helen!"
+
+"I think," Helen declared, looking up, "that nothing that has
+ever happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I
+can see that you have reasoned it all out, and there is not a
+single argument I could use which you haven't already discounted.
+It is your life, Philippa, not mine."
+
+"Since you are so philosophical," Philippa observed, "let me ask
+you--should you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?"
+
+"I should not," was the firm reply.
+
+Philippa laughed heartily.
+
+"Oh, I know what you are going to say!" Helen continued quickly.
+"You'll tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental.  I think
+in your heart you rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard.
+You would call it cowlike, or something of that sort.  There is a
+difference between us, Philippa, and that is why I am afraid to
+argue with you."
+
+"What should you do," Philippa demanded, "if Richard failed you in
+some great thing?"
+
+"I might suffer," Helen confessed, "but my love would be there all
+the same.  Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I
+should never be able to see with those who judged him hardly."
+
+"You think, then," Philippa persisted, "that I ought still to remain
+Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst
+the pastimes of his life--when he feels inclined, for instance, to
+wander from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my
+complexion, or when he settles down at home for a few days after a
+fortnight's sport on the sea and expects me to tell him the war news?"
+
+"I don't think that I should do that," Helen admitted quietly, "but
+I am quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I should be punishing myself too much."
+
+Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+
+"Helen," she said, "you are not such a fool as you try to make me
+think.  Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my
+mind?  Can't you realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring,
+it will punish Henry more?"
+
+"I see," Helen observed.  "You are running away with Mr. Lessingham
+to annoy Henry?"
+
+"Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!" Philippa laughed sardonically.
+"He has terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to
+him.  He'll be remarkably sheepish for some time to come.  He may
+even feel a few little stabs.  When I have time, I am going to
+write him a letter which he can keep for the rest of his life.  It
+won't please him!"
+
+"Where are you--and Mr. Lessingham going to live?" Helen enquired.
+
+"In America, to start with.  I've always longed to go to the States."
+
+"What shall you do," Helen continued, "if you don't get out of the
+country safely?"
+
+"Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall," Philippa replied,
+"and he seems a person of many expedients.  Of course, if we didn't,
+I should go back to Cheshire.  I should have gone back there, anyway,
+before now, if Mr. Lessingham hadn't come."
+
+"Well, it all seems very simple," Helen admitted.  "I think Mr.
+Lessingham is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder
+if you didn't now and then almost imagine that you were happy."
+
+"You seem to be taking my going very coolly," Philippa remarked.
+
+"I told you how I felt about it just now," Helen reminded her.
+"Your going is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing
+larger and larger, day by day.  I think that, in his way, Dick
+will suffer just as much as Henry.  We shall all be utterly
+miserable."
+
+"Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?" Philippa
+demanded.  "You sit there talking about it as though I were going
+on an ordinary country-house visit."
+
+Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled
+with tears.
+
+"Philippa dear," she said, "if I thought that all the tears that
+were ever shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's
+heart, could have any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now
+and implore you to give up this idea.  But I think--you won't be
+angry with me, dear?--I think you would go just the same."
+
+"You seem to think that I am obstinate," Philippa complained.
+
+"You see, you are temperamental, dear," Helen reminded her.  "You
+have a complex nature.  I know very well that you need the daily
+love that Henry doesn't seem to have been willing to give you
+lately, and I couldn't stop your turning towards the sun, you know.
+Only--all the time there's that terrible anxiety--are you quite
+sure it is the sun?"
+
+"You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?" Philippa asked.
+
+"I do indeed," Helen replied.  "I am not quite sure, though, that
+I believe in you."
+
+Philippa was a little startled.
+
+"Well, I never!" she exclaimed.  "Exactly what do you mean by that,
+Helen?"
+
+"I am not quite sure," Helen continued, "that when the moment has
+really come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched,
+and your feet have left this world in which you are now, I am not
+quite sure that you will find all that you seek."
+
+"You think he doesn't love me?"
+
+"I am not convinced," Helen replied calmly, "that you love him."
+
+"Why, you idiot," Philippa declared feverishly, "of course I love
+him!  I think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I
+ever knew, and as to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he
+were a Fiji Islander or a Chinese."
+
+Helen nodded sympathetically.
+
+"I agree with you," she said, "but listen.  You know that I haven't
+uttered a single word to dissuade you.  Well, then, grant me just
+one thing.  Before you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham
+the truth, whatever it may be, the truth which you haven't told me.
+It very likely won't make any difference.  Two people as nice as you
+and he, who are going to join their lives, generally do, I believe,
+find the things they seek.  Still, tell him."
+
+Philippa made no reply.  Richard opened the door and lingered upon
+the threshold.  Helen rose to her feet.
+
+"I am coming, Dick," she called out cheerfully.  "There's a gorgeous
+fire in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just
+the time I have been looking forward to all day.  You'll tell me
+things, won't you?"
+
+She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to
+him, her face full of the one happiness.  He passed his arm around
+her waist.
+
+"I'll try, dear," he said.  "You won't be lonely, Philippa?"
+
+"I'll come and disturb you when I am," she promised.
+
+The door closed.  She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to
+their footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he
+had just descended, glanced at the huge tires and the tins of
+petrol lashed on behind.
+
+"Nothing more you want, chauffeur?" he asked.
+
+"Nothing, sir," was the almost inaudible reply.
+
+"You have the route map?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles."
+
+Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the
+drive of Mainsail Haul.  Decidedly it was the moment of his life.
+He was hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths.  A
+few hours now was all the start he could reasonably expect.  He
+was face to face with a very real and serious danger, which he
+could no longer ignore, and from which escape was all the time
+becoming more difficult.  And yet all the emotionalism of this
+climax was centered elsewhere.  It was from Philippa's lips that
+he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer which would
+fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in his
+rush through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent
+as to its result.
+
+He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of
+suspended animation, which knew no hope and feared no
+disappointment.  Just before he reached the front door, the
+postern gate in the wall on his left-hand side opened, and
+Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat, framed in the
+faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of seabounded
+space.  He moved eagerly towards her.
+
+"I heard the car," she whispered.  "Come and sit down for a moment.
+It isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the
+sea.  I came out," she went on, as he walked obediently by her
+side, "because the house somehow stifled me."
+
+She led him to a seat.  Below, the long waves were breaking through
+upon the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air.
+The village which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless--there
+was, indeed, a curious absence of sound, except when the incoming
+waves broke upon the rocks and ground the pebbles together in their
+long, backward swish.  Very soon the sleeping country, now wrapped
+in shadows, would take form and outline in the light of the rising
+moon; hedges would divide the square fields, the black woods would
+take shape and the hills their mystic solemnity.  But those few
+minutes were minutes of suspense.  Lessingham was to some extent
+conscious of their queer, allegorical significance.
+
+"I have come," he reminded her quite steadily, "for my answer."
+
+She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched
+her cloak.  She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+
+"You see," she told him, "here I am."
+
+His face was suddenly transformed.  She was almost afraid of the
+effect of her words.  She found herself struggling in his arms.
+
+"Not yet," she begged.  "Please remember where we are."
+
+He released her reluctantly.  A few yards away, they could hear the
+soft purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the
+passing moments.  He caught her by the hand.
+
+"Come," he whispered passionately.  "Every moment is precious."
+
+She hesitated no longer.  The open postern gate seemed to him
+suddenly to lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid
+life.  He was to be one of those favoured few to whom was given
+the divine prize.  And then he stopped short, even while she walked
+willingly by his side.  He knew so well the need for haste.  The
+gentle murmur of that engine was inviting him all the while.  Yet
+he knew there was one thing more which must be said.
+
+"Philippa," he began, "you know what we are doing?  We can escape,
+I believe.  My flight is all wonderfully arranged.  But there
+will be no coming back.  It will be all over when our car passes
+over the hills there.  You will not regret?  You care enough even
+for this supreme sacrifice?"
+
+"I shall never reproach you as long as I live," she promised.  "I
+have made up my mind to come, and I am ready."
+
+"But it is because you care?" he pleaded anxiously.
+
+"It is because I care, for one reason."
+
+"In the great way?" he persisted.  "In the only way?"
+
+She hesitated.  He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his.  He
+saw her frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+
+"Don't ask me quite that," she begged breathlessly.  "Be content
+to know that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come."
+
+He felt the chill of impending disaster.  He closed the little gate
+through which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back
+to it.  In that faint light which seemed to creep over the world
+before the moon itself was revealed, she seemed to him at that
+moment the fairest, the most desirable thing on earth.  Her face
+was upturned towards his, half pathetic, half protesting against
+the revelation which he was forcing from her.
+
+"Listen, Philippa," he said, "Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing.
+I put it on one side.  It did not seem to be possible.  Now I must
+ask you a question.  You have some other motive, have you not, for
+choosing to come away with me?  It is not only because you love me
+better than any one else in the world, as I do you, and therefore
+that we belong to one another and it is right and good that we
+should spend our lives in one another's company?  There is something
+else, is there not, at the root of your determination?  Some ally?"
+
+It was a strange moment for Philippa.  Nothing had altered within
+her, and yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at
+her emotions, bringing a sob into her throat.
+
+"You mean--Henry?"  she faltered.
+
+"I mean your husband," he assented.
+
+She was suddenly passionately angry with herself.  It seemed to her
+that the days of childishness were back.  She was behaving like an
+imbecile whilst he played the great game.
+
+"You see," he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, "this is
+one of those moments in both our lives when anything except the
+exact truth would mean shipwreck.  You still love your husband?"
+
+"I am such a fool!" she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+
+"You were willing to go away with me," he continued mercilessly,
+"partly because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out
+of revenge, and just a little because you liked me.  Is that not so?"
+
+Her head pressed upon his arm.  She nodded.  It was just that
+convulsive movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair
+and its plain black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his
+hopes.  She was just a child once more--and she trusted him.
+
+"Very well, then," he said, "just let me think--for a moment."
+
+She understood enough not to raise her head.  Lessingham was gazing
+out through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from
+which the moon was rising.  Already the pain had begun, and yet
+with it was that queer sense of exaltation which comes with
+sacrifice.
+
+"We have been very nearly foolish," he told her, with grave
+kindliness.  "It is well, perhaps, that we were in time.  Those
+windows which lead into your library,--through which I first came
+to you, by-the-by,--" he added, with a strange, reminiscent little
+sigh, "are they open?"
+
+"Yes!" she whispered.
+
+"Come, then," he invited.  "Before I leave there is something I want
+to make clear to you."
+
+They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little
+terraced walk.  Philippa opened the window and closed it again
+behind them.  The room was empty.  Lessingham, watching her closely,
+almost groaned as he saw the wonderful relief in her face.  She
+threw off the cloak, and he groaned again as he remembered how
+nearly it had been his task to remove it.  In her plain travelling
+dress, she turned and looked at him very pathetically.
+
+"You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?" he enquired.
+
+"A newspaper?  Why, yes, the Times," she answered, a little surprised.
+
+He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it
+under the lamplight.  Presently he called to her.  His forefinger
+rested upon a certain column.
+
+"Read this," he directed.
+
+She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+
+Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for
+special services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting
+Rear-Admiral.
+
+"What does it mean?" she asked feverishly.  "Henry?  A D.S.O. for
+Henry for special services?"
+
+"It means," he told her, with a forced smile, "that your husband is,
+as you put it in your expressive language, a fraud."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet.  Lessingham led
+her to a chair.  From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the
+motor horn, calling to its dilatory passenger.
+
+"I can not, of course, explain everything to you," he began, in a
+tone of unusual restraint, "but I do know that for the last two
+years your husband has been responsible to the Admiralty for most
+of the mine fields around your east coast.  To begin with, his stay
+in Scotland was a sham.  He was most of the time with the fleet and
+round the coasts.  His fishing excursions from here have been of
+the same order, only more so.  All the places of importance, from
+here to the mouth of the Thames, have been mined, or rather the
+approaches to them have been mined, under his instructions.  My
+mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh--do not shrink from
+me if you can help it--was to obtain a copy of his mine protection
+scheme of a certain town on the east coast."
+
+"Why should I shrink from you?" she murmured.  "This is all too
+wonderful!  What a little beast Henry must think me!" she added,
+with truly feminine and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+
+"You and Miss Fairclough," Lessingham went on, "have rather scoffed
+at my presence here on behalf of our Secret Service.  It seemed to
+you both very ridiculous.  Now you understand."
+
+"It makes no difference," Philippa protested tearfully.  "You always
+told us the truth."
+
+"And I shall continue to do so," Lessingham assured her.  "I am not
+a clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune
+favoured me the night your husband was shipwrecked.  I succeeded
+in stealing from him, on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of
+the mine field which I was sent over to procure."
+
+"Of course you had to do it if you could," Philippa sobbed.  "I
+think it was very clever of you."
+
+He smiled.
+
+"There are others who might look at the matter differently," he said.
+"I am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but
+I must have your answer to take away with me.  If you had known all
+the time that your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you
+thought him, was really doing splendid work for his country, you
+would not have listened to me for one moment, would you?  You
+would not have let me grow to love you?"
+
+She clutched his hands.
+
+"You are the dearest man in the world," she exclaimed, her lips
+still quivering, "but, as you say, you know the answer.  I was
+always in love with Henry.  It was because I loved him that I was
+so furious.  I liked you so much that it was mean of me ever to
+think of--of what so nearly happened."
+
+"So nearly happened!" he repeated, with a sudden access of the
+bitterest self-pity.
+
+Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a
+little more impatient, broke the silence.  Philippa was filled
+with an unreasoning terror.
+
+"You must go!" she implored.  "You must go this minute!  If they
+were to take you, I couldn't bear it.  And that man Griffiths--he
+has sworn that if he can not get the Government authority, he
+will shoot you!"
+
+"Griffiths has gone to London," he reminded her.
+
+"Yes, but he may be back by this train," she cried, glancing at the
+clock, "and I have a strange sort of fancy--I have had it all day
+--that Henry might come, too.  It is overdue now.  Any one might
+arrive here.  Oh, please, for my sake, hurry away!" she begged, the
+tears streaming from her eyes.  "If anything should happen, I could
+never forgive myself.  It is because you have been so dear, so true
+and honourable, that all this time has been wasted.  If it were to
+cost you your life!"
+
+
+She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a
+paroxysm.  She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to
+the door.  And then she stopped for a moment to listen.  Her eyes
+became distended.  Her lips were parted.  She shook as though with
+an ague.
+
+"It is too late!" she faltered hysterically.  "I can hear Henry's
+voice!  Quick!  Come to the window.  You must get out that way and
+through the postern gate."
+
+"Your husband will have seen the car," he protested.  "And besides,
+there is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat."
+
+"I shall tell him everything," she declared wildly.  "Nothing
+matters except that you escape.  Oh, hurry!  I can hear Henry
+talking to Jimmy Dumble--for God's sake--"
+
+The words died away upon her lips.  The door had been opened and
+closed again immediately.  There was the quick turn of the lock,
+sounding like the click of fate.  Sir Henry, well inside the room,
+nodded to them both affably.
+
+"Well, Philippa?  You weren't expecting me, eh?  Hullo, Lessingham!
+Not gone yet?  Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?"
+
+Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+
+"Perhaps," he admitted, "a trifle too fine."
+
+Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm.  Philippa had thrown herself
+into his arms.  Her fingers were locked around his neck.  Her lips,
+her eyes, were pleading with him.
+
+"Henry!  Henry, you must forgive me!  I never knew--I never dreamed
+what you were really doing.  I shall never forgive myself, but you
+--you will be generous."
+
+"That's all right, dear," he promised, stooping down to kiss her.
+"Partly my fault, of course.  I had to humour those old ladies down
+at Whitehall who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless
+idiot.  You see," he went on, glancing towards Lessingham, "they
+were always afraid that my steps might be dogged by spies, if my
+position were generally known."
+
+Philippa did not relinquish her attitude.  She was still clinging
+to her husband.  She refused to let him go.
+
+"Henry," she begged, "oh, listen to me!  I have so much to confess,
+so much of which I am ashamed!  And yet, with it all, I want to
+entreat--to implore one great favour from you."
+
+Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+
+"Is it one I can grant?" he asked gravely.
+
+"If you want me ever to be happy again, you will," she sobbed.
+"For Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape."
+
+Lessingham took a quick step forward.  He had the air of one who
+has reached the limits of his endurance.
+
+"You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know," he said, "but I
+desire no intervention."
+
+Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from
+him.  There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment.
+His mouth had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw
+seemed more apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there
+was a ring of authority in his tone.
+
+"Come," he said, "let us understand one another, Philippa, and you
+had better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham.  I can promise you that
+your chances of escape will not be diminished by my taking up these
+few minutes of your time.  Philippa," he went on, turning back to
+her, "you have always posed as being an exceedingly patriotic
+Englishwoman, yet it seems to me that you have made a bargain with
+this man, knowing full well that he was in the service of Germany,
+to give him shelter and hospitality here, access to my house and
+protection amongst your friends, in return for certain favours
+shown towards your brother."
+
+Philippa was speechless.  It was a view of the matter which she and
+Helen had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+
+"But, Henry," she protested, "his stay here seemed so harmless.  You
+yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh.  There
+is nothing to discover.  There is nothing going on here which the
+whole world might not know."
+
+"That was never my plea," Lessingham intervened.
+
+"Nor is it the truth," Sir Henry added sternly.
+
+"The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to
+gain access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could,
+certain plans and charts prepared by me."
+
+Philippa began to tremble.  She seemed bereft of words.
+
+"He told me this," she faltered.  "He told me not half an hour ago."
+
+There was a tapping at the door.  Sir Henry moved towards it but
+did not turn the key.
+
+"Who is that?" he asked.
+
+"Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir," Mills announced.
+"He has seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed
+to come in."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room.  Philippa
+made eager signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows.
+Lessingham, however, shook his head.
+
+"I prefer," he said gently, "to finish my conversation with your
+husband."'
+
+There was another and more insistent summons from outside.  This
+time it was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+
+"Sir Henry Cranston," he called out, "I am here with authority.  I
+beg to be admitted."
+
+"Where is your escort?"
+
+"In the hall."
+
+"If I let you come in," Sir Henry continued, "will you come alone?"
+
+"I should prefer it," was the eager reply.  "I wish to make this
+business as little unpleasant to--to everybody as possible."
+
+Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted
+Griffiths.  The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham.  He
+would have hastened at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand
+upon his arm.
+
+"You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments," he
+insisted.  "This is a private conference.  Your business with the
+Baron Maderstrom can be adjusted later."
+
+"It is my duty," Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, "to arrest that
+man as a spy.  I have authority, granted me this morning in London."
+
+"Quite so," Sir Henry observed, "but we are in the midst of a very
+interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude.  Your turn
+will come later, Captain Griffiths."
+
+"I can countenance no discussion with such men as that," Griffiths
+declared scornfully.  "I am here in the execution of my duty, and
+I resent any interference with it."
+
+"No one wishes to interfere with you," Sir Henry assured him, "but
+until I say the word you will obey my orders."
+
+"So far as I am concerned," Lessingham intervened, "I wish it to be
+understood that I offer no defence."
+
+"You have no defence," Sir Henry reminded him suavely.  "I gather
+that not only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket
+in the midst of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have
+capped this exploit with a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife."
+
+
+Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself.  His eyes
+glowed.  His long fingers twitched.  He kept edging a little nearer
+to Lessingham.
+
+"Both charges," the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes,
+"are true."
+
+Then Philippa found herself.  She saw the sudden flash in her
+husband's eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face.  She stepped once
+more forward.
+
+"Henry," she insisted, "you must listen to what I have to say."
+
+"We have had enough words," Griffiths interposed savagely.
+
+Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+
+"I am listening, Philippa," he said calmly.
+
+"It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr.
+Lessingham to-night," she told him deliberately.
+
+"The devil it was!" Sir Henry muttered.
+
+"As for the reason, you know it," she continued, her tone full of
+courage.  "I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all
+the same I was hardly treated.  I was made the scapegoat of your
+stupid promise.  You kept me in ignorance of things a wife should
+know.  You even encouraged me to believe you a coward, when a
+single word from you would have changed everything.  Therefore, I
+say that it is you who are responsible for what I nearly did, and
+what I should have done but for him--listen, Henry--but for him!"
+
+"But for him," her husband repeated curiously.
+
+"It was Mr. Lessingham," she declared, "who opened my eyes concerning
+you.  It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger.
+Look at my coat there.  My bag is on that table.  I was ready to
+leave with him to-night.  Before we went, he insisted on telling me
+everything about you.  He could have escaped, and I was willing to
+go with him.  Instead, he spent those precious minutes telling me
+the truth about you.  That was the end."
+
+"Lady Cranston omits to add," Lessingham put in, "that before I did
+so she told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm
+friendliness--that her love was given to her husband, and her
+husband only."
+
+"How long is this to go on?" Griffiths asked harshly.  "I have the
+authority here and the power to take that man.  These domestic
+explanations have nothing to do with the case."
+
+"Excuse me," Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, "they have a
+great deal to do with it."
+
+"I am Commandant of this place--" Griffiths commenced.
+
+"And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute,"
+Sir Henry reminded him sternly.
+
+There was a moment's tense silence.  Griffiths set his teeth hard,
+but his hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+
+"I am now," Sir Henry continued, "going to announce to you a piece
+of news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known.
+During last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed
+to cross the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of
+considerable importance to us."
+
+Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain.  He had
+the air of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry continued, "three-quarters of the squadron
+also found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter
+met our own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not
+return."
+
+Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet.  One could almost
+fancy that Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned
+towards him.
+
+"The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself," he said,
+"which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+specially prepared for you.  You see, our own Secret Service is not
+altogether asleep.  Those very safe and inviting-looking channels
+for British and Allied traffic--I marked them very clearly, didn't
+I?--were where I'd laid my mines.  The channels which your cruisers
+so carefully avoided were the only safe avenues.  So you see why it
+is, Maderstrom, that I have no grudge against you."
+
+Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man.
+There was a look of dull horror in his eyes.
+
+"Is this the truth?" he gasped.
+
+"It is the truth," Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+
+"Does this conclude the explanations?" Captain Griffiths demanded
+impatiently.  "Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry.  As regards this
+felon--"
+
+Sir Henry held up his hand.
+
+"Maderstrom's fate," he said, "is mine to deal with and not yours,
+Captain Griffiths."
+
+Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was
+standing only a few feet from her.  She threw herself upon his arm
+and dragged down the revolver which he had raised.  Sir Henry, with
+a shout of fury, was upon them at once.  He took Griffiths by the
+throat and threw him upon the sofa.  The revolver clattered
+harmlessly on to the carpet.
+
+"His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen," he thundered.  "You
+know that I possess superior authority here."
+
+"That man shall not escape!" Griffiths shouted.
+
+He struggled for his whistle.  Sir Henry snatched it from him and
+picked up the revolver from the carpet.
+
+"Look here, Griffiths," he remonstrated severely, "one single move
+in opposition to my wishes will cost you your career.  Let there be
+no misunderstanding about it.  That man will not be arrested by you
+to-night."
+
+Griffiths staggered to his feet.  He was half cowed, half furious.
+
+"You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?" he demanded
+thickly.  "The man is a proved traitor.  If you assist him to escape,
+you are subject to penalties--"
+
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+
+"Captain Griffiths," he interrupted, "I am not ignorant of my
+position in this matter.  Believe me, your last chance of retaining
+your position here is to remember that you have had specific orders
+to yield to my authority in all matters.  Kindly leave this room
+and take your soldiers back to their quarters."
+
+Griffiths hesitated for a single moment.  He had the appearance of
+a man half demented by a passion which could find no outlet.  Then
+he left the room, without salute, without a glance to the right or
+to the left.  Out in the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh
+voice of command.  The hall door was opened and closed behind the
+sound of retreating footsteps.
+
+"Sir Henry," Lessingham reminded him, "I have not asked for your
+intervention."
+
+"My dear fellow, you wouldn't," was the prompt reply.  "As for the
+little trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it
+too much to heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent
+you here."
+
+"The fault of the people who sent me here," Lessingham repeated.
+"I scarcely understand."
+
+"It's simple enough," Sir Henry continued.  "You see, you are about
+as fit to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective.
+You possess the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts
+of a gentleman.--Come, come," he went on, "we have nothing more to
+say to one another.  Open that window and take the narrow path down
+to the beach.  Jimmy Dumble is waiting for you at the gate.  He will
+row you out to a Dutch trawler which is lying even now off the point."
+
+"You mean me to get away?" Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+
+"Believe me, it will cost nothing," Sir Henry assured him.  "I was
+not bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme
+authority here.  He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights
+in aiding your escape."
+
+Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing.  She gave
+him her hands.
+
+"Dear friend," she begged, "so wonderful a friend as you have been,
+don't refuse this last thing."
+
+"Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom," Sir Henry said.  "Remember that
+you can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by
+playing the Quixote."
+
+"Besides," Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, "it is,
+after all, only an exchange.  You have saved Henry's life, set
+Richard free, and brought us happiness.  Why should you hesitate to
+accept your own liberty?"
+
+Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light
+out at sea.
+
+"There's your trawler," he pointed out, "and remember the tide will
+turn in half an hour.  I don't wish to hurry you."
+
+Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+
+"I shall think of you both always," he said simply.  "You are very
+wonderful people."
+
+He turned towards the window.  Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat
+from the table by his side.
+
+"Better take your hat," he suggested.
+
+Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+
+"You knew from the first?" he asked.
+
+"From the very first," Sir Henry assured him.  "Don't look so
+confounded," he went on consolingly.  "Remember that espionage is
+the only profession in which it is an honour to fail."
+
+Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned
+back into the room.  The tenderness in his own face, however, and
+a little catch in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve
+which had grown up between them.
+
+"My dear little woman!" he murmured.  "My little sweetheart!  You
+don't know how I've ached to explain everything to you--including
+the Russian ladies."
+
+"Explain them at once, sir!" Philippa insisted, pretending to draw
+her face away for a moment.
+
+"They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral,
+Draskieff, who was sent over to report upon our method of mine
+laying," he told her.
+
+"You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow
+or the next day."
+
+"Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!" Philippa exclaimed ruefully.  "I
+imagined--all sorts of things.  But, Henry dear," she went on, "do
+you know that we have a great surprise for you--here in the house?"
+
+"No surprise, dear," he assured her, shaking his head.  "I knew the
+very hour that Richard left Wittenberg.  And here he is, by Jove!"
+
+Richard and Helen entered together.  Philippa could not even wait
+for the conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting
+which passed between the two men.
+
+"Listen to me, both of you!" she cried incoherently.  "Helen, you
+especially!  You never heard anything so wonderful in your life!
+They weren't fishing excursions at all.  There weren't any whiting.
+Henry was laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the
+German fleet!  It's all in the Times this morning.  He's got a D.S.O.
+--Henry has--and he's a Rear-Admiral!  Oh, Helen, I want to cry!"
+
+The two women wandered into a far corner of the room.  Richard wrung
+his brother-in-law's hand.
+
+"Philippa isn't exactly coherent," he remarked, "but it sounds all
+right."
+
+"You see," Sir Henry explained, "I've been mine laying ever since
+the war started.  I always had ideas of my own about mine fields,
+as you may remember.  I started with Scotland, and then they moved
+me down here.  The Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and
+they insisted upon my keeping my job secret.  It led to a little
+trouble with Philippa, but I think we are through with all that.
+--I suppose you know that those two young women have been engaged
+in a regular conspiracy, Dick?"
+
+"I know a little," Richard replied gravely, "and I'm sure you will
+believe that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd
+had any idea what they were up to."
+
+"I'm sure you wouldn't," Sir Henry agreed.  "Anyway, it led to no
+harm."
+
+"Maderstrom, then," Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+apprehension of the affair, "was over here to spy upon you?"
+
+"That's the ticket," Sir Henry assented.
+
+Richard frowned.
+
+"And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!"
+
+"Don't you worry about that," his brother-in-law begged.  "They
+must have known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do
+any harm."
+
+"Where is he now?" Richard asked eagerly.  "Helen insisted upon
+keeping me out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours.  The
+Commandant has been up here after him, hasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear!  I don't like the
+fellow."
+
+"And Maderstrom?"
+
+"The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry observed.  "Well, to tell
+you the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for
+in the history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom."
+
+"You, too?" Richard exclaimed.  "Why, every one seems crazy about
+the fellow."
+
+Sir Henry nodded.
+
+"I remember him in your college days, Dick.  He was a gentleman and
+a good sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German.  He did his
+bit of soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the
+war, got a knock and volunteered for the Secret Service.  They sent
+him over here.  The fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare
+say you know, they let him down from the observation car of a
+Zeppelin.  He finds his way here all right, makes his silly little
+bargain with our dear but gullible womenkind, and sets himself to
+watch--to watch me, mind.  The whole affair is too ridiculously
+transparent.  For a time he can't bring himself even to touch my
+papers here, although, as it happens, they wouldn't have done him
+the least bit of good.  It was only the stress and excitement of
+the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the chart which
+I had so carefully prepared for him.  I really think, if he hadn't
+done that, I should have had to slip it into his pocket or absolutely
+force it upon him somehow.  He sends it off like a lamb and behold
+the result!  We've crippled the German Navy for the rest of the war."
+
+"It was a faked chart, then, of course?" Richard demanded
+breathlessly.
+
+"And quite the cleverest I ever prepared," Sir Henry acknowledged.
+"I can assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself,
+if he'd got hold of it."
+
+"But where is Maderstrom now, sir?" Richard asked.
+
+Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the
+last few moments, had softly taken her place.  Her eyes were watching
+a green light bobbing up and down in the distance.  Suddenly she gave
+a little exclamation.
+
+"It's moving!" she cried.  "He's off!"
+
+"He's safe on a Dutch trawler," Sir Henry declared.  "And I think,"
+he added, moving towards the sideboard, "it's time you and I had
+a drink together, Dick."
+
+They helped themselves to whisky and soda.  There were still many
+explanations to be given.  Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa
+stood with her eyes turned seawards.  The green light was dimmer
+now, and the low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over
+the glittering track of moonlight.  She gave a little start as it
+came into sight.  There was a sob in her throat, tears burning in
+her eyes.  Her fingers clutched the curtains almost passionately.
+She stood there watching until her eyes ached.  Then she felt an
+arm around her waist and her husband's whisper in her ear.
+
+"I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?"
+
+She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his
+extended arms.  Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+
+"You know," she murmured.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Zeppelin's Passenger, by Oppenheim
+
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+</head>
+<body>
+<pre>
+Project Gutenberg Etext of The Zeppelin's Passenger, by Oppenheim
+#7 in our series by E. Phillips Oppenheim
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+The Zeppelin's Passenger
+
+by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+
+October, 1999  [Etext #1931]
+[Date last updated: October 25, 2005]
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+</pre>
+<div style="height: 8em;"><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h1>
+    The Zeppelin's Passenger
+</h1>
+<h2>
+by E. Phillips Oppenheim
+</h2>
+
+
+
+
+<hr>
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER I
+</h2>
+<p>
+"Never heard a sound," the younger of the afternoon callers
+admitted, getting rid of his empty cup and leaning forward in his
+low chair.  "No more tea, thank you, Miss Fairclough.  Done
+splendidly, thanks.   No, I went to bed last night soon after
+eleven&mdash;the Colonel had been route marching us all off our legs
+&mdash;and I never awoke until reveille this morning.  Sleep of the
+just, and all that sort of thing, but a jolly sell, all the same!
+You hear anything of it, sir?" he asked, turning to his companion,
+who was seated a few feet away.
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths shook his head.  He was a man considerably older
+than his questioner, with long, nervous face, and thick black hair
+streaked with grey.  His fingers were bony, his complexion, for a
+soldier, curiously sallow, and notwithstanding his height, which
+was considerable, he was awkward, at times almost uncouth.  His
+voice was hard and unsympathetic, and his contributions to the
+tea-table talk had been almost negligible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was up until two o'clock, as it happened," he replied, "but I
+knew nothing about the matter until it was brought to my notice
+officially."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen Fairclough, who was doing the honours for Lady Cranston, her
+absent hostess, assumed the slight air of superiority to which the
+circumstances of the case entitled her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I heard it distinctly," she declared; "in fact it woke me up.  I
+hung out of the window, and I could hear the engine just as plainly
+as though it were over the golf links."
+</p>
+<p>
+The young subaltern sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rotten luck I have with these things," he confided.  "That's three
+times they've been over, and I've neither heard nor seen one.  This
+time they say that it had the narrowest shave on earth of coming
+down.  Of course, you've heard of the observation car found on
+Dutchman's Common this morning?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did you see it?" she enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a chance," was the gloomy reply.  "It was put on two covered
+trucks and sent up to London by the first train.  Captain Griffiths
+can tell you what it was like, I dare say.  You were down there,
+weren't you, sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I superintended its removal," the latter informed them.  "It was
+a very uninteresting affair."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any bombs in it?" Helen asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a sign of one.  Just a hard seat, two sets of field-glasses and
+a telephone.  It seems to have got caught in some trees and been
+dragged off."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How exciting!" the girl murmured.  "I suppose there wasn't any one
+in it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe," he explained, "that these observation cars, although
+they are attached to most of the Zeppelins, are seldom used in night
+raids."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should like to have seen it, all the same," Helen confessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would have been disappointed," her informant assured her.
+"By-the-by," he added, a little awkwardly, "are you not expecting
+Lady Cranston back this evening?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am expecting her every moment.  The car has gone down to the
+station to meet her."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths appeared to receive the news with a certain
+undemonstrative satisfaction.  He leaned back in his chair with
+the air of one who is content to wait.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you heard, Miss Fairclough," his younger companion enquired,
+a little diffidently, "whether Lady Cranston had any luck in town?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen Fairclough looked away.  There was a slight mist before her
+eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had a letter this morning," she replied.  "She seems to have
+heard nothing at all encouraging so far."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you haven't heard from Major Felstead himself, I suppose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a line," she sighed.  "It's two months now since we last had
+a letter."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jolly bad luck to get nipped just as he was doing so well," the
+young man observed sympathetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It all seems very cruel," Helen agreed.  "He wasn't really fit to
+go back, but the Board passed him because they were so short of
+officers and he kept worrying them.  He was so afraid he'd get
+moved to another battalion.  Then he was taken prisoner in that
+horrible Pervais affair, and sent to the worst camp in Germany.
+Since then, of course, Philippa and I have had a wretched time,
+worrying."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Major Felstead is Lady Cranston's only brother, is he not?"
+Griffiths enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And my only fianc�," she replied, with a little grimace.  "However,
+don't let us talk about our troubles any more," she continued, with
+an effort at a lighter tone.  "You'll find some cigarettes on that
+table, Mr. Harrison.  I can't think where Nora is.  I expect she
+has persuaded some one to take her out trophy-hunting to Dutchman's
+Common."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The road all the way is like a circus," the young soldier observed,
+"and there isn't a thing to be seen when you get there.  The naval
+airmen were all over the place at daybreak, and Captain Griffiths
+wasn't far behind them.  You didn't leave much for the sightseers,
+sir," he concluded, turning to his neighbour.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As Commandant of the place," Captain Griffiths replied, "I naturally
+had to have the Common searched.  With the exception of the
+observation car, however, I think that I am betraying no confidences
+in telling you that we discovered nothing of interest."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you suppose that the Zeppelin was in difficulties, as she was
+flying so low?" Helen enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a perfectly reasonable hypothesis," the Commandant assented.
+"Two patrol boats were sent out early this morning, in search of her.
+An old man whom I saw at Waburne declares that she passed like a
+long, black cloud, just over his head, and that he was almost
+deafened by the noise of the engines.  Personally, I cannot believe
+that they would come down so low unless she was in some trouble."
+</p>
+<p>
+The door of the comfortable library in which they were seated was
+suddenly thrown open.  An exceedingly alert-looking young lady,
+very much befreckled, and as yet unemancipated from the long
+plaits of the schoolroom, came in like a whirlwind.  In her hand
+she carried a man's Homburg hat, which she waved aloft in triumph.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come in, Arthur," she shouted to a young subaltern who was
+hovering in the background.  "Look what I've got, Helen!  A trophy!
+Just look, Mr. Harrison and Captain Griffiths!  I found it in a
+bush, not twenty yards from where the observation car came down."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen turned the hat around in amused bewilderment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear child," she exclaimed, "this is nothing but an
+ordinary hat!  People who travel in Zeppelins don't wear things
+like that.  How do you do, Mr. Somerfield?" she added, smiling at
+the young man who had followed Nora into the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't they!" the latter retorted, with an air of superior
+knowledge.  "Just look here!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned down the lining and showed it to them.  "What do you
+make of that?" she asked triumphantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Read it out," Nora insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen obeyed:
+</p>
+<p class="letter">
+  "Schmidt,<br>
+ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;  Berlin,<br>
+ &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;   Unter den Linden, 127."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That sounds German," she admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a trophy, all right," Nora declared.  "One of the crew&mdash;
+probably the Commander&mdash;must have come on board in a hurry and
+changed into uniform after they had started."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my painful duty, Miss Nora," Harrison announced solemnly,
+"to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles
+of whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's
+Common, which might possibly have belonged to any one in the
+Zeppelin, must be sent at once to the War Office."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rubbish!" Nora scoffed.  "The War Office aren't going to have my
+hat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Duty," the young man began&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,"
+Nora interrupted, "but you're not going to have my hat.  I'd throw
+it into the fire sooner than give it up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora," Captain Griffiths
+ventured thoughtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing so important as hats," Harrison put in.  "You see they fit
+&mdash;somebody."
+</p>
+<p>
+The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing.  "I'd listen to
+anything Captain Griffiths had to say," she declared, "but you boys
+who are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit.
+There's nothing in your textbook about hats.  If you're going to
+make yourselves disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the
+regiment."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay.  Nora took a
+chocolate from a box.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Be merciful, Miss Nora!" Harrison pleaded tearfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't break the regiment up altogether," Somerfield begged, with a
+little catch in his voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All very well for you two to be funny," Nora went on, revisiting
+the chocolate box, "but you've heard about the Seaforths coming,
+haven't you?  I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Every woman does," Helen admitted, smiling.  "I suppose the child
+really can keep the hat, can't she?" she added, turning to the
+Commandant.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Officially the matter is outside my cognizance," he declared.  "I
+shall have nothing to say."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two young men exchanged glances.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A hat," Somerfield ruminated, "especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely
+an appurtenance of warfare."
+</p>
+<p>
+His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object
+in question.  Then he winked at Somerfield and sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall take the whole responsibility," he decided magnanimously,
+"of saying nothing about the matter.  We can't afford to quarrel
+with Miss Nora, can we, Somerfield?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not on your life," that young man agreed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sensible boys!" Nora pronounced graciously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you very much, Captain Griffiths, for not encouraging them
+in their folly.  You can take me as far as the post-office when
+you go, Arthur," she continued, turning to the fortunate possessor
+of the side-car, "and we'll have some golf to-morrow afternoon, if
+you like."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Won't Mr. Somerfield have some tea?" Helen invited.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you very much, Miss Fairclough," the man replied; "we had
+tea some time ago at Watson's, where I found Miss Nora."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nora suddenly held up her finger.  "Isn't that the car?" she asked.
+"Why, it must be mummy, here already.  Yes, I can hear her voice!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths, who had moved eagerly towards the window, looked back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is Lady Cranston," he announced solemnly.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER II
+</h2>
+<p>
+The woman who paused for a moment upon the threshold of the library,
+looking in upon the little company, was undeniably beautiful.  She
+had masses of red-gold hair, a little disordered by her long
+railway journey, deep-set hazel eyes, a delicate, almost
+porcelain-like complexion, and a sensitive, delightfully shaped
+mouth.  Her figure was small and dainty, and just at that moment she
+had an appearance of helplessness which was almost childlike.  Nora,
+after a vigorous embrace, led her stepmother towards a chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come and sit by the fire, Mummy," she begged.  "You look tired and
+cold."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa exchanged a general salutation with her guests.  She was
+still wearing her travelling coat, and her air of fatigue was
+unmistakable.  Griffiths, who had not taken his eyes off her since
+her entrance, wheeled an easy-chair towards the hearth-rug, into
+which she sank with a murmured word of thanks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll have some tea, won't you, dear?" Helen enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shook her head.  Her eyes met her friend's for a moment
+&mdash;it was only a very brief glance, but the tragedy of some mutual
+sorrow seemed curiously revealed in that unspoken question and
+answer.  The two young subalterns prepared to take their leave.
+Nora, kneeling down, stroked her stepmother's hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No news at all, then?" Helen faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"None," was the weary reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Any amount of news here, Mummy," Nora intervened cheerfully, "and
+heaps of excitement.  We had a Zeppelin over Dutchman's Common last
+night, and she lost her observation car.  Mr. Somerfield took me
+up there this afternoon, and I found a German hat.  No one else got
+a thing, and, would you believe it, those children over there tried
+to take it away from me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her stepmother smiled faintly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect you are keeping the hat, dear," she observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should say so!" Nora assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa held out her hand to the two young men who had been waiting
+to take their leave.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must come and dine one night this week, both of you," she said.
+"My husband will be home by the later train this evening, and I'm
+sure he will be glad to have you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very kind of you, Lady Cranston, we shall be delighted," Harrison
+declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rather!" his companion echoed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nora led them away, and Helen, with a word of excuse, followed them.
+Griffiths, who had also risen to his feet, came a little nearer to
+Philippa's chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you, too, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said, smiling
+pleasantly up at him.  "Must you hurry away?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will stay, if I may, until Miss Fairclough returns," he answered,
+resuming his seat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do!" Philippa begged him.  "I have had such a miserable time in
+town.  You can't think how restful it is to be back here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid," he observed, "that your journey has not been
+successful."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has been completely unsuccessful," she sighed.  "I have not
+been able to hear a word about my brother.  I am so sorry for poor
+Helen, too.  They were only engaged, you know, a few days before he
+left for the front this last time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths nodded sympathetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I never met Major Felstead," he remarked, "but every one who has
+seems to like him very much.  He was doing so well, too, up to that
+last unfortunate affair, wasn't he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dick is a dear," Philippa declared.  "I never knew any one with so
+many friends.  He would have been commanding his battalion now, if
+only he were free.  His colonel wrote and told me so himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wish there were something I could do," Griffiths murmured, a
+little awkwardly.  "It hurts me, Lady Cranston, to see you so upset."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him for a moment in faint surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nobody can do anything," she bemoaned.  "That is the unfortunate
+part of it all."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose to his feet and was immediately conscious, as he always was
+when he stood up, that there was a foot or two of his figure which
+he had no idea what to do with.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You wouldn't feel like a ride to-morrow morning, Lady Cranston?" he
+asked, with a wistfulness which seemed somehow stifled in his rather
+unpleasant voice.  She shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps one morning later," she replied, a little vaguely.  "I
+haven't any heart for anything just now."
+</p>
+<p>
+He took a sombre but agitated leave of his hostess, and went out
+into the twilight, cursing his lack of ease, remembering the things
+which he had meant to say, and hating himself for having forgotten
+them.  Philippa, to whom his departure had been, as it always was,
+a relief, was already leaning forward in her chair with her arm
+around Helen's neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought that extraordinary man would never go," she exclaimed,
+"and I was longing to send for you, Helen.  London has been such a
+dreary chapter of disappointments."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a sickening time you must have had, dear!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was horrid," Philippa assented sadly, "but you know Henry is
+no use at all, and I should have felt miserable unless I had gone.
+I have been to every friend at the War Office, and every friend
+who has friends there.  I have made every sort of enquiry, and I
+know just as much now as I did when I left here&mdash;that Richard was
+a prisoner at Wittenberg the last time they heard, and that they
+have received no notification whatever concerning him for the last
+two months."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen glanced at the calendar.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is just two months to-day," she said mournfully, "since we heard."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And then," Philippa sighed, "he hadn't received a single one of our
+parcels."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet.  She was a tall, fair girl of the
+best Saxon type, slim but not in the least angular, with every
+promise, indeed, of a fuller and more gracious development in the
+years to come.  She was barely twenty-two years old, and, as is
+common with girls of her complexion, seemed younger.  Her bright,
+intelligent face was, above all, good-humoured.  Just at that moment,
+however, there was a flush of passionate anger in her cheeks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It makes me feel almost beside myself," she exclaimed, "this
+hideous incapacity for doing anything!  Here we are living in luxury,
+without a single privation, whilst Dick, the dearest thing on
+earth to both of us, is being starved and goaded to death in a foul
+German prison!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We mustn't believe that it's quite so bad as that, dear," Philippa
+remonstrated.  "What is it, Mills?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The elderly man-servant who had entered with a tray in his band,
+bowed as he arranged it upon a side table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have taken the liberty of bringing in a little fresh tea, your
+ladyship," he announced, "and some hot buttered toast.  Cook has
+sent some of the sandwiches, too, which your ladyship generally
+fancies."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very kind of you, Mills," Philippa said, with rather a wan
+little smile.  "I had some tea at South Lynn, but it was very bad.
+You might take my coat, please."
+</p>
+<p>
+She stood up, and the heavy fur coat slipped easily away from her
+slim, elegant little body.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall I light up, your ladyship?" Mills enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You might light a lamp," Philippa directed, "but don't draw the
+blinds until lighting-up time.  After the noise of London," she went
+on, turning to Helen, "I always think that the faint sound of the
+sea is so restful."
+</p>
+<p>
+The man moved noiselessly about the room and returned once more to
+his mistress.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We should be glad to hear, your ladyship," he said, "if there is
+any news of Major Felstead?"  Philippa shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"None at all, I am sorry to say, Mills!  Still, we must hope for
+the best.  I dare say that some of these camps are not so bad as
+we imagine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must hope not, your ladyship," was the somewhat dismal reply.
+"Shall I fasten the windows?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can leave them until you draw the blinds, Mills," Philippa
+directed.  "I am not at home, if any one should call.  See that
+we are undisturbed for a little time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very good, your ladyship."
+</p>
+<p>
+The door was closed, and the two women were once more alone.
+Philippa held out her arms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen, darling, come and be nice to me," she begged.  "Let us both
+pretend that no news is good news.  Oh, I know what you are
+suffering, but remember that even if Dick is your lover, he is my
+dear, only brother&mdash;my twin brother, too.  We have been so much to
+each other all our lives.  He'll stick it out, dear, if any human
+being can.  We shall have him back with us some day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But he is hungry," Helen sobbed.  "I can't bear to think of his
+being hungry.  Every time I sit down to eat, it almost chokes me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose he has forgotten what a whisky and soda is like,"
+Philippa murmured, with a little catch in her own throat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He always used to love one about this time," Helen faltered,
+glancing at the clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And cigarettes!" Philippa exclaimed.  "I wonder whether they give
+him anything to smoke."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nasty German tobacco, if they do," Helen rejoined indignantly.
+"And to think that I have sent him at least six hundred of his
+favourite Egyptians!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She fell once more on her knees by her friend's side.  Their arms
+were intertwined, their cheeks touching.  One of those strange,
+feminine silences of acute sympathy seemed to hold them for a while
+under its thrall.  Then, almost at the same moment, a queer
+awakening came for both of them.  Helen's arm was stiffened.
+Philippa turned her head, but her eyes were filled with incredulous
+fear.  A little current of cool air was blowing through the room.
+The French windows stood half open, and with his back to them, a
+man who had apparently entered the room from the gardens and passed
+noiselessly across the soft carpet, was standing by the door,
+listening.  They heard him turn the key.  Then, in a businesslike
+manner, he returned to the windows and closed them, the eyes of
+the two women following him all the time.  Satisfied, apparently,
+with his precautions, he turned towards them just as an expression
+of indignant enquiry broke from Philippa's lips.  Helen sprang to
+her feet, and Philippa gripped the sides of her chair.  The newcomer
+advanced a few steps nearer to them.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER III
+</h2>
+<p>
+It seemed to the two women, brief though the period of actual
+silence was, that in those few seconds they jointly conceived
+definite and lasting impressions of the man who was to become,
+during the next few weeks, an object of the deepest concern to
+both of them.  The intruder was slightly built, of little more than
+medium height, of dark complexion, with an almost imperceptible
+moustache of military pattern, black hair dishevelled with the
+wind, and eyes of almost peculiar brightness.  He carried himself
+with an assurance which was somewhat remarkable considering the
+condition of his torn and mud stained clothes, the very quality
+of which was almost undistinguishable.  They both, curiously enough,
+formed the same instinctive conviction that, notwithstanding his
+tramplike appearance and his burglarious entrance, this was not a
+person to be greatly feared.
+</p>
+<p>
+The stranger brushed aside Philippa's incoherent exclamation and
+opened the conversation with some ceremony.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ladies," he began, with a low bow, "in the first place let me
+offer my most profound apologies for this unusual form of entrance
+to your house."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa rose from her easy-chair and confronted him.  The firelight
+played upon her red-gold hair, and surprise had driven the weariness
+from her face.  Against the black oak of the chimneypiece she had
+almost the appearance of a framed cameo.  Her voice was quite steady,
+although its inflection betrayed some indignation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you kindly explain who you are and what you mean by this
+extraordinary behaviour?" she demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my earnest intention to do so without delay," he assured her,
+his eyes apparently rivetted upon Philippa.  "Kindly pardon me."
+</p>
+<p>
+He held out his arm to stop Helen, who, with her eye upon the bell,
+had made a stealthy attempt to slip past him.  Her eyes flashed as
+she felt his fingers upon her arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How dare you attempt to stop me!" she exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear Miss Fairclough," he remonstrated, "in the interests of all
+of us, it is better that we should have a few moments of undisturbed
+conversation.  I am taking it for granted that I have the pleasure
+of addressing Miss Fairclough?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was something about the man's easy confidence which was, in
+its way, impressive yet irritating.  Helen appeared bereft of words
+and retreated to her place almost mildly.  Philippa's very delicate
+eyebrows were drawn together in a slight frown.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are acquainted with our names, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly," was the suave reply.  "You, I presume, are Lady Cranston?
+I may be permitted to add," he went on, looking at her steadfastly,
+"that the description from which I recognise you does you less than
+justice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I find that remark, under the circumstances, impertinent," Philippa
+told him coldly.
+</p>
+<p>
+He shrugged his shoulders.  There was a slight smile upon his lips
+and his eyes twinkled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Alas!" he murmured, "for the moment I forgot the somewhat unusual
+circumstances of our meeting.  Permit me to offer you what I trust
+you will accept as the equivalent of a letter of introduction."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A letter of introduction," Philippa repeated, glancing at his
+disordered clothes, "and you come in through the window!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Believe me," the intruder assured her, "it was the only way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you will tell me, then," Philippa demanded, her anger
+gradually giving way to bewilderment, "what is wrong with my front
+door?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For all I know, dear lady," the newcomer confessed, "yours may be
+an excellent front door.  I would ask you, however, to consider my
+appearance I have been obliged to conclude the last few miles of
+my journey in somewhat ignominious fashion.  My clothes&mdash;they were
+quite nice clothes, too, when I started," he added, looking down at
+himself ruefully&mdash;"have suffered.  And, as you perceive, I have
+lost my hat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your hat?" Helen exclaimed, with a sudden glance at Nora's trophy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Precisely!  I might have posed before your butler, perhaps, as
+belonging to what you call the hatless brigade, but the mud upon
+my clothes, and these unfortunate rents in my garments, would have
+necessitated an explanation which I thought better avoided.  I make
+myself quite clear, I trust?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Clear?" Philippa murmured helplessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Clear?" Helen echoed, with a puzzled frown.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I mean, of course," their visitor explained, "so far as regards my
+choosing this somewhat surreptitious form of entrance into your
+house."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and made a determined move towards
+the bell.  The intruder, however, barred her way.  She looked up
+into his face and found it difficult to maintain her indignation.
+His expression, besides being distinctly pleasant, was full of a
+respectful admiration.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you please let me pass?" she insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Madam," he replied, "I am afraid that it is your intention to ring
+the bell."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course it is," she admitted.  "Don't dare to prevent me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Madam, I do not wish to prevent you," he assured her.  "A few
+moments' delay&mdash;that is all I plead for."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you explain at once, sir," Philippa demanded, "what you mean
+by forcing your way into my house in this extraordinary fashion, and
+by locking that door?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am most anxious to do so," was the prompt reply.  "I am correct,
+of course, in my first surmise that you are Lady Cranston&mdash;and you
+Miss Fairclough?" he added, bowing ceremoniously to both of them.
+"A very great pleasure!  I recognised you both quite easily, you see,
+from your descriptions."
+</p>
+<p>
+"From our descriptions?" Philippa repeated.
+</p>
+<p>
+The newcomer bowed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The descriptions, glowing, indeed, but by no means exaggerated,
+of your brother Richard, Lady Cranston, and your fianc�, Miss
+Fairclough."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Richard?" Philippa almost shrieked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have seen Dick?" Helen gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+The intruder dived in his pockets and produced two sealed envelopes.
+He handed one each simultaneously to Helen and to Philippa.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My letters of introduction," he explained, with a little sigh of
+relief.  "I trust that during their perusal you will invite me to
+have some tea.  I am almost starving."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two women hastened towards the lamp.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One moment, I beg," their visitor interposed.  "I have established,
+I trust, my credentials.  May I remind you that I was compelled to
+ensure the safety of these few minutes' conversation with you, by
+locking that door.  Are you likely to be disturbed?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, no!  No chance at all," Philippa assured him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we are, we'll explain," Helen promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that case," the intruder begged, "perhaps you will excuse me."
+</p>
+<p>
+He moved towards the door and softly turned the key, then he drew
+the curtains carefully across the French windows.  Afterwards he
+made his way towards the tea-table.  A little throbbing cry had
+broken from Helen's lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa," she exclaimed, "it's from Dick!  It's Dick's handwriting!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's reply was incoherent.  She was tearing open her own
+envelope.  With a well-satisfied smile, the bearer of these
+communications seized a sandwich in one hand and poured himself out
+some tea with the other.  He ate and drank with the restraint of
+good-breeding, but with a voracity which gave point to his plea of
+starvation.  A few yards away, the breathless silence between the
+two women had given place to an almost hysterical series of
+disjointed exclamations.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's from Dick!" Helen repeated.  "It's his own dear handwriting.
+How shaky it is!  He's alive and well, Philippa, and he's found a
+friend."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know&mdash;I know," Philippa murmured tremulously.  "Our parcels have
+been discovered, and he got them all at once.  Just fancy, Helen,
+he's really not so ill, after all!"
+</p>
+<p>
+They drew a little closer together.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You read yours out first," Helen proposed, "and then I'll read mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa nodded.  Her voice here and there was a little uncertain.
+</p>
+<p class="letter">
+MY DEAREST SISTER,
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+I have heard nothing from you or Helen for so long that I was
+really getting desperate.  I have had a very rough time here,
+but by the grace of Providence I stumbled up against an old
+friend the other day, Bertram Maderstrom, whom you must have
+heard me speak of in my college days.  It isn't too much to say
+that he has saved my life.  He has unearthed your parcels, found
+me decent quarters, and I am getting double rations.  He has
+promised, too, to get this letter through to you.
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+You needn't worry about me now, dear.  I am feeling twice the
+man I was a month ago, and I shall stick it out now quite easily.
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+Write me as often as ever you can.  Your letters and Helen's make
+all the difference.
+</p>
+
+<p class="lettersig">
+My love to you and to Henry.<br>
+&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Your affectionate brother, RICHARD. 
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+P.S.  Is Henry an Admiral yet?  I suppose he was in the Jutland
+scrap, which they all tell us here was a great German victory.  I
+hope he came out all right.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa read the postscript with a little shiver. Then she set her
+teeth as though determined to ignore it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Isn't it wonderful!" she exclaimed, turning towards Helen with
+glowing eyes.  "Now yours, dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen's voice trembled as she read.  Her eyes, too, at times were
+misty:
+</p>
+<p class="letter">
+  DEAREST,
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+  I am writing to you so differently because I feel that you will
+  really get this letter.  I have bad an astonishing stroke of luck,
+  as you will gather from Philippa's note.  You can't imagine the
+  difference.  A month ago I really thought I should have to chuck
+  it in.  Now I am putting on flesh every day and beginning to feel
+  myself again.  I owe my life to a pal with whom I was at college,
+  and whom you and I, dearest, will have to remember all our lives.
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+  I think of you always, and my thoughts are like the flowers of
+  which we see nothing in these hideous huts.  My greatest joy is
+  in dreaming of the day when we shall meet again.
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+  Write to me often, sweetheart.  Your letters and my thoughts of
+  you are the one joy of my life.
+</p>
+
+<p class="lettersig">
+Always your lover,<br>
+        &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; DICK.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There were a few moments of significant silence.  The girls were
+leaning together, their arms around one another's necks, their heads
+almost touching.  Behind them, their visitor continued to eat and
+drink.  He rose at last, however, reluctantly to his feet, and
+coughed.  They started, suddenly remembering his presence.  Philippa
+turned impulsively towards him with outstretched hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't tell you how thankful we are to you," she declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Both of us," Helen echoed.
+</p>
+<p>
+He touched with his fingers a box of cigarettes which stood upon the
+tea-table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You permit?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course," Philippa assented eagerly.  "You will find some matches
+on the tray there.  Do please help yourself.  I am afraid that I
+must have seemed very discourteous, but this has all been so amazing.
+Won't you have some fresh tea and some toast, or wouldn't you like
+some more sandwiches?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing more at present, thank you," he replied.  "If you do not
+mind, I would rather continue our conversation."
+</p>
+<p>
+"These letters are wonderful," Philippa told him gratefully.  "You
+know from whom they come, of course.  Dick is my twin brother, and
+until the war we had scarcely ever been parted.  Miss Fairclough
+here is engaged to be married to him.  It is quite two months since
+we had a line, and I myself have been in London for the last three
+days, three very weary days, making enquiries everywhere."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am very happy," he said, "to have brought you such good news."
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more the normal aspect of the situation began to reimpose
+itself upon the two women.  They remembered the locked door, the
+secrecy of their visitor's entrance, and his disordered condition.
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I ask to whom we are indebted for this great service?" Philippa
+enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My name for the present is Hamar Lessingham," was the suave reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the present?" Philippa repeated.  "You have perhaps, some
+explanations to make," she went on, with some hesitation; "the
+condition of your clothes, your somewhat curious form of entrance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"With your permission."
+</p>
+<p>
+"One moment," Helen intervened eagerly.  "Is it possible, Mr.
+Lessingham, that you have seen Major Felstead lately?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A matter of fifty-six hours ago, Miss Fairclough.  I am happy to
+tell you that he was looking, under the circumstances, quite
+reasonably well."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen caught up a photograph from the table by her side, and came
+over to their visitor's side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This was taken just before he went out the first time," she
+continued.  "Is he anything like that now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Hamar Lessingham sighed and shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must expect," he warned her, "that prison and hospital have
+had their effect upon him.  He was gaining strength every day,
+however, when I left."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa held out her hand.  She had been looking curiously at
+their visitor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen, dear, afterwards we will get Mr. Lessingham to talk to us
+about Dick," she insisted.  "First there are some questions which
+I must ask."
+</p>
+<p>
+He bowed slightly and drew himself up.  For a moment it seemed as
+though they were entering upon a duel&mdash;the slight, beautiful woman
+and the man in rags.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just now," she began, "you told us that you saw Major Felstead, my
+brother, fifty-six hours ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is so," he assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it is impossible!" she pointed out.  "My brother is a prisoner
+of war in Germany."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Precisely," he replied, "and not, I am afraid, under the happiest
+conditions, he has been unfortunate in his camp.  Let us talk about
+him, shall we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you mad," Helen demanded, "or are you trying to confuse us?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear young lady!" he protested.  "Why suppose such a thing?  I
+was flattering myself that my conversation and deportment were,
+under the circumstances, perfectly rational."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you are talking nonsense," Philippa insisted.  "You say that
+you saw Major Felstead fifty-six hours ago.  You cannot mean us to
+believe that fifty-six hours ago you were at Wittenberg."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is precisely what I have been trying to tell you," he agreed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it isn't possible!" Helen gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite, I assure you," he continued; "in fact, we should have been
+here before but for a little uncertainty as to your armaments along
+the coast.  There was a gun, we were told, somewhere near here,
+which we were credibly informed had once been fired without the
+slightest accident."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's eyes seemed to grow larger and rounder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's raving!" she decided.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He isn't!" Helen cried, with sudden divination.  "Is that your hat?"
+she asked, pointing to the table where Nora had left her trophy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is," he admitted with a smile, "but I do not think that I will
+claim it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You were in the observation car of that Zeppelin!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham extended his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Softly, please," he begged.  "You have, I gather, arrived at the
+truth, but for the moment shall it be our secret?  I made an
+exceedingly uncomfortable, not to say undignified descent from the
+Zeppelin which passed over Dutchman's Common last night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then," Philippa cried, "you are a German!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear lady, I have escaped that misfortune," Lessingham
+confessed.  "Do you think that none other than Germans ride in
+Zeppelins?"
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IV
+</h2>
+<p>
+A new tenseness seemed to have crept into the situation.  The
+conversation, never without its emotional tendencies, at once
+changed its character.  Philippa, cold and reserved, with a threat
+lurking all the time in her tone and manner, became its guiding
+spirit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We may enquire your name?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am the Baron Maderstrom," was the prompt reply.  "For the purpose
+of my brief residence in this country, however, I fancy that the
+name of Mr. Hamar Lessingham might provoke less comment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom," Philippa repeated.  "You were at Magdalen with my
+brother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"For three terms," he assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have visited at Wood Norton.  It was only an accident, then,
+that I did not meet you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is true," he answered, with a bow.  "I received the most charming
+hospitality there from your father and mother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, you are the friend," Helen exclaimed, suddenly seizing his
+hands, "of whom Dick speaks in his letter!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has been my great privilege to have been of service to Major
+Felstead," was the grave admission.  "He and I, during our college
+days, were more than ordinarily intimate.  I saw his name in one of
+the lists of prisoners, and I went at once to Wittenberg."
+</p>
+<p>
+A fresh flood of questions was upon Helen's lips, but Philippa
+brushed her away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please let me speak," she said.  "You have brought us these letters
+from Richard, for which we offer you our heartfelt thanks, but you
+did not risk your liberty, perhaps your life, to come here simply
+as his ambassador.  There is something beyond this in your visit to
+this country.  You may be a Swede, but is it not true that at the
+present moment you are in the service of an enemy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham bowed acquiescence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are entirely right," he murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Am I also right in concluding that you have some service to ask
+of us?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your directness, dear lady, moves me to admiration," Lessingham
+assured her.  "I am here to ask a trifling favour in return for
+those which I have rendered and those which I may yet render to your
+brother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And that favour?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Their visitor looked down at his torn attire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A suit of your brother's clothes," he replied, "and a room in which
+to change.  The disposal of these rags I may leave, I presume, to
+your ingenuity."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Anything else?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my wish," he continued, "to remain in this neighbourhood for
+a short time&mdash;perhaps a fortnight and perhaps a month.  I should
+value your introduction to the hotel here, and the extension of
+such hospitality as may seem fitting to you, under the circumstances."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Beyond a doubt."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a moment's silence.  Philippa's face had become almost
+stony.  She took a step towards the telephone.  Lessingham, however,
+held out his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your purpose?" he enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going to ring up the Commandant here," she told him, "and
+explain your presence in this house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"An heroic impulse," he observed, "but too impulsive."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall see," she retorted.  "Will you let me pass?"
+</p>
+<p>
+His fingers restrained her as gently as possible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me make a reasonable appeal to both of you," he suggested.
+"I am here at your mercy.  I promise you that under no circumstances
+will I attempt any measure of violence.  From any fear of that, I
+trust my name and my friendship with your brother will be sufficient
+guarantee."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Continue, then," Philippa assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will give me ten minutes in which to state my case," he begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We must!" Helen exclaimed.  "We must, Philippa!  Please!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You shall have your ten minutes," Philippa conceded.
+</p>
+<p>
+He abandoned his attitude of watchfulness and moved back on to the
+hearth-rug, his hands behind him.  He addressed himself to Philippa.
+It was Philippa who had become his judge.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will claim nothing from you," he began, "for the services which
+I have rendered to Richard.  Our friendship was a real thing, and,
+finding him in such straits, I would gladly, under any circumstances,
+have done all that I have done.  I am well paid for this by the
+thanks which you have already proffered me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No thanks&mdash;nothing that we could do for you would be sufficient
+recompense," Helen declared energetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me speak for a moment of the future," he continued.  "Supposing
+you ring that telephone and hand me over to the authorities here?
+Well, that will be the end of me, without a doubt.  You will have
+done what seemed to you to be the right thing, and I hope that that
+consciousness will sustain you, for, believe me, though it may not
+be at my will, your brother's life will most certainly answer for
+mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a slight pause.  A sob broke from Helen's throat.  Even
+Philippa's lip quivered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Forgive me," he went on, "if that sounds like a threat.  It was not
+so meant.  It is the simple truth.  Let me hurry on to the future.
+I ask so little of you.  It is my duty to live in this spot for one
+month.  What harm can I do?  You have no great concentration of
+soldiers here, no docks, no fortifications, no industry.  And in
+return for the slight service of allowing me to remain here
+unmolested, I pledge my word that Richard shall be set at liberty
+and shall be here with you within two months."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen's face was transformed, her eyes glowed, her lips were parted
+with eagerness.  She turned towards Philippa, her expression, her
+whole attitude an epitome of eloquent pleading.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa, you will not hesitate?  You cannot?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must," Philippa answered, struggling with her agitation.  "I love
+Dick more dearly than anything else on earth, but just now, Helen,
+we have to remember, before everything, that we are English women.
+We have to put our human feelings behind us.  We are learning every
+day to make sacrifices.  You, too, must learn, dear.  My answer to
+you, Baron Maderstrom&mdash;or Mr. Lessingham, as you choose to call
+yourself&mdash;is no."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa, you are mad!" Helen exclaimed passionately.  "Didn't I
+have to realise all that you say when I let Dick go, cheerfully,
+the day after we were engaged?  Haven't I realised the duty of
+cheerfulness and sacrifice through all these weary months?  But
+there is a limit to these things, Philippa, a sense of proportion
+which must be taken into account.  It's Dick's life which is in
+the balance against some intangible thing, nothing that we could
+ever reproach ourselves with, nothing that could bring real harm
+upon any one.  Oh, I love my country, too, but I want Dick!  I
+should feel like his murderess all my life, if I didn't consent!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It occurs to me," Lessingham remarked, turning towards Philippa,
+"that Miss Fairclough's point of view is one to be considered."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Doesn't all that Miss Fairclough has said apply to me?" Philippa
+demanded, with a little break in her voice.  "Richard is my twin
+brother, he is the dearest thing in life to me.  Can't you realise,
+though, that what you ask of us is treason?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It really doesn't amount to that," Lessingham assured her.  "In my
+own heart I feel convinced that I have come here on a fool's errand.
+No object that I could possibly attain in this neighbourhood is
+worth the life of a man like Richard Felstead."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, he's right!" Helen exclaimed.  "Think, Philippa!  What is there
+here which the whole world might not know?  There are no secrets in
+Dreymarsh.  We are miles away from everywhere.  For my sake,
+Philippa, I implore you not to be unreasonable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In plain words," Lessingham intervened, "do not be quixotic, Lady
+Cranston.  There is just an idea on one side, your brother's life
+on the other.  You see, the scales do not balance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't you realise, though," Philippa answered, "what that idea
+means?  It is part of one's soul that one gives when one departs
+from a principle."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are principles against love?" Helen demanded, almost fiercely.
+"A sister may prate about them, Philippa.  A wife couldn't.  I'd
+sacrifice every principle I ever had, every scrap of self-respect,
+myself and all that belongs to me, to save Dick's life!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a brief, throbbing silence.  Helen was feverishly clutching
+Philippa's hand.  Lessingham's eyes were fixed upon the tortured face
+into which he gazed.  There were no women like this in his own
+country.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear lady," he said, and for the first time his own voice shook,
+"I abandon my arguments.  I beg you to act as you think best for
+your own future happiness.  The chances of life or death are not
+great things for either men like your brother or for me.  I would
+not purchase my end, nor he his life, at the expense of your
+suffering.  You see, I stand on one side.  The telephone is there
+for your use."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You shan't use it!" Helen cried passionately.  "Phillipa, you
+shan't!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa turned towards her, and all the stubborn pride had gone
+out of her face.  Her great eyes were misty with tears, her mouth
+was twitching with emotion.  She threw her arms around Helen's neck.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear, I can't!  I can't!" she sobbed.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER V
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa's breakdown was only momentary.  With a few brusque words
+she brought the other two down to the level of her newly recovered
+equanimity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To be practical," she began, "we have no time to lose.  I will go
+and get a suit of Dick's clothes, and, Helen, you had better take
+Mr. Lessingham into the gun room.  Afterwards, perhaps you will have
+time to ring up the hotel."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham took a quick step towards her,&mdash;almost as though he were
+about to make some impetuous withdrawal.  Philippa turned and met his
+almost pleading gaze.  Perhaps she read there his instinct of
+self-abnegation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am in command of the situation," she continued, a little more
+lightly.  "Every one must please obey me.  I shan't be more than
+five minutes."
+</p>
+<p>
+She left the room, waving back Lessingham's attempt to open the
+door for her.  He stood for a moment looking at the place where
+she had vanished.  Then he turned round.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Major Felstead's description," he said quietly, "did not do his
+sister justice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa is a dear," Helen declared enthusiastically.  "Just for
+a moment, though, I was terrified.  She has a wonderful will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long has she been married?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"About six years."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are there&mdash;any children?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sir Henry had a daughter by his first wife, who lives with us."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Six years!" Lessingham repeated.  "Why, she seems no more than a
+child.  Sir Henry must be a great deal her senior."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sixteen years," Helen told him.  "Philippa is twenty-nine.  And now,
+don't be inquisitive any more, please, and come with me.  I want to
+show you where to change your clothes."
+</p>
+<p>
+She opened a door on the other side of the room, and pointed to a
+small apartment across the passage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you'll wait in there," she begged, "I'll bring the clothes to
+you directly they come.  I am going to telephone now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So many thanks," he answered.  "I should like a pleasant bedroom
+and sitting room, and a bathroom if possible.  My luggage you will
+find already there.  A friend in London has seen to that."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are very thorough, aren't you?" she remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The people of the country whom it is my destiny to serve all are,"
+he replied.  "One weak link, you know, may sometimes spoil the
+mightiest chain."
+</p>
+<p>
+She closed the door and took up the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Number three, please," she began.  "Are you the hotel?  The manager?
+Good!  I am speaking for Lady Cranston.  She wishes a sitting-room,
+bedroom and bath-room reserved for a friend of ours who is arriving
+to-day&mdash;a Mr. Hamar Lessingham.  You have his luggage already, I
+believe.  Please do the best you can for him.&mdash;Certainly.&mdash;Thank
+you very much."
+</p>
+<p>
+She set down the receiver.  The door was quickly opened and shut.
+Philippa reappeared, carrying an armful of clothes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, you've brought his grey suit," Helen cried in dismay, "the
+one he looks so well in!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be an idiot," Philippa scoffed.  "I had to bring the first
+I could find.  Take them in to Mr. Lessingham, and for heaven's
+sake see that he hurries!  Henry's train is due, and he may be here
+at any moment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll tell him," Helen promised.  "I'll smuggle him out of the back
+way, if you like."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laughed a little drearily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A nice start that would be, if any one ever traced his arrival!"
+she observed.  "No, we must try and get him away before Henry comes,
+but, if the worst comes to the worst, we'll have him in and
+introduce him.  Henry isn't likely to notice anything," she added,
+a little bitterly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen disappeared with the clothes and returned almost immediately,
+Philippa was sitting in her old position by the fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're not worrying about this, dear, are you?" the former asked
+anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know," Philippa replied, without turning her head.  "I don't
+know what may come of it, Helen.  I have a queer sort of feeling
+about that man."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen sighed.  "I suppose," she confessed, "I am the narrowest
+person on earth.  I can think of one thing, and one thing only.
+If Mr. Lessingham keeps his word, Dick will be here perhaps in a
+month, perhaps six weeks&mdash;certainly soon!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He will keep his word," Philippa said quietly.  "He is that sort
+of man."
+</p>
+<p>
+The door on the other side of the room was softly opened.
+Lessingham's head appeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Could I have a necktie?" he asked diffidently.  Philippa stretched
+out her hand and took one from the basket by her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better give him this," she said, handing it over to Helen.  "It is
+one of Henry's which I was mending.&mdash;Stop!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She put up her finger.  They all listened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The car!" Philippa exclaimed, rising hastily to her feet.  "That
+is Henry!  Go out with Mr. Lessingham, Helen," she continued, "and
+wait until he is ready.  Don't forget that he is an ordinary caller,
+and bring him in presently."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen nodded understandingly and hurried out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa moved a few steps towards the other door.  In a moment it
+was thrown open.  Nora appeared, with her arm through her father's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I went to meet him, Mummy," she explained.  "No uniform&mdash;isn't it
+a shame!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry patted her cheek and turned to greet his wife.  There was
+a shadow upon his bronzed, handsome face as he watched her rather
+hesitating approach.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sorry I couldn't catch your train, Phil," he told her.  "I had to
+make a call in the city so I came down from Liverpool Street.  Any
+luck?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She held his hands, resisting for the moment his proffered embrace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry," she said earnestly, "do you know I am so much more anxious
+to hear your news."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mine will keep," he replied.  "What about Richard?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I spent the whole of my time making enquiries," she sighed, "and
+every one was fruitless.  I failed to get the least satisfaction
+from any one at the War Office.  They know nothing, have heard
+nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm ever so sorry to hear it," Sir Henry declared sympathetically.
+"You mustn't worry too much, though, dear.  Where's Helen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"She is in the gun room with a caller."
+</p>
+<p>
+"With a caller?" Nora exclaimed.  "Is it any one from the Depot?
+I must go and see."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You needn't trouble," her stepmother replied.  "Here they are,
+coming in."
+</p>
+<p>
+The door on the opposite side of the room was suddenly opened, and
+Hamar Lessingham and Helen entered together.  Lessingham was
+entirely at his ease,&mdash;their conversation, indeed, seemed almost
+engrossing.  He came at once across the room on realising Sir
+Henry's presence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is Mr. Hamar Lessingham&mdash;my husband," Philippa said.  "Mr.
+Lessingham was at college with Dick, Henry, so of course Helen and
+he have been indulging in all sorts of reminiscences."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two men shook hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I found time also to examine your Leech prints," Lessingham remarked.
+"You have some very admirable examples."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite a hobby of mine in my younger days," Sir Henry admitted.
+"One or two of them are very good, I believe.  Are you staying in
+these parts long, Mr. Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps for a week or two," was the somewhat indifferent reply.
+"I am told that this is the most wonderful air in the world, so I
+have come down here to pull up again after a slight illness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A dreary spot just now," Sir Henry observed, "but the air's all
+right.  Are you a sea-fisherman, by any chance, Mr. Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have done a little of it," the visitor confessed.  Sir Henry's
+face lit up.  He drew from his pocket a small, brown paper parcel.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't mind telling you," he confided as he cut the string, "that
+I don't think there's another sport like it in the world.  I have
+tried most of them, too.  When I was a boy I was all for shooting,
+perhaps because I could never get enough.  Then I had a season or
+two at Melton, though I was never much of a horseman.  But for real,
+unadulterated excitement, for sport that licks everything else into
+a cocked hat, give me a strong sea rod, a couple of traces, just
+enough sea to keep on the bottom all the time, and the codling
+biting.  Look here, did you ever see a mackerel spinner like that?"
+he added, drawing one out of the parcel which he had untied.  "Look
+at it, all of you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham took it gingerly in his fingers.  Philippa, a little
+ostentatiously, turned her back upon the two men and took up a
+newspaper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lady Cranston does not sympathize with my interest in any sort of
+sport just now," Sir Henry explained good-humouredly.  "All the
+same I argue that one must keep one's mind occupied somehow or
+other."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite right, Dad!" Nora agreed.  "We must carry on, as the Colonel
+says.  All the same, I did hope you'd come down in a new naval
+uniform, with lots of gold braid on your sleeve.  I think they might
+have made you an admiral, Daddy, you'd look so nice on the bridge."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid," her father replied, with his eyes glued upon the
+spinner which Lessingham was holding, "that that is a consideration
+which didn't seem to weigh with them much.  Look at the glitter of
+it," he went on, taking up another of the spinners.  "You see, it's
+got a double swivel, and they guarantee six hundred revolutions a
+minute."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must plead ignorance," Lessingham regretted, "of everything
+connected with mackerel spinning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's fine sport for a change," Sir Henry declared.  "The only thing
+is that if you strike a shoal one gets tired of hauling the beggars
+in.  By-the-by, has Jimmy been up for me, Philippa?  Have you heard
+whether there are any mackerel in?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa raised her eyebrows.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mackerel!" she repeated sarcastically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you any objection to the fish, dear?" Sir Henry enquired
+blandly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa made no reply.  Her husband frowned and turned towards
+Lessingham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," he complained a little irritably, "my wife doesn't approve
+of my taking an interest even in fishing while the war's on, but,
+hang it all, what are you to do when you reach my age?  Thinks I
+ought to be a special constable, don't you, Philippa?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Need we discuss this before Mr. Lessingham?" she asked, without
+looking up from her paper.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham promptly prepared to take his departure.
+</p>
+<p>
+"See something more of you, I hope," Sir Henry remarked hospitably,
+as he conducted his guest to the door.  "Where are you staying
+here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"At the hotel."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Which?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not understand that there was more than one," Lessingham
+replied.  "I simply wrote to The Hotel, Dreymarsh."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is only one hotel open, of course, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa
+observed, turning towards him.  "Why do you ask such an absurd
+question, Henry?  The 'Grand' is full of soldiers.  Come and see
+us whenever you feel inclined, Mr. Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall certainly take advantage of your permission, Lady Cranston,"
+were the farewell words of this unusual visitor as he bowed himself
+out.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry moved to the sideboard and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda.  Philippa laid down her newspaper and watched him as though
+waiting patiently for his return.  Helen and Nora had already
+obeyed the summons of the dressing bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry, I want to hear your news," she insisted.  He threw himself
+into an easy-chair and turned over the contents of Philippa's
+workbasket.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where's that tie of mine you were mending?" he asked.  "Is it
+finished yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is upstairs somewhere," she replied.  "No, I have not finished
+it.  Why do you ask?  You have plenty, haven't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Drawers full," he admitted cheerfully.  "Half of them I can never
+wear, though.  I like that black and white fellow.  Your friend
+Lessingham was wearing one exactly like it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't exactly an uncommon pattern," Philippa reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Seems to have the family taste in clothes," Sir Henry continued,
+stroking his chin.  "That grey tweed suit of his was exactly the
+same pattern as the suit Richard was wearing, the last time I saw
+him in mufti."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They probably go to the same tailor," Philippa remarked equably.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry abandoned the subject.  He was once more engrossed in an
+examination of the mackerel spinners.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You didn't answer my question about Jimmy Dumble," he ventured
+presently.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa turned and looked at him.  Her eyes were usually very
+sweet and soft and her mouth delightful.  Just at that moment,
+however, there were new and very firm lines in her face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry," she said sternly, "you are purposely fencing with me.
+Mr. Lessingham's taste in clothes, or Jimmy Dumble's comings and
+goings, are not what I want to hear or talk about.  You went to
+London, unwillingly enough, to keep your promise to me.  I want to
+know whether you have succeeded in getting anything from the
+Admiralty?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing but the cold shoulder, my dear," he answered with a little
+chuckle.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to say that they offered you nothing at all?" she
+persisted.  "You may have been out of the service too long for
+them to start you with a modern ship, but surely they could have
+given you an auxiliary cruiser, or a secondary command of some sort?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They didn't even offer me a washtub, dear," he confessed.  "My
+name's on a list, they said&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, that list!" Philippa interrupted angrily.  "Henry, I really
+can't bear it.  Couldn't they find you anything on land?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear girl," he replied a little testily, "what sort of a figure
+should I cut in an office!  No one can read my writing, and I
+couldn't add up a column of figures to save my life.  What is it?"
+he added, as the door opened, and Mills made his appearance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dumble is here to see you, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Show him in at once," his master directed with alacrity.  "Come
+in, Jimmy," he went on, raising his voice.  "I've got something
+to show you here."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's lips were drawn a little closer together.  She swept past
+her husband on her way to the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope you will be so good," she said, looking back, "as to spare
+me half an hour of your valuable time this evening.  This is a
+subject which I must discuss with you further at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As urgent as all that, eh?" Sir Henry replied, stopping to light
+a cigarette.  "Righto!  You can have the whole of my evening, dear,
+with the greatest of pleasure.&mdash;Now then, Jimmy!"
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VI
+</h2>
+<p>
+Jimmy Dumble possessed a very red face and an extraordinary capacity
+for silence.  He stood a yard or two inside the room, twirling his
+hat in his hand.  Sir Henry, after the closing of the door, did
+not for a moment address his visitor.  There was a subtle but
+unmistakable change in his appearance as he stood with his hands in
+his pockets, and a frown on his forehead, whistling softly to
+himself, his eyes fixed upon the door through which his wife had
+vanished.  He swung round at last towards the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stand by for a moment, Jimmy, will you?" he directed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry took up the receiver.  He dropped his voice a little,
+although it was none the less distinct.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Number one&mdash;police-station, please.&mdash;Hullo there!  The inspector
+about?&mdash;That you, Inspector?&mdash;Sir Henry Cranston speaking.  Could
+you just step round?&mdash;Good!  Tell them to show you straight into
+the library.  You might just drop a hint to Mills about the lights,
+eh?  Thank you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laid down the receiver and turned towards the fisherman.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Jimmy," he enquired, "all serene down in the village, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So far as I've seen or heard, sir, there ain't been a word spoke
+as shouldn't be."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A lazy lot they are," Sir Henry observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They don't look far beyond the end of their noses."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maybe it's as well for us, sir, as they don't," was the cautious
+reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry strolled to the further end of the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you are right, Jimmy," he admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That fellow Ben Oates seems to be the only one with
+ideas."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He don't keep sober long enough to give us any trouble," Dumble
+declared.  "He began asking me questions a few days ago, and I know
+he put Grice's lad on to find out which way we went last Saturday
+week, but that don't amount to anything.  He was dead drunk for
+three days afterwards."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not very frightened of Ben Oates, Jimmy," he confided, as he
+threw open the door of a large cabinet which stood against the
+further wall.  "No strangers about, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a sign of one, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry glanced towards the door and listened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall I just give the key a turn, sir?" his visitor asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think it is necessary," Sir Henry replied.  "They've all
+gone up to change.  Now listen to me, Jimmy."
+</p>
+<p>
+He leaned forward and touched a spring.  The false back of the
+cabinet, with its little array of flies, spinners, fishing hooks
+and tackle, slowly rolled back.  Before them stood a huge chart,
+wonderfully executed in red, white and yellow.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a marvellous piece of work, sir," the fisherman observed
+admiringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Best thing I ever did in my life," Sir Henry agreed.  "Now see
+here, Jimmy.  We'll sail out tomorrow, or take the motor boat,
+according to the wind.  We'll enter Langley Shallows there and pass
+Dead Man's Rock on the left side of the waterway, and keep straight
+on until we get Budden Wood on the church tower.  You follow me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aye, aye, sir!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We make for the headland from there.  You see, we shall be outside
+the Gidney Shallows, and number twelve will pick us up.  Put all
+the fishing tackle in the boat, and don't forget the bait.  We must
+never lose sight of the fact, Jimmy, that the main object of our
+lives is to catch fish."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's right, sir," was the hearty assent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll be off at seven o'clock sharp, then," Sir Henry decided.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The tide'll be on the flow by that time," Jimmy observed, "and
+we'll get off from the staith breakwater.  That do be a fine piece
+of work and no mistake," he added, as the false back of the cabinet
+glided slowly to its place.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry chuckled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's nothing to the one I've got on number twelve, Jimmy," he said.
+"I've got the seaweed on that, pretty well.  You'll take a drop of
+whisky on your way out?" he added.  "Mills will look after you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thank you kindly, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mills answered the bell with some concern in his face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The inspector is here to see you, sir," he announced.  "He did
+mention something about the lights.  I'm sure we've all been most
+careful.  Even her ladyship has only used a candle in her bedroom."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Show the inspector in," Sir Henry directed, "and I'll hear what
+he has to say.  And give Dumble some whisky as he goes out, and a
+cigar."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wishing you good night, sir," the latter said, as he followed
+Mills.  "I'll be punctual in the morning.  Looks to me as though
+we might have good sport."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll hope for it, anyway, Jimmy," his employer replied cheerfully.
+"Come in, Inspector."
+</p>
+<p>
+The inspector, a tall, broad-shouldered man, saluted and stood at
+attention.  Sir Henry nodded affably and glanced towards the door.
+He remained silent until Mills and Dumble had disappeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Glad I happened to catch you, Inspector," he observed, sitting
+on the edge of the table and helping himself to another cigarette.
+"Any fresh arrivals?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"None, sir," the man reported, "of any consequence that I can see.
+There are two more young officers for the Depot, and the young lady
+for the Grange, and Mr. and Mrs. Silvester returned home last night.
+There was a commercial traveller came in the first train this
+morning, but he went on during the afternoon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm!  What about a Mr. Lessingham&mdash;a Mr. Hamar Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't heard of him, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you had the registration papers down from the hotel yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not this evening, sir.  I met the Midland and Great Northern train
+in myself.  Her ladyship was the only passenger to alight here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I came the other way myself," Sir Henry reflected.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now you come to mention the matter, sir," the inspector continued,
+"I was up at the hotel this afternoon, and I saw some luggage about
+addressed to a name somewhat similar to that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Probably sent on in advance, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There could be no other way, sir," the inspector replied, "unless
+the registration paper has been mislaid.  I'll step up to the hotel
+this evening and make sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll oblige me very much, if you will.  By Jove," Sir Henry
+added, looking towards the door, "I'd no idea it was so late!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa, who had changed her travelling dress for a plain black
+net gown, was standing in the doorway.  She looked at the inspector,
+and for a moment the little colour which she had seemed to disappear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is anything the matter?" she asked breathlessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing in the world, my dear," her husband assured her.  "I am
+frightfully sorry I'm so late.  Jimmy stayed some time, and then
+the inspector here looked in about our lights.  Just a little
+more care in this room at night, he thinks.  We'll see to it,
+Inspector."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am very much obliged, sir," the man replied.  "Sorry to be under
+the necessity of mentioning it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry opened the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll find your own way out, won't you?" he begged.  "I'm a
+little late."
+</p>
+<p>
+The inspector saluted and withdrew.  Sir Henry glanced round.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I won't be ten minutes, Philippa," he promised.  "I had no idea
+it was so late."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come here one moment, please," she insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+He came back into the room and stood on the other side of the small
+table near which she had paused.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is it, dear?" he enquired.  "We are going to leave our talk
+till after dinner, aren't we?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked him in the face.  There was an anxious light in her eyes,
+and she was certainly not herself.  "Of course!  I only wanted to
+know&mdash;it seemed to me that you broke off in what you were saying to
+the inspector, as I came into the room.  Are you sure that it was
+the lights he came around about?  There isn't anything else wrong,
+is there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"What else could there be?" he asked wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no idea," she replied, with well-simulated indifference.
+"I was only asking you whether there was anything else?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She threw herself into an easy-chair and picked up a magazine.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," she said.  "Do hurry, please.  I have a new cook and
+she asked particularly whether we were punctual people."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Six minutes will see me through it," Sir Henry promised, making
+for the door.  "Come to think of it, I missed my lunch.  I think
+I'll manage it in five."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Sir Henry was in a pleasant and expansive humour that evening.  The
+new cook was an unqualified success, and he was conscious of having
+dined exceedingly well.  He sat in a comfortable easy-chair before
+a blazing wood fire, he had just lit one of his favourite brand of
+cigarettes, and his wife, whom he adored, was seated only a few
+feet away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite a remarkable change in Helen," he observed.  "She was in the
+depths of depression when I went away, and to-night she seems
+positively cheerful."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen varies a great deal," Philippa reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Still, to-night, I must say, I should have expected to have found
+her more depressed than ever," Sir Henry went on.  "She hoped so
+much from your trip to London, and you apparently accomplished nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing at all."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you have had no letters?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"None."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then Helen's high spirits, I suppose, are only part of woman's
+natural inconsistency.&mdash;Philippa, dear!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad to be at home.  I am glad to see you sitting there.  I
+know you are nursing up something, some little thunderbolt to launch
+at me.  Won't you launch it and let's get it over?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laid down the book which she had been reading, and turned
+to face her husband.  He made a little grimace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't look so severe," he begged.  "You frighten me before you
+begin."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sorry," she said, "but my face probably reflects my feelings.
+I am hurt and grieved and disappointed in you, Henry."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's a good start, anyway," he groaned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have been married six years," Philippa went on, "and I admit at
+once that I have been very happy.  Then the war came.  You know
+quite well, Henry, that especially at that time I was very, very
+fond of you, yet it never occurred to me for a moment but that, like
+every other woman, I should have to lose my husband for a time.
+&mdash;Stop, please," she insisted, as he showed signs of interrupting.
+"I know quite well that it was through my persuasions you retired
+so early, but in those days there was no thought of war, and I
+always had it in my mind that if trouble came you would find your
+way back to where you belonged."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear child, that is all very well," Sir Henry protested,
+"but it's not so easy to get back again.  You know very well that
+I went up to the Admiralty and offered my services, directly the
+war started."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, and what happened?" Philippa demanded.  "You were, in a
+measure, shelved.  You were put on a list and told that you would
+hear from them&mdash;a sort of Micawber-like situation with which you
+were perfectly satisfied.  Then you took that moor up in Scotland
+and disappeared for nearly six months."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was supplying the starving population with food," he reminded her
+genially.  "We sent about four hundred brace of grouse to market,
+not to speak of the salmon.  We had some very fair golf, too, some
+of the time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I have not troubled to keep any exact account of your
+diversions!" Philippa said scornfully.  "Sometimes," she continued,
+"I wonder whether you are quite responsible, Henry.  How you can
+even talk of these things when every man of your age and strength
+is fighting one way or another for his country, seems marvellous to
+me.  Do you realise that we are fighting for our very existence?
+Do you realise that my own father, who is fifteen years older than
+you, is in the firing line?  This is a small place, of course, but
+there isn't a man left in it of your age, with your physique, who
+has had the slightest experience in either service, who isn't doing
+something."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't do more than send in applications," he grumbled.  "Be
+reasonable, my dear Philippa.  It isn't the easiest thing in the
+world to find a job for a sailor who has been out of it as long as
+I have."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you say, but when they ask me what you are doing, as they all
+did in London this time, and I reply that you can't get a job, there
+is generally a polite little silence.  No one believes it.  I don't
+believe it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry turned in his chair.  His cigar was burning now idly
+between his fingers.  His heavy eyebrows were drawn together.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I don't," she reiterated.  "You can be angry, if you will
+&mdash;in fact I think I should prefer you to be angry.  You take no
+pains at the Admiralty.  You just go there and come away again,
+once a year or something like that.  Why, if I were you, I
+wouldn't leave the place until they'd found me something&mdash;indoors
+or outdoors, what does it matter so long as your hand is on the
+wheel and you are doing your little for your country?  But you
+&mdash;what do you care?  You went to town to get a job&mdash;and you come
+back with new mackerel spinners!  You are off fishing to-morrow
+morning with Jimmy Dumble.  Somewhere up in the North Sea, to-day
+and to-morrow and the next day, men are giving their lives for
+their country.  What do you care?  You will sit there smoking your
+pipe and catching dabs!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know you are almost offensive, Philippa?" her husband said
+quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want to be," she retorted.  "I should like you to feel that I am.
+In any case, this will probably be the last conversation I shall
+hold with you on the subject."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, thank God for that, anyway!" he observed, strolling to the
+chimneypiece and selecting a pipe from a rack.  "I think you've
+said about enough."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't finished," she told him ominously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then for heaven's sake get on with it and let's have it over," he
+begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, you're impossible!" Philippa exclaimed bitterly.  "Listen.
+I give you one chance more.  Tell me the truth?  Is there anything
+in your health of which I do not know?  Is there any possible
+explanation of your extraordinary behaviour which, for some reason
+or other, you have kept to yourself?  Give me your whole confidence."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry, for a moment, was serious enough.  He stood looking down
+at her a little wistfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear," he told her, "I have nothing to say except this.  You
+are my very precious wife.  I have loved you and trusted you since
+the day of our marriage.  I am content to go on loving and trusting
+you, even though things should come under my notice which I do not
+understand.  Can't you accept me the same way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa, momentarily uneasy, was nevertheless rebellious.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Accept you the same way?  How can I!  There is nothing in my life
+to compare in any way with the tragedy of your&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+She paused, as though unwilling to finish the sentence.  He waited
+patiently, however, for her to proceed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of my what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa compromised.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lethargy," she pronounced triumphantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"An excellent word," he murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is too mild a one, but you are my husband," she remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That reminds me," he said quietly.  "You are my wife."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know it," she admitted, "but I am also a woman, and there are
+limits to my endurance.  If you can give me no explanation of your
+behaviour, Henry, if you really have no intention of changing it,
+then there is only one course left open for me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That sounds rather alarming&mdash;what is it?" he demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa lifted her head a little.  This was the pronouncement
+towards which she had been leading.
+</p>
+<p>
+"From to-day," she declared, "I cease to be your wife."
+</p>
+<p>
+His fingers paused in the manipulation of the tobacco with which he
+was filling his pipe.  He turned and looked at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I cease to be your wife."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you manage that?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't jest," she begged.  "It hurts me so.  What I mean is surely
+plain enough.  I will continue to live under your roof if you wish
+it, or I am perfectly willing to go back to Wood Norton.  I will
+continue to bear your name because I must, but the other ties
+between us are finished."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't mean this, Philippa," he said gravely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I do mean it," she insisted.  "I mean every word I have spoken.
+So far as I am concerned, Henry, this is your last chance."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a knock at the door.  Mills entered with a note upon a
+salver.  Sir Henry took it up, glanced questioningly at his wife,
+and tore open the envelope.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There will be no answer, Mills," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+The man withdrew.  Sir Henry read the few lines thoughtfully:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+
+<p class="lettersig">
+                                       Police-station, Dreymarsh
+</p>
+<p class="letter">
+  SIR,
+</p>
+
+<p class="letter">
+  According to enquiries made I find that Mr. Hamar Lessingham
+  arrived at the Hotel this evening in time for dinner.  His
+  luggage arrived by rail yesterday.  It is presumed that he came
+  by motor-car, but there is no car in the garage, nor any mention
+  of one.  His room was taken for him by Miss Fairclough, ringing
+  up for Lady Cranston about seven o'clock.
+</p>
+
+<p class="lettersig">
+Respectfully yours,<br>
+   &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; JOHN HAYLOCK.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is your note of interest?" Philippa enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In a sense, yes," he replied, thrusting it into his waistcoat
+pocket.  "I presume we can consider our late subject of conversation
+finished with?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have nothing more to say," she pronounced.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well, then," her husband agreed, "let us select another topic.
+This time, supposing I choose?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are welcome."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let us converse, then, about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa had taken up her work.  Her fingers ceased their labours,
+but she did not look up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"About Mr. Hamar Lessingham," she repeated.  "Rather a limited
+subject, I am afraid."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not so sure," he said thoughtfully.  "For instance, who is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no idea," she replied.  "Does it matter?  He was at college
+with Richard, and he has been a visitor at Wood Norton.  That is all
+that we know.  Surely it is sufficient for us to offer him any
+reasonable hospitality?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not disputing it," Sir Henry assured her.  "On the face of it,
+it seems perfectly reasonable that you should be civil to him.  On
+the other hand, there are one or two rather curious points about his
+coming here just now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really?" Philippa murmured indifferently, bending a little lower
+over her work.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the first place," her husband continued, "how did he arrive here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For all I know," she replied, "he may have walked."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A little unlikely.  Still, he didn't come from London by either of
+the evening trains, and it seems that you didn't take his rooms for
+him until about seven o'clock, before which time he hadn't been to
+the hotel.  So, you see, one is driven to wonder how the mischief
+he did get here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I took his rooms?" Philippa repeated, with a sudden little catch
+at her heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some one from here rang up, didn't they?" Sir Henry went on
+carelessly.  "I gathered that we were introducing him at the hotel."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where did you hear that?" she demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+He shrugged his shoulders, but avoided answering the question.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no doubt," he continued, "that the whole subject of Mr.
+Hamar Lessingham is scarcely worth discussing.  Yet he does seem to
+have arrived here under a little halo of coincidence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid I have scarcely appreciated that," Philippa remarked;
+"in fact, his coming here has seemed to me the most ordinary thing
+in the world.  After all, although one scarcely remembers that since
+the war, this is a health resort, and the man has been ill."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite right," Sir Henry agreed.  "You are not going to bed, dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa had folded up her work.  She stood for a moment upon the
+hearth-rug.  The little hardness which had tightened her mouth had
+disappeared, her eyes had softened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I say just one word more," she begged, "about our previous&mdash;our
+only serious subject of conversation?  I have tried my best since we
+were married, Henry, to make you happy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know quite well," he assured her, "that you have succeeded."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Grant me one favour, then," she pleaded.  "Give up your fishing
+expedition to-morrow, go back to London by the first train and let
+me write to Lord Rayton.  I am sure he would do something for you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course he'd do something!"  Her husband groaned.  "I should get
+a censorship in Ireland, or a post as instructor at Portsmouth."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wouldn't you rather take either of those than nothing?" she asked,
+"than go on living the life you are living now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"To be perfectly frank with you, Philippa, I wouldn't," he declared
+bluntly.  "What on earth use should I be in a land appointment?  Why,
+no one could read my writing, and my nautical science is entirely
+out of date.  Why a cadet at Osborne could floor me in no time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You refuse to let me write, then?" she persisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Absolutely."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You intend to go on that fishing expedition with Jimmy Dumble
+to-morrow?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wouldn't miss it for anything," he confessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was suddenly white with anger.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry, I've finished," she declared, holding out her hand to keep
+him away from her.  "I've finished with you entirely.  I would
+rather be married to an enemy who was fighting honourably for his
+country than to you.  What I have said, I mean.  Don't come near me.
+Don't try to touch me."
+</p>
+<p>
+She swept past him on her way to the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not even a good-night kiss?" he asked, stooping down.
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked him in the eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not a child," she said scornfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+He closed the door after her.  For a moment he remained as though
+undecided whether to follow or not.  His face had softened with
+her absence.  Finally, however, he turned away with a little shrug
+of the shoulders, threw himself into his easy-chair and began to
+smoke furiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+The telephone bell disturbed his reflection.  He rose at once and
+took up the receiver.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, this is 19, Dreymarsh.  Trunk call?  All right, I am here."
+</p>
+<p>
+He waited until another voice came to him faintly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Cranston?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Speaking."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's right.  The message is Odino Berry, you understand?
+O-d-i-n-o b-e-r-r-y."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've got it," Sir Henry replied.  "Good night!"  He hung up the
+receiver, crossed the room to his desk, unlocked one of the drawers,
+and produced a black memorandum book, secured with a brass lock.
+He drew a key from his watch chain, opened the book, and ran his
+fingers down the O's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Odino," he muttered to himself.  "Here it is: 'We have trustworthy
+information from Berlin.'  Now Berry."  He turned back.  "'You are
+being watched by an enemy secret service agent.'"
+</p>
+<p>
+He relocked the cipher book and replaced it in the desk.  Then he
+strolled over to his easy-chair and helped himself to a whisky and
+soda from the tray which Mills had just arranged upon the sideboard.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have trustworthy information from Berlin," he repeated to
+himself, "that you are being watched by an enemy secret service
+agent."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER VIII
+</h2>
+<p>
+"Tell me, Mr. Lessingham," Philippa insisted, "exactly what are you
+thinking of?  You looked so dark and mysterious from the ridge below
+that I've climbed up on purpose to ask you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham held out his hand to steady her.  They were standing on
+a sharp spur of the cliffs, the north wind blowing in their faces,
+thrashing into little flecks of white foam the sea below, on which
+the twilight was already resting.  For a moment or two neither of
+them could speak.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was thinking of my country," he confessed.  "I was looking
+through the shadows there, right across the North Sea."
+</p>
+<p>
+"To Germany?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Further away&mdash;to Sweden."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I forgot," she murmured.  "You looked as though you were posing for
+a statue of some one in exile," she observed.  "Come, let us go a
+little lower down&mdash;unless you want to stay here and be blown to
+pieces."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was on my way back to the hotel," he answered quickly, as he
+followed her lead, "but to tell you the truth I was feeling a little
+lonely."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," she declared, "is your own fault.  I asked you to come to
+Mainsail Haul whenever you felt inclined."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As I have felt inclined ever since the evening I arrived," he
+remarked with a smile, "you might, perhaps, by this time have had
+a little too much of me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On the contrary," she told him, "I quite expected you yesterday
+afternoon, to tell me how you like the place and what you have been
+doing.  So you were thinking about&mdash;over there?" she added,
+moving her head seawards.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Over there absorbs a great deal of one's thoughts," he confessed,
+"and the rest of them have been playing me queer tricks."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I should like to hear about the first half," she insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know," he replied, "there are times when even now this war
+seems to me like an unreal thing, like something I have been reading
+about, some wild imagining of Shelley or one of the unrestrainable
+poets.  I can't believe that millions of the flower of Germany's
+manhood and yours have perished helplessly, hopelessly, cruelly.
+And France&mdash;poor decimated France!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Germany started the war, you know," she reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did she?" he answered.  "I sometimes wonder.  Even now I fancy, if
+the official papers of every one of the nations lay side by side,
+with their own case stated from their own point of view, even you
+might feel a little confused about that.  Still, I am going to be
+very honest with you.  I think myself that Germany wanted war."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There you are, then," she declared triumphantly.  "The whole thing
+is her responsibility."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not quite go so far as that," he protested.  "You see, the
+world is governed by great natural laws.  As a snowball grows larger
+with rolling, so it takes up more room.  As a child grows out of its
+infant clothes, it needs the vestments of a youth and then a man.
+And so with Germany.  She grew and grew until the country could not
+hold her children, until her banks could not contain her money,
+until she stretched her arms out on every side and felt herself
+stifled.  Germany came late into the world and found it parcelled
+out, but had she not a right to her place?  She made herself great.
+She needed space."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," Philippa observed, "you couldn't suppose that other nations
+were going to give up what they had, just because she wanted their
+possessions, could you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps not," he admitted.  "And yet, you see, the immutable law
+comes in here.  The stronger must possess&mdash;not only the stronger
+by arms, mind, but by intellect, by learning, by proficiency in
+science, by utilitarianism.  The really cruel part, the part I was
+thinking of then, as I looked out across the sea, is that this
+crude and miserable resort to arms should be necessary."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If only Germans themselves were as broad-minded and reasonable as
+you," Philippa sighed, "one feels that there might be some hope for
+the future!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not alone," he assured her, "but, you see, all over Germany
+there is spread like a spider's web the lay religion of the citizen
+&mdash;devotion to the Government, blind obedience to the Kaiser.
+Independent thought has made Germany great in science, in political
+economy, in economics.  But independent thought is never turned
+towards her political destinies.  Those are shaped for her.  For
+good or for evil her children have learnt obedience."
+</p>
+<p>
+They were descending the hillside now.  At their feet lay the little
+town, black and silent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have helped me to understand a little," Philippa said.  "You
+put things so gently and yet so clearly.  Now tell me, will you not,
+how it is that you, who are a Swede by birth, are bearing arms for
+Germany?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very simple," he confessed.  "My mother was a German, and
+when she died she bequeathed to me large estates in Bavaria, and a
+very considerable fortune.  These I could never have inherited
+unless I had chosen to do my military service in Germany.  My family
+is an impoverished one, and I have brothers and sisters dependent
+upon me.  Under the circumstances, hesitation on my part was
+impossible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But when the war came?" she queried.
+</p>
+<p>
+He looked at her in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was there left for me then?" he demanded.  "Naturally I heard
+nothing but the voice of those whom I had sworn to obey.  I was in
+that mad rush through Belgium.  I was wounded at Maubeuge, or else
+I should have followed hard on the heels of that wonderful retreat
+of yours.  As it was, I lay for many months in hospital.  I joined
+again&mdash;shall I confess it?&mdash;almost unwillingly.  The bloodthirstiness
+of it all sickened me.  I fought at Ypres, but I think that it was
+something of the courage of despair, of black misery.  I was wounded
+again and decorated.  I suppose I shall never be fit for the front
+again.  I tried to turn to account some of my knowledge of England
+and English life.  Then they sent me here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here, of all places in the world!" Philippa repeated wonderingly.
+"Just look at us!  We have a single line of railway, a perfectly
+straightforward system of roads, the ordinary number of soldiers
+being trained, no mysteries, no industries&mdash;nothing.  What terrible
+scheme are you at work upon, Mr. Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Between you and me," he confided, "I am not at all sure that I am
+not here on a fool's errand&mdash;at least I thought so when I arrived."
+</p>
+<p>
+She glanced up at him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And why not now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He made no answer, but their eyes met and Philippa looked hurriedly
+away.  There was a moment's queer, strained silence.  Before them
+loomed up the outline of Mainsail Haul.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will come in and have some tea, won't you?" she invited.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I may.  Believe me," he added, "it has only been a certain
+diffidence that has kept me away so long."
+</p>
+<p>
+She made no reply, and they entered the house together.  They found
+Helen and Nora, with three or four young men from the Depot, having
+tea in the drawing-room.  Lessingham slipped very easily into the
+pleasant little circle.  If a trifle subdued, his quiet manners,
+and a sense of humour which every now and then displayed itself,
+were most attractive.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wish you'd come and dine with us and meet our colonel, sir,"
+Harrison asked him.  "He was at Magdalen a few years after Major
+Felstead, and I am sure you'd find plenty to talk about."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am quite sure that we should," Lessingham replied.  "May I come,
+perhaps, towards the end of next week? I am making most strenuous
+efforts to lead an absolutely quiet life here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whenever you like, sir.  We sha'n't be able to show you anything
+very wild in the way of dissipation.  Vintage port and a decent
+cigar are the only changes we can make for guests."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa drew her visitor on one side presently, and made him sit
+with her in a distant corner of the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I knew there was something I wanted to say to you," she began, "but
+somehow or other I forgot when I met you.  My husband was very much
+struck with Helen's improved spirits.  Don't you think that we had
+better tell him, when he returns, that we had heard from Major
+Felstead?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham agreed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just let him think that your letters came by post in the ordinary
+way," he advised.  "I shouldn't imagine, from what I have seen of
+your husband, that he is a suspicious person, but it is just possible
+that he might have associated them with me if you had mentioned them
+the other night.  When is he coming back?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I never know," Philippa answered with a sigh.  "Perhaps to-night,
+perhaps in a week.  It depends upon what sport he is having.  You
+are not smoking."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham lit a cigarette.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I find your husband," he said quietly, "rather an interesting type.
+We have no one like that in Germany.  He almost puzzles me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa glanced up to find her companion's dark eyes fixed upon her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is very little about Henry that need puzzle any one," she
+complained bitterly.  "He is just an overgrown, spoilt child, devoted
+to amusements, and following his fancy wherever it leads him.  Why do
+you look at me, Mr. Lessingham, as though you thought I was keeping
+something back?  I am not, I can assure you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps I was wondering," he confessed, "how you really felt towards
+a husband whose outlook was so unnatural."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked down at her intertwined fingers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know," she said softly, "I feel, somehow or other, although
+we have known one another such a short time, as though we were
+friends, and yet that is a question which I could not answer.  A
+woman must always have some secrets, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A man may try sometimes to preserve his," he sighed, "but a woman
+is clever enough, as a rule, to dig them out."
+</p>
+<p>
+A faint tinge of colour stole into her cheeks.  She welcomed Helen's
+approach almost eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A woman must first feel the will," she murmured, without glancing
+at him.  "Helen, do you think we dare ask Mr. Lessingham to come
+and dine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please do not discourage such a delightful suggestion," Lessingham
+begged eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't the least idea of doing so," Helen laughed, "so long as
+I may have&mdash;say just ten minutes to talk about Dick."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a bargain," he promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We shall be quite alone," Philippa warned him, "unless Henry arrives."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the great attraction of your invitation," he confessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"At eight o'clock, then."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER IX
+</h2>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths to see your ladyship."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's fingers rested for a moment upon the keyboard of the
+piano before which she was seated, awaiting Lessingham's arrival.
+Then she glanced at the clock.  It was ten minutes to eight.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can show him in, Mills, if he wishes to see me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths was ushered into the room&mdash;awkward, unwieldly,
+nervous as usual.  He entered as though in a hurry, and there was
+nothing in his manner to denote that he had spent the last few
+hours making up his mind to this visit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must apologise for this most untimely call, Lady Cranston," he
+said, watching the closing of the door.  "I will not take up more
+than five minutes of your time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are very pleased to see you at any time, Captain Griffiths,"
+Philippa said hospitably.  "Do sit down, please."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths bowed but remained standing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is very near your dinner-time, I know, Lady Cranston," he
+continued apologetically.  "The fact of it is, however, that as
+Commandant here it is my duty to examine the bona fides of any
+strangers in the place.  There is a gentleman named Lessingham
+staying at the hotel, who I understand gave your name as
+reference."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's eyes looked larger than ever, and her face more innocent,
+as she gazed up at her visitor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, of course, Captain Griffiths," she said.  "Mr. Lessingham
+was at college with my brother, and one of his best friends.  He
+has shot down at my father's place in Cheshire."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are speaking of your brother, Major Felstead?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My only brother."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am very much obliged to you, Lady Cranston," Captain Griffiths
+declared.  "I can see that we need not worry any more about Mr.
+Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems rather old-fashioned to think of you having to worry about
+any one down here," she observed.  "It really is a very harmless
+neighbourhood, isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There isn't much going on, certainly," the Commandant admitted.
+"Very dull the place seems at times."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now be perfectly frank," Philippa begged him.  "Is there a single
+fact of importance which could be learnt in this place, worth
+communicating to the enemy?  Is the danger of espionage here worth
+a moment's consideration?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," Captain Griffiths replied in somewhat stilted fashion, "is
+not a question which I should be prepared to answer off-hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders and appealed almost feverishly to
+Helen, who had just entered the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen, do come and listen to Captain Griffiths!  He is making me
+feel quite creepy.  There are secrets about, it seems, and he wants
+to know all about Mr. Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen smiled with complete self-possession.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, we can set his mind at rest about Mr. Lessingham, can't we?"
+she observed, as she shook hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We can do more," Philippa declared.  "We can help him to judge for
+himself.  We are expecting Mr. Lessingham for dinner, Captain
+Griffiths. Do stay."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I couldn't think of taking you by storm like this," Captain
+Griffiths replied, with a wistfulness which only made his voice
+sound hoarser and more unpleasant.  "It is most kind of you, Lady
+Cranston.  Perhaps you will give me another opportunity."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I sha'n't think of it," Philippa insisted.  "You must stay and
+dine to-night.  We shall be a partie carr�e, for Nora goes to bed
+directly after dinner.  I am ringing the bell to tell Mills to set
+an extra place," she added.
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths abandoned himself to fate with a little shiver of
+complacency.  He welcomed Lessingham, who was presently announced,
+with very much less than his usual reserve, and the dinner was in
+every way a success.  Towards its close, Philippa became a little
+thoughtful.  She glanced more than once at Lessingham, who was
+sitting by her side, almost in admiration.  His conversation, gay
+at times, always polished, was interlarded continually with those
+little social reminiscences inevitable amongst men moving in a
+certain circle of English society.  Apparently Richard Felstead
+was not the only one of his college friends with whom he had kept
+in touch.  The last remnants of Captain Griffiths' suspicions
+seemed to vanish with their second glass of port, although his
+manner became in no way more genial.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you think you are almost a little too daring?" Philippa
+asked her favoured guest as he helped her afterwards to set out
+a bridge table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One adapts one's methods to one's adversary," he murmured, with a
+smile, "Your friend Captain Griffiths had only the very conventional
+suspicions.  The mention of a few good English names, acquaintance
+with the ordinary English sports, is quite sufficient with a man
+like that."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen and Griffiths were talking at the other end of the room.
+Philippa raised her eyes to her companion's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You become more of a mystery than ever," she declared.  "You are
+making me even curious.  Tell me really why you have paid us this
+visit from the clouds?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She was sorry almost as soon as she had asked the question.  For a
+moment the calm insouciance of his manner seemed to have departed.
+His eyes glowed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In search of new things," he answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Guns?  Fortifications?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Neither."
+</p>
+<p>
+A spirit of mischief possessed her.  Lessingham's manner was baffling
+and yet provocative.  For a moment the political possibilities of
+his presence faded away from her mind.  She had an intense desire to
+break through his reserve.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Won't you tell me&mdash;why you came?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I could tell you more easily," he answered in a low tone, "why it
+will be the most miserable day of my life when I leave."
+</p>
+<p>
+She laughed at him with perfect heartiness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How delightful to be flirted with again!" she sighed.  "And I
+thought all German men were so heavy, and paid elaborate, underdone
+compliments.  Still, your secret, sir, please?  That is what I want
+to know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you will have just a little patience!" he begged, leaning so
+close to her that their heads almost touched, "I promise that I will
+not leave this place before I tell it to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's eyes for the first time dropped before his.  She knew
+perfectly well what she ought to have done and she was singularly
+indisposed to do it.  It was a most piquant adventure, after all,
+and it almost helped her to forget the trouble which had been
+sitting so heavily in her heart.  Still avoiding his eyes, she
+called the others.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We are quite ready for bridge," she announced.
+</p>
+<p>
+They played four or five rubbers.  Lessingham was by far the most
+expert player, and he and Philippa in the end were the winners.
+The two men stood together for a moment or two at the sideboard,
+helping themselves to whisky and soda.  Griffiths had become more
+taciturn than ever, and even Philippa was forced to admit that the
+latter part of the evening had scarcely been a success.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you play club bridge in town, Mr. Lessingham?" Griffiths asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Never," was the calm reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are head and shoulders above our class down here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very good of you to say so," Lessingham replied courteously.  "I
+held good cards to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," Griffiths went on, dropping his voice a little and
+keeping his eyes fixed upon his companion, "what the German
+substitute for bridge is."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," Lessingham echoed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As a nation," his questioner proceeded, "they probably don't waste
+as much time on cards as we do."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham's interest in the subject appeared to be non-existent.
+He strolled away from the sideboard towards Philippa.  She, for her
+part, was watching Captain Griffiths.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So many thanks, Lady Cranston," Lessingham murmured, "for your
+hospitality."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And what about that secret?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see, there are two," he answered, looking down at her.  "One
+I shall most surely tell you before I leave here, because it is the
+one secret which no man has ever succeeded in keeping to himself.
+As for the other&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+He hesitated.  There was something almost like pain in his face.
+She broke in hastily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not call you away to ask about either.  I happened to notice
+Captain Griffiths just now.  Do you know that he is watching you
+very closely?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had an idea of it," Lessingham admitted indifferently.  "He is
+rather a clumsy person, is he not?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will be careful?" she begged earnestly.  "Remember, won't you,
+that Helen and I are really in a most disgraceful position if
+anything should come out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing shall," he promised her.  "I think you know, do you not,
+that, whatever might happen to me, I should find some means to
+protect you."
+</p>
+<p>
+For the second time she felt a curious lack of will to fittingly
+reprove his boldness.  She had even to struggle to keep her tone as
+careless as her words.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You really are a delightful person!" she exclaimed.  "How long is
+it since you descended from the clouds?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sometimes I think that I am there still," he answered, "but I have
+known you about seventy-six hours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What precision?" she laughed.  "It's a national characteristic,
+isn't it?  Captain Griffiths," she continued, as she observed his
+approach, "if you really must go, please take Mr. Lessingham with
+you.  He is making fun of me.  I don't allow even Dick's friends
+to do that."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham's disclaimer was in quite the correct vein.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must both come again very soon," their hostess concluded, as
+she shook hands.  "I enjoyed our bridge immensely."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two men were already on their way to the door when a sudden
+idea seemed to occur to Captain Griffiths.  He turned back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By-the-by, Lady Cranston," he asked, "have you heard anything from
+your brother?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shook her head sadly.  Helen, who, unlike her friend, had
+not had the advantage of a distinguished career upon the amateur
+dramatic stage, turned away and held a handkerchief to her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a word," was Philippa's sorrowful reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths offered a clumsy expression of his sympathy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bad luck!" he said.  "I'm so sorry, Lady Cranston.  Good night once
+more."
+</p>
+<p>
+This time their departure was uninterrupted.  Helen removed her
+handkerchief from her eyes, and Philippa made a little grimace at
+the closed door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you believe," Helen asked seriously, "that Captain Griffiths
+has any suspicions?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If he has, who cares?" she replied, a little defiantly.  "The
+very idea of a duel of wits between those two men is laughable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps so," Helen agreed, with a shade of doubt in her tone.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER X
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa and Helen started, a few mornings later, for one of their
+customary walks.  The crystalline October sunshine, in which every
+distant tree and, seaward, each slowly travelling steamer, seemed
+to gain a new clearness of outline, lay upon the deep-ploughed
+fields, the yellowing bracken, and the red-gold of the bending trees,
+while the west wind, which had strewn the sea with white-flecked
+waves, brought down the leaves to form a carpet for their feet, and
+played strange music along the wood-crested slope.  In the broken
+land through which they made their way, a land of trees and moorland,
+with here and there a cultivated patch, the yellow gorse still glowed
+in unexpected corners; queer, scentless flowers made splashes of
+colour in the hedgerows; a rabbit scurried sometimes across their
+path; a cock pheasant, after a moment's amazed stare, lowered his
+head and rushed for unnecessary shelter.  The longer they looked
+upwards, the bluer seemed the sky.  The grass beneath their feet was
+as green and soft as in springtime.  Driven by the wind, here and
+there a white-winged gull sailed over their heads,&mdash;a cloud of them
+rested upon a freshly turned little square of ploughed land between
+two woods.  A flight of pigeons, like torn leaves tossed about by
+the wind, circled and drifted above them.  Philippa seated herself
+upon the trunk of a fallen tree and gazed contentedly about her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I had a looking-glass and a few more hairpins, I should be
+perfectly happy," she sighed.  "I am sure my hair must look awful."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen glanced at it admiringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I decline to say the correct thing," she declared.  "I will only
+remind you that there will be no one here to look at it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not so sure," Philippa replied.  "These are the woods which
+the special constables haunt by day and by night.  They gaze up
+every tree trunk for a wireless installation, and they lie behind
+hedges and watch for mysterious flashes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you suggesting that we may meet Mr. Lessingham?" Helen enquired,
+lazily.  "I am perfectly certain that he knows nothing of the
+equipment of the melodramatic spy.  As to Zeppelins, don't you
+remember he told us that he hated them and was terrified of bombs."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear," Philippa remonstrated, "Mr. Lessingham does nothing crude."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And yet,&mdash;" Helen began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yet I suppose the man has something at the back of his head,"
+Philippa interrupted.  "Sometimes I think that he has, sometimes I
+believe that Richard must have shown him my picture, and he has come
+over here to see if I am really like it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He does behave rather like that," her companion admitted drily.
+</p>
+<p>
+Phillipa turned and looked at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen," she said severely, "don't be a cat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I were to express my opinion of your behaviour," Helen went on,
+picking up a pine cone and examining it, "I might astonish you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have an evil mind," Philippa yawned, producing her cigarette
+case.  "What you really resent is that Mr. Lessingham sometimes
+forgets to talk about Dick."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The poor man doesn't get much chance," Helen retorted, watching the
+blue smoke from her cigarette and leaning back with an air of content.
+"Whatever do you and he find to talk about, Philippa?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Literature&mdash;English and German," Philippa murmured demurely.  "Mr.
+Lessingham is remarkably well read, and he knows more about our
+English poets than any man I have met for years."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I forgot that you enjoyed that sort of thing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Once more, don't be a cat," Philippa enjoined.  "If you want me to
+confess it, I will own up at once.  You know what a simple little
+thing I am.  I admire Mr. Lessingham exceedingly, and I find him a
+most interesting companion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean," her friend observed drily "the Baron Maderstrom."
+Philippa looked around and frowned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are most indiscreet, Helen," she declared.  "I have learnt
+something of the science of espionage lately, and I can assure you
+that all spoken or written words are dangerous.  There is a
+thoroughly British squirrel in that tree overhead, and I am sure
+he heard."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose the sunshine has got into your head," Helen groaned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you mean that I am finding it a relief to talk nonsense, you are
+right," Philippa assented.  "As a matter of fact, I am feeling most
+depressed.  Henry telephoned from somewhere or other before breakfast
+this morning, to say that he should probably be home to-night or
+to-morrow.  They must have landed somewhere down the coast."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are a most undutiful wife," Helen pronounced severely.  "I am
+sure Henry is a delightful person, even if he is a little
+irresponsible, and it is almost pathetic to remember how much you
+were in love with him, a year or two ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+Some of the lightness vanished from Philippa's face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was before the war," she sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I still think Henry is a dear, though I don't altogether understand
+him," Helen said thoughtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No doubt," Philippa assented, "but you'd find the not understanding
+him a little more galling, if you were his wife.  You see, I didn't
+know that I was marrying a sort of sporting Mr. Skimpole."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," Helen reflected, "how Henry and Mr. Lessingham will get
+on when they see more of one another."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I really don't care," Philippa observed indifferently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I used to notice sometimes&mdash;that was soon after you were married,"
+Helen continued, "that Henry was just a little inclined to be
+jealous."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa withdrew her eyes from the sea.  There was a queer little
+smile upon her lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, if he still is," she said, "I'll give him something to be
+jealous about."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham!" Helen murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's eyebrows were raised.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Poor Mr. Lessingham?" she repeated.  "I don't think you'll find
+that he'll be in the least sorry for himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He may be in earnest," Helen reminded her friend.  "You can be
+horribly attractive when you like, you know, Philippa."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa smiled sweetly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is just possible," she said, "that I may be in earnest myself.
+I've quarrelled pretty desperately with Henry, you know, and I'm a
+helpless creature without a little admiration."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen rose suddenly to her feet.  Her eyes were fixed upon a figure
+approaching through the wood.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You really aren't respectable, Philippa," she declared.  "Throw
+away your cigarette, for heaven's sake, and sit up.  Some one is
+coming."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa only moved her head lazily.  The sunlight, which came down
+in a thousand little zigzags through the wind-tossed trees, fell
+straight upon her rather pale, defiant little face, with its
+unexpressed evasive charm, and seemed to find a new depth of colour
+in the red-gold of her disordered hair.  Her slim, perfect body was
+stretched almost at full length, one leg drawn a little up, her hands
+carelessly drooping towards the grass.  The cigarette was still
+burning in the corner of her lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I decline," she said, "to throw away my cigarette for any one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Least of all, I trust," a familiar voice interposed, "for me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa sat upright at once, smoothed her hair and looked a little
+resentfully at Lessingham.  He was wearing a brown tweed
+knickerbocker suit, and he carried a gun under his arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever are you doing up here," she demanded, "and do you know
+anything about our game laws?  You can't come out into the woods
+here and shoot things just because you feel like it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He disposed of his gun and seated himself between them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is quite all right," he assured her.  "Your neighbour, Mr.
+Windover, to whom these woods apparently belong, asked me to bring
+my gun out this morning and try and get a woodcock."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gracious!  You don't mean that Mr. Windover is here, too?" Philippa
+demanded, looking around.  Lessingham shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"His car came for him at the other side of the wood," he explained.
+"He was wanted to go on the Bench.  I elected to walk home."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And the woodcock?" she asked.  "I adore woodcock."
+</p>
+<p>
+He produced one from his pocket, took up her felt hat, which was
+lying amongst the bracken, and busied himself insinuating the pin
+feathers under the silk band.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There," he said, handing it to her, "the first woodcock of the
+season.  We got four, and I really only accepted one in the hope
+that you would like it.  I shall leave it with the estimable Mills,
+on my return."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must come and share it," Philippa insisted.  "Those boys of
+Nora's are coming in to dinner.  Your gift shall be the piece de
+resistance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then may I dine another night?" he begged.  "This place encourages
+in me the grossest of appetites."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have no fear," she replied.  "You will never see that woodcock
+again.  I shall have it for my luncheon to-morrow.  I ordered dinner
+before I came out, and though it may be a simple feast, I promise
+that you shall not go away hungry."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will you promise that you will never send me away hungry?" he asked,
+dropping his voice for a moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned and studied him.  Helen, who had strolled a few yards
+away, was knee-deep in the golden brown bracken, picking some
+gorgeously coloured leaves from a solitary bramble bush.  Lessingham
+had thrown his cap onto the ground, and his wind-tossed hair and the
+unusual colour in his cheeks were both, in their way, becoming.  His
+loose but well-fitting country clothes, his tie and soft collar, were
+all well-chosen and suitable.  She admired his high forehead and his
+firm, rather proud mouth.  His eyes as well as his tone were full of
+seriousness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know that you ought to be saying that to some Gretchen away
+across that terrible North Sea," she laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no Gretchen who has ever made my heart shake as you do,"
+he whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+She picked up her hat and sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really," she said, "I think things are quite complicated enough as
+they are.  I am in a flutter all day long, as it is, about your
+mission here and your real identity.  I simply could not include a
+flirtation amongst my excitements."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have never flirted," he assured her gravely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wise man," she pronounced, rising to her feet.  "Come, let us go
+and help Helen pick leaves.  She is scratching her fingers terribly,
+and I'm sure you have a knife.  A dear, economical creature, Helen,"
+she added, as they strolled along.  "I am perfectly certain that
+those are destined to adorn my dining-table, and, with chrysanthemums
+at sixpence each, you can't imagine how welcome they are.  Come,
+produce the knife, Mr. Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+The knife was forthcoming, and presently they all turned their faces
+homeward.  Philippa arrested both her companions on the outskirts of
+the wood, and pointed to the red-tiled little town, to the sombre,
+storm-beaten grey church on the edge of the cliff, to the peaceful
+fields, the stretch of gorse-sprinkled common, and the rolling
+stretch of green turf on the crown of the cliffs.  Beyond was the
+foam-flecked blue sea, dotted all over with cargo steamers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Would one believe," she asked satirically, "that there should be
+scope here in this forgotten little spot for the brains of a&mdash;Mr.
+Lessingham!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Remember that I was sent," he protested.  "The error, if error
+there be, is not mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And after all," Helen reminded them both, "think how easily one
+may be misled by appearances.  You couldn't imagine anything more
+honest than the faces of the villagers and the fishermen one sees
+about, yet do you know, Mr. Lessingham, that we were visited by
+burglars last night?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Seriously?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Without a doubt.  Of course, Mainsail Haul is an invitation to
+thieves.  They could get in anywhere.  Last night they chose the
+French windows and seem to have made themselves at home in the
+library."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I trust," Lessingham said, "that they did not take anything of value?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They took nothing at all," Philippa sighed.  "That is the
+humiliating part of it.  They evidently didn't like our things."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How do you know that you had burglars, if they took nothing away?"
+Lessingham enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So practical!" Philippa murmured.  "As a matter of fact, I heard
+some one moving about, and I rang the alarm bell.  Mills was
+downstairs almost directly and we heard some one running down the
+drive.  The French windows were open, a chair was overturned in the
+library, and a drawer in my husband's desk was wide open."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The proof," Lessingham admitted, "is overwhelming.  You were visited
+by a burglar.  Does your husband keep anything of value in his desk?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry hasn't anything of value in the world," Philippa replied
+drily, "except his securities, and they are at the bank."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Without going so far as to contradict you," Lessingham observed, with
+a smile, "I still venture to disagree!"
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XI
+</h2>
+<p>
+Sir Henry stepped back from the scales and eyed the fish which they
+had been weighing, admiringly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see that, Mills?  You see that, Jimmy?" he pointed out.  "Six
+and three-quarter pounds!  I was right almost to an ounce.  He's a
+fine fellow!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"A very extraordinary fish, sir," the butler observed.  "Will you
+allow me to take your oilskins?  Dinner was served nearly an hour
+ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry slipped off his dripping overalls and handed them over.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's all right," he replied.  "Listen.  Don't say a word about
+my arrival to your mistress at present.  I have some writing to do.
+Bring me a glass of sherry at once, or mix a cocktail if you can
+do so without being missed, and take Jimmy away and give him some
+whisky and soda."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what about your own dinner, sir?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll have a tray in the gun room," his master decided, "say in
+twenty minutes' time.  And, Mills, who did you say were dining?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Two of the young officers from the Depot, sir&mdash;Mr. Harrison and
+Mr. Sinclair&mdash;and Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry repeated, as he seated himself before
+his writing-table.  "Mills," he added, in a confidential whisper,
+"what port did you serve?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The butler's expression was one of conscious rectitude.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not the vintage, sir," he announced with emphasis.  "Some very
+excellent wood port, which we procured for shooting luncheons.
+The young gentlemen like it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're a jewel, Mills," his master declared.  "Now you understand
+&mdash;an aperitif for me now, some whisky for Jimmy in your room, and
+not a word about my being here.  Good night, Jimmy.  Sorry we were
+too late for the mackerel, but we had some grand sport, all the same.
+You'll have a day or two's rest ashore now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aye, aye, sir!" Dumble replied.  "We got in just in time.  There's
+something more than a squall coming up nor'ards."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry listened for a moment.  The French windows shook, the rain
+beat against the panes, and a dull booming of wind was clearly
+audible from outside.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We timed that excellently," he agreed.  "Come up and have a chat
+to-morrow, Jimmy, if your wife will spare you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll be round before eleven, sir," the fisherman promised, with a
+grin.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry waited for the closing of the door.  Then he leaned forward
+for several moments.  He had scarcely the appearance of a man returned
+from a week or two of open-air life and indulgence in the sport he
+loved best.  The healthy tan of his complexion was lessened rather
+than increased.  There were black lines under his eyes which seemed
+to speak of sleepless nights, and a beard of several days' growth
+was upon his chin.  He drank the cocktail which Mills presently
+brought him, at a gulp, and watched with satisfaction while the mixer
+was vigorously shaken and a second one poured out.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've had a rough time, Mills," he observed, as he set down the
+glass.  "Until this morning it scarcely left off blowing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sorry to hear it, sir," was the respectful reply.  "If I may
+be allowed to say so, sir, you're looking tired."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am tired," Sir Henry admitted.  "I think, if I tried, I could go
+to sleep now for twenty-four hours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You will pardon my reminding you, so far as regards your letters,
+that there is no post out tonight, sir," Mills proceeded.  "I have
+prepared a warm bath and laid out your clothes for a change."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Capital!" Sir Henry exclaimed.  "It isn't a letter that's bothering
+me, though, Mills.  There are just a few geographical notes I want
+to make.  You know, I'm trying to improve the fishermen's chart of
+the coast round here.  That fellow Groocock&mdash;Jimmy Dumble's uncle
+&mdash;very nearly lost his motor boat last week through trusting to the
+old one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just so, sir," Mills replied deferentially, placing the empty glass
+upon his tray.  "If you'll excuse me, sir, I must get back to the
+dining room."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite right," his master assented.  "They won't be out just yet,
+will they?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Her ladyship will probably be rising in about ten minutes, sir
+&mdash;not before that."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry nodded a little impatiently.  Directly the door was closed
+he rose to his feet, stood for a moment listening by the side of his
+fishing cabinet, then opened the glass front and touched the spring.
+With the aid of a little electric torch which he took from his
+pocket, he studied particularly a certain portion of the giant chart,
+made some measurements with a pencil, some notes in the margin, and
+closed it up again with an air of satisfaction.  Then he resumed his
+seat, drew a folded slip of paper from his breast pocket, a chart
+from another, turned up the lamp and began to write.  His face, as
+he stooped low, escaped the soft shade and was for a moment almost
+ghastly.  Every now and then he turned and made some calculations on
+the blotting-paper by his side.  At last he leaned back with a little
+sigh of relief.  He had barely done so before the door behind him
+was opened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are we going to stay in here, Mummy, or are we going into the
+drawing-room?" Nora asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In here, I think," he heard Philippa reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then they both came in, followed by Helen.  Nora was the first to
+see him and rushed forward with a little cry of surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, here's Dad!" she exclaimed, flinging her arms around his neck.
+"Daddy, how dare you be sitting here all by yourself whilst we are
+having dinner!  When did you get back?  What a fish!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry closed down his desk, embraced his daughter, and came
+forward to meet his wife.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fine fellow, isn't he, Nora!" he agreed.  "Well, Philippa, how are
+you?  Pleased to see me, I hope?  Another new frock, I believe, and
+in war time!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fancy your remembering that it was war time!" she answered, standing
+very still while he leaned over and kissed her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nasty one for me," Sir Henry observed good-humouredly.  "How well
+you're looking, Helen!  Any news of Dick yet?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen attempted an expression of extreme gravity with more or less
+success.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing fresh," she answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, well, no news may be good news," Sir Henry remarked
+consolingly.  "Jove, it's good to feel a roof over one's head again!
+This morning has been the only patch of decent weather we've had."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This morning was lovely," Helen assented.  "Philippa and I went and
+sat up in the woods."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa, who was standing by the fire, turned and looked at her
+husband critically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have some men dining," she said.  "They will be out in a few
+minutes.  Don't you think you had better go and make yourself
+presentable?  You smell of fish, and you look as though you hadn't
+shaved for a week."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Guilty, my dear," Sir Henry admitted.  "Mills is just getting me
+something to eat in the gun room, and then I am going to have a
+bath and change my clothes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And shave, Dad," Nora reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And shave, you young pest," her father agreed, patting her on the
+shoulder.  "Run away and play billiards with Helen.  I want to talk
+to your mother until my dinner's ready."
+</p>
+<p>
+Nora acquiesced promptly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come along, Helen, I'll give you twenty-five up.   Or perhaps you'd
+like to play shell out?" she proposed.  "Arthur Sinclair says I have
+improved in my potting more than any one he ever knew."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry opened the door and closed it after them.  Then he returned
+and seated himself on the lounge by Philippa's side.  She glanced up
+at him as though in surprise, and, stretching out her hand towards
+her work-basket, took up some knitting.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I really think I should change at once, if I were you," she
+suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Presently.  I had a sort of foolish idea that I'd like to have a
+word or two with you first.  I've been away for nearly a fortnight,
+haven't I?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have," Philippa assented.  "Perhaps that is the reason why
+I feel that I haven't very much to say to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That sounds just a trifle hard," he said slowly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am hard sometimes," Philippa confessed.  "You know that quite
+well.  There are times when I just feel as though I had no heart
+at all, nor any sympathy; when every sensation I might have had
+seems shrivelled up inside me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that how you are feeling at the present time towards me,
+Philippa?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her needles flashed through the wool for a moment in silence.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You had every warning," she told him.  "I tried to make you
+understand exactly how your behaviour disgusted me before you
+went away."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I remember," he admitted.  "I'm afraid, dear, you think I
+am a worthless sort of a fellow."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa had apparently dropped a stitch.  She bent lower still over
+her knitting.  There was a distinct frown upon her forehead, her
+mouth was unrecognisable.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your friend Lessingham is here still, I understand?" her husband
+remarked presently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," Philippa assented, "he is dining to-night.  You will probably
+see him in a few minutes."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry looked thoughtful, and studied for a moment the toe of a
+remarkably unprepossessing looking shoe.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're so keen about that sort of thing," he said, "what about
+Lessingham?  He is not soldiering or anything, is he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no idea," Philippa replied.  "He walks with a slight limp
+and admits that he is here as a convalescent, but he hasn't told us
+very much about himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder you haven't tackled him," Sir Henry continued.  "You're
+such an ardent recruiter, you ought to make sure that he is doing
+his bit of butchery."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked up at her husband for a moment and back at her work.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "is a very delightful friend, whose stay
+here every one is enjoying very much, but he is a comparative
+stranger.  I feel no responsibility as to his actions."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you do as to mine?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Naturally."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry's head was resting on his hand, his elbow on the back of
+the lounge.  He seemed to be listening to the voices in the dining
+room beyond.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hm!" he observed.  "Has he been here often while I've been away?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"As often as he chose," Philippa replied.  "He has become very popular
+in the neighbourhood already, and he is an exceedingly welcome guest
+here at any time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Takes advantage of your hospitality pretty often, doesn't he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is here most days.  We are always rather disappointed when he
+doesn't come."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry's frown grew a little deeper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What's the attraction?" he demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa smiled.  It was the smile which those who knew her best,
+feared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," she confided, "I used to imagine that it was Helen, but I
+think that he has become a little bored, talking about nothing but
+Dick and their college days.  I am rather inclined to fancy that it
+must be me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You, indeed!" he grunted.  "Are you aware that you are a married
+woman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa glanced up from her work.  Her eyebrows were raised, and
+her expression was one of mild surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How queer that you should remind me of it!" she murmured.  "I am
+afraid that the sea air disturbs your memory."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry rose abruptly to his feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, damn!" he exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+He walked to the door.  His guests were still lingering over their
+wine.  He could hear their voices more distinctly than ever.  Then
+he came back to the sofa and stood by Philippa's side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa, old girl," he pleaded, "don't let us quarrel.  I have had
+such a hard fortnight, a nor'easter blowing all the time, and the
+dirtiest seas I've ever known at this time of the year.  For five days
+I hadn't a dry stitch on me, and it was touch and go more than once.
+We were all in the water together, and there was a nasty green wave
+that looked like a mountain overhead, and the side of our own boat
+bending over us as though it meant to squeeze our ribs in.  It looked
+like ten to one against us, Phil, and I got a worse chill than the
+sea ever gave me when I thought that I shouldn't see you again."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laid down her knitting.  She looked searchingly into her
+husband's face.  She was very far from indifferent to his altered
+tone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry," she said, "that sounds very terrible, but why do you run
+such risks&mdash;unworthily?  Do you think that I couldn't give you all
+that you want, all that I have to give, if you came home to me with
+a story like this and I knew that you had been facing death
+righteously and honourably for your country's sake?  Why, Henry,
+there isn't a man in the world could have such a welcome as I could
+give you.  Do you think I am cold?  Of course you don't!  Do you
+think I want to feel as I have done this last fortnight towards you?
+Why, it's misery!  It makes me feel inclined to commit any folly,
+any madness, to get rid of it all."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her husband hesitated.  A frown had darkened his face.  He had the
+air of one who is on the eve of a confession.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa," he began, "you know that when I go out on these fishing
+expeditions, I also put in some work at the new chart which I am so
+anxious to prepare for the fishermen."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shook her head impatiently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't talk to me about your fishermen, Henry!  I'm as sick with
+them as I am with you.  You can see twenty or thirty of them any
+morning, lounging about the quay, strapping young fellows who
+shelter themselves behind the plea of privileged employment.  We are
+notorious down here for our skulkers, and you&mdash;you who should be
+the one man to set them an example, are as bad as they are.  You
+deliberately encourage them."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry abandoned his position by his wife's side, His face
+darkened and his eyes flashed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Skulkers?" he repeated furiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked at him without flinching.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes!  Don't you like the word?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The angry flush faded from his cheeks as quickly as it had come.  He
+laughed a little unnaturally, took up a cigarette from an open box,
+and lit it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't a pleasant one, is it, Philippa?" he observed, thrusting
+his hands into his jacket pockets strolling away.  "If one doesn't
+feel the call&mdash;well, there you are, you see.  Jove, that's a fine
+fish."
+</p>
+<p>
+He stood admiring the codling upon the scales.  Philippa continued
+her work.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you intend to spend the rest of the evening with us," she told
+him calmly, "please let me remind you again that we have guests for
+dinner.  Your present attire may be comfortable but it is scarcely
+becoming."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned away and came back towards her.  As he passed the lamp,
+she started.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, you're wet," she exclaimed, "wet through!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course I am," he admitted, feeling his sleeve, "but to tell you
+the truth, in the interest of our conversation I had quite forgotten
+it.  Here come our guests, before I have had time to escape.  I can
+hear your friend Lessingham's voice."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0012"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XII
+</h2>
+<p>
+The three dinner guests entered together, Lessingham in the middle.
+Sir Henry's presence was obviously a surprise to all of them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No idea that you were back, sir," Harrison observed, shaking hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry greeted them all good-humouredly.  "I turned up about
+three quarters of an hour ago," he explained, "just too late to
+join you at dinner."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bad luck, sir," Sinclair remarked.  "I hope that you had good sport?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not so bad," Sir Henry admitted.  "We had to go far enough for it,
+though.  What do you think of that for an October codling?"
+</p>
+<p>
+They all approached the scales and admired the fish.  Sir Henry
+stood with his hands in his pockets, listening to their comments.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are enjoying your stay here, I hope, Mr. Lessingham?" he
+enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One could scarcely fail to enjoy even the briefest holiday in so
+delightfully hospitable a place," was the somewhat measured reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're by way of being a fisherman yourself, I hear?" Sir Henry
+continued.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In a very small way," Lessingham acknowledged.  "I have been out
+once or twice."
+</p>
+<p>
+"With Ben Oates, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe that was the man's name."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa glanced up from her work with a little exclamation of
+surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had no idea of that, Mr. Lessingham.  Whatever made you choose
+Ben Oates?  He is a most disgraceful person."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was entirely by accident," Lessingham explained.  "I met him on
+the front.  It happened to be a fine morning, and he was rather
+pressing in his invitation."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm afraid he didn't show you much sport," Sir Henry observed.
+"From what Jimmy Dumble's brother told him, he seems to have taken
+you in entirely the wrong direction, and on the wrong tide."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We had a small catch," Lessingham replied.  "I really went more for
+the sail than the sport, so I was not disappointed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The coast itself," Sir Henry remarked, "is rather an interesting
+one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should imagine so," Lessingham assented.  "Mr. Ben Oates, indeed,
+told me some wonderful stories about it.  He spoke of broad channels
+down which a dreadnought could approach within a hundred yards of
+the land."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is quite right, too," his host agreed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's a lot of deep water about here.  The whole of the coast is
+very curious in that way.  What the&mdash;what the dickens is this?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry, who had been strolling about the room, picked up a
+Homburg hat from the far side of a table of curios.  Philippa glanced
+up at his exclamation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's Nora's trophy," she explained.  "I told her to take it up to
+her own room, but she's always wanting to show it to her friends."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nora's trophy?" Sir Henry repeated.  "Why, it's nothing but an
+ordinary man's hat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nevertheless, it's a very travelled one, sir," Harrison pointed out.
+"Miss Nora picked it up on Dutchman's Common, the morning after the
+observation car was found there."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry held out the hat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But Nora doesn't seriously suppose that the Germans come over in
+this sort of headgear, does she?" he demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you'll just look inside the lining, sir," Sinclair suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry turned it up and whistled softly.  "By Jove, it's a
+German hat, all right!" he exclaimed.  "Doesn't look a bad shape,
+either."
+</p>
+<p>
+He tried it on.  There was a little peal of laughter from the men.
+Philippa had ceased her knitting and was watching from the couch.
+Sir Henry looked at himself in the looking-glass.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that's funny," he observed.  "I shouldn't have thought it
+would have been so much too small for me.  Here, just try how you'd
+look in it, Mr. Lessingham," he added, handing it across to him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham accepted the situation quite coolly, and placed the hat
+carefully on his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't feel particularly comfortable," he remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That may be," Sir Henry suggested, "because you have it on wrong
+side foremost.  If you'd just turn it round, I believe you would
+find it a very good fit."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham at once obeyed.  Sir Henry regarded him with admiration.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excellent!" he exclaimed.  "Look at that, Philippa.  Might have
+been made for him, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham looked at himself in the glass and removed the hat from
+his head with, some casual observation.  He was entirely at his ease.
+His host turned towards the door, which Mills was holding open.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths, sir," the latter announced.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry greeted his visitor briefly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How are you, Griffiths?" he said.  "Glad to see you.  Excuse my
+costume, but I am just back from a fishing expedition.  We are all
+admiring Mr. Lessingham in his magic hat."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths shook hands with Philippa, nodded to the others,
+and turned towards Lessingham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Put it on again, there's a good fellow, Lessingham," Sir Henry
+begged.  "You see, we have found a modern version of Cinderella's
+slipper.  The hat which fell from the Zeppelin on to Dutchman's
+Common fits our friend like a glove.  I never thought the Germans
+made such good hats, did you, Griffiths?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I always thought they imported their felt hats," Captain Griffiths
+acknowledged.  "Is that really the one with the German name inside,
+which Miss Nora brought home?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is the genuine article," Lessingham assented, taking it from
+his head and passing it on to the newcomer.  "Notwithstanding the
+name inside, I should still believe that it was an English hat.  It
+feels too comfortable for anything else."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Commandant took the hat to a lamp and examined it carefully.
+He drew out the lining and looked all the way round.  Suddenly he
+gave vent to a little exclamation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Here are the owner's initials," he declared, "rather faint but
+still distinguishable,&mdash;B. M.  Hm!  There's no doubt about its
+being a German hat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"B. M.," Sir Henry muttered, looking over his shoulder.  "How very
+interesting!  B. M.," he repeated, turning to Philippa, who had
+recommenced her knitting.  "Is it my fancy, or is there something
+a little familiar about that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sure that I have no idea," Philippa replied.  "It conveys
+nothing to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a brief but apparently pointless silence.  Philippa's
+needles flashed through her wool with easy regularity.  Lessingham
+appeared to be sharing the mild curiosity which the others showed
+concerning the hat.  Sir Henry was standing with knitted brows, in
+the obvious attitude of a man seeking to remember something.
+</p>
+<p>
+"B. M.," he murmured softly to himself.  "There was some one I've
+known or heard of in England&mdash;What's that, Mills?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your dinner is served, sir," Mills, who had made a silent entrance,
+announced.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry apparently thought no more of the hat or its possible
+owner.  He threw it upon a neighbouring table, and his face expressed
+a new interest in life.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jove, I'm ravenous!" he confessed.  "You'll excuse me, won't you?
+Mills, see that these gentlemen have cigars and cigarettes&mdash;in the
+billiard room, I should think.  You'll find the young people there.
+I'll come in and have a game of pills later."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two young soldiers, with Captain Griffiths, followed Sir Henry
+at once from the room.  Lessingham, however, lingered.  He stood
+with his hands behind him, looking at the closed door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going to stay and talk nonsense with me, Mr. Lessingham?"
+Philippa asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I may," he answered, without changing his position.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked at him curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you see ghosts through that door?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know," he said, as he seated himself by her side, "there
+are times when I find your husband quite interesting."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0013"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa leaned back in her place.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Exactly what do you mean by that, Mr. Lessingham?" she demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook himself free from a curious sense of unreality, and turned
+towards her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must confess," he said, "that sometimes your husband puzzles me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not nearly so much as he puzzles me," Philippa retorted, a little
+bitterly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Has he always been so desperately interested in deep-sea fishing?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"More or less, but never quite to this extent.  The thing has become
+an obsession with him lately.  If you are really going to stay and
+talk with me, do you mind if we don't discuss my husband?  Just now
+the subject is rather a painful one with me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can quite understand that," Lessingham murmured sympathetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you think of Captain Griffiths?" she asked, a little
+abruptly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have thought nothing more about him.  Should I?  Is he of any
+real importance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is military commandant here."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham nodded thoughtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose that means that he is the man who ought to be on my
+track," he observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shouldn't be in the least surprised to hear that he was," Philippa
+said drily.  "I have told you that he came and asked about you the
+other night, when he dined here.  He seemed perfectly satisfied then,
+but he is here again to-night to see Henry, and he never visits
+anywhere in an ordinary way."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you uneasy about me?" Lessingham enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not sure," she answered frankly.  "Sometimes I am almost
+terrified and would give anything to hear that you were on your way
+home.  And at other times I realise that you are really very clever,
+that nothing is likely to happen to you, and that the place will
+seem duller than ever when you do go."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is very kind of you," he said.  "In any case, I fear that my
+holiday will soon be coming to an end."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your holiday?" she repeated.  "Is that what you call it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has been little else," he replied indifferently.  "There is
+nothing to be learnt here of the slightest military significance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We told you that when you arrived," Philippa reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was perhaps foolish not to believe you," he acknowledged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So your very exciting journey through the clouds has ended in
+failure, after all!" she went on, a moment or two later.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Failure?  No, I should not call it failure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have really made some discoveries, then?" she enquired dubiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have made the greatest discovery in the world."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her eyebrows were gently raised, the corners of her mouth quivered,
+her eyes fell.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear me!  In this quiet spot?" she sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it Helen or me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa!" he protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her eyebrows were more raised than ever.  Her mouth had lost its
+alluring curve.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, Mr. Lessingham!" she exclaimed.  "Have I ever given you
+the right to call me by my Christian name?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In my country," he answered, "we do not wait to ask.  We take."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rank Prussianism," she murmured.  "I really think you had better
+go back there.  You are adopting their methods."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I may have to at any moment," he admitted, "or to some more distant
+country still.  I want something to take back with me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You want a keepsake, of course," Philippa declared, looking around
+the room.  "You can have my photograph&mdash;the one over there.  Helen
+will give you one of hers, too, I am sure, if you ask her.  She is
+just as grateful to you about Richard as I am."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But from you," he said earnestly, "I want more than gratitude."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear me, how persistent you are!" Philippa murmured.  "Are you
+really determined to make love to me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, don't mock me!" he begged.  "What I am saying to you comes from
+my heart."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laughed at him quietly.  There was just a little break in
+her voice, however.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be absurd!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is nothing absurd about it," he replied, with a note of
+sadness in his tone.  "I felt it from the moment we met.  I struggled
+against it, but I have felt it growing day by day.  I came here with
+my mind filled with different purposes.  I had no thought of amusing
+myself, no thought of seeking here the happiness which up till now
+I seem to have missed.  I came as a servant because I was sent, a
+mechanical being.  You have changed everything.  For you I feel what
+I have never felt for any woman before.  I place before you my career,
+my freedom, my honour."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa sighed very softly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mind ringing the bell?" she begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The bell?" he repeated.  "What for?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want Helen to hear you," she confided, with a wonderful little
+smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa, don't mock me," he pleaded.  "If this is only amusement
+to you, tell me so and let me go away.  It is the first time in my
+life that a woman has come between me and my work.  I am no longer
+master of myself.  I am obsessed with you.  I want nothing else in
+life but your love."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was an almost startling change in Philippa's face.  The banter
+which had served her with so much effect, which she had relied upon
+as her defensive weapon, was suddenly useless.  Lessingham had
+created an atmosphere around him, an atmosphere of sincerity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you in earnest?" she faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"God knows I am!" he insisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You&mdash;you care for me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So much," he answered passionately, "that for your sake I would
+sacrifice my honour, my country, my life."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I've only known you for such a short time," Philippa protested,
+"and you're an enemy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I discard my birth.  I renounce my adopted country," he declared
+fiercely.  "You have swept my life clear of every scrap of ambition
+and patriotism.  You have filled it with one thing only&mdash;a great,
+consuming love."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you forgotten my husband?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you think that if he had been a different sort of man I should
+have dared to speak?  Ask yourself how you can continue to live
+with him?  You can call him which you will.  Both are equally
+disgraceful.  Your heart knows the truth.  He is either a coward or
+a philanderer."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's cheeks were suddenly white.  Her eyes flashed.  His words
+had stung her to the quick.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A coward?" she repeated furiously.  "You dare to call Henry that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham rose abruptly to his feet.  He moved restlessly about the
+room.  His fists were clenched, his tone thick with passion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do!" he pronounced.  "Philippa, look at this matter without
+prejudice.  Do you believe that there is a single man of any country,
+of your husband's age and rank, who would be content to trawl the
+seas for fish whilst his country's blood is being drained dry?  Who
+would weigh a codling," he added, pointing scornfully to the scales,
+"whilst the funeral march of heroes is beating throughout the world?
+The thing is insensate, impossible!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's head drooped.  Her hands were nervously intertwined.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't!" she pleaded, "I have suffered so much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Forgive me," he begged, with a sudden change of voice.  "If I am
+mistaken in your husband&mdash;and there is always the chance&mdash;I am
+sorry.  I will confess that I myself had a different opinion of him,
+but I can only judge from what I have seen and from that there is
+no one in the world who would not agree with me that your husband
+is unworthy of you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, please stop!" Philippa cried.  "Stop at once!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham came back to his place by her side.  His voice was still
+shaking, but it had grown very soft.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa, forgive me," he repeated.  "If you only knew how it hurts
+to see you like this!  Yet I must speak.  There is just once in
+every man's lifetime when he must tell the truth.  That time has
+come with me&mdash;I love you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So does my husband," she murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will only remind you, then, that he shows it in strange fashion,"
+Lessingham continued.  "He sets your wishes at defiance.  He who
+should be an example in a small place like this, is only an object
+of contempt in the neighbourhood.  Even I, who have only lived here
+for so short a time, have caught the burden of what people say."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa wiped her eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Please, do you mind," she begged, "not saying anything more about
+Henry.  You are only reminding me of things which I try all the
+time to forget."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Believe me," Lessingham answered wistfully, "I am only too content
+to ignore him, to forget that he exists, to remember only that you
+are the woman who has changed my life."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked at him in something like dismay, rather like a child
+who has started an engine which she has no idea how to stop.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you must not&mdash;you must not talk to me like this!"
+</p>
+<p>
+His hand closed upon hers.  It lay in his grasp, unyielding, cold,
+yet passive.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not?" he whispered.  "I have the one unalterable right, and I
+am willing to pay the great price."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Right?" she faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The right of loving you&mdash;the right of loving you better than any
+woman in the world."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a queer silence, only partly due, as she was instantly
+aware, to the emotion of the moment.  A door behind them had opened.
+Philippa's quicker senses had recognised her husband's footsteps.
+Lessingham rose deliberately to his feet.  In his heart he welcomed
+the interruption.  This might, perhaps, be the decisive moment.  Sir
+Henry was strolling towards them.  His manner and his tone, however,
+were alike good-natured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was to order you into the billiard room, Mr. Lessingham," he
+announced.  "Sinclair has been sent for&mdash;a night route march, or
+some such horror&mdash;and they want you to make a four."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham hesitated.  He had a passionate inclination to face the
+situation, to tell this man the truth.  Sir Henry's courteous
+indifference, however, was like a harrier.  He recognised the
+inevitable.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid I am rather out of practice," he said, "but I shall be
+delighted to do my best."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0014"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIV
+</h2>
+<p>
+Sir Henry was obviously not in the best of tempers.  For a
+mild-mannered and easy-going man, his expression was scarcely normal.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That fellow was making love to you," he said bluntly, as soon as
+the door was closed behind Lessingham.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked up at her husband with an air of pleasant candour.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He was doing it very nicely, too," she admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean to say that you let him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I listened to what he had to say," she confessed.  "It didn't occur
+to you, I suppose," her husband remarked, with somewhat strained
+sarcasm, "that you were another man's wife?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am doing my best to forget that fact," Philippa reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see!  And he is to help you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Possibly."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry's irritation was fast merging into anger.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall turn the fellow out of the house," he declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shrugged her shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why don't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He seated himself on the couch by his wife's side.  "Look here,
+Philippa, don't let's wrangle," he begged.  "I'm afraid you'll have
+to make up your mind to see a good deal less of your friend
+Lessingham, anyway."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's brows were knitted.  She was conscious of a vague
+uneasiness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really?  And why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For one thing," her husband explained, "because I don't intend to
+have him hanging about my house during my absence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The best way to prevent that would be not to go away," Philippa
+suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, in all probability," he announced guardedly, "I am not
+going away again&mdash;at least not just yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's manner suddenly changed.  She laid down her work.  Her
+hand rested lightly upon her husband's shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean that you are going to give up those horrible fishing
+excursions of yours?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the present I am," he assured her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And are you going to do something&mdash;some work, I mean?" she asked
+breathlessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the immediate present I am going to stay at home and look after
+you," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's face fell.  Her manner became notably colder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are very wise," she declared.  "Mr. Lessingham is a most
+fascinating person.  We are all half in love with him&mdash;even Helen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fellow must have a way with him," Sir Henry conceded grudgingly.
+"As a rule the people here are not over-keen on strangers, unless
+they have immediate connections in the neighbourhood.  Even Griffiths,
+who since they made him Commandant, is a man of many suspicions,
+seems inclined to accept him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths dined here the other night," Philippa remarked,
+"and I noticed that he and Mr. Lessingham seemed to get on very well."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fellow's all right in his way, no doubt," Sir Henry began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course he is," Philippa interrupted.  "Helen likes him quite as
+much as I do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does he make love to Helen, too?" Sir Henry ventured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't talk nonsense!" Philippa retorted.  "He isn't that sort of
+a man at all.  If he has made love to me, he has done so because I
+have encouraged him, and if I have encouraged him, it is your fault."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry, with an impatient exclamation, rose from his place and
+took a cigarette from an open box.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite time I stayed at home, I can see.  All the same, the fellow's
+rather a puzzle.  I can't help wondering how he succeeded in making
+such an easy conquest of a lady who has scarcely been notorious for
+her flirtations, and a young woman who is madly in love with another
+man.  He hasn't&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hasn't what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He hasn't," Sir Henry continued, blowing out the match which he
+had been holding to his cigarette and throwing it away, "been in
+the position of being able to render you or Helen any service, has
+he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't understand you," Philippa replied, a little uneasily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's nothing to understand," Sir Henry went on.  "I was simply
+trying to find some explanation for his veni, vidi, vici."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think you need go any further than the fact," Philippa
+observed, "that he is well-bred, charming and companionable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry queried, "do you happen to have come
+across any one here who ever heard of him before?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't remember any one," Philippa replied.  "He was at college
+with Richard, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, that's a wonderful introduction to you and Helen," he
+admitted.  "And by-the-by, that reminds me," he went on, "I never
+saw such a change in two women in my life, as in you and Helen.
+A few weeks ago you were fretting yourselves to death about Dick.
+Now you don't seem to mention him, you both of you look as though
+you hadn't a care in the world, and yet you say you haven't heard
+from him.  Upon my word, this is getting to be a house of mysteries!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The only mystery in it that I can see, is you, Henry," she declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Me?" he protested.  "I'm one of the simplest-minded fellows alive.
+What is there mysterious about me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your ignominious life," was the cold reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jove, I got it that time!" he groaned,&mdash;"got it in the neck!  But
+didn't I tell you just now that I was turning over a new leaf?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then prove it," Philippa pleaded.  "Let me write to Rayton and beg
+him to use his influence to get you something to do.  I am sure you
+would be happier, and I can't tell you what a difference it would
+make to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's that indoor work I couldn't stick, old thing," he confided.
+"You know, they're saying all the time it's a young man's war.
+They'd make me take some one's place at home behind a desk."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But even if they did," she protested, "even if they put you in a
+coal cellar, wouldn't you be happier to feel that you were helping
+your country?  Wouldn't you be glad to know that I was happier?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry made a wry face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems to me that your outlook is a trifle superficial, dear,"
+he grumbled.  "However&mdash;now what the dickens is the matter?"
+</p>
+<p>
+The door had been opened by Mills, with his usual smoothness, but
+Jimmy Dumble, out of breath and excited, pushed his way into the
+room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hullo?  What is it, Jimmy?" his patron demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Beg your pardon, sir," was the almost incoherent reply.  "I've run
+all the way up, and there's a rare wind blowing.  There's one of our
+&mdash;our trawlers lying off the Point, and she's sent up three green
+and six yellow balls."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whiting, by God!" Sir Henry exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whiting!" Philippa repeated, in agonised disgust.  "What does this
+mean, Henry?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It must be a shoal," her husband explained.  "It means that we've
+got to get amongst them quick.  Is the Ida down on the beach, Jimmy?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"She there all right, sir," was the somewhat doubtful reply, "but
+us'll have a rare job to get away, sir.  That there nor'easter is
+blowing great guns again and it's a cruel tide."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've got to get out somehow," Sir Henry declared.  "Mills, my
+oilskins and flask at once.  I sha'n't change a thing, but you might
+bring a cardigan jacket and the whisky and soda."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mills withdrew, a little dazed.  Philippa, whose fingers were
+clenched together, found her tongue at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry!" she exclaimed furiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is it, my dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean to tell me that after your promise," she continued,
+"after what you have just said, you are starting out to-night for
+another fishing expedition?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whiting, my dear," Sir Henry explained.  "One can't possibly miss
+whiting.  Where the devil are my keys?&mdash;Here they are.  Now then."
+</p>
+<p>
+He sat down before his desk, took some papers from the top drawer,
+rummaged about for a moment or two in another, and found what seemed
+to be a couple of charts in oilskin cases.  All the time the wind
+was shaking the windows, and a storm of rain was beating against the
+panes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Help yourself to whisky and soda, Jimmy," Sir Henry invited, as he
+buttoned up his coat.  "You'll need it all presently."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thank you kindly, sir," Jimmy replied.  "I am thinking that we'll
+both need a drink before we're through this night."
+</p>
+<p>
+He helped himself to a whisky and soda on the generous principle of
+half and half.  Philippa, who was watching her husband's preparations
+indignantly, once more found words.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry, you are incorrigible!" she exclaimed.  "Listen to me if you
+please.  I insist upon it."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry turned a little impatiently towards her.  "Philippa, I
+really can't stop now," he protested.  "But you must!  You shall!"
+she cried.  "You shall hear this much from me, at any rate, before
+you go.  What I said the other day I repeat a thousandfold now."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry glanced at Dumble and motioned his head towards the door.
+The fisherman made an awkward exit.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A thousandfold," Philippa repeated passionately.  "You hear, Henry?
+I do not consider myself any more your wife.  If I am here when you
+return, it will be simply because I find it convenient.  Your conduct
+is disgraceful and unmanly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear girl!" he remonstrated.  "I may be back in twenty-four&mdash;
+possibly twelve hours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a matter of indifference to me when you return," was the curt
+reply.  "I have finished."
+</p>
+<p>
+The door was thrown open.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your oilskins, sir, and flask," Mills announced, hurrying in, a
+little breathless.  "You'll forgive my mentioning it, sir, but it
+scarcely seems a fit night to leave home."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Got to be done this once, Mills," his master replied, struggling
+into his coat.
+</p>
+<p>
+The young people from the billiard room suddenly streamed in.  Nora,
+who was still carrying her cue, gazed at her father in amazement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, where's Dad going?" she cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It appears," Philippa explained sarcastically, "that a shoal of
+whiting has arrived."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very uncertain fish, whiting," Sir Henry observed, "here to-day
+and gone to-morrow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You won't find it too easy getting off to-night, sir," Harrison
+remarked doubtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Jimmy will see to that," was the confident reply.  "I expect we
+shall be amongst them at daybreak.  Good-by, everybody!  Good-by,
+Philippa!"
+</p>
+<p>
+His eyes sought his wife's in vain.  She had turned towards
+Lessingham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are not hurrying off, are you, Mr. Lessingham?" she asked.  "I
+want you to show me that new Patience."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall be delighted."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry turned slowly away.  For a moment his face darkened as
+his eyes met Lessingham's.  He seemed about to speak but changed
+his mind.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, good-by, every one," he called out.  "I shall be back before
+midnight if we don't get out."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And if you do?" Nora cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we do, Heaven help the whiting!"
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0015"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XV
+</h2>
+<p>
+"Of course, we're behaving shockingly, all three of us!" Philippa
+declared, as she sipped her champagne and leaned back in her seat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean by coming to a place like this?" Lessingham queried,
+looking around the crowded restaurant.  "We are not, in that case,
+the only sinners."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't mean the mere fact of being here," Philippa explained,
+"but being here with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I forgot," he said gloomily, "that I was such a black sheep."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be silly," she admonished.  "You're nothing of the sort.  But,
+of course, we are skating on rather thin ice.  If I had Henry to
+consider in any way, if he had any sort of a career, perhaps I should
+be more careful.  As it is, I think I feel a little reckless lately.
+Dreymarsh has got upon my nerves.  The things that I thought most of
+in life seem to have crumbled away."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ought I to be sorry?" he asked.  "I am not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But why are you so unsympathetic?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because I am waiting by your side to rebuild," he whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+A tall, bronzed young soldier with his arm in a sling, stopped
+before their table, and Helen, after a moment's protest and a
+glance at Philippa, moved away with him to the little space
+reserved for the dancers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a chaperon I am!" Philippa sighed.  "I scarcely know anything
+about the young man except his name and that he was in Dick's
+regiment."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I did not hear it," Lessingham observed, "but I feel deeply
+grateful to him.  It is so seldom that I have a chance to talk to
+you alone like this."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems incredible that we have talked so long," Philippa said,
+glancing at the watch upon her wrist.  "I really feel now that I
+know all about you&mdash;your school days, your college days, and your
+soldiering.  You have been very frank, haven't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have nothing to conceal&mdash;from you," he replied.  "If there is
+anything more you want to know&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is nothing," she interrupted uneasily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you are wise," he reflected, "and yet some day, you know,
+you will have to hear it all, over and over again."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will not be made love to in a restaurant," she declared firmly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are so particular as to localities," he complained.  "You could
+not see your way clear, I suppose, to suggest what you would consider
+a suitable environment?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked at him for a moment very earnestly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, don't let us play at things we neither of us feel!" she begged.
+"And there is some one there who wants to speak to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham looked up into the face of the man who had paused before
+their table, as one might look into the face of unexpected death.
+He remained perfectly still, but the slight colour seemed slowly
+to be drawn from his cheeks.  Yet the newcomer himself seemed in
+no way terrifying.  He was tall and largely built, clean-shaven,
+and with the humourous mouth of an Irishman or an American.
+Neither was there anything threatening in his speech.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Glad to run up against you, Lessingham," he said, holding out his
+hand.  "Gay crowd here tonight, isn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very," Lessingham answered, speaking very much like a man in a
+dream.  "Lady Cranston, will you permit me to introduce my friend
+&mdash;Mr. Hayter."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was immediately gracious, and a few moments passed in
+trivial conversation.  Then Mr. Hayter prepared to depart.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I must be joining my friends," he observed.  "Look in and see me
+sometime, Lessingham&mdash;Number 72, Milan Court.  You know what a
+nightbird I am.  Perhaps you will call and have a final drink
+with me when you have finished here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall be very glad," Lessingham promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mr. Hayter passed on, a man, apparently, of many acquaintances, to
+judge by his interrupted progress.  Lady Cranston looked at her
+companion.  She was puzzled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that a recent acquaintance," she asked, "as he addressed you by
+the name of Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes," was the quiet reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't wish to talk about him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen and her partner returned, a few moments later, and the little
+party presently broke up.  Lessingham drove the two women to their
+hotel in Dover Street.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've had a most delightful evening," Philippa assured him, as they
+said good night.  "You are coming round to see us in the morning,
+aren't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I may," Lessingham assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen found her way into Philippa's room, later on that night.  She
+had nerved herself for a very thankless task.
+</p>
+<p>
+"May I sit down for a few moments?" she asked, a little nervously.
+"Your fire is so much better than mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa glanced at her friend through the looking-glass before
+which she was brushing her hair, and made a little grimace.  She
+felt a forewarning of what was coming.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, dear," she replied.  "Have you enjoyed your evening?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very much, in a way," was the somewhat hesitating reply.  "Of
+course, nothing really counts until Dick comes back, but it is nice
+to talk with some one who knows him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Agreeable conversation," Philippa remarked didactically, "is one
+of the greatest pleasures in life."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You find Mr. Lessingham very interesting, don't you?" Helen asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa finished arranging her hair to her satisfaction and drew
+up an easy-chair opposite her visitor's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you want to talk with me about Mr. Lessingham, do you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose you know that he's in love with you?"  Helen began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope he is a little, my dear," was the smiling reply.  "I'm
+sure I've tried my best."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Won't you talk seriously?" Helen pleaded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't altogether see the necessity," Philippa protested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do, and I'll tell you why," Helen answered.  "I don't think Mr.
+Lessingham is at all the type of man to which you are accustomed.
+I think that he is in deadly earnest about you.  I think that he
+was in deadly earnest from the first.  You don't really care for
+him, do you, dear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very much, and yet not, perhaps, quite in the way you are thinking
+of," was the quiet reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then please send him away," Helen begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear, how can I?" Philippa objected.  "He has done us an
+immense service, and he can't disobey his orders."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't want him to go away, then?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was silent for several moments.  "No," she admitted, "I
+don't think that I do."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't care for Henry any more?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just as much as ever," was the somewhat bitter reply.  "That's what
+I resent so much.  I should like Henry to believe that he had killed
+every spark of love in me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen moved across and sat on the arm of her friend's chair.  She
+felt that she was going to be very daring.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you any idea at the hack of your mind, dear," she asked "of
+making use of Mr. Lessingham to punish Henry?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa moved a little uneasily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How hatefully downright you are!" she murmured.  "I don't know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because," Helen continued, "if you have any such idea in your mind,
+I think it is most unfair to Mr. Lessingham.  You know perfectly
+well that anything else between you and him would be impossible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be ridiculous!" Helen exclaimed vigorously.  "Mr. Lessingham
+may have all the most delightful qualities in the world, but he has
+attached himself to a country which no English man or woman will be
+able to think of without shuddering, for many years to come.  You
+can't dream of cutting yourself adrift from your friends and your
+home and your country!  It's too unnatural!  I'm not even arguing
+with you, Philippa.  You couldn't do it!  I'm wholly concerned with
+Mr. Lessingham.  I cannot forget what we owe him.  I think it
+would be hatefully cruel of you to spoil his life."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's flashes of seriousness were only momentary.  She made a
+little grimace.  She was once more her natural, irresponsible self.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You underrate my charm, Helen," she declared.  "I really believe
+that I could make his life instead of spoiling it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you would pay the price?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa, slim and elflike in the firelight, rose from her chair.
+There was a momentary cruelty in her face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I sometimes think," she said calmly, "that I would pay any price
+in the world to make Henry understand how I feel.  There, now run
+along, dear.  You're full of good intentions, and don't think it
+horrid of me, but nothing that you could say would make any
+difference."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You wouldn't do anything rash?" Helen pleaded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, if I run away with Mr. Lessingham, I certainly can't promise
+that I'll send cards out first.  Whatever I do, impulse will probably
+decide."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Impulse!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not?  I trust mine.  Can't you?" Philippa added, with a little
+shrug of the shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sometimes," Helen sighed, "they are such wild horses, you know.
+They lead one to such terrible places."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And sometimes," Philippa replied, "they find their way into the
+heaven where our soberer thoughts could never take us.  Good
+night, dear!"
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0016"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XVI
+</h2>
+<p>
+Mr. William Hayter, in the solitude of his chambers at the Milan
+Court, was a very altered personage.  He extended no welcoming
+salutation to his midnight visitor but simply motioned him to a
+chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he began, "is your task finished that you are in London?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My task," Lessingham replied, "might just as well never have been
+entered upon.  The man you sent me to watch is nothing but an
+ordinary sport-loving Englishman."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really!  You have lived as his neighbour for nearly a month, and
+that is your impression of him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is," Lessingham assented.  "He has been away sea-fishing, half
+the time, but I have searched his house thoroughly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Searched his papers, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Every one I could find, and hated the job.  There are a good many
+charts of the coast, but they are all for the use of the fishermen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wonderful!" Hayter scoffed.  "My young friend, you may yet find
+distinction in some other walk of life.  Our secret service, I
+fancy, will very soon be able to dispense with your energies."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I with your secret service," Lessingham agreed heartily.  "I
+dare say there may be some branches of it in which existence is
+tolerable.  That, however, does not apply to the task upon which I
+have been engaged."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have been completely duped," Hayter told him calmly, "and the
+information you have sent us is valueless.  Sir Henry Cranston,
+instead of being the type of man whom you have described, is one
+of the greatest experts upon coast defense and mine-laying, in the
+English Admiralty."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham laughed shortly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That," he declared, "is perfectly absurd."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is," Hayter repeated, with emphasis, "the precise truth.  Sir
+Henry Cranton's fishing excursions are myths.  He is simply
+transferred from his fishing boat on to one of a little fleet of
+so-called mine sweepers, from which he conducts his operations.
+Nearly every one of the most important towns on the east coast are
+protected by minefields of his design."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham was dumbfounded.  His companion's manner was singularly
+convincing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how could Sir Henry or any one else keep this a secret?" he
+protested.  "Even his wife is scarcely on speaking terms with him
+because she believes him to be an idler, and the whole neighbourhood
+gossips over his slackness."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The whole neighbourhood is easily fooled," Hayter retorted.  "There
+are one or two who know, however."
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are one or two," Lessingham observed grimly, "who are
+beginning to suspect me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is a pity," Hayter admitted, "because it will be necessary
+for you to return to Dreymarsh at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Return to Dreymarsh at once?  But Cranston is away.  There is
+nothing for me to do there in his absence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He will be back on Wednesday or Thursday night," was the confident
+reply.  "He will bring with him the plan of his latest defenses of
+a town on the east coast, which our cruiser squadron purpose to
+bombard.  We must have that chart."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham listened in mute distress.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Could you possibly get me relieved?" he begged.  "The fact is&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We could not, and we will not," Hayter interrupted fiercely.
+"Unless you wish me to denounce you at home as a renegade and a
+coward, you will go through with the work which has been allotted
+to you.  Your earlier mistakes will be forgiven if that chart
+is in my hands by Friday."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But how do you know that he will have it?" Lessingham protested.
+"Supposing you are right and he is really responsible for the
+minefields you speak of, I should think the last thing he would
+do would be to bring the chart back to Dreymarsh."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As a matter of fact, that is precisely what he will do," Hayter
+assured his listener.  "He is bringing it back for the inspection
+of one of the commissioners for the east coast defense, who is
+to meet him at his house.  And I wish to warn you, too, Maderstrom,
+that you will have very little time.  For some reason or other,
+Cranston is dissatisfied with the secrecy under which he has been
+compelled to work, and has applied to the Admiralty for recognition
+of his position.  Immediately this is given, I gather that his
+house will be inaccessible to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham sat, his arms folded, his eyes fixed upon the fire.
+His thoughts were in a turmoil, yet one thing was hatefully clear.
+Cranston was not the unworthy slacker he had believed him to be.
+Philippa's whole point of view might well be changed by this
+discovery&mdash;especially now that Cranston had made up his mind to
+assert himself for his wife's sake.  There was an icy fear in
+his heart.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You understand," Hayter persisted coldly, "what it is you have
+to do?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly.  I shall return by the afternoon train," was the
+despairing reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you succeed," Hayter continued, "I shall see that you get the
+usual acknowledgment, but I will, if you wish it, ask for your
+transfer to another branch of the service.  I am not questioning
+your patriotism or your honour, Maderstrom, but you are not the
+man for this work."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are right," Lessingham said.  "I am not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not my affair," Hayter proceeded, "to enquire too closely
+into the means used by our agents in carrying out our designs.
+That I find you in London in company with the wife of the man
+whom you are appointed to watch, may be a fact capable of the
+most complete and satisfactory explanation.  I ask no questions.
+I only remind you that your country, even though it be only your
+adopted country, demands from you, as from all others in her
+service, unswerving loyalty, a loyalty uninfluenced by the
+claims of personal sentiment, duty, or honour.  Have I said
+enough?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have said as much as it is wise for you to say," Lessingham
+replied, his voice trembling with suppressed passion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is all, then," the other concluded.  "You know where to send
+or bring the chart when you have it?  If you bring it yourself, it
+is possible that something which you may regard as a reward, will
+be offered to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham rose a little wearily to his feet.  His farewell to
+Hayter was cold and lifeless.
+</p>
+<p>
+He left the hotel and started on his homeward way, struggling with
+a sense of intolerable depression.  The streets through which he
+passed were sombre and unlit.
+</p>
+<p>
+A Zeppelin warning, a few hours before, had driven the people to
+their homes.  There was not a chink of light to be seen anywhere.
+An intense and gloomy stillness seemed to brood over the deserted
+thoroughfares.  Nightbirds on their way home flitted by like
+shadows.  Policemen lurked in the shadows of the houses.  The few
+vehicles left crawled about with insufficient lights.  Even the
+warning horns of the taxicab men sounded furtive and repressed.
+Lessingham, as he marched stolidly along, felt curiously in
+sympathy with his environment.  Hayter's news brought him face to
+face with that inner problem which had so suddenly become the
+dominant factor in his life.  For the first time he knew what love
+was.  He felt the wonder of it, the far-reaching possibilities,
+the strange idealism called so unexpectedly into being.  He
+recognized the vagaries of Philippa's disposition, and yet,
+during the last few days, he had convinced himself that she was
+beginning to care.  Her strained relations with her husband had
+been, without a doubt, her first incentive towards the acceptance
+of his proffered devotion.  Now he told himself with eager
+hopefulness that some portion of it, however minute, must be for
+his own sake.  The relations between husband and wife, he reminded
+himself, must, at any rate, have been strained during the last
+few months, or Cranston would never have been able to keep his
+secret.  In his gloomy passage through this land of ill omens,
+however, he shivered a little as he thought of the other
+possibility&mdash;tortured himself with imagining what might happen
+during her revulsion of feeling, if Philippa discovered the truth.
+A sense of something greater than he had yet known in life seemed
+to lift him into some lofty state of aloofness, from which he
+could look down and despise himself, the poor, tired plodder
+wearing the heavy chains of duty.  There was a life so much more
+wonderful, just the other side of the clouds, a very short distance
+away, a life of alluring and passionate happiness.  Should he ever
+find the courage, he wondered, to escape from the treadmill and
+go in search of it?  Duty, for the last two years, had taken him
+by the hand and led him along a pathway of shame.  He had never
+been a hypocrite about the war.  He was one of those who had
+acknowledged from the first that Germany had set forth, with the
+sword in her hand, on a war of conquest.  His own inherited
+martial spirit had vaguely approved; he, too, in those earlier
+days, had felt the sunlight upon his rapier.  Later had come the
+enlightenment, the turbulent waves of doubt, the nightmare of a
+nation's awakening conscience, mirrored in his own soul.  It was
+in a depression shared, perhaps, in a lesser degree by millions
+of those whose ranks he had joined, that he felt this passionate
+craving for escape into a world which took count of other things.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0017"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XVII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Punctually at 12 o'clock the next morning, Lessingham presented
+himself at the hotel in Dover Street and was invited by the hall
+porter to take a seat in the lounge.  Philippa entered, a few
+minutes later, her eyes and cheeks brilliant with the brisk exercise
+she had been taking, her slim figure most becomingly arrayed in
+grey cloth and chinchilla.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I lost Helen in Harrod's," she announced, "but I know she's
+lunching with friends, so it really doesn't matter.  You'll have
+to take care of me, Mr. Lessingham, until the train goes, if you
+will."
+</p>
+<p>
+"For even longer than that, if you will," he murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+She laughed.  "More pretty speeches?  I don't think I'm equal to
+them before luncheon."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This time I am literal," he explained.  "I am coming back to
+Dreymarsh myself."
+</p>
+<p>
+He felt his heart beat quicker, a sudden joy possessed him.
+Philippa's expression was obviously one of satisfaction.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm so glad," she assured him.  "Do you know, I was thinking only
+as I came back in the taxicab, how I should miss you."
+</p>
+<p>
+She was standing with her foot upon the broad fender, and her first
+little impulse of pleasure seemed to pass as she looked into the
+fire.  She turned towards him gravely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"After all, do you think you are wise?" she asked.  "Of course, I
+don't think that any one at Dreymarsh has the least suspicion, but
+you know Captain Griffiths did ask questions, and&mdash;well, you're
+safely away now.  You have been so wonderful about Dick, so wonderful
+altogether," she went on, "that I couldn't bear it if trouble were
+to come."
+</p>
+<p>
+He smiled at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think I know what is at the back of your mind," he said.  "You
+think that I am coming back entirely on your account.  As it
+happens, this is not so."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him with wide-open eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Surely," she exclaimed, "you have satisfied yourself that there is
+no field for your ingenuity in Dreymarsh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought that I had," he admitted.  "It seems that I am wrong.  I
+have had orders to return."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Orders to return?" she repeated.  "From whom?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, I ought not to have asked that," she proceeded hastily,
+"but it does seem odd to realise that you can receive instructions
+and messages from Germany, here in London."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very much the same sort of thing goes on in Germany," he reminded
+her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"So they say," she admitted, "but one doesn't come into contact with
+it.  So you are really coming back to Dreymarsh!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"With you, if I may?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Naturally," she agreed.
+</p>
+<p>
+He glanced at the clock.  "We might almost be starting for lunch,"
+he suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+She nodded. "As soon as I've told Grover about the luggage."
+</p>
+<p>
+She was absent only a few moments, and then, as it was a dry, sunny
+morning, they walked down St. James Street and along Pall Mall to
+the Carlton.  Philippa met several acquaintances, but Lessingham
+walked with his head erect, looking neither to the right nor to the
+left.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Aren't you sometimes afraid of being recognised?" she asked him.
+"There must be a great many men about of your time at Magdalen, for
+instance?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nine years makes a lot of difference," he reminded her, "and besides,
+I have a theory that it is only when the eyes meet that recognition
+really takes place.  So long as I do not look into any one's face,
+I feel quite safe."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are sure that you would not like to go to a smaller place than
+the Carlton?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It makes no difference," he assured her.  "My credentials have been
+wonderfully established for me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm so glad," she confessed.  "I know it's most unfashionable, but
+I do like these big places.  If ever I had my way, I should like to
+live in London and have a cottage in the country, instead of living
+in the country and being just an hotel dweller in London."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder if New York would not do?" he ventured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect I should like New York," she murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he said, "in fact, I am almost sure that when I leave
+here I shall go to the United States."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him and turned suddenly away.  They arrived just then
+at their destination, and the moment passed.  Lessingham left his
+companion in the lounge while he went back into the restaurant to
+secure his table and order lunch.  When he came back, he found
+Philippa sitting very upright and with a significant glitter in her
+eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look over there," she whispered, "by the palm."
+</p>
+<p>
+He followed the direction which she indicated.  A man was standing
+against one of the pillars, talking to a tall, dark woman, obviously
+a foreigner, wrapped in wonderful furs.  There was something familiar
+about his figure and the slight droop of his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, it's Sir Henry!" Lessingham exclaimed, as the man turned around.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My husband," Philippa faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry, if indeed it were he, seemed afflicted with a sudden
+shortsightedness.  He met the incredulous gaze both of Lessingham
+and his wife without recognition or any sign of flinching.  At that
+distance it was impossible to see the tightening of his lips and
+the steely flash in his blue eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The whiting seem to have brought him a long way," Philippa said,
+with an unnatural little laugh.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shall I go and speak to him?" Lessingham asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For heaven's sake, no!" she insisted.  "Don't leave me.  I wouldn't
+have him come near me for anything in the world.  It is only a few
+weeks ago that I begged him to come to London with me, and he said
+that he hated the place.  You don't know&mdash;the woman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She looks like a foreigner," was all he could say.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Take me in to lunch at once," Philippa begged, rising abruptly to
+her feet.  "This is really the last straw."
+</p>
+<p>
+They passed up the stairway and within a few feet of where Sir Henry
+was standing.  He appeared absorbed, however, in conversation with
+his companion, and did not even turn around.  Philippa's little
+face seemed to have hardened as she took her seat.  Only her eyes
+were still unnaturally bright.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am so sorry if this has annoyed you," Lessingham regretted.  "You
+would not care to go elsewhere?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I?  Go anywhere else?" she exclaimed scornfully.  "Thank you, I am
+perfectly satisfied here.  And with my companion," she added, with
+a brilliant little smile.  "Now tell me about New York.  Have you
+ever been there?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Twice," he told her.  "At present the dream of my life is to go
+there with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him a little wonderingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder if you really care," she said.  "Men get so much into the
+habit of saying that sort of thing to women.  Sometimes it seems to
+me they must do a great deal of mischief.  But you&mdash;Is that really
+your wish?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I would sacrifice everything that I have ever held dear in life,"
+he declared, with his face aglow, "for its realization."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you would be a deserter from your country," she pointed out.
+"You would never be able to return.  Your estates would be
+confiscated.  You would be homeless."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Home," he said softly, "is where one's heart takes one.  Home is
+just where love is."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her eyes, as they met his, were for a moment suspiciously soft.
+Then she began to talk very quickly of other things, to compare
+notes of countries which they had both visited, even of people whom
+they had met.  They were obliged to leave early to catch their
+train.  As they passed down the crowded restaurant they once more
+found themselves within a few feet of Sir Henry.  His back was
+turned to them, and he was apparently ignorant of their near
+presence.  The party had become a partie Carr�e, another man, and
+a still younger and more beautiful woman having joined it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course," Philippa said, as they descended the stairs, "I am
+behaving like an idiot.  I ought to go and tell Henry exactly what
+I think of him, or pull him away in the approved Whitechapel fashion.
+We lose so much, don't we, by stifling our instincts."
+</p>
+<p>
+"For the next few minutes," he replied, glancing at his watch, "I
+think we had better concentrate our attention upon catching our
+train."
+</p>
+<p>
+They reached King's Cross with only a few minutes to spare.  Grover,
+however, had already secured a carriage, and Helen was waiting for
+them, ensconced in a corner.  She accepted the news of Lessingham's
+return with resignation.  Philippa became thoughtful as they drew
+towards the close of their journey and the slow, frosty twilight
+began to creep down upon the land.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose we don't really know what war is," she observed, looking
+out of the window at a comfortable little village tucked away with
+a background of trees and guarded by a weather-beaten old church.
+"The people are safe in their homes.  You must appreciate what that
+means, Mr. Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Indeed I do," he answered gravely.  "I have seen the earth torn
+and dismembered as though by the plough of some destroying angel.
+A few blackened ruins where, an hour or so before, a peaceful
+village stood; men and women running about like lunatics stricken
+with a mortal fear.  And all the time a red glow on the horizon, a
+blood-red glow, and little specks of grey or brown lying all over
+the fields; even the cattle racing round in terror. And every now
+and then the cry of Death!  You are fortunate in England."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa leaned forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you believe that our turn will come?" she asked.  "Do you believe
+that the wave will break over our country?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who can tell?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ah, no, but answer me," she begged.  "Is it possible for you to land
+an army here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he replied, "that all things are possible to the military
+genius of Germany.  The only question is whether it is worth while.
+Germans are supposed to be sentimentalists, you know.  I rather doubt
+it.  There is nothing would set the joybells of Berlin clanging so
+much as the news of a German invasion of Great Britain.  On the other
+hand, there is a great party in Germany, and a very far-seeing one,
+which is continually reminding the Government that, without Great
+Britain as a market, Germany would never recover from the financial
+strain of the war."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is all too impersonal," Philippa objected.  "Do you, in your
+heart, believe that the time might come when in the night we should
+hear the guns booming in Dreymarsh Bay, and see your grey-clad
+soldiers forming up on the beach and scaling our cliffs?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That will not be yet," he pronounced.  "It has been thought of.
+Once it was almost attempted.  Just at present, no."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa drew a sigh of relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then your mission in Dreymarsh has nothing to do with an attempted
+landing?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing," he assured her.  "I can even go a little further.  I can
+tell you that if ever we do try to land, it will be in an unsuspected
+place, in an unexpected fashion."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it's really very comforting to hear these things at
+first-hand," Philippa declared, with some return to her usual manner.
+"I suppose we are really two disgraceful women, Helen and I&mdash;traitors
+and all the rest of it.  Here we sit talking to an enemy as though he
+were one of our best friends."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I refuse to be called an enemy," Lessingham protested.  "There are
+times when individuality is a far greater thing than nationality.
+I am just a human being, born into the same world and warmed by the
+same sun as you.  Nothing can alter the fact that we are fellow
+creatures."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dreymarsh once more," Philippa announced, looking out of the window.
+"And you're a terribly plausible person, Mr. Lessingham.  Come round
+and see us after dinner&mdash;if it doesn't interfere with your work."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On the contrary," he murmured under his breath.  "Thank you very
+much."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0018"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XVIII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Sir Henry was standing with his hands in his pockets and a very
+blank expression upon his face, looking out upon the Admiralty
+Square.  He was alone in a large, barely furnished apartment, the
+walls of which were so hung with charts that it had almost the
+appearance of a schoolroom prepared for an advanced geography
+class.  The table from which he had risen was covered with an
+amazing number of scientific appliances, some samples of rock and
+sand, two microscopes and several telephones.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry, having apparently exhausted the possibilities of the
+outlook, turned somewhat reluctantly away to find himself
+confronted by an elderly gentleman of cheerful appearance, who
+at that moment had entered the room.  From the fact that he had
+done so without knocking, it was obvious that he was an intimate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, my gloomy friend," the newcomer demanded, "what's wrong with
+you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry was apparently relieved to see his visitor.  He pushed a
+chair towards him and indicated with a gesture of invitation a box
+of cigars upon his desk.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your little Laranagas," he observed.  "Try one."
+</p>
+<p>
+The visitor opened the box, sniffed at its contents, and helped
+himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, then, get at it, Henry," he enjoined.  "I've a Board in
+half-an-hour, and three dispatches to read before I go in.  What's
+your trouble?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, Rayton," was the firm reply, "I want to chuck this
+infernal hole-and-corner business.  I tell you I've worked it
+threadbare at Dreymarsh and it's getting jolly uncomfortable."
+</p>
+<p>
+The newcomer grinned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Poor chap!" he observed, watching his cigar smoke curl upwards.
+"You're in a nasty mess, you know, Henry.  Did I tell you that I
+had a letter from your wife the other day, asking me if I couldn't
+find you a job?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry waited a little grimly, whilst his friend enjoyed the
+joke.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's all very well," he said, "but we are on the point of a
+separation, or something of the sort.  I'll admit it was all right
+at first to run the thing on the Q.T., but that's pretty well busted
+up by now.  Why, according to your own reports, they know all about
+me on the other side."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a doubt about it," the other agreed.  "I'm not sure that you
+haven't got a spy fellow down at Dreymarsh now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm quite sure of it," Sir Henry replied grimly.  "The brute was
+lunching with my wife at the Carlton to-day, and, as luck would
+have it, I was landed with that Russian Admiral's wife and
+sister-in-law.  You're breaking up the happy home, that's what
+you're doing, Rayton!"
+</p>
+<p>
+His lordship at any rate seemed to find the process amusing.  He
+laughed until the tears stood in his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should love to have seen Philippa's face," he chuckled, "when
+she walked into the restaurant and saw you there!  You're supposed
+to be off on a fishing expedition, aren't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I went out after whiting," Sir Henry groaned, "and I'd just promised
+to chuck it for a time when I got the Admiral's message."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, we'll see to your German spy, anyway," his visitor promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be an ass!" Sir Henry exclaimed irritably.  "I don't want the
+fellow touched at present.  Why, he's been a sort of persona grata
+at my house.  Hangs around there all the time when I'm away."
+</p>
+<p>
+"All the more reason for putting an end to his little game, I should
+say," was the cheerful reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And have the whole neighbourhood either laughing at my wife and
+Miss Fairclough, or talking scandal about them!" Sir Henry retorted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I forgot that," his friend confessed ruminatively.  "He's a
+gentlemanly sort of fellow, from what I hear, but a rotten spy.
+What do you want done with him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Leave him for me to deal with," Sir Henry insisted.  "I have a
+little scheme on hand in which he is concerned."
+</p>
+<p>
+Rayton scratched his chin doubtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fellow may not be such a fool as he seems," he reminded his
+friend.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I won't run any risks," Sir Henry promised.  "I just want him left
+there, that's all.  And look here, Rayton, you know what I want from
+you.  I quite agreed to your proposals as to my anonymity at the
+time when I was up in Scotland, but the thing's a secret no longer
+with the people who count.  Every one in Germany knows that I'm a
+mine-field specialist, so I don't see why the dickens I should pose
+any longer as a sort of half-baked idiot."
+</p>
+<p>
+Rayton's eyes twinkled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You want to play the Wilson Barrett hero and make a theatrical
+disclosure of your greatness," he laughed.  "Poor Philippa will
+fall upon her knees.  You will be the hero of the village, which
+will probably present you with some little article of plate.  You've
+a good time coming, Henry."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Talk sense, there's a good fellow," the other begged.  "You go and
+see the Chief and put it to him.  There isn't a single reason why I
+shouldn't own up now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll see what I can do," Rayton promised, "but what about this
+fellow Lessingham, or whatever else he calls himself, down there?
+There's a chap named Griffiths&mdash;Commandant, isn't he?&mdash;been
+writing us about him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I won't have Lessingham touched," Sir Henry insisted.  "He can't
+do any particular harm down there, and there isn't a line or a
+drawing of mine down at Dreymarsh which he isn't welcome to."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lord Rayton rose to his feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, Henry, old fellow," he said, "I do sympathise with you
+up to a certain point.  I tell you what I'll do.  I shall have to
+answer Philippa's letter, and I'll answer it in such a way that if
+she is as clever a little woman as I think she is, she'll get a hint.
+Of course," he went on ruminatively, "it is rather a misfortune that
+the Princess Ollaneff and her sister are such jolly good-looking
+women.  Makes it look a little fishy, doesn't it?  What I mean to
+say is, it's a far cry from fishing for whiting in the North Sea to
+lunching with a beautiful princess at the Carlton&mdash;when you think
+your wife's down in Norfolk."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, I've had enough of you, Rayton," he declared.  "You get
+back and do an hour's work, if you can bring your mind to it."
+</p>
+<p>
+The latter assumed a sudden dignity, necessitated by the sound of
+voices in the corridor, and departed.  The door had scarcely been
+closed when two younger men presented themselves&mdash;Miles Ensol, Sir
+Henry's secretary, a typical-looking young sailor minus his left
+arm; and a pale-faced, clean-shaven man of uncertain age, in civilian
+clothes.  Sir Henry shook hands with the latter and pointed to the
+easy-chair which his previous visitor had just vacated.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Welcome back again, Horridge," he said cordially.  "Miles, I'll
+ring when I want you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very good, sir," the secretary replied.  "There's a fisherman from
+Norfolk downstairs, when you're at liberty."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll see him presently.  Shut him up somewhere where he can smoke."
+</p>
+<p>
+The young man withdrew, carefully closing the door, around which Sir
+Henry, with a word of apology, arranged a screen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think," he explained, "that eavesdropping extends to these
+premises, or that our voices could reach outside.  Still, a ha'porth
+of prevention, eh?  Have a cigar, Horridge."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm not smoking for a day or two, thank you, sir."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You look as though they'd put you through it," Sir Henry remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+His visitor smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've travelled fourteen miles in a barrel," he said, "and we were
+out for twenty-four hours in a Danish sailing skiff.  You know what
+the weather's been like in the North Sea.  Before that, the last
+word of writing I saw on German soil was a placard, offering a
+reward of five thousand marks for my detention, with a disgustingly
+lifelike photograph at the top.  I had about fifty yards of quay to
+walk in broad daylight, and every other man I passed turned to stare
+after me.  It gives you the cold shivers down your back when you
+daren't look round to see if you're being followed."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry groped in the cupboard of his desk, and produced a bottle
+of whisky and a syphon of soda water.  His visitor nodded approvingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've touched nothing until I've reached what I consider sanctuary,"
+he observed.  "My nerves have gone rotten for the first time in my
+life.  Do you mind, sir, if I lock the door?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go ahead," Sir Henry assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+He brought the whisky and soda himself across the room.  Horridge
+resumed his seat and held out his hand almost eagerly.  For a moment
+or two he shook as though he had an ague.  Then, just as suddenly as
+it had come upon him, the fit passed.  He drained the contents of the
+tumbler at a gulp, set it down empty by his side, and stretched out
+his hand for a cigar.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The end of my journey didn't help matters any," he went on.  "I
+daren't even make for a Dutch port, and we were picked up eventually
+by a tramp steamer from Newcastle to London with coals.  I hadn't
+been on board more than an hour before a submarine which had been
+following overhauled us.  I thought it was all up then, but the fog
+lifted, and we found ourselves almost in the midst of a squadron of
+destroyers from Harwich.  I made another transfer, and they landed
+me in time to catch the early morning train from Felixstowe."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Did they get the submarine?" his listener asked eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Get it!" the other repeated, with a smile.  "They blew it into
+scrap metal."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Plenty of movement in your life!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I've run the gauntlet over there once too often," Horridge said
+grimly.  "Just look at me now, Sir Henry.  I'm twenty-nine years old,
+and it's only two years and a half since I was invalided out of the
+navy and took this job on.  The last person I asked to guess my age
+put me down at fifty.  What should you have said?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Somewhere near it," was the candid admission.  "Never mind, Horridge,
+you've done your bit.  You shall pass on your experience to a new
+hand, take your pension and try the south coast of England for a few
+months.  Now let's get on with it.  You know what I want to hear
+about."
+</p>
+<p>
+Horridge produced from his pocket a long strip of paper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're there, sir," he announced, "coaled to the scuppers, every
+man standing to stations and steam up.  There's the list."
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed the paper across to Sir Henry, who glanced it down.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fast cruiser squadron," he observed.  "Hm!  Three new ships we
+haven't any note of.  No transports, then, Horridge?'"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not a sign of one, sir," was the reply.  "They're after a
+bombardment."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose to his feet, walked to a giant map of England, and touched a
+certain port on the east coast.  Sir Henry's eyes glistened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're sure?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a certainty," Horridge replied.  "I've been on three of those
+ships.  I've dined with four of the officers.  They're under sealed
+orders, and the crew believes that they're going to escort out half
+a dozen commerce destroyers.  But I have the truth.  That's their
+objective," Horridge repeated, touching once more the spot upon the
+map, "and they are waiting just for one thing."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry smiled thoughtfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know what they're waiting for," he said.  "Perhaps if they'd a
+Herr Horridge to send over here for it, they'd have got it before
+now.  As it is&mdash;well, I'm not sure," he went on.  "It seems a pity
+to disappoint them, doesn't it?  I'd love to give them a run for
+their money."
+</p>
+<p>
+Horridge smiled faintly.  He knew a good deal about his companion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They're spoiling for it, sir," he admitted.  Sir Henry spoke down
+a telephone and a few minutes later Ensol reappeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Find Mr. Horridge a comfortable room," his chief directed, "and
+one of our confidential typists.  You can make out your report at
+your leisure," he went on.  "Come in and see me when it's all
+finished."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Certainly, sir," Horridge replied, rising.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry held out his hand.  He looked with something like wonder
+at the nerve-shattered man who had risen to his feet with a certain
+air of briskness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Horridge," he said, "I wish I had your pluck."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know any one in the service from whom you need borrow any,
+sir," was the quiet reply.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0019"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XIX
+</h2>
+<p>
+Lessingham sat upon a fallen tree on Dutchman's Common near the
+scene of his romantic descent, and looked rather ruefully over the
+moorland, seawards.  Above him, the sky was covered with little
+masses of quickly scudding clouds.  A fugitive and watery sunshine
+shone feebly upon a wind-tossed sea and a rain-sodden landscape.
+He found a certain grim satisfaction in comparing the
+disorderliness of the day with the tumult in his own life.  He felt
+that he had embarked upon an enterprise greater than his capacity,
+for which he was in many ways entirely unsuitable.  And behind him
+was the scourge of the telegram which he had received a few hours
+ago, a telegram harmless enough to all appearance, but which,
+decoded, was like a scourge to his back.
+</p>
+<p>
+Your work is unsatisfactory and your slackness deserves reprobation.
+Great events wait upon you.  The object of your search is necessary
+for our imminent operations.
+</p>
+<p>
+The sound of a horse's hoofs disturbed him.  Captain Griffiths, on
+a great bay mare, glanced curiously at the lonely figure by the
+roadside, and then pulled up.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Back again, Mr. Lessingham?" he remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As you see."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Commandant fidgeted with his horse for a moment.  Then he
+approached a little nearer to Lessingham's side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are a good walker, I perceive, Mr. Lessingham," he remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When the fancy takes me," was the equable reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you come out to see our new guns?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had no idea," Lessingham answered indifferently, "that you had
+any."
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have a small battery of anti-aircraft guns, newly arrived from
+the south of England," he said.  "The secret of their coming and
+their locality has kept the neighbourhood in a state of ferment for
+the last week."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham remained profoundly uninterested.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They most of them spotted the guns," his companion continued, "but
+not many of them have found the searchlights yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems a little late in the year," Lessingham observed, "to be
+making preparations against Zeppelins."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, they cross here pretty often, you know," Griffiths reminded
+him.  "It's only a matter of a few weeks ago that one almost came to
+grief on this common.  We picked up their observation car not fifty
+yards from where you are sitting."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I remember hearing about it," Lessingham acknowledged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By-the-by," the Commandant continued, smoothing his horse's neck,
+"didn't you arrive that evening or the evening after?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe I did."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Liverpool Street or King's Cross?  The King's Cross train was very
+nearly held up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I didn't come by train at all," Lessingham replied, glancing for a
+moment into the clouds, "And now I come to think of it, it must have
+been the evening after."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Fine county for motoring," Griffiths continued, stroking his
+horse's head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The roads I have been on seem very good," was the somewhat bored
+admission.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You haven't a car of your own here, have you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at present."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths glanced between his horse's ears for a few moments.
+Then he turned once more towards his companion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham," he said, "you are aware that I am Commandant here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe," Lessingham replied, "that Lady Cranston told me so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my duty, therefore," Griffiths went on, "to take a little
+more than ordinary interest in casual visitors, especially at this
+time of the year.  The fact that you are well-known to Lady Cranston
+is, of course, an entirely satisfactory explanation of your presence
+here.  At the same time, there is certain information concerning
+strangers of which we keep a record, and in your case there is a line
+or two which we have not been able to fill up."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I can be of any service," Lessingham murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Precisely," the other interrupted.  "I knew you would feel like
+that.  Now your arrival here&mdash;we have the date, I think&mdash;October
+6th.  As you have just remarked, you didn't come by train.  How did
+you come?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham's surprise was apparently quite genuine.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that a question which you ask me to answer&mdash;officially?" he
+enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+His interlocutor shrugged his shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not putting official questions to you at all," he replied,
+"nor am I cross-examining you, as might be my duty, under the
+circumstances, simply because your friendship with the Cranstons
+is, of course, a guarantee as to your position.  But on the other
+hand, I think it would be reasonable if you were to answer my
+question."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you are right," he admitted.  "As you can tell by finding
+me here this afternoon, I am a great walker.  I arrived&mdash;on foot."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see," Griffiths reflected.  "The other question which we usually
+ask is, where was your last stopping place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Stopping place?" Lessingham murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, where did you sleep the night before you came here?" Griffiths
+persisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham shook his head as though oppressed by some distasteful
+memory.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I did not sleep at all," he complained.  "It was one of the
+worst nights which I have ever spent in my life."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths gathered up his reins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said with clumsy sarcasm, "I am much obliged to you, Mr.
+Lessingham, for the straight-forward way in which you have answered
+my questions.  I won't bother you any more just at present.  Shall
+I see you to-morrow night at Mainsail Haul?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lady Cranston has asked me to dine," was the somewhat reserved reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+His inquisitor nodded and cantered away.  Lessingham looked after him
+until he had disappeared, then he turned his face towards Dreymarsh
+and walked steadily into the lowering afternoon.  Twilight was falling
+as he reached Mainsail Haul, where he found Philippa entertaining some
+callers, to whom she promptly introduced him.  Lessingham gathered,
+almost in the first few minutes, that his presence in Dreymarsh was
+becoming a subject of comment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My husband has played bridge with you at the club, I think," a lady
+by whose side he found himself observed.  "You perhaps didn't hear
+my name&mdash;Mrs. Johnson?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I congratulate you upon your husband," Lessingham replied.  "I
+remember him perfectly well because he kept his temper when I
+revoked."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear me!" she exclaimed.  "He must have taken a fancy to you, then.
+As a rule, they rather complain about him at bridge."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I formed the impression," Lessingham continued, "that he was rather
+a better player than the majority of the performers there."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Johnson, who was a dark and somewhat forbidding-looking lady,
+smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He thinks so, at any rate," she conceded.  "Didn't he tell me that
+you were invalided home from the front?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am quite sure that it was not mentioned," he said.  "We walked
+home together as far as the hotel one evening, but we spoke only of
+the golf and some shooting in the neighbourhood."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa, who had been maneuvering to attract Lessingham's attention,
+suddenly dropped the cake basket which she was passing.  There was
+a little commotion.  Lessingham went down on his hands and knees to
+help collect the fragments, and she found an opportunity to whisper
+in his ear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Be careful.  That woman is a cat.  Stay and talk to me.  Please
+don't bother, Mr. Lessingham.  Won't you ring the bell instead?"
+she continued, raising her voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham did as he was asked, and affected not to notice Mrs.
+Johnson's inviting smile as he returned.  Philippa made room for
+him by her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen and I were talking this afternoon, Mr. Lessingham," she said,
+"of the days when you and Dick were both in the Magdalen Eleven and
+both had just a chance of being chosen for the Varsity.  You never
+played, did you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No such luck.  In any case, Richard would have been in well before
+me.  I always maintained that he was the first of our googlie
+bowlers."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So you were at Magdalen with Major Felstead?" another caller
+remarked in mild wonder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham and my brother were great friends," Philippa
+explained.  "Mr. Lessingham used to come down to shoot in Cheshire."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lady Cranston's guests were all conscious of a little indefinable
+disappointment.  The gossip concerning this stranger's appearance
+in Dreymarsh was practically strangled.  Mrs. Johnson, however, fired
+a parting shot as she rose to go.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You were not in the same regiment as Major Felstead, were you, Mr.
+Lessingham?" she asked.  "No," he answered calmly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was busy with her adieux.  Mrs. Johnson remained indomitable.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was your regiment, Mr. Lessingham?" she persisted.  "You must
+forgive my seeming inquisitive, but I am so interested in military
+affairs."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham bowed courteously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not remember alluding to my soldiering at all," he said coolly,
+"but as a matter of fact I am in the Guards."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mrs. Johnson accepted Philippa's hand and the inevitable.  Her
+good-by to Lessingham was most affable.  She walked up the road with
+the vicar.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think, Vicar," she said severely, "that for a small place,
+Dreymarsh is becoming one of the worst centres of gossip I ever knew.
+Every one has been saying all sorts of unkind things about that
+charming Mr. Lessingham, and there you are&mdash;Major Felstead's friend
+and a Guardsman!  Somehow or other, I felt that he belonged to one
+of the crack regiments.  I shall certainly ask him to dinner one
+night next week."
+</p>
+<p>
+The vicar nodded benignly.  He had the utmost respect for Mrs.
+Johnson's cook, and his own standard of social desirability, to
+which the object of their discussion had attained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should be happy to meet Mr. Lessingham at any time," he
+pronounced, with ample condescension.  "I noticed him in church
+last Sunday morning."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0020"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XX
+</h2>
+<p>
+"My dear man, whatever shall I do with you!" Philippa exclaimed
+pathetically, as the door closed upon the last of her callers.
+"The Guards, indeed!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham smiled as he resumed his place by her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," he said, "I told the dear lady the truth.  You will find my
+name well up in the list of the thirty-first battalion of the
+Prussian Guards."
+</p>
+<p>
+She threw herself back in her chair and laughed.  "How amusing it
+would be if it weren't all so terrible!  You really are a perfect
+political Raffles.  Do you know that this afternoon you have
+absolutely reestablished yourself?  Mr. Johnson will probably call
+on you to-morrow&mdash;they may even ask you to dine&mdash;the vicar will
+write and ask for a subscription, and Dolly Fenwick will invite you
+to play golf with her."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do not turn my head," he begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"All the same," Philippa continued, more gravely, "I shall never
+have a moment's peace whilst you are in the place.  I was thinking
+about you last night.  I don't believe I have ever realised before
+how terrible it would be if you really were discovered.  What would
+they do to you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever they might do," he replied, a little wearily, "I must
+obey orders.  My orders are to remain here, but even if I were told
+that I might go, I should find it hard."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you mean that?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think you know," he answered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You men are so strange," she went on, after a moment's pause.
+"You give us so little time to know you, you show us so little of
+yourselves and you expect so much."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We offer everything," he reminded her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want to avoid platitudes," she said thoughtfully, "but is love
+quite the same thing for a man as for a woman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sometimes it is more," was the prompt reply.  "Sometimes love, for
+a woman, means only shelter; often, for a man, love means the
+blending of all knowledge, of all beauty, all ambition, of all that
+he has learned from books and from life.  Sometimes a man can see
+no further and needs to look no further."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa suddenly felt that she was in danger.  There was something
+in her heart of which she had never before been conscious, some
+music, some strange turn of sentiment in Lessingham's voice or
+the words themselves.  It was madness, she told herself breathlessly.
+She was in love with her husband, if any one.  She could not have
+lost all feeling for him so soon.  She clasped her hands tightly.
+Lessingham seemed conscious of his advantage, and leaned towards
+her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I were not offering you my whole life," he pleaded, "believe
+me, I would not open my lips.  If I were thinking of episodes, I
+would throw myself into the sea before I asked you to give me even
+your fingers.  But you, and you alone, could fill the place in my
+life which I have always prayed might be filled, not for a year or
+even a decade of years, but for eternity."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, but you forget!" she faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I remember so much," he replied, "that I know it is hard for you
+to speak.  There are bonds which you have made sacred, and your
+fingers shrink from tearing them asunder.  If it were not for this,
+Philippa&mdash;hear the speech of a renegade&mdash;my mandate should be torn
+in pieces.  My instructions should flutter into the waste-paper
+basket, To-morrow should see us on our way to a new country and a
+new life.  But you must be very sure indeed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it because of me that you are staying here?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upon my honour, no," he assured her.  "I must stay here a little
+longer, whatever it may mean for me.  And so I am content to remain
+what I am to you at this minute.  I ask from you only that you
+remain just what you are.  But when the moment of my freedom comes,
+when my task here is finished and I turn to go, then I must come
+to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+She rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the floor, and threw open
+the window.  The breeze swept through the room, flapping the
+curtains, blowing about loose articles into a strange confusion.
+She stood there for several moments, as though in search of some
+respite from the emotional atmosphere upon which she had turned
+her back.  When she finally closed the window, her hair was in
+little strands about her face.  Her eyes were soft and her lips
+quivering.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You make me feel," she said, taking his hand for a moment and
+looking at him almost piteously, "you make me feel everything except
+one thing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Except one thing?" he repeated.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't you understand?" she continued, stretching out her hand with
+a quick, impulsive little movement.  "I am here in Henry's house,
+his wife, the mistress of his household.  All the years we've been
+married I have never thought of another man.  I have never indulged
+in even the idlest flirtation.  And now suddenly my life seems
+upside down.  I feel as though, if Henry stood before me now, I
+would strike him on the cheek.  I feel sore all over, and ashamed,
+but I don't know whether I have ceased to love him.  I can't tell.
+Nothing seems to help me.  I close my eyes and I try to think of
+that new world and that new life, and I know that there is nothing
+repulsive in it.  I feel all the joy and the strength of being with
+you.  And then there is Henry in the background.  He seems to have
+had so much of my love."
+</p>
+<p>
+He saw the tears gathering in her eyes, and he smiled at her
+encouragingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Remember that at this moment I am asking you for nothing," he said.
+"Just think these things out.  It isn't really a matter for sorrow,"
+he continued.  "Love must always mean happiness&mdash;for the one who
+is loved."
+</p>
+<p>
+She leaned hack in the corner of the sofa to which he had led her,
+her eyes dry now but still very soft and sweet.  He sat by her side,
+fingering some of the things in her work basket.  Once she held out
+her hand and seemed to find comfort in his clasp.  He raised her
+fingers to his lips without any protest from her.  She looked at
+him with a little smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know, I'm not at all an Ibsen heroine," she declared.  "I can't
+see my way like those wonderful emancipated women."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yet," he said thoughtfully, "the way to the simple things is so
+clear."
+</p>
+<p>
+Confidences were at an end for a time, broken up by the entrance of
+Nora and Helen, and some young men from the Depot, who had looked
+in for a game of billiards.  Lessingham rose to leave as soon as the
+latter had returned to their game.  His tone and manner now were
+completely changed.  He seemed ill at ease and unhappy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going to have a day's fishing to-morrow," he told Philippa,
+"but I must admit that I have very little faith in this man Oates.
+They all tell me that your husband has any number of charts of the
+coast.  Do you think I could borrow one?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, of course," she replied, "if we can find it."
+</p>
+<p>
+She took him over to her husband's desk, opened such of the drawers
+as were not locked, and searched amongst their contents ruthlessly.
+By the time they had finished the last drawer, Lessingham had quite a
+little collection of charts, more or less finished, in his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know where else to look," she said.  "You might go through
+those and see if they are of any use.  What is it, Mills?" she added,
+turning to the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mills had entered noiselessly, and was watching the proceedings at
+Sir Henry's desk with a distinct lack of favour.  He looked away
+towards his mistress, however, as he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The young woman has called with reference to a situation as
+parlour-maid, your ladyship," he announced.  "I have shown her into
+the sewing room."  Lady Cranston glanced at the clock.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I sha'n't be more than five or ten minutes," she promised Lessingham.
+"Just look through those till I come back."
+</p>
+<p>
+She hurried away, leaving Lessingham alone in the room.  He stood
+for a moment listening.  On the left-hand side, through the door
+which had been left ajar, he could hear the click of billiard balls
+and occasional peals of laughter.  On the right-hand side there was
+silence.  He moved swiftly across the room and closed the door leading
+into the billiard room, deposited on the sofa the charts which he had
+been carrying, and hurried back to the secretary.  With a sickening
+feeling of overwhelming guilt, he drew from his pocket a key and
+opened, one by one, the drawers through which they had not searched.
+It took him barely five minutes to discover&mdash;nothing.  With an air
+of relief he rearranged everything.  When Philippa returned, he was
+sitting on the lounge, going through the charts which they had
+looked out together.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is nothing here," he decided, "which will help me very much.
+With your permission I will take this," he added, selecting one at
+random.
+</p>
+<p>
+She nodded and they replaced the others.  Then she touched him on
+the arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Listen," she said, "are you perfectly certain that there is no one
+coming?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He listened for a moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't hear any one," he answered.  "They've started a four-handed
+game of pool in the billiard room."
+</p>
+<p>
+She smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then I will disclose to you Henry's dramatic secret.  See!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She touched the spring in the side of the secretary.  The false back,
+with its little collection of fishing flies, rolled slowly up.  The
+large and very wonderful chart on which Sir Henry had bestowed so
+much of his time, was revealed.  Lessingham gazed at it eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There!" she said.  "That has been a great labour of love with
+Henry.  It is the chart, on a great scale, from which he works.  I
+don't know a thing about it, and for heaven's sake never tell Henry
+that you have seen it."
+</p>
+<p>
+He continued to examine the chart earnestly.  Not a part of it
+escaped him.  Then he turned back to Philippa.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is that supposed to be the coast on the other side of the point?"
+he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't exactly know where it is," she replied.  "Every time Henry
+finds out anything new, he comes and works at it.  I believe that
+very soon it will be perfect.  Then he will start on another part of
+the coast."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is not the only one that he has prepared, then?" Lessingham
+enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe it is the fifth," she replied.  "They all disappear when
+they are finished, but I have no idea where to.  To me they seem to
+represent a shocking waste of time."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham was suddenly taciturn.  He held out his hand.  "You are
+dining with us to-morrow night, remember," she said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not likely to forget," he assured her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And don't get drowned," she concluded.  "I don't know any of these
+fishermen&mdash;I hate them all&mdash;but I'm told that Oates is the worst."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think that we shall be quite all right," he assured her.  "Thanks
+very much for finding me the charts.  What I have seen will help me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen came in for a moment and their farewell was more or less
+perfunctory.  Lessingham was almost thankful to escape.  There was
+an unusual flush in his cheeks, a sense of bitter humiliation in his
+heart.  All the fervour with which he had started on his perilous
+quest had faded away.  No sense of duty or patriotism could revive
+his drooping spirits.  He felt himself suddenly an unclean and
+dishonoured being.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0021"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXI
+</h2>
+<p>
+Towards three o'clock on the following afternoon, the boisterous
+wind of an uncertain morning settled down to worse things.  It tore
+the spray from the crest of the gathering waves, dashed it even
+against the French windows of Mainsail Haul, and came booming down
+the open spaces cliffwards, like the rumble of some subterranean
+artillery.  A little group of fishermen in oilskins leaned over the
+railing and discussed the chances of Ben Oates bringing his boat
+in safely.  Philippa, also, distracted by a curious anxiety, stood
+before the blurred window, gazing into what seemed almost a grey
+chaos.  "Captain Griffiths, your ladyship."
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned around quickly at the announcement.  Even an unwelcome
+caller at that moment was almost a relief to her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How nice of you to come and see me on such an afternoon, Captain
+Griffiths," she exclaimed, as they shook hands.  "Helen is over at
+the Canteen, Nora is hard at work for once in her life, and I seem
+most dolefully alone."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her visitor's reception of Philippa's greeting promised little in
+the way of enlivenment.  He seemed more awkward and ill at ease than
+ever, and his tone was almost threatening.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am very glad to find you alone, Lady Cranston," he said.  "I came
+specially to have a few words with you on a certain matter."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her momentary impulse of relief at his visit passed away.  There
+seemed to her something sinister in his manner.  She was suddenly
+conscious that there was a new danger to be faced, and that this
+man's attitude towards her was, for some reason or other, inimical.
+After the first shock, however, she prepared herself to do battle.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you seem very mysterious," she observed.  "I haven't broken
+any laws, have I?  No lights flashing from any of my windows?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So far as I am aware, there are no complaints of the sort," the
+Commandant acknowledged, still speaking with an unnatural restraint.
+"My call, I hope, may be termed, to some extent, at least, a
+friendly one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How nice!" she sighed.  "Then you'll have some tea, won't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not at present, if you please," he begged.  "I have come to talk
+to you about Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really?" Philippa exclaimed.  "Whatever has that poor man been
+doing now."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dreymarsh," her visitor proceeded, "having been constituted, during
+the last few months, a protected area, it is my duty to examine and
+enquire into the business of any stranger who appears here.  Mr. Hamar
+Lessingham has been largely accepted without comment, owing to his
+friendship with you.  I regret to state, however, that certain facts
+have come to my knowledge which make me wonder whether you yourself
+may not in some measure have been deceived."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This sounds very ridiculous," Philippa interposed quietly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A few weeks ago," Captain Griffith continued, "we received
+information that this neighbourhood would probably be visited by
+some person connected with the Secret Service of Germany.  There is
+strong evidence that the person in question is Mr. Hamar Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A graduate of Magdalen, my brother's intimate friend, and a frequent
+visitor at my father's house in Cheshire," Philippa observed, with
+faint sarcasm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The possibility of your having made a mistake, Lady Cranston,"
+Captain Griffiths rejoined, "has, I must confess, only just occurred
+to me.  The authorities at Magdalen College have been appealed to,
+and no one of the name of Lessingham was there during any one of
+your brother's terms."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa took the blow well.  She simply stared at her caller in a
+noncomprehending manner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have also information," he continued gravely, "from Wood Norton
+Hall&mdash;from your mother, in fact, Lady Cranston&mdash;that no college
+friend of your brother, of that name, has ever visited Wood Norton."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Go on," Philippa begged, a little faintly.  "Did I ever live there
+myself?  Was Richard ever at Magdalen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths proceeded with the air of a man who has a task to
+finish and intends to do so, regardless of interruptions.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have had some conversation with Mr. Lessingham, in the course of
+which I asked him to explain his method of reaching here, and his
+last habitation.  He simply fenced with me in the most barefaced
+fashion.  He practically declined to give me any account of himself."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa rose and rang the bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I suppose I must give you some tea," she said, "although you seem
+to have come here on purpose to make my head ache."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My object in coming here," Captain Griffiths rejoined, a little
+stiffly, "is to save you some measure of personal annoyance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, please don't think that I am ungrateful," Philippa begged.
+"Of course, it is all some absurd mistake, and I'm sure we shall get
+to the bottom of it presently&mdash;Tell me what you think of the storm?"
+she added, as Mills entered with the tea tray.  "Do you think it
+will get any worse, because I am terrified to death already?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am no judge of the weather here," he confessed.  "I believe the
+fishermen are preparing for something unusual."
+</p>
+<p>
+She seated herself before the tea tray and insisted upon performing
+her duties as hostess.  Afterwards she laid her hand upon his arm
+and addressed him with an air of complete candour.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Now, Captain Griffiths," she began, "do listen to me.  Just one
+moment of common sense, if you please.  What do you suppose there
+could possibly be in our harmless seaside village to induce any one
+to risk his life by coming here on behalf of the Secret Service of
+Germany?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dreymarsh," Captain Griffiths replied, "was not made a prohibited
+area for nothing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, my dear man, be reasonable," Philippa persisted.  "There are
+perhaps a thousand soldiers in the place, the usual preparations
+along the cliff for coast defence, a small battery of anti-aircraft
+guns, and a couple of searchlights.  There isn't a grocer's boy in
+the place who doesn't know all this.  There's no concealment about
+it.  You must admit that Germany doesn't need to send over a Secret
+Service agent to acquaint herself with these insignificant facts."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her visitor smiled very faintly.  It was the first time he had
+relaxed even so far as this.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not in possession of any information which I can impart to you,
+Lady Cranston," he said, "but I am not prepared to accept your
+statement that Dreymarsh contains nothing of greater interest than
+the things which you have mentioned."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no necessity for Philippa to play a part now.  The
+suggestion contained in her visitor's words had really left her in
+a state of wonder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are making my flesh creep!" she exclaimed.  "You don't mean to
+say that we have secrets here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have said the last word which it is possible for me to say upon
+the subject," he declared.  "You will understand, I am sure, that
+I am not here in the character of an inquisitor.  I simply thought
+it my duty, in view of the fact that you had made yourself the
+social sponsor for Mr. Lessingham, to place certain information
+before you, and to ask, unofficially, of course, if you have any
+explanation to give?  You may even," he went on, hesitatingly,
+"appreciate the motives which led me to do so."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear man, what explanation could I have?" Philippa protested,
+"it is an absolute and undeniable fact that Mr. Lessingham was at
+Magdalen with my brother, and also that he visited us at Wood
+Norton.  I know both these things of my own knowledge.  The only
+possible explanation, therefore, is that you have been misinformed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Or," Captain Griffiths ventured, "that Mr. Hamar Lessingham in
+those days passed under another name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Another name?" Philippa faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Some such name, perhaps," he continued, "as Bertram Maderstrom."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a short silence.  Captain Griffiths had leaned back in
+his chair and was caressing his upper lip.  His eyes were fixed
+upon Philippa and Philippa saw nothing.  Her little heel dug hard
+into the carpet.  In a few seconds the room ceased to spin.
+Nevertheless, her voice sounded to her pitifully inadequate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What an absurdity all this is!" she exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom," Captain Griffiths said thoughtfully, "was, curiously
+enough, an intimate college friend of your brother's.  He was also
+a visitor at Wood Norton Hall.  At neither place is there any trace
+of Mr. Hamar Lessingham.  Perhaps you have made a mistake, Lady
+Cranston.  Perhaps you have recognised the man and failed to remember
+his name.  If so, now is the moment to declare it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am very much obliged to you," Philippa retorted, "but I have
+never met or heard of this Mr. Maderstrom&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Baron Maderstrom," he interrupted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Baron Maderstrom, then, in my life; whereas Mr. Lessingham I
+remember perfectly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry," Captain Griffiths said, setting down his empty teacup
+and rising slowly to his feet.  "We cannot help one another, then."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you want me to transfer Mr. Lessingham, whom I remember
+perfectly, into a German baron whom I never heard of," Philippa
+declared boldly, "I am afraid that we can't."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Baron Maderstrom was a Swedish nobleman," Captain Griffiths observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Swedish or German, I know nothing of him," Philippa persisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There remains, then, nothing more to be said."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am afraid not," Philippa agreed sweetly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Under the circumstances," Captain Griffiths asked, "you will not,
+I am sure, expect me to dine to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not if you object to meeting Mr. Hamar Lessingham," Philippa
+replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+Her visitor's face suddenly darkened, and Philippa wondered vaguely
+whether anything more than professional suspicion was responsible
+for that little storm of passion which for a moment transformed
+his appearance.  He quickly recovered, however.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I may still," he concluded, moving towards the door, "be forced to
+present myself here in another capacity."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0022"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXII
+</h2>
+<p>
+The confinement of the house, after the departure of her unwelcome
+visitor, stifled Philippa.  Attired in a mackintosh, with a scarf
+around her head, she made her way on to the quay, and, clinging to
+the railing, dragged herself along to where the fishermen were
+gathered together in a little group.  The storm as yet showed no
+signs of abatement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Has anything been heard of Ben Oates' boat?" she enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+An old fisherman pointed seawards.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There she comes, ma'am, up on the crest of that wave; look!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Will she get in?" Philippa asked eagerly.
+</p>
+<p>
+There were varied opinions, expressed in indistinct mutterings.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She's weathering it grand," the fisherman to whom she had first
+spoken, declared.  "We've a line ready yonder, and we're reckoning
+on getting 'em ashore all right.  Lucky for Ben that the gentleman
+along with him is a fine sailor.  Look at that, mum!" he added in
+excitement.  "See the way he brought her head round to it, just in
+time.  Boys, they'll come in on the next one!"
+</p>
+<p>
+One by one the sailors made their way to the very edge of the
+wave-splashed beach.  There were a few more minutes of breathless
+anxiety.  Then, after the boat had disappeared completely from sight,
+hidden by a huge grey wall of sea, she seemed suddenly to climb to
+the top of it, to hover there, to become mixed up with the spray and
+the surf and a great green mass of waters, and then finally, with a
+harsh crash of timbers and a shout from the fishermen, to be flung
+high and dry upon the stones.  Philippa, clutching the iron railing,
+saw for a moment nothing but chaos.  Her knees became weak.  She was
+unable to move.  There was a queer dizziness in her ears.  The sound
+of voices sounded like part of an unreal nightmare.  Then she was
+aware of a single figure climbing the steps towards her.  There was
+blood trickling down his face from the wound in the forehead, and he
+was limping slightly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham!" she called out, as he reached the topmost step.
+</p>
+<p>
+He took an eager step towards her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa!" he exclaimed.  "Why, what are you doing here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was frightened," she faltered.  "Are you hurt?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not in the least," he assured her.  "We had a rough sail home,
+that's all, and that fellow Oates drank himself half unconscious.
+Come along, let me help you up the steps and out of this."
+</p>
+<p>
+She clung to his arm, and they struggled up the private path to the
+house.  Mills let them in with many expressions of concern, and
+Helen came hurrying to them from the background.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I went out to see the storm," Philippa explained weakly, "and I
+saw Mr. Lessingham's boat brought in."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Mr. Lessingham will come this way at once," Helen insisted.
+"I haven't had a real case since I got my certificate, and I'm going
+to bind his head up."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa began to feel her strength returning.  The horror which lay
+behind those few minutes of nightmare rose up again in her mind.
+Mills had hurried on into the bathroom, and the other two were
+preparing to follow.  She stopped them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "listen.  Captain Griffiths has been
+here.  He knows or guesses everything."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Everything?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen must bind your head up, of course," she continued.  "After
+that, think!  What can we do?  Captain Griffiths knows that there
+was no Hamar Lessingham at college with Dick, that he never visited
+Wood Norton, that there is some mystery about your arrival here,
+and he told me to my face that he believes you to be Bertram
+Maderstrom."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a meddlesome fellow!" Lessingham grumbled, holding his
+handkerchief to his forehead.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, please be serious!" Helen begged, looking up from the bandage
+which she was preparing.  "This is horrible!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't I know it!" Philippa groaned.  "Mr. Lessingham, you must
+please try and escape from here.  You can have the car, if you like.
+There must be some place where you can go and hide until you can
+get away from the country."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I'm dining here to-night," Lessingham protested.  "I'm not
+going to hide anywhere."
+</p>
+<p>
+The two women exchanged glances of despair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Can't I make you understand!" Philippa exclaimed pathetically.
+"You're in danger here&mdash;really in danger!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham's demeanour showed no appreciation of the situation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course, I can quite understand," he said, "that Griffiths is
+suspicious about me, but, after all, no one can prove that I have
+broken the law here, and I shall not make things any better by
+attempting an opera bouffe flight.  Can I have my head tied up and
+come and talk to you about it later on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, if you like," Philippa assented weakly.  "I can't argue."
+</p>
+<p>
+She made her way up to her room and changed her wet clothes.  When
+she came down, Lessingham was standing on the hearth rug in the
+library, with a piece of buttered toast in one hand and a cup of tea
+in the other.  His head was very neatly bound up, and he seemed
+quite at his ease.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know," he began, as he wheeled a chair up to the fire for her,
+"that man Griffiths doesn't like me.  He never took to me from the
+first, I could see that.  If it comes to that, I don't like Griffiths.
+He is one of those mean, suspicious sort of characters we could very
+well do without."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa, who had rehearsed a little speech several times in her
+bedroom, tried to be firm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham," she said, "you know that we are both your friends.
+Do listen, please.  Captain Griffiths is Commandant here and in a
+position of authority.  He has a very large power.  I honestly
+believe that it is his intention to have you arrested&mdash;if not
+to-night, within a very few days."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not see how he can," Lessingham objected, helping himself to
+another piece of toast.  "I have committed no crime here.  I have
+played golf with all the respectable old gentlemen in the place, and
+I have given the committee some excellent advice as to the two new
+holes.  I have played bridge down at the club&mdash;we will call it
+bridge!&mdash;and I have kept my temper like an angel.  I have dined at
+Mess and told them at least a dozen new stories.  I have kept my
+blinds drawn at night, and I have not a wireless secreted up the
+chimney.  I really cannot see what they could do to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa tried bluntness.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have served in the German army, and you are living in a
+protected area under a false name," she declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, of course, there is some truth in what you say," he admitted,
+"but even if they have tumbled to that and can prove it, I should
+do no good by running away.  To be perfectly serious," he added,
+setting his cup down, "there is only one thing at the present
+moment which would take me out of Dreymarsh, and that is if you
+believe that my presence here would further compromise you and Miss
+Fairclough."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was beginning to find her courage.  "We're in it already,
+up to the neck," she observed.  "I really don't see that anything
+matters so far as we are concerned."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In that case," he decided, "I shall have the honour of presenting
+myself at the usual time."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0023"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXIII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa and Helen met in the drawing-room, a few minutes before
+eight that evening.  Philippa was wearing a new black dress, a
+model of simplicity to the untutored eye, but full of that
+undefinable appeal to the mysterious which even the greatest
+artist frequently fails to create out of any form of colour.  Some
+fancy had induced her to strip off her jewels at the last moment,
+and she wore no ornaments save a band of black velvet around her
+neck.  Helen looked at her curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this a fresh scheme for conquest, Philippa?" she asked, as they
+stood together by the log fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa unexpectedly flushed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't know what I was thinking about, really," she confessed.
+"Is that the exact time, I wonder?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Two minutes to eight," Helen replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham is always so punctual," Philippa murmured.  "I wonder
+if Captain Griffiths would dare!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've done our best to warn him," Helen reminded her friend.  "The
+man is simply pig-headed."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can't help feeling that he's right," Philippa declared, "when he
+argues that they couldn't really prove anything against him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does that matter," Helen asked anxiously, "so long as he is an
+enemy, living under a false name here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't think they'd&mdash;they'd&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Shoot him?" Helen whispered, lowering her voice.  "They couldn't
+do that!  They couldn't do that!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The clock began to chime.  Suddenly Philippa, who had been listening,
+gave a little exclamation of relief.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hear his voice!" she exclaimed.  "Thank goodness!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen's relief was almost as great as her companion's.  A moment
+later Mills ushered in their guest.  He was still wearing his
+bandage, but his colour had returned.  He seemed, in fact, almost
+gay.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing has happened, then?" Philippa demanded anxiously, as soon
+as the door was closed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing at all," he assured them.  "Our friend Griffiths is terribly
+afraid of making a mistake."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So afraid that he wouldn't come and dine.  Never mind, you'll have
+to take care of us both," she added, as Mills announced dinner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll do my best," he promised, offering his arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+If the sword of Damocles were indeed suspended over their heads, it
+seemed only to heighten the merriment of their little repast.
+Philippa had ordered champagne, and the warmth of the pleasant dining
+room, the many appurtenances of luxury by which they were surrounded,
+the glow of the wine, and the perfume of the hothouse flowers upon
+the table, seemed in delicious contrast to the fury of the storm
+outside.  They all three appeared completely successful in a strenuous
+effort to dismiss all disconcerting subjects from their minds.
+Lessingham talked chiefly of the East.  He had travelled in Russia,
+Persia, Afghanistan, and India, and he had the unusual but striking
+gift of painting little word pictures of some of the scenes of his
+wanderings.  It was half-past nine before they rose from the table,
+and Lessingham accompanied them into the library.  With the advent
+of coffee, they were for the first time really alone.  Lessingham
+sat by Philippa's side, and Helen reclined in a low chair close at
+hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," he said, "that I can venture now to tell you some news."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen put down her work.  Philippa looked at him in silence, and her
+eyes seemed to dilate.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have hesitated to say anything about it," Lessingham went on,
+"because there is so much uncertainty about these things, but I
+believe that it is now finally arranged.  I think that within the
+next week or ten days&mdash;perhaps a little before, perhaps a little
+later&mdash;your brother Richard will be set at liberty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dick?  Dick coming home?" Philippa cried, springing up from her
+reclining position.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dick?" Helen faltered, her work lying unheeded in her lap.  "Mr.
+Lessingham, do you mean it?  Is it possible?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is not only possible," Lessingham assured them, "but I believe
+that it will come to pass.  I have had to exercise a little
+duplicity, but I fancy that it has been successful.  I have insisted
+that without help from an influential person in Dreymarsh, I cannot
+bring my labours here to a satisfactory conclusion, and I have named
+as the price of that help, Richard's absolute and immediate freedom.
+I heard only this morning that there would be no difficulty."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen snatched up her work and groped her way towards the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I will come back in a few minutes," she promised, her voice a
+little broken.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham, who had opened the door for her, returned to his place.
+There were no tears in Philippa's brilliant eyes, but there was a
+faint patch of colour in her cheeks, and her lips were not quite
+steady.  She caught at his hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, my dear, dear friend!" she said.  "If only that little nightmare
+part of you did not exist.  If only you could be just what you seem,
+and one could feel that you were there in our lives for always!  I
+feel that I want to talk to you so much, to you and not the sham you.
+What shall I call you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bertram, please," he whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then Bertram, dear," she went on, "for my sake, because you have
+really become dear to me, because my heart aches at the thought of
+your danger, and because&mdash;see how honest I am&mdash;I am a little
+afraid of myself&mdash;will you go away?  The thought of your danger is
+like a nightmare to me.  It all seems so absurd and unreasonable
+&mdash;I mean that the danger which I fear should be hanging over you.
+But I think that there is just a little something back of your brain
+of which you have never spoken, which it was your duty to keep to
+yourself, and it is just that something which brings the danger."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not afraid for myself, Philippa," he told her.  "I took a
+false step in life when I came here.  What it was that attracted me
+I do not know.  I think it was the thought of that wild ride amongst
+the clouds, and the starlight.  It seemed such a wonderful beginning
+to any enterprise.  And, Philippa, for one part of my adventure, the
+part which concerns you, it was a gorgeous prelude, and for the
+other&mdash;well, it just does not count because I have no fear.  I have
+faith in my fortune, do you know that?  I believe that I shall leave
+this place unharmed, but I believe that if I leave it without you, I
+shall go back to the worst hell in which a man could ever . . ."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bertram," she pleaded, "think of it all.  Even if I cared enough&mdash;
+and I don't&mdash;there is something unnatural about it.  Doesn't it
+strike you as horrible?  My brother, my cousins, my father, are all
+fighting the men of the nation whose cause you have espoused!  There
+is a horrible, eternal cloud of hatred which it will take generations
+to get rid of, if ever it disappears.  How can we two speak of love!
+What part of the world could we creep into where people would not
+shrink away from us?  I may have lost a little of my heart to you,
+Bertram, I may miss you when you go away, I may waste weary hours
+thinking, but that is all.  Oh, you know that it must be all!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not," he answered stubbornly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, you must be reasonable," she begged, with a little break in her
+voice.  "You know very well that I ought not to listen to you.  I
+ought not to welcome you here.  I ought to be strong and close my
+ears."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you will not do that!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No!" she faltered.  "Please don't come any nearer.  I&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+She broke off suddenly.  The struggle in her face was ended, her
+expression transformed.  Her finger was held up as though to bid
+him listen.  With her other hand she clutched the back of the couch.
+Her eyes were fixed upon the door.  The little patch of wonderful
+colour faded from her cheeks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Listen!" she cried, with a note of terror in her voice.  "That was
+the front door!  Some one has come!  Can't you hear them?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham's hand stole suddenly to his pocket.  She caught the
+glitter of something half withdrawn, and shrank back with a
+half-stifled moan.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not before you, dear," he promised.  "Please do not be afraid.  If
+this is the end, leave me alone with Griffiths.  I shall not hurt
+him.  I shall not forget.  And if by any chance," he added, "this
+is to be our farewell, Philippa, you will remember that I love you
+as the flowers of the world love their sun.  Courage!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The door facing them was opened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths," Mills announced.
+</p>
+<p>
+Through the open door they caught a vision of two other soldiers
+and Inspector Fisher.  Griffiths came into the room alone, however,
+and waited until the door was closed before he spoke.  He carried
+himself as awkwardly as ever, but his long, lean face seemed to
+have taken to itself a new expression.  He had the air of a man
+indulging in some strange pleasure.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lady Cranston," he said, "I am very sorry to intrude, but my visit
+here is official."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What is it?" she asked hoarsely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have received confirmatory evidence in the matter of which I
+spoke to you this afternoon," he went on.  "I am sorry to disturb
+you at such an hour, but it is my duty to arrest this man on a
+charge of espionage."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham to all appearance remained unmoved.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A most objectionable word," he remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A most villainous profession," Captain Griffiths retorted.  "Thank
+heaven that in this country we are learning the art of dealing with
+its disciples."
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is all a hideous mistake," Philippa declared feverishly.  "I
+assure you that Mr. Lessingham has visited my father's house, that
+he was well-known to me years ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+"As the Baron Maderstrom!  What arguments he has used, Lady Cranston,
+to induce you to accept him here under his new identity, I do not
+know, but the facts are very clear."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He seems quite convinced, doesn't he?" Lessingham remarked, turning
+to Philippa.  "And as I gather that a portion of the British Army,
+assisted by the local constabulary, is waiting for me outside,
+perhaps I had better humour him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It would be as well, sir," Captain Griffiths assented grimly.  "I
+am glad to find you in the humour for jesting."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham turned once more to Philippa.  This time his tone was
+more serious.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lady Cranston," he begged, "won't you please leave us?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No!" she answered hysterically.  "I know why you want me to, and
+I won't go!  You have done no harm, and nothing shall happen to you.
+I will not leave the room, and you shall not&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+His gesture of appeal coincided with the sob in her throat.  She
+broke down in her speech, and Captain Griffiths moved a step nearer.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you have any weapon in your possession, sir," he said, "you had
+better hand it over to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, do you know," Lessingham replied, "I scarcely see the
+necessity.  One thing I will promise you," he added, with a sudden
+flash in his eyes, "a single step nearer&mdash;a single step, mind&mdash;and
+you shall have as much of my weapon as will keep you quiet for the
+rest of your life.  Remember that so long as you are reasonable I
+do not threaten you.  Help me to persuade Lady Cranston to leave us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Captain Griffiths was out of his depths.  He was not a coward, but
+he had no hankering after death, and there was death in Lessingham's
+threat and in the flash of his eyes.  While he hesitated, there was a
+knock upon the door.  Mills came silently in.  He carried a telegram
+upon a salver.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For you, sir," he announced, addressing Captain Griffiths.  "An
+orderly has just brought it down."
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths looked at the pink envelope and frowned.  He tore it open,
+however, without a word.  As he read, his long, upper teeth closed
+in upon his lip.  So he stood there until two little drops of blood
+appeared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he turned to Mills.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is no answer," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+The man bowed and left the room.  He walked slowly and he looked
+back from the doorway.  It was scarcely possible for even so
+perfectly trained a servant to escape from the atmosphere of tragedy.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Something tells me," Lessingham remarked coolly, as soon as the
+door was closed, "that that message concerns me."
+</p>
+<p>
+The Commandant made no immediate reply.  He straightened out the
+telegram and read it once more under the lamplight, as though to
+be sure there was no possible mistake.  Then he folded it up and
+placed it in his waistcoat pocket.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The notion of your arrest, sir," he said to Lessingham harshly,
+"is apparently distasteful to some one at headquarters who has not
+digested my information.  I am withdrawing my men for the present."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're not going to arrest him?" Philippa cried.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not," Captain Griffiths answered.  "But," he added, turning
+to Lessingham, "this is only a respite.  I have more evidence
+behind all that I have offered.  You are Baron Bertram Maderstrom,
+a German spy, living here in a prohibited area under a false name.
+That I know, and that I shall prove to those who have interfered
+with me in the execution of my duty.  This is not the end."
+</p>
+<p>
+He left the room without even a word or a salute to Philippa.
+Lessingham looked after him for a moment, thoughtfully.  Then he
+shrugged his shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am quite sure that I do not like Captain Griffiths," he declared.
+"There is no breeding about the fellow."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0024"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXIV
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa, even for some moments after the departure of Captain
+Griffiths and his myrmidons, remained in a sort of nerveless trance.
+The crisis, with its bewildering denouement, had affected her
+curiously.  Lessingham rose presently to his feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," he asked, "if I could have a whisky and soda?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She stamped her foot at him in a little fit of hysterical passion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're not natural!" she cried.  "Whisky and soda!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I don't know," he protested mildly, helping himself from
+the table in the background.  "I rather thought I was being
+particularly British.  When in doubt, take a drink.  That is
+Richard all the world over, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+She broke into a little mirthless laugh.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall begin to think that you are a poseur!" she exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+He crossed the room towards her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps I am, dear," he confessed.  "I want you just to sit up and
+lose that unnatural look.  I am not really full of cheap bravado, but
+I am a philosopher.  Something has happened to postpone&mdash;the end.
+Good luck to it, I say!"
+</p>
+<p>
+He raised his tumbler to his lips and set it down empty.  Philippa
+rose to her feet and walked restlessly to the window and back.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll try and be reasonable too," she promised, resuming her seat.
+"I was right, you see.  Captain Griffiths has discovered everything.
+Can you tell me what possible reason any one in London could have
+had for interference?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I seem to have got a friend up there without knowing it, don't I?"
+he observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"This is aging me terribly," Philippa declared, throwing herself
+back into her seat.  "All my life I have hated mysteries.  Here I
+am face to face with two absolutely insoluble ones.  Captain
+Griffiths has assured me that there is here in Dreymarsh something
+of sufficient importance to account for the presence of a foreign
+spy.  You have confirmed it.  I have been torturing my brain about
+that for the last twenty-four hours.  Now there happens something
+more inexplicable still.  You are arrested, and you are not
+arrested.  Your identity is known, and Captain Griffiths is forbidden
+to do his duty."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It seems puzzling, does it not?" Lessingham agreed.  "I shouldn't
+worry about the first, but this last little episode takes some
+explaining."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If anything further happens this evening, I think I shall go mad,"
+Philippa sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And something is going to happen," Lessingham declared, rising to
+his feet.  "Did you hear that?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Above even the roar of the wind they heard the brazen report of a
+gun from almost underneath the window.  The room was suddenly
+lightened by a single vivid flash.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A mortar!" Lessingham exclaimed.  "And that was a rocket, unless
+I'm mistaken."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The signal for the lifeboat!" Philippa announced.  "I wonder if we
+can see anything."
+</p>
+<p>
+She hastened towards the window, but paused at the abrupt opening
+of the door.  Nora burst in, followed more sedately by Helen.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mummy, there's a wreck!" the former cried in excitement.  "I heard
+something an hour ago, and I got up, and I've been sitting by the
+window, watching.  I saw the lifeboat go out, and they're signalling
+now for the other one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's quite true, Philippa," Helen declared.  "We're going to try
+and fight our way down to the beach."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll go, too," Lessingham decided.  "Perhaps I may be of use."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We'll all go," Philippa agreed.  "Wait while I get my things on.
+What is it, Mills?" she added, as the door opened and the latter
+presented himself.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There is a trawler on the rocks just off the breakwater, your
+ladyship," he announced.  "They have just sent up from the beach
+to know if we can take some of the crew in.  They are landing them
+as well as they can on the line."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course we can," was the prompt reply.  "Tell them to send as
+many as they want to.  We will find room for them, somehow.  I'll go
+upstairs and see about the fires.  You'll all come back?" she
+added, turning around.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will all come back," Lessingham promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+They fought their way down to the beach.  At first the storm
+completely deafened all sound.  The lanterns, waved here and there
+by unseen hands, seemed part of some ghostly tableau, of which the
+only background was the raging of the storm.  Then suddenly, with
+a startling hiss, another rocket clove its way through the darkness.
+They had an instantaneous but brilliant view of all that was
+happening,&mdash;saw the trawler lying on its side, apparently only a
+few yards from the shore, saw the line stretched to the beach, on
+which, even at that moment, a man was being drawn ashore, licked by
+the spray, his strained face and wind-tossed hair clearly visible.
+Then all was darkness again more complete than ever.  They struggled
+down on to the shingle, where the little cluster of fishermen were
+hard at work with the line.  Almost the first person they ran across
+was Jimmy Dumble.  He was standing on the edge of the breakwater
+with a great lantern in his hand, superintending the line, and, as
+they drew near, Lessingham, who was a little in advance, could hear
+his voice above the storm.  He was shouting towards the wreck, his
+hand to his mouth.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Send the master over next, you lubbers, or we'll cut the line.  Do
+you hear?"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no reply or, if there was, it was drowned in the wind.
+Lessingham gripped the fisherman by the arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whom do you mean by 'master'?" he demanded.  Dumble scarcely
+glanced at his interlocutor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, Sir Henry Cranston, to be sure," was the agitated answer.
+"These lubbers of sea hands are all coming off first, and the line
+won't stand for more than another one or two," he added, dropping
+his voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the thrill of those few minutes' excitement unrolled itself
+into a great drama before Lessingham's eyes.  Sir Henry was on that
+ship as near as any man might wish to be to death.
+</p>
+<p>
+"'Ere's the next," Jimmy muttered, as they turned the windlass
+vigorously.  "Gosh, 'e's a heavy one, too!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Then came a cry which sounded like a moan and above it the shrill
+fearful yell of a man who feels himself dropping out of the world's
+hearing.  Lessingham raised the lantern which stood on the beach
+by Jimmy's side.  The line had broken.  The body of its suspended
+traveller had disappeared!  And just then, strangely enough, for
+the first time for over an hour, the heavens opened in one great
+sheet of lightning, and they could see the figure of one man left
+on the ship, clinging desperately to the rigging.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tie the line around me," Jimmy shouted.  "Let her go.  Get the
+other end on the windlass."
+</p>
+<p>
+They paid out the rope through their hands.  Jimmy kicked off his
+boots and plunged into the cauldron.  He swam barely a dozen strokes
+before he was caught on the top of an incoming wave, tossed about
+like a cork and flung back upon the beach, where he lay groaning.
+There was a little murmur amongst the fisherman, who rushed to lean
+over him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Swimming ain't no more use than trying to walk on the water," one
+of them declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham raised the lantern which he was carrying, and flashed
+it around.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where are the young ladies?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gone up to the house with two as we've just taken off the wreck,"
+some one informed him.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham stooped down.  Willing hands helped him unfasten the cord
+from Jimmy's waist.  He tore off his own coat and waistcoat and boots.
+Some helped, other sought to dissuade him, as he secured the line
+around his own waist.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We've sent for more rockets," one man shouted in his ear.  "The man
+will be back in half an hour."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham pushed them on one side.  He stood on the edge of the
+beach and, borrowing a lantern, watched for his opportunity.  Then
+suddenly he vanished.  They looked after him.  They could see
+nothing but the rope slipping past their feet, inch by inch.
+Sometimes it was stationary, sometimes it was drawn taut.  The
+first great wave that came flung a yard or so of slack amongst
+them.  Then, after the roar of its breaking had died away, they
+saw the rope suddenly tighten, and pass rapidly out, and the
+excitement began to thicken.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That 'un didn't get him, anyway," one of them muttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He'll go through the next, with luck," another declared hopefully.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham, fighting for his consciousness, deafened and half
+stunned by the roar of the waters about him, still felt the
+exhilaration of that great struggle.  He looked once into seas
+which seemed to touch the clouds, drew himself stiff, and plunged
+into the depths of a mountain of foaming waters, whose summit
+seemed to him like one of those grotesque and nightmare-distorted
+efforts of the opium-eating brain.  Then the roar sounded all
+behind him, and he knew that he was through the breakers.  He swam
+to the side of the ship and clutched hold of a chain.  It was Sir
+Henry's out-stretched hand which pulled him on to the deck.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My God, that was a swim!" the latter declared, as he pulled his
+rescuer up, not in the least recognising him.  "Let's have the end
+of that cord, quick!  So!" he went on, paying it out through his
+fingers until the end of the rope appeared.  "You'd better get your
+breath, young man, and then over you go.  I'll follow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm damned if I do!" was the vigorous reply.  "You start off while
+I get my breath."
+</p>
+<p>
+They were suddenly half drowned with a shower of spray.  Sir Henry
+held Lessingham in a grip of iron, or he would have been swept
+overboard.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Get one arm through the chains, man," he shouted.  "My God!" he
+added, peering through the gloom.  "Lessingham!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, don't stop to worry about that," was the fierce reply.  "Let's
+get on with our job."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry threw off his oilskins and his underneath coat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Follow me when they wave the lantern twice," he directed.  "If we
+either of us get the knock&mdash;well, thanks!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham felt the grip of Sir Henry's hand as he passed him and
+went overboard into the darkness.  Then, with one arm through the
+chains, he drew towards him by means of his heel the coat which
+Sir Henry had thrown upon the deck.  Gradually it came within reach
+of his disengaged hand.  He seized it, shook it out, and dived
+eagerly into the breast pocket.  There were several small articles
+which he threw ruthlessly away, and then a square packet, wrapped
+in oilcloth, which bent to his fingers.  Another breaking wave
+threw him on his back.  One arm was still through the chain, the
+other gripped what some illuminating instinct had already convinced
+him was the chart!  As soon as he had recovered his breath, a grim
+effort of humour parted his lips.  He lay there for a moment and
+laughed till the spray, this time with a rush of green water
+underneath, very nearly swept him from his place.
+</p>
+<p>
+They were waving a lantern on the beach when he struggled again to
+his feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+He slipped the little packet down his clothes next to his skin, and
+groped about to find the end of the line which Sir Henry and he had
+fastened to a staple below the chains.  Then he drew a long breath,
+gripped the rope and shouted.  A second or two later he was back in
+the cauldron.
+</p>
+<p>
+As they pulled him on to the beach, he had but one idea.  Whatever
+happened, he must not lose consciousness.  The packet was still
+there against the calf of his leg.  It must be his own hands which
+removed his clothes.  It seemed to him that those few bronzed faces,
+those half a dozen rude lanterns, had become magnified and multiplied
+a hundredfold.  It was an army of blue-jerseyed fishermen which
+patted him on the back and welcomed him, lanterns like the stars
+flashing everywhere around.  He set his teeth and fought against the
+buzzing in his ears.  He tried to speak, and his voice sounded like
+a weak, far away whisper.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am all right," he kept on saying.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then he felt himself leaning on two brawny arms.  His feet followed
+the mesmeric influence of their movement.  Was he going into the
+clouds, he wondered?  They stopped to open a gate, the gate leading
+to the gardens of Mainsail Haul.  How did he get there?  He had no
+idea.  More movements of his feet, and then unexpected warmth.  He
+looked around him.  There were voices.  He listened.  The one voice?
+The one face bending over his, her eyes wet with tears, her whispers
+an incoherent stream of broken words.  Then the warmth seemed to
+come back to his veins.  He sat up and found himself on the couch
+in the library, the rain dripping from him in little pools, and he
+knew that he had succeeded.  He had not fainted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am all right," he repeated.  "What a mess I am making!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The voices around him were still a little tangled, but the hand
+which held a steaming tumbler to his lips was Philippa's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Drink it all," she begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+He felt the tears come into his eyes, felt the warm blood streaming
+through his body, felt a little wet patch at the back of the calf
+of his leg, and the hand which set down the empty tumbler was almost
+steady.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's a hot bath ready," Philippa told him; "some dry clothes,
+and a bedroom with a fire in.  Do let Mills show you the way."
+</p>
+<p>
+He rose at once, prepared to follow her.  His feet were not quite
+so steady as he would have wished, but he made a very presentable
+show.  Mills, with a little apology, held out his arm.  Philippa
+walked by his other side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As soon as you have finished your bath and got into some dry
+clothes," Philippa whispered, "please ring, or send Mills to let us
+know."
+</p>
+<p>
+He was even able to smile at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am quite all right," he assured her once more.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0025"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXV
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa, unusually early on the following morning, glanced at the
+empty breakfast table with a little air of disappointment, and rang
+the bell.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mills," she enquired, "is no one down?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sir Henry is, I believe, on the beach, your ladyship," the man
+answered, "and Miss Helen and Miss Nora are with him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Mr. Lessingham?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship," Mills continued, looking carefully
+behind him as though to be sure that the door was closed, "has
+disappeared."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Disappeared?" Philippa repeated.  "What do you mean, Mills?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I left Mr. Lessingham last night, your ladyship," Mills explained,
+"in a suit of the master's clothes and apparently preparing for bed
+&mdash;I should say this morning, as it was probably about two o'clock.
+I called him at half past eight, as desired, and found the room empty.
+The bed had not been slept in."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Was there no note or message?" Philippa asked incredulously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing, your ladyship.  One of the maid servants believes that she
+heard the front door open at five o'clock this morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Ring up the hotel," Philippa instructed, "and see if he is there."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mills departed to execute his commission.  Philippa stood looking
+out of the window, across the lawn and shrubbery and down on to the
+beach.  There was still a heavy sea, but it was merely the swell
+from the day before.  The wind had dropped, and the sun was shining
+brilliantly.  Sir Henry, Helen, and Nora were strolling about the
+beach as though searching for something.  About fifty yards out, the
+wrecked trawler was lying completely on its side, with the end of
+one funnel visible.  Scattered groups of the villagers were examining
+it from the sands.  In due course Mills returned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The hotel people know nothing of Mr. Lessingham, your ladyship,
+beyond the fact that he did not return last night.  They received a
+message from Hill's Garage, however, about half an hour ago, to
+say that their mechanic had driven Mr. Lessingham early this morning
+to Norwich, where he had caught the mail train to London, The boy
+was to say that Mr. Lessingham would be back in a day or so."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa pushed open the windows and made her way down towards the
+beach.  She leaned over the rail of the promenade and waved her hand
+to the others, who clambered up the shingle to meet her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Scarcely seen you yet, my dear, have I?" Sir Henry observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+He stooped and kissed her forehead, a salute which she suffered without
+response.  Helen pointed to the wreck.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It doesn't seem possible, does it," she said, "that men's lives
+should have been lost in that little space.  Two men were drowned,
+they say, through the breaking of the rope.  They recovered the
+bodies this morning."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Everything else seems to have been washed on shore except my coat,"
+Sir Henry grumbled.  "I was down here at daylight, looking for it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your coat!" Philippa repeated scornfully.  "Fancy thinking of that,
+when you only just escaped with your life!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But to tell you the truth, my dear," Sir Henry explained, "my
+pocketbook and papers of some value were in the pocket of that coat.
+I can't think how I came to forget them.  I think it was the surprise
+of seeing that fellow Lessingham crawl on to the wreck looking like
+a drowned rat.  Jove, what a pluck he must have!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fishermen can talk of nothing else," Nora put in excitedly.
+"Mummy, it was simply splendid!  Helen and I had gone up with two of
+the rescued men, but I got back just in time to see them fasten the
+rope round his waist and watch him plunge in."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How is he this morning?" Helen asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gone," Philippa replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+They all looked at her in surprise.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Gone?" Sir Henry repeated.  "What, back to the hotel, do you mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"His bed has not been slept in," Philippa told them.  "He must have
+slipped away early this morning, gone to Hill's Garage, hired a car,
+and motored to Norwich.  From there he went on to London.  He has
+sent word that he will be back in a few days."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hope to God he won't!" Sir Henry muttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa swung round upon him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What do you mean by that?" she demanded.  "Don't you want to thank
+him for saving your life?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear, I certainly do," Sir Henry replied, "but just now&mdash;well,
+I am a little taken aback.  Gone to London, eh?  Tore away without
+warning in the middle of the night to London!  And coming back, too
+&mdash;that's the strange part of it!"
+</p>
+<p>
+One would think, from Sir Henry's expression, that he was finding
+food for much satisfaction in this recital of Lessingham's sudden
+disappearance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is a wonderful fellow, this Lessingham," he added thoughtfully.
+"He must have&mdash;yes, by God, he must have&mdash;In that storm, too!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you could speak coherently, Henry," Philippa observed, "I should
+like to say that I am exceedingly anxious to know why Mr. Lessingham
+has deserted us so precipitately."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry would have taken his wife's arm, but she avoided him.  He
+shrugged his shoulders and plodded up the steep path by her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The whole question of Lessingham is rather a problem," he said.
+"Of course, you and Helen have seen very much more of him than I
+have.  Isn't it true that people have begun to make curious remarks
+about him?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"How did you know that, Henry?" Philippa demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, one hears things," he replied.  "I should gather, from what
+I heard, that his position here had become a little precarious.
+Hence his sudden disappearance."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But he is coming back again," Philippa reminded her husband.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa signified her desire that her husband should remain a little
+behind with her.  They walked side by side up the gravel path.
+Philippa kept her hands clasped behind her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To leave the subject of Mr. Lessingham for a time," she began, "I
+feel very reluctant to ask for explanations of anything you do, but
+I must confess to a certain curiosity as to why I should find you
+lunching at the Canton with two very beautiful ladies, a few days
+ago, when you left here with Jimmy Dumble to fish for whiting; and
+also why you return here on a trawler which belongs to another part
+of the coast?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was beginning to wonder whether curiosity was dead," he observed
+good-humouredly.  "If you wouldn't mind giving me another&mdash;well,
+to be on the safe side let us say eight days&mdash;I think I shall be
+able to offer you an explanation which you will consider satisfactory."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," Philippa rejoined, with cold surprise; "I see no reason
+why you should not answer such simple questions at once."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry sighed deprecatingly, and made another vain attempt to take
+his wife's arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa, be a little brick," he begged.  "I know I seem to have
+been playing the part of a fool just lately, but there has been a
+sort of reason for it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What reason could there possibly be," she demanded, "which you
+could not confide in me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He was silent for a moment.  When he spoke again there was a new
+earnestness in his tone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa," he said, "I have been working for some time at a little
+scheme which isn't ripe to talk about yet, not even to you, but
+which may lead to something which I hope will alter your opinion.
+You couldn't see your way clear to trust me a little longer, could
+you?" he begged, with rather a plaintive gleam in his blue eyes.
+"It would make it so much easier for me to say no more but just
+have you sit tight."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wonder," she answered coldly, "if you realise how much I have
+suffered, sitting tight, as you call it, and waiting for you to
+do something!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"My fishing excursions," he went on desperately, "have not been
+altogether a matter of sport."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know that quite well," she replied.  "You have been making that
+chart you promised your miserable fishermen.  None of those things
+interest me, Henry.  I fear&mdash;I am very much inclined to say that
+none of your doings interest me.  Least of all," she went on, her
+voice quivering with passion, "do I appreciate in the least these
+mysterious appeals for my patience.  I have some common sense,
+Henry."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You're a suspicious little beast," he told her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Suspicious!" she scoffed.  "What a word to use from a man who goes
+off fishing for whiting, and is lunching at the Carlton, some days
+afterwards, with two ladies of extraordinary attractions!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was a trifle awkward," Sir Henry admitted, with a little burst
+of candour, "but it goes in with the rest, Philippa."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then it can stay with the rest," she retorted, "exactly where I
+have placed it in my mind.  Please understand me.  Your conduct for
+the last twelve months absolves me from any tie there may be between
+us.  If this explanation that you promise comes&mdash;in time, and I
+feel like it, very well.  Until it does, I am perfectly free, and
+you, as my husband, are non-existent.  That is my reply, Henry, to
+your request for further indulgence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Rather a foolish one, my dear," he answered, patting her shoulder,
+"but then you are rather a child, aren't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She swung away from him angrily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't touch me!" she exclaimed.  "I mean every word of what I have
+said.  As for my being a child&mdash;well, you may be sorry some day
+that you have persisted in treating me like one."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry paused for a moment, watching her disappearing figure.
+There was an unusual shade of trouble in his face.  His love for
+and confidence in his wife had been so absolute that even her threats
+had seemed to him like little morsels of wounded vanity thrown to
+him out of the froth of her temper.  Yet at that moment a darker
+thought crossed his mind.  Lessingham, he realised, was not a rival,
+after all, to be despised.  He was a man of courage and tact, even
+though Sir Henry, in his own mind, had labelled him as a fool.  If
+indeed he were coming back to Dreymarsh, what could it be for?  How
+much had Philippa known about him?  He stood there for a few moments
+in indecision.  A great impulse had come to him to break his pledge,
+to tell her the truth.  Then he made his disturbed way into the
+breakfast room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where's your mother, Nora?" he asked, as Helen took Philippa's
+place at the head of the table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"She wants some coffee and toast sent up to her room." Nora
+explained.  "The wind made her giddy."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry breakfasted in silence, rang the bell, and ordered his car.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You going away again, Daddy?" Nora asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going to London this morning," he replied, a little absently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To London?" Helen repeated.  "Does Philippa know?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't told her yet."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen turned towards Nora.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wish you'd run up and see if your mother wants any more coffee,
+there's a dear," she suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Nora acquiesced at once.  As soon as she had left the room, Helen
+leaned over and laid her hand upon Sir Henry's arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't go to London, Henry," she begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But my dear Helen, I must," he replied, a little curtly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I wouldn't if I were you," she persisted.  "You know, you've tried
+Philippa very high lately, and she is in an extremely emotional
+state.  She is all worked up about last night, and I wouldn't leave
+her alone if I were you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry's blue eyes seemed suddenly like points of steel as he
+leaned towards her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think that she is in love with that fellow Lessingham?" he asked
+bluntly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No, I don't," Helen replied, "but I think she is more furious with
+you than you believe.  For months you have acted&mdash;well, how shall
+I say?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, like a coward, if you like, or a fool.  Go on."
+</p>
+<p>
+"She has asked for explanations to which she is perfectly entitled,"
+Helen continued, "and you have given her none.  You have treated her
+like something between a doll and a child.  Philippa is as good and
+sweet as any woman who ever lived, but hasn't it ever occurred to
+you that women are rather mysterious beings?  They may sometimes do,
+out of a furious sense of being wrongly treated, out of a sort of
+aggravated pique, what they would never do for any other reason.  If
+you must go, come back to-night, Henry.  Come back, and if you are
+obstinate, and won't tell Philippa all that she has a right to know,
+tell her about that luncheon in town."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry frowned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's all very well, you know, Helen," he said, "but a woman ought
+to trust her husband."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am your friend, remember," Helen replied, "and upon my word, I
+couldn't trust and believe even in Dick, if he behaved as you have
+done for the last twelve months."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry made a grimace.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, that settles it, I suppose, then," he observed.  "I'll have
+one more try and see what I can do with Philippa.  Perhaps a hint
+of what's going on may satisfy her."
+</p>
+<p>
+He climbed the stairs, meeting Nora on her way down, and knocked at
+his wife's door.  There was no reply.  He tried the handle and found
+the door locked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you there, Philippa?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes!" she replied coldly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am going to London this morning.  Can I have a few words with you
+first?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry was a little taken aback.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be silly, Philippa," he persisted.  "I may be away for four
+or five days."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was no answer.  Sir Henry suddenly remembered another entrance
+from a newly added bathroom.  He availed himself of it and found
+Philippa seated in an easy-chair, calmly progressing with her
+breakfast.  She raised her eyebrows at his entrance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"These are my apartments," she reminded him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be a little fool," he exclaimed impatiently.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa deliberately buttered herself a piece of toast, picked up
+her book, and became at once immersed in it.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't wish to talk to me, then?" he demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not," she agreed.  "You have had all the opportunities which
+any man should need, of explaining certain matters to me.  My
+curiosity in them has ended; also my interest&mdash;in you.  You say
+you are going to London.  Very well.   Pray do not hurry home on
+my account."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry, as he turned to leave the room, made the common mistake
+of a man arguing with a woman&mdash;he attempted to have the last word.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps I am better out of the way, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps so," Philippa assented sweetly.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0026"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXVI
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa, late that afternoon, found what she sought&mdash;solitude.
+She had walked along the sands until Dreymarsh lay out of sight on
+the other side of a spur of the cliffs.  Before her stretched a
+long and level plain, a fringe of sand, and a belt of shingly
+beach.  There was not a sign of any human being in sight, and of
+buildings only a quaint tower on the far horizon.
+</p>
+<p>
+She found a dry place on the pebbles, removed her hat and sat down,
+her hands clasped around her knees, her eyes turned seaward.  She
+had come out here to think, but it was odd how fugitive and
+transient her thoughts became.  Her husband was always there in the
+background, but in those moments it was Lessingham who was the
+predominant figure.  She remembered his earnestness, his tender
+solicitude for her, the courage which, when necessity demanded,
+had flamed up in him, a born and natural quality.  She remembered
+the agony of those few minutes on the preceding day, when nothing
+but what still seemed a miracle had saved him.  At one moment she
+felt herself inclined to pray that he might never come back.  At
+another, her heart ached to see him once more.  She knew so well
+that if he came it would be for her sake, that he would come to ask
+her finally the question with which she had fenced.  She knew, too,
+that his coming would be the moment of her life.  She was so much
+of a woman, and the passionate craving of her sex to give love for
+love was there in her heart, almost omnipotent.  And in the
+background there was that bitter desire to bring suffering upon
+the man who had treated her like a child, who had placed her in a
+false position with all other women, who had dawdled and idled
+away his days, heedless of his duty, heedless of every serious
+obligation.  When she tried to reason, her way seemed so clear,
+and yet, behind it all, there was that cold impulse of almost
+Victorian prudishness, the inheritance of a long line of virtuous
+women, a prudishness which she had once, when she had believed
+that it was part of her second nature, scoffed at as being the
+outcome of one of the finer forms of selfishness.
+</p>
+<p>
+She told herself that she had come there to decide, and decision
+came no nearer to her.  A late afternoon star shone weakly in the
+sky.  A faint, vaporous mist obscured the horizon and floated in
+tangled wreaths upon the face of the sea.  Only that line of
+sand seemed still clear-cut and distinct, and as she glanced along
+it her eyes were held by something approaching, something which
+seemed at first nothing but a black, moving speck, then gradually
+resolved itself into the semblance of a man on horseback, galloping
+furiously.  She watched him as he drew nearer and nearer, the sand
+flying from his horse's hoofs, his figure motionless, his eyes
+apparently fixed upon some distant spot.  It was not until he had
+come within fifty yards of her that she recognised him.  His horse
+shied at the sight of her and was suddenly swung round with a
+powerful wrist.  Little specks of sand, churned up in the momentary
+stampede of hoofs, fell upon her skirt.  For the rest, she watched
+the struggle composedly, a struggle which was over almost as soon
+as it was begun.  Captain Griffiths leaned down from his trembling
+but subdued horse.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lady Cranston!" he exclaimed in astonishment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's me," she replied, smiling up at him.  "Have you been riding
+off your bad temper?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He glanced down at his horse's quivering sides.  Back as far as one
+could see there was that regular line of hoof marks.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Am I bad-tempered?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," she observed, "I don't know you well enough to answer that
+question.  I was simply thinking of yesterday evening."
+</p>
+<p>
+He slipped from his horse and stood before her.  His long, severe
+face had seldom seemed more malevolent.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had enough to make me bad-tempered," he declared.  "I had tracked
+down a German spy, step by step, until I had him there, waiting for
+arrest&mdash;expecting it, even&mdash;and then I got that wicked message."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What was that wicked message after all?" she enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That doesn't matter," he answered.  "It was from a quarter where
+they ought to know better, and it ordered me to make no arrest.  I
+have sent to the War Office to-day a full report, and I am praying
+that they may change their minds."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa sighed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you hadn't received that telegram last night," she observed,
+"it seems to me that I should have been a widow to-day."
+</p>
+<p>
+He frowned, and struck his boot heavily with his riding whip.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, I heard of that," he admitted.  "I dare say if he hadn't
+gone, though, some one else would."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Would you have gone if you had been there?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you had told me to," he replied, looking at her steadfastly.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa felt a little shiver.  There was something ominous in the
+intensity of his gaze and the meaning which he had contrived to
+impart to his tone.  She rose to her feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well," she said, "don't let me keep you here.  I am getting cold."
+</p>
+<p>
+He passed his arm through the bridle of his horse.  "I will walk
+with you, if I may," he proposed.  She made no reply, and they set
+their faces homewards.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I hear Lessingham has left the place," he remarked, a little
+abruptly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I expect he'll come back," Philippa replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long is it, Lady Cranston, since you took to consorting with
+German spies?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't be foolish&mdash;or impertinent," she enjoined.  "You are making
+a ridiculous mistake about Mr. Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laughed unpleasantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No need for us to fence," he said.  "You and I know who he is.
+What I do want to know, what I have been wondering all the way from
+the point there&mdash;four miles of hard galloping and one question&mdash;
+why are you his friend?  What is he to you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Really, Captain Griffiths," she protested, looking up at him, "of
+what possible interest can that be to you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it is, anyhow," he answered gruffly.  "Anything that concerns
+you is of interest to me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa realised at that moment, perhaps for the first time, what
+it all meant.  She realised the significance of those apparently
+purposeless afternoon calls, when through sheer boredom she had had
+to send for Helen to help her out; the significance of those long
+silences, the melancholy eyes which seemed to follow her movements.
+She felt an unaccountable desire to laugh, and then, at the first
+twitchings of her lips, she restrained herself.  She knew that
+tragedy was stalking by her side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think, Captain Griffiths," she said gravely, "that you are talking
+nonsense, and you are not a very good hand at it.  Won't you please
+ride on?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He made no movement to mount his horse.  He plodded along the soft
+sand by her side&mdash;a queer, elongated figure, his gloomy eyes fixed
+upon the ground.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Until this fellow Lessingham came you were never so hard," he
+persisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him with genuine curiosity.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was never so hard?" she repeated.  "Do you imagine that I have
+ever for a single moment considered my demeanour towards you&mdash;you
+of all persons in the world?  I simply don't remember when you have
+been there and when you haven't.  I don't remember the humours in
+which I have been when we have conversed.  All that you have said
+seems to me to be the most arrant nonsense."
+</p>
+<p>
+He swung himself into the saddle and gathered up the reins.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank you," he said bitterly, "I understand.  Only let me tell you
+this," he went on, his whip poised in his hand.  "You may have
+powerful friends who saved your&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+He hesitated so long that she glanced up at him and read all that
+he had wished to say in his face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My what?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+His courage failed him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham," he proceeded, "from arrest.  But if he shows his
+face here again in Dreymarsh, I sha'n't stop to arrest him.  I shall
+shoot him on sight and chance the consequences."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They'll hang you!" she declared savagely.
+</p>
+<p>
+He laughed at her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hang me for shooting a man whom I can prove to be a German spy?
+They won't dare!  They won't even dare to place me under arrest for
+an hour.  Why, when the truth becomes known," he went on, his
+voice gaining courage as the justice of his case impressed itself
+upon him, "what do you suppose is going to happen to two women who
+took this fellow in and befriended him, introduced him under a
+false name to their friends, gave him the run of their house&mdash;this
+man whom they knew all the time was a German?  You, Lady Cranston,
+chafing and scolding your husband by night and by day because he
+isn't where you think he ought to be; you, so patriotic that you
+cannot bear the sight of him out of uniform; you&mdash;the hostess,
+the befriender, the God knows what of Bertram Maderstrom!  It will
+be a pretty tale when it's all told!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I really think," Philippa asserted calmly, "that you are the most
+utterly impossible and obnoxious creature I have ever met."
+</p>
+<p>
+His face was dangerous for a moment.  They had not yet reached the
+promontory which sheltered them from Dreymarsh.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," he muttered, leaning malignly towards her, "I could make
+myself even more obnoxious."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite possibly," she replied, "only I want to tell you this.  If
+you come a single inch nearer to me, one of them shall shoot you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your friend or your husband, eh?" he scoffed.
+</p>
+<p>
+She waved him on.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," she told him, "that either of them would be quite
+capable of ridding the world of a coward like you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A coward?" he repeated.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Precisely!  Isn't it a coward's part to terrorise a woman?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't want to terrorise you," he said sulkily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, you must admit that you haven't shown any particular desire
+to make yourself agreeable," she pointed out.
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned suddenly upon her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am a fool, I know," he declared bitterly.  "I'm an awkward,
+nervous, miserable fool, my own worst enemy as they say of me in
+the Mess, turning the people against me I want to have like me,
+stumbling into every blunder a fool can.  I'm the sort of man
+women make sport of, and you've done it for them cruelly,
+perfectly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths!" she protested.  "When have I ever been
+anything but kind and courteous to you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't your kindness I want, nor your courtesy!  There's a curse
+upon my tongue," he went on desperately.  "I'm not like other men.
+I don't know how to say what I feel.  I can't put it into words.
+Every one misunderstands me.  You, too!  Here I rode up to you this
+afternoon and my heart was beating for joy, and in five minutes I
+had made an enemy of you.  Damn that fellow Lessingham!  It is all
+his fault!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Without the slightest warning he brought down his hunting crop upon
+his horse's flanks.  The mare gave one great plunge, and he was off,
+riding at a furious gallop.  Philippa watched him with immense
+relief, In the far distance she could see two little specks growing
+larger and larger.  She hurried on towards them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever did you do to Captain Griffiths, Mummy?"  Nora demanded.
+"Why he passed us without looking down, galloping like a madman,
+and his face looked&mdash;well, what did it look like, Helen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen was gazing uneasily along the sands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Like a man riding for his enemy," she declared.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0027"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXVII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Philippa and Helen looked at one another a little dolefully across
+the luncheon table.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I supposes one misses the child," Helen said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I feel too depressed for words," Philippa admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A few days ago," Helen reminded her companion, "we were getting
+all the excitement that was good for any one."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And a little more," Philippa agreed.  "I don't know why things seem
+so flat now.  We really ought to be glad that nothing terrible has
+happened."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What with Henry and Mr. Lessingham both away," Helen continued,
+"and Captain Griffiths not coming near the place, we really have
+reverted to the normal, haven't we?  I wonder&mdash;if Mr. Lessingham
+has gone back."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do not think so," Philippa murmured.
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen frowned slightly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Personally," she said, with some emphasis, "I hope that he has."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If we are considering the personal point of view only," Philippa
+retorted, "I hope that he has not."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen looked her disapproval.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should have thought that you had had enough playing with fire,"
+she observed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"One never has until one has burned one's fingers," Philippa sighed.
+"I know perfectly well what is the matter with you," she continued
+severely.  "You are fretting because curried chicken is Dick's
+favourite dish."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not such a baby," Helen protested.  "All the same, it does
+make one think.  I wonder&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know exactly what you were going to say," Philippa interrupted.
+"You were going to say that you wondered whether Mr. Lessingham
+would keep his promise."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whether he would be able to," Helen corrected.  "It does seem so
+impossible, doesn't it?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"So does Mr. Lessingham himself," Philippa reminded her.  "It isn't
+exactly a usual thing, is it, to have a perfectly charming and
+well-bred young man step out of a Zeppelin into your drawing-room."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You really believe, then," Helen asked eagerly, "that he will be
+able to keep his promise?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa nodded confidently.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you know," she said, "I believe that Mr. Lessingham, by some
+means or another, would keep any promise he ever made.  I am
+expecting to see Dick at any moment now, so you can get on with
+your lunch, dear, and not sit looking at the curry with tears in
+your eyes."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It isn't the curry so much as the chutney," Helen protested faintly.
+"He never would touch any other sort."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I shouldn't be surprised if he were here to finish the
+bottle," Philippa declared.  "I have a feeling this morning that
+something is going to happen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long has Nora gone away for?" Helen enquired, after a moment's
+pause.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A fortnight or three weeks," Philippa answered.  "Her grandmother
+wired that she would be glad to have her until Christmas."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Just why," Helen asked seriously, "have you sent her away?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa toyed with her curry, and glanced around as though she
+regretted Mills' absence from the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I thought it best," she said quietly.  "You see, I am not quite
+sure what the immediate future of this menage is going to be."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen leaned across the table and laid her hand upon her friend's.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear," she sighed, "it worries me so to hear you talk like that."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because you know perfectly well, although you profess to ignore it,
+that at the bottom of your heart there is no one else but Henry.
+It isn't fair, you know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"To whom isn't it fair?" Philippa demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"To Mr. Lessingham."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was thoughtful for a few moments.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," she admitted, "that is a point of view which I have not
+sufficiently considered."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen pressed home her advantage.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think you realise, Philippa," she said, "how madly in love
+with you the man is.  In a perfectly ingenuous way, too.  No one
+could help seeing it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Then where does the unfairness come in?" Philippa asked.  "It is
+within my power to give him all that he wants."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you wouldn't do it, Philippa.  You know that you wouldn't!"
+Helen objected.  "You may play with the idea in your mind, but
+that's just as far as you'd ever get."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa looked her friend steadily in the face.  "I disagree with
+you, Helen," she said.  Helen set down the glass which she had
+been in the act of raising to her lips.  It was her first really
+serious intimation of the tragedy which hovered over her future
+sister-in-law's life.  Somehow or other, Philippa had seemed, even
+to her, so far removed from that strenuous world of over-drugged,
+over-excited feminine decadence, to whom the changing of a husband
+or a lover is merely an incident in the day's excitements.
+Philippa, with her frail and almost flowerlike beauty, her love of
+the wholesome ways of life, and her strong affections, represented
+other things.  Now, for the first time, Helen was really afraid,
+afraid for her friend.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But you couldn't ever&mdash;you wouldn't leave Henry!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa seemed to find nothing monstrous in the idea.
+</p>
+<p>
+"That is just what I am seriously thinking of doing," she confided.
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen affected to laugh, but her mirth was obviously forced.  Their
+conversation ceased perforce with the return of Mills into the room.
+</p>
+<p>
+Then the wonderful thing happened.  The windows of the dining room
+faced the drive to the house and both women could clearly see a
+motor car turn in at the gate and stop at the front door.  It was
+obviously a hired car, as the driver was not in livery, but the
+tall, mulled-up figure in unfamiliar clothes who occupied the front
+seat was for the moment a mystery to them.  Only Helen seemed to
+have some wonderful premonition of the truth, a premonition which
+she was afraid to admit even to herself.  Her hand began to shake.
+Philippa looked at her in amazement.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You look as though you had seen a ghost, Helen!" she exclaimed.
+"Who on earth can it be, coming at this time of the day?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen was speechless, and Philippa divined at once the cause of her
+agitation.  She sprang to her feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen, you don't imagine&mdash;" she gasped.  "Listen!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a voice in the hail&mdash;a familiar voice, though strained
+a little and hoarse; Mills' decorous greetings, agitated but fervent.
+And then&mdash;Major Richard Felstead!
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dick!" Helen screamed, as she threw herself into his arms.  "Oh,
+Dick!  Dick!"
+</p>
+<p>
+It was an incoherent, breathless moment.  Somehow or other, Philippa
+found herself sharing her brother's embrace.  Then the fire of
+questions and answers was presently interrupted by Mills,
+triumphantly bearing in a fresh dish of curry.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What will the Major take to drink, your ladyship?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Felstead laughed a little chokingly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Upon my word, there's something wonderfully sound about Mills!"
+he said.  "It's a ghoulish thing to ask for in the middle of the
+day, isn't it, Philippa, but can I have some champagne?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You can have the whole cellarful," Philippa assured him joyously.
+"Be sure you bring the best, Mills."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Perrier Jonet 1904, your ladyship," was the murmured reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+Mills' disappearance was very brief, and in a very few moments they
+found themselves seated once more at the table.  They sat one on
+either side of him, watching his glass and his plate.  By degrees
+their questions and his answers became more intelligible.
+</p>
+<p>
+"When did you get here?" they wanted to know.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I arrived in Harwich about daylight this morning," he told them;
+"came across from Holland.  I hired a car and drove straight here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"When did you know you were coming home?" Helen asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Only two days ago," he replied.  "I never was so surprised in my
+life.  Even now I can't realise my good luck.  I can't see what I've
+done.  The last two months, in fact, seem to me to have been a dream.
+Jove!" he went on, as he drank his wine, "I never thought I should
+be such a pig as to care so much for eating and drinking!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"And think what weeks of it you have before you?" Helen explained,
+clapping her hands.  "Philippa and I will have a new interest in
+life&mdash;to make you fat."
+</p>
+<p>
+He laughed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It won't be very difficult," he promised them.  "I had several
+months of semi-starvation before the miracle happened.  It was all
+just the chance of having had a pal up at Magdalen who's been
+serving in the German Army&mdash;Bertram Maderstrom was his name.  You
+remember him, Philippa?  He was a Swede in those days."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What a dear he must have been to have remembered and to have been
+so faithful!" Philippa observed, looking away for a moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's a real good sort," Felstead declared enthusiastically,
+"although Heaven knows why he's turned German!  He worked like a
+slave for me.  I dare say he didn't find it so difficult to get
+me better quarters and a servant, and decent food, but when they
+told me that I was free&mdash;well, it nearly knocked me silly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The dear fellow!" Philippa murmured pensively.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do you remember him, either of you?" Felstead continued.  "Rather
+good-looking he was, and a little shy, but quite a sportsman."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I&mdash;seem to remember," Philippa admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The name sounds familiar," Helen echoed.  "Do have some more
+chutney, Dick."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thanks!  What a pig I am making of myself!" he observed cheerfully.
+"You girls will think I can't talk about any one but Maderstrom,
+but the whole business beats me so completely.  Of course, we were
+great pals, in a way, but I never thought that I was the apple of
+his eye, or anything of that sort.  How he got the influence, too,
+I can't imagine.  And oh!  I knew there was something else I was
+going to ask you girls," Felstead went on.  "Have you ever had
+a letter, or rather a letter each, uncensored?  Just a line or two?
+I think I mentioned Maderstrom which I should not have been allowed
+to do in the ordinary prison letters."
+</p>
+<p>
+Felstead was helping himself to cheese, and he saw nothing of the
+quick glance which passed between the two women.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, we had them, Dick," Philippa told him.  "It was one afternoon
+&mdash;it doesn't seem so very long ago.  And oh, how thankful we were!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Felstead nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He got them across all right, then.  Tell me, did they come through
+Holland?  What was the postmark?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The postmark," Philippa repeated, a little doubtfully.  "You heard
+what Dick asked, Helen?  The postmark?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think there was one," Helen replied, glancing anxiously at
+Philippa.
+</p>
+<p>
+Felstead set down his glass.
+</p>
+<p>
+"No postmark?  You mean no foreign postmark, I suppose?  They were
+posted in England, eh?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They came to us, Dick," she said, "by hand."
+</p>
+<p>
+Felstead was, without a doubt, astonished.  He turned round in his
+chair towards Philippa.
+</p>
+<p>
+"By hand?" he repeated.  "Do you mean to say that they were actually
+brought here by hand?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Perhaps something in his manner warned them.  Philippa laughed as
+she bent over his chair.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We will tell you how they came, presently," she declared, "but not
+until you have finished your lunch, drunk the last drop of that
+champagne, and had at least two glasses of the port that Mills has
+been decanting so carefully.  After that we will see.  Just now I
+have only one feeling, and I know that Helen has it, too.  Nothing
+else matters except that we have you home again."
+</p>
+<p>
+Felstead patted his sister on the cheek, drew her face down to his
+and kissed her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's so wonderful to be at home!" he exclaimed apologetically.
+"But I must warn you that I am the rabidest person alive.  I went
+out to the war with a certain amount of respect for the Germans.  I
+have come back loathing them like vermin.  I spent&mdash;but I won't go
+on."
+</p>
+<p>
+Mills made his appearance with the decanter of port.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I beg your ladyship's pardon," he said, as he filled Felstead's
+glass, "but Mr. Lessingham has arrived and is in the library,
+waiting to see you."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0028"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXVIII
+</h2>
+<p>
+To Major Richard Felstead, Mills' announcement was without
+significance.  For the first time he became conscious, however, of
+something which seemed almost like a secret understanding between
+his sister and his fianc�e.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Tell Mr. Lessingham I shall be with him in a minute or two, if he
+will kindly wait," Philippa instructed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is Mr. Lessingham?" Richard enquired, as soon as the door had
+closed behind Mills.  "Seems a queer time to call."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen glanced at Philippa, whose lips framed a decided negative.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham is a gentleman staying in the neighbourhood," the
+latter replied.  "You will probably make his acquaintance before
+long.  Incidentally, he saved Henry's life the other night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sounds exciting," Richard observed.  "What form of destruction
+was Henry courting?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"There was a trawler shipwrecked in the storm," Philippa explained.
+"You can see it from all the front windows.  Henry was on board,
+returning from one of his fishing excursions.  They were trying to
+find Dumble's anchorage and were driven in on to that low ridge of
+rock.  A rope broke, or something, they had no more rockets, and
+Mr. Lessingham swam out with the line."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sounds like a plucky chap," Richard admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa rose to her feet regretfully.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I expect he has come to wish us good-by," she said.  "I'll leave
+you with Helen, Dick.  Don't let her overfeed you.  And you know
+where the cigars are, Helen.  Take Dick into the gun room
+afterwards.  You'll have it all to yourselves and there is a fire
+there."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa entered the library in a state of agitation for which she
+was glad to have some reasonable excuse.  She held out both her
+hands to Lessingham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dick is back&mdash;just arrived!" she exclaimed.  "I can't tell you
+how happy we are, and how grateful!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham raised her fingers to his lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am glad," he said simply.  "Do you mean that he is in the house
+here, now?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He is in the dining room with Helen."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham for a moment was thoughtful.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you think," he suggested, "that it would be better to keep
+us apart?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I was wondering," she confessed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Have you told him about my bringing the letters?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We nearly did.  Then I stopped&mdash;I wasn't sure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You were wise," he said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you wise?" she asked him quickly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In coming back here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths knows everything," she reminded him.  "He is
+simply furious because your arrest was interfered with.  I really
+believe that he is dangerous."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham was unmoved.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I had to come back," he said simply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why did you go away so suddenly?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I had to do that, too," he replied, "only the governing
+causes were very different.  We will speak, if you do not mind,
+only of the cause which has brought me back.  That I believe you
+know already."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was curiously afraid.  She looked towards the door as
+though with some vague hope of escape.  She realised that the
+necessity for decision had arrived.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa," he went on, "do you see what this is?"
+</p>
+<p>
+He handed her two folded slips of paper.  She started.  At the top
+of one she recognised a small photograph of herself.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What are they?" she asked.  "What does it mean?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"They are passports for America," he told her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For&mdash;for me?" she faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"For you and me."
+</p>
+<p>
+They slipped from her fingers.  He picked them up from the carpet.
+Her face was hidden for a moment in her hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know so well how you are feeling," he said humbly.  "I know how
+terrible a shock this must seem to you when it comes so near.  You
+are so different from the other women who might do this thing.  It
+is so much harder for you than for them."
+</p>
+<p>
+She lifted her head.  There was still something of the look of a
+scared child in her face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't imagine me better than I am," she begged.  "I am not really
+different from any other woman, only it is the first time this sort
+of thing has ever come into my life."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know.  You see," he went on, a little wistfully, "you have not
+taken me, as yet, very far into your confidence, Philippa.  You
+know that I love you as a man loves only once.  It sounds like an
+empty phrase to say it, but if you will give me your life to take
+care of, I shall only have one thought&mdash;to make you happy.  Could
+I succeed?  That is what you have to ask yourself.  You are not
+happy now.  Do you think that, if you stay on here, the future is
+likely to be any better for you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She shook her head drearily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I believe," she confessed, "that I have reached the very limit
+of my endurance."
+</p>
+<p>
+He came a little nearer.  His hands rested upon her shoulders very
+lightly, yet they seemed like some enveloping chain.  More than
+ever in those few moments she realised the spiritual qualities of
+his face.  His eyes were aglow.  His voice, a little broken with
+emotion, was wonderfully tender.  He looked at her as though she
+were some precious and sacred thing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am rich," he said, "and there are few parts of the world where
+we could not live.  We could find our way to the islands, like
+your great writer Stevenson in whom you delight so much; islands
+full of colour, and wonderful birds, and strange blue skies;
+islands where the peace of the tropics dulls memory, and time
+heats only in the heart.  The world is a great place, Philippa,
+and there are corners where the sordid crime of this ghastly
+butchery has scarcely been heard of, where the horror and the
+taint of it are as though they never existed, where the sun and
+moon are still unashamed, and the grey monsters ride nowhere upon
+the sapphire seas."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It sounds like a fairy tale," she murmured, with a half pathetic
+smile.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Love always fashions life like a fairy tale," he replied.
+</p>
+<p>
+She stood perfectly still.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must have my answer now, at this moment?" she asked at last.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are yet some hours," he told her.  "I have a very powerful
+automobile here, and to-night there is a full moon.  If we leave
+here at ten o'clock, we can catch the steamer to-morrow afternoon.
+Everything has been made very easy for me.  And fortune, too, is
+with us&mdash;your vindictive commandant, Captain Griffiths, is in
+London.  You see, you have the whole afternoon for thought.  I
+want you only for your happiness.  At ten o'clock I shall come
+here.  If you are coming with me, you must be ready then.  You
+understand?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I understand," she assented, under her breath.  "And now," she
+went on, raising her eyes, "somehow I think that you are right.
+It would be better for you and Dick not to meet."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sure of it," he agreed.  "I shall come for my answer at ten
+o'clock.  I wonder&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+He stood looking at her, his eyes hungry to find some sign in her
+face.  There was so much kindness there, so much that might pass,
+even, for affection, and yet something which, behind it all,
+chilled his confidence.  He left his sentence uncompleted and
+turned towards the door.  Suddenly she called him back.  She held
+up her finger.  Her whole expression had changed.  She was alarmed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Wait!" she begged.  "I can hear Dick's voice.  Wait till he has
+crossed the hail."
+</p>
+<p>
+They both stood, for a moment, quite silent.  Then they heard a
+little protesting cry from Helen, and a good-humoured laugh from
+Richard.  The door was thrown open.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't mind our coming through to the gun room, Phil?" her
+brother asked.  "We're not&mdash;My God!"
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a queer silence, broken by Helen, who stood on the
+threshold, the picture of distress.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I tried to get him to go the other way, Philippa."
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard took a quick step forward.  His hands were outstretched.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Bertram!" he exclaimed.  "Is this a miracle?  You here with my
+sister?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham held out his hand.  Suddenly Richard dropped his.  His
+expression had become sterner.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't understand," he said simply.  "Somebody please explain."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0029"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXIX
+</h2>
+<p>
+For a few brief seconds no one seemed inclined to take upon
+themselves the onus of speech.  Richard's amazement seemed to
+increase upon reflection.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom!" he exclaimed.  "Bertram!  What in the name of all
+that's diabolical are you doing here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am just a derelict," Lessingham explained, with a faint smile.
+"Glad to see you, Richard.  You are a day earlier than I expected."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You knew that I was coming, then?" Richard demanded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Naturally," Lessingham replied.  "I had the great pleasure of
+arranging for your release."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here," Richard went on, "I'm groping about a bit.  I don't
+understand.  Forgive me if I run off the track.  I'm not forgetting
+our friendship, Maderstrom, or what I owe to you since you came
+and found me at Wittenburg.  But for all that, you have served in
+the German Army and are an enemy, and I want to know what you are
+doing here, in England, in my brother-in-law's house."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No particular harm, Richard, I promise you," Lessingham replied
+mildly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are here under a false name!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Hamar Lessingham, if you do not mind," the other assented.  "I
+prefer my own name, but I do not fancy that the use of it would
+ensure me a very warm welcome over here just now.  Besides," he
+added, with a glance at Philippa, "I have to consider the friends
+whose hospitality I have enjoyed."
+</p>
+<p>
+In a shadowy sort of way the truth began to dawn upon Richard.  His
+tone became grimmer and his manner more menacing.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom," he said, "we met last under different circumstances.
+I will admit that I cut a poor figure, but mine was at least an
+honourable imprisonment.  I am not so sure that yours is an
+honourable freedom."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laid her hand upon her brother's arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dick, dear, do remember that they were starving you to death!"
+she begged.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would never have lived through it," Helen echoed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are talking to Mr. Lessingham," Philippa protested, "as though
+he were an enemy, instead of the best friend you ever had in your
+life."
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard waved them away.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must leave this to us," he insisted.  "Maderstrom and I will
+be able to understand one another, at any rate.  What are you doing
+in this house&mdash;in England?  What is your mission here?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever it may have been, it is accomplished," Lessingham said
+gravely.  "At the present moment, my plans are to leave your country
+to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Accomplished?" Richard repeated.  "What the devil do you mean?
+Accomplished?  Are you playing the spy in this country?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You would probably consider my mission espionage," Lessingham
+admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And you have brought it to a successful conclusion?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa threw her arms around her brother's neck.  "Dick," she
+pleaded, "please listen.  Mr. Lessingham has been here, in this
+district, ever since he landed in England.  What possible harm
+could he do?  We haven't a single secret to be learned.  Everybody
+knows where our few guns are.  Everybody knows where our soldiers
+are quartered.  We haven't a harbour or any secret fortifications.
+We haven't any shipping information which it would be of the
+least use signalling anywhere.  Mr. Lessingham has spent his time
+amongst trifles here.  Take Helen away somewhere and forget that
+you have seen him in the house.  Remember that he has saved
+Henry's life as well as yours."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I invite no consideration upon that account," Lessingham declared.
+"All that I did for you in Germany, I did, or should have attempted
+to do, for my old friend.  Your release was different.  I am forced
+to admit that it was the price paid for my sojourn here.  I will
+only ask you to remember that the bargain was made without your
+knowledge, and that you are in no way responsible for it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"A price," Richard pronounced fiercely, "which I refuse to pay!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham shrugged his shoulders.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The alternative," he confessed, "is in your hands."
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard moved towards the telephone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am sorry, Maderstrom," he said, "but my duty is clear.  Who is
+Commandant here, Philippa?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa stood between her brother and the telephone.  There was a
+queer, angry patch of colour in her cheeks.  Her eyes were on fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Richard," she exclaimed, "you shall not do this from my house!
+I forbid you!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Do what?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Give information.  Do you know what it would mean if they believed
+you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Death," he answered.  "Maderstrom knew the risk he ran when he
+came to this country under a false name."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perfectly," Lessingham admitted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But I won't have it!" Philippa protested.  "He has become our
+friend.  Day by day we have grown to like him better and better.
+He has saved your life, Dick.  He has brought you back to us.
+Think what it is that you purpose!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is what every soldier has to face," Richard declared.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You men drive me crazy with your foolish ideas!" Philippa cried
+desperately.  "The war is in your brains, I think.  You would
+carry it from the battlefields into your daily life.  Because two
+great countries are at war, is everything to go by&mdash;chivalry?&mdash;all
+the finer, sweeter feelings of life?  If you two met on the
+battlefield, it would be different.  Here in my drawing-room, I
+will not have this black demon of the war dragged in as an excuse
+for murder!  Take Dick away, Helen!" she begged.  "Mr. Lessingham is
+leaving to-night.  I will pledge my word that until then he remains
+a harmless citizen."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Women don't understand these things, Philippa&mdash;" Richard began.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Thank heavens we understand them better than you men!" Philippa
+interrupted fiercely.  "You have but one idea&mdash;to strike&mdash;the
+narrow idea of men that breeds warfare.  I tell you that if ever
+universal peace comes, if ever the nations are taught the horror
+of this lust for blood, this criminal outrage against civilisation,
+it is the women who will become the teachers, because amongst your
+instincts the brutish ones of force are the first to leap to the
+surface at the slightest provocation.  We women see further, we
+know more.  I swear to you, Richard, that if you interfere I will
+never forgive you as long as I live!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard stared at his sister in amazement.  There seemed to be some
+new spirit born within her.  Throughout all their days he had never
+known her so much in earnest, so passionately insistent.  He
+looked from her to the man whom she sought to protect, and who
+answered, unasked, the thoughts that were in his mind.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Whatever harm I may have been able to do," Lessingham announced,
+"is finished.  I leave this place to-night, probably for ever.  As
+for the Commandant," he went on with a faint smile, "he is already
+upon my track.  There is nothing you can tell him about me which
+he does not know.  It is just a matter of hours, the toss of a
+coin, whether I get away or not."
+</p>
+<p>
+"They've found you out, then?" Richard exclaimed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Only a miracle saved me from arrest a week ago," Lessingham
+acknowledged.  "Your Commandant here is at the present moment in
+London for the sole purpose of denouncing me."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And yet you remain here, paying afternoon calls?" Richard observed
+incredulously.  "I'm hanged if I can see through this!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," Lessingham explained gently.  "I am a fatalist!"
+</p>
+<p>
+It was Helen who finally led her lover from the room.  He looked
+back from the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom," he said, "you know quite well how personally I feel
+towards you.  I am grateful for what you have done for me, even
+though I am beginning to understand your motives.  But as regards
+the other things we are both soldiers.  I am going to talk to
+Helen for a time.  I want to understand a little more than I do
+at present."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Let me help you," he begged.  "Here is the issue in plain words.
+All that I did for you at Wittenberg, I should have done in any
+case for the sake of our friendship.  Your freedom would probably
+never have been granted to me but for my mission, although even
+that I might have tried to arrange.  I brought your letters here,
+and I traded them with your sister and Miss Fairclough for the
+shelter of their hospitality and their guarantees.  Now you know
+just where friendship ended and the other things began.  Do what
+you believe to be your duty."
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard followed Helen out, closing the door after him.  Lessingham
+looked down into Philippa's face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are more wonderful even than I thought," he continued softly.
+"You say so little and you live so near the truth.  It is those of
+us who feel as you do&mdash;who understand&mdash;to whom this war is so
+terrible."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I want to ask you one question before I send you away," she told
+him.  "This journey to America?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is a mission on behalf of Germany," he explained, "but it is,
+after all, an open one.  I have friends&mdash;highly placed friends
+&mdash;in my own country, who in their hearts feel as I do about the
+war.  It is through them that I am able to turn my back upon
+Europe.  I have done my share of fighting," he went on sadly, "and
+the horror of it will never quite leave me.  I think that no one
+has ever charged me with shirking my duty, and yet the sheer, black
+ugliness of this ghastly struggle, its criminal inutility, have got
+into my blood so that I think I would rather pass out of the world
+in some simple way than find myself back again in that debauch of
+blood.  Is this cowardice, Philippa?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked at him with shining eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There isn't any one in the world," she said, "who could call you
+a coward.  Whatever I may decide, whatever I may feel towards you,
+that at least I know."
+</p>
+<p>
+He kissed her fingers.
+</p>
+<p>
+"At ten o'clock," he began&mdash;
+</p>
+<p>
+"But listen," she interrupted.  "Apart from anything which Dick
+might do, you are in terrible danger here, all the more if you
+really have accomplished something.  Why not go now, at this
+moment?  Why wait?  These few hours may make all the difference."
+</p>
+<p>
+He smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They may, indeed, make all the difference to my life," he answered.
+"That is for you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He followed Mills, who had obeyed her summons, out of the room.
+Philippa moved to the window and watched him until he had
+disappeared.  Then very slowly she left the room, walked up the
+stairs, made her way to her own little suite of apartments, and
+locked the door.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0030"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXX
+</h2>
+<p>
+It was a happy, if a trifle hysterical little dinner party that
+evening at Mainsail Haul.  Philippa was at times unusually silent,
+but Helen had expanded in the joy of her great happiness.  Richard,
+shaved and with his hair cut, attired once more in the garb of
+civilisation, seemed a different person.  Even in these few hours
+the lines about his mouth seemed less pronounced.  They talked
+freely of Maderstrom.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A regular 'Vanity Fair' problem," Richard declared, balancing his
+wine glass between his fingers, "a problem, too, which I can't say
+I have solved altogether yet.  The only thing is that if he is
+really going to-night, I don't see why I shouldn't let the matter
+drift out of my mind."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is so much better," Helen agreed.  "Try as hard as ever I can,
+I cannot picture his doing any harm to anybody.  And as for any
+information he may have gained here, well, I think that we can
+safely let him take it back to Germany."
+</p>
+<p>
+"He was always," Richard continued reminiscently, "a sort of cross
+between a dreamer, an idealist, and a sportsman.  There was never
+anything of the practical man of affairs about him.  He was
+scrupulously honourable, and almost a purist in his outlook upon
+life.  I have met a great many Germans," Richard went on, "and I've
+killed a few, thank God!&mdash;but he is about as unlike the ordinary
+type as any one I ever met.  The only pity is that he ever served
+his time with them."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa had been listening attentively.  She was more than ever
+silent after her brother's little appreciation of his friend.
+Richard glanced at her good-humouredly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You haven't killed the fatted calf for me in the shape of clothes,
+Philippa," he observed.  "One would think that you were going on
+a journey."
+</p>
+<p>
+She glanced down at her high-necked gown and avoided Helen's anxious
+eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I may go for a walk," she said, "and leave you two young people to
+talk secrets.  I am rather fond of the garden these moonlight nights."
+</p>
+<p>
+"When is Henry coming back?" her brother enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's manner was quiet but ominous.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have no idea," she confessed.  "He comes and goes as the whim
+seizes him, and I very seldom know where he is.  One week it is
+whiting and another codling.  Lately he seems to have shown some
+partiality for London life."
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard's eyes were wide open now.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean to say that he is still not doing anything?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing whatever."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But what excuse does he give&mdash;or rather I should say reason?"
+Richard persisted.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He says that he is too old for a ship, and he won't work in an
+office," Philippa replied.  "That is what he says.  His point of
+view is so impossible that I can not even discuss it with him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's the rummest go I ever came across," Richard remarked
+reminiscently.  "I should have said that old Henry would have been
+up and at 'em at the Admiralty before the first gun was fired."
+</p>
+<p>
+"On the contrary," Philippa rejoined, "he took advantage of the
+war to hire a Scotch moor at half-price, about a week after
+hostilities had commenced."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's a rum go," Richard repeated.  "I can't fancy Henry as a
+skulker.  Forgive me, Philippa," he added.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are entirely forgiven," she assured him drily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He comes of such a fine fighting stock," Richard mused.  "I
+suppose his health is all right?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"His health," Philippa declared, "is marvellous.  I should think
+he is one of the strongest men I know."
+</p>
+<p>
+Her brother patted her hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You've been making rather a trouble of it, old girl," he said
+affectionately.  "It's no good doing that, you know.  You wait and
+let me have a talk with Henry."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," she replied, "that nearly everything possible has already
+been said to him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps you've put his back up a bit," Richard suggested, "and he
+may really be on the lookout for something all the time."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It has been a long search!" Philippa retorted, with quiet sarcasm.
+"Let us talk about something else."
+</p>
+<p>
+They gossiped for a time over acquaintances and relations, made
+their plans for the week&mdash;Richard must report at the War Office at
+once.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa grew more and more silent as the meal drew to a close.  It
+was at Helen's initiative that they left Richard alone for a moment
+over his port.  She kept her arm through her friend's as they
+crossed the hall into the drawing-room, and closed the door behind
+them.  Philippa stood upon the hearth rug.  Already her mouth had
+come together in a straight line.  Her eyes met Helen's defiantly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know exactly what you are going to say, Helen," she began, "and
+I warn you that it will be of no use."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen drew up a small chair and seated herself before the fire.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Are you going away with Mr. Lessingham, Philippa?" she asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am," was the calm response.  "I made up my mind this afternoon.
+We are leaving to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen stretched out one foot to the blaze.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Motoring?" she enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Naturally," Philippa replied.  "You know there are no trains
+leaving here to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You'll have a cold ride," Helen remarked.  "I should take your
+heavy fur coat."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa stared at her companion.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You don't seem much upset, Helen!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I think," Helen declared, looking up, "that nothing that has
+ever happened to me in my life has made me more unhappy, but I
+can see that you have reasoned it all out, and there is not a
+single argument I could use which you haven't already discounted.
+It is your life, Philippa, not mine."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Since you are so philosophical," Philippa observed, "let me ask
+you&mdash;should you do what I am going to do, if you were in my place?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should not," was the firm reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa laughed heartily.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, I know what you are going to say!" Helen continued quickly.
+"You'll tell me, won't you, that I am not temperamental.  I think
+in your heart you rather despise my absolute fidelity to Richard.
+You would call it cowlike, or something of that sort.  There is a
+difference between us, Philippa, and that is why I am afraid to
+argue with you."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What should you do," Philippa demanded, "if Richard failed you in
+some great thing?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I might suffer," Helen confessed, "but my love would be there all
+the same.  Perhaps for that reason I should suffer the more, but I
+should never be able to see with those who judged him hardly."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think, then," Philippa persisted, "that I ought still to remain
+Henry's loving and affectionate wife, ready to take my place amongst
+the pastimes of his life&mdash;when he feels inclined, for instance, to
+wander from his dark lady-love to something petite and of my
+complexion, or when he settles down at home for a few days after a
+fortnight's sport on the sea and expects me to tell him the war news?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I don't think that I should do that," Helen admitted quietly, "but
+I am quite certain that I shouldn't run away with another man."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why not?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Because I should be punishing myself too much."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa's eyes suddenly flashed.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Helen," she said, "you are not such a fool as you try to make me
+think.  Can't you see what is really at the back of it all in my
+mind?  Can't you realise that, whatever the punishment it may bring,
+it will punish Henry more?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I see," Helen observed.  "You are running away with Mr. Lessingham
+to annoy Henry?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, he'll be more than annoyed!" Philippa laughed sardonically.
+"He has terrible ideas about the sanctity of things that belong to
+him.  He'll be remarkably sheepish for some time to come.  He may
+even feel a few little stabs.  When I have time, I am going to
+write him a letter which he can keep for the rest of his life.  It
+won't please him!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where are you&mdash;and Mr. Lessingham going to live?" Helen enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"In America, to start with.  I've always longed to go to the States."
+</p>
+<p>
+"What shall you do," Helen continued, "if you don't get out of the
+country safely?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Mr. Lessingham seems quite sure that we shall," Philippa replied,
+"and he seems a person of many expedients.  Of course, if we didn't,
+I should go back to Cheshire.  I should have gone back there, anyway,
+before now, if Mr. Lessingham hadn't come."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, it all seems very simple," Helen admitted.  "I think Mr.
+Lessingham is a perfectly delightful person, and I shouldn't wonder
+if you didn't now and then almost imagine that you were happy."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You seem to be taking my going very coolly," Philippa remarked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I told you how I felt about it just now," Helen reminded her.
+"Your going is like a great black cloud that I have seen growing
+larger and larger, day by day.  I think that, in his way, Dick
+will suffer just as much as Henry.  We shall all be utterly
+miserable."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?" Philippa
+demanded.  "You sit there talking about it as though I were going
+on an ordinary country-house visit."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled
+with tears.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa dear," she said, "if I thought that all the tears that
+were ever shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's
+heart, could have any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now
+and implore you to give up this idea.  But I think&mdash;you won't be
+angry with me, dear?&mdash;I think you would go just the same."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You seem to think that I am obstinate," Philippa complained.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see, you are temperamental, dear," Helen reminded her.  "You
+have a complex nature.  I know very well that you need the daily
+love that Henry doesn't seem to have been willing to give you
+lately, and I couldn't stop your turning towards the sun, you know.
+Only&mdash;all the time there's that terrible anxiety&mdash;are you quite
+sure it is the sun?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?" Philippa asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I do indeed," Helen replied.  "I am not quite sure, though, that
+I believe in you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was a little startled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, I never!" she exclaimed.  "Exactly what do you mean by that,
+Helen?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not quite sure," Helen continued, "that when the moment has
+really come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched,
+and your feet have left this world in which you are now, I am not
+quite sure that you will find all that you seek."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You think he doesn't love me?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am not convinced," Helen replied calmly, "that you love him."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why, you idiot," Philippa declared feverishly, "of course I love
+him!  I think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I
+ever knew, and as to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he
+were a Fiji Islander or a Chinese."
+</p>
+<p>
+Helen nodded sympathetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I agree with you," she said, "but listen.  You know that I haven't
+uttered a single word to dissuade you.  Well, then, grant me just
+one thing.  Before you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham
+the truth, whatever it may be, the truth which you haven't told me.
+It very likely won't make any difference.  Two people as nice as you
+and he, who are going to join their lives, generally do, I believe,
+find the things they seek.  Still, tell him."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa made no reply.  Richard opened the door and lingered upon
+the threshold.  Helen rose to her feet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am coming, Dick," she called out cheerfully.  "There's a gorgeous
+fire in the gun room, and two big easy-chairs, and we'll have just
+the time I have been looking forward to all day.  You'll tell me
+things, won't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She looked very sweet as she came towards him, her eyes raised to
+him, her face full of the one happiness.  He passed his arm around
+her waist.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll try, dear," he said.  "You won't be lonely, Philippa?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'll come and disturb you when I am," she promised.
+</p>
+<p>
+The door closed.  She stood gazing down into the fire, listening to
+their footsteps as they crossed the hall.
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0031"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXXI
+</h2>
+<p>
+Lessingham stood for a moment by the side of the car from which he
+had just descended, glanced at the huge tires and the tins of
+petrol lashed on behind.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing more you want, chauffeur?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nothing, sir," was the almost inaudible reply.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have the route map?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, sir, and enough petrol for three hundred miles."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham turned away, pushed open the gate, and walked up the
+drive of Mainsail Haul.  Decidedly it was the moment of his life.
+He was hard-pressed, as he knew, by others besides Griffiths.  A
+few hours now was all the start he could reasonably expect.  He
+was face to face with a very real and serious danger, which he
+could no longer ignore, and from which escape was all the time
+becoming more difficult.  And yet all the emotionalism of this
+climax was centered elsewhere.  It was from Philippa's lips that
+he would hear his real sentence; it was her answer which would
+fill him once more with the lust for life, or send him on in his
+rush through the night for safety, callous, almost indifferent
+as to its result.
+</p>
+<p>
+He walked up the drive, curiously at his ease, in a state of
+suspended animation, which knew no hope and feared no
+disappointment.  Just before he reached the front door, the
+postern gate in the wall on his left-hand side opened, and
+Philippa stood there, muffled up in her fur coat, framed in the
+faint and shadowy moonlight against the background of seabounded
+space.  He moved eagerly towards her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I heard the car," she whispered.  "Come and sit down for a moment.
+It isn't in the least cold, and the moon is just coming up over the
+sea.  I came out," she went on, as he walked obediently by her
+side, "because the house somehow stifled me."
+</p>
+<p>
+She led him to a seat.  Below, the long waves were breaking through
+upon the rocks, throwing little fountains of spray into the air.
+The village which lay at their feet was silent and lifeless&mdash;there
+was, indeed, a curious absence of sound, except when the incoming
+waves broke upon the rocks and ground the pebbles together in their
+long, backward swish.  Very soon the sleeping country, now wrapped
+in shadows, would take form and outline in the light of the rising
+moon; hedges would divide the square fields, the black woods would
+take shape and the hills their mystic solemnity.  But those few
+minutes were minutes of suspense.  Lessingham was to some extent
+conscious of their queer, allegorical significance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I have come," he reminded her quite steadily, "for my answer."
+</p>
+<p>
+She showed him the small bag by her side upon the seat, and touched
+her cloak.  She was indeed prepared for a journey.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," she told him, "here I am."
+</p>
+<p>
+His face was suddenly transformed.  She was almost afraid of the
+effect of her words.  She found herself struggling in his arms.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Not yet," she begged.  "Please remember where we are."
+</p>
+<p>
+He released her reluctantly.  A few yards away, they could hear the
+soft purring of the six-cylinder engine, inexorable reminder of the
+passing moments.  He caught her by the hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come," he whispered passionately.  "Every moment is precious."
+</p>
+<p>
+She hesitated no longer.  The open postern gate seemed to him
+suddenly to lead down the great thoroughfare of a new and splendid
+life.  He was to be one of those favoured few to whom was given
+the divine prize.  And then he stopped short, even while she walked
+willingly by his side.  He knew so well the need for haste.  The
+gentle murmur of that engine was inviting him all the while.  Yet
+he knew there was one thing more which must be said.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa," he began, "you know what we are doing?  We can escape,
+I believe.  My flight is all wonderfully arranged.  But there
+will be no coming back.  It will be all over when our car passes
+over the hills there.  You will not regret?  You care enough even
+for this supreme sacrifice?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall never reproach you as long as I live," she promised.  "I
+have made up my mind to come, and I am ready."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But it is because you care?" he pleaded anxiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is because I care, for one reason."
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the great way?" he persisted.  "In the only way?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She hesitated.  He suddenly felt her hand grow colder in his.  He
+saw her frame shiver beneath its weight of furs.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't ask me quite that," she begged breathlessly.  "Be content
+to know that I have counted the cost, and that I am willing to come."
+</p>
+<p>
+He felt the chill of impending disaster.  He closed the little gate
+through which they had been about to pass, and stood with his back
+to it.  In that faint light which seemed to creep over the world
+before the moon itself was revealed, she seemed to him at that
+moment the fairest, the most desirable thing on earth.  Her face
+was upturned towards his, half pathetic, half protesting against
+the revelation which he was forcing from her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Listen, Philippa," he said, "Miss Fairclough warned me of one thing.
+I put it on one side.  It did not seem to be possible.  Now I must
+ask you a question.  You have some other motive, have you not, for
+choosing to come away with me?  It is not only because you love me
+better than any one else in the world, as I do you, and therefore
+that we belong to one another and it is right and good that we
+should spend our lives in one another's company?  There is something
+else, is there not, at the root of your determination?  Some ally?"
+</p>
+<p>
+It was a strange moment for Philippa.  Nothing had altered within
+her, and yet a wonderful pity was glowing in her heart, tearing at
+her emotions, bringing a sob into her throat.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean&mdash;Henry?"  she faltered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I mean your husband," he assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+She was suddenly passionately angry with herself.  It seemed to her
+that the days of childishness were back.  She was behaving like an
+imbecile whilst he played the great game.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," he went on, his own voice a little unsteady, "this is
+one of those moments in both our lives when anything except the
+exact truth would mean shipwreck.  You still love your husband?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am such a fool!" she sobbed, clutching at his arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You were willing to go away with me," he continued mercilessly,
+"partly because of the anger you felt towards him, and partly out
+of revenge, and just a little because you liked me.  Is that not so?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Her head pressed upon his arm.  She nodded.  It was just that
+convulsive movement of her head, with its wealth of wonderful hair
+and its plain black motoring hat, which dealt the death-blow to his
+hopes.  She was just a child once more&mdash;and she trusted him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Very well, then," he said, "just let me think&mdash;for a moment."
+</p>
+<p>
+She understood enough not to raise her head.  Lessingham was gazing
+out through the chaotic shadows of the distant banks of clouds from
+which the moon was rising.  Already the pain had begun, and yet
+with it was that queer sense of exaltation which comes with
+sacrifice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have been very nearly foolish," he told her, with grave
+kindliness.  "It is well, perhaps, that we were in time.  Those
+windows which lead into your library,&mdash;through which I first came
+to you, by-the-by,&mdash;" he added, with a strange, reminiscent little
+sigh, "are they open?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes!" she whispered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come, then," he invited.  "Before I leave there is something I want
+to make clear to you."
+</p>
+<p>
+They made their way rather like two conspirators along the little
+terraced walk.  Philippa opened the window and closed it again
+behind them.  The room was empty.  Lessingham, watching her closely,
+almost groaned as he saw the wonderful relief in her face.  She
+threw off the cloak, and he groaned again as he remembered how
+nearly it had been his task to remove it.  In her plain travelling
+dress, she turned and looked at him very pathetically.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have, perhaps, a morning paper here?" he enquired.
+</p>
+<p>
+"A newspaper?  Why, yes, the Times," she answered, a little surprised.
+</p>
+<p>
+He took it from the table towards which she pointed, and held it
+under the lamplight.  Presently he called to her.  His forefinger
+rested upon a certain column.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Read this," he directed.
+</p>
+<p>
+She read it out in a tone which passed from surprise to blank wonder:
+</p>
+<p>
+Commander Sir Henry Cranston, Baronet, to receive the D.S.O. for
+special services, and to be promoted to the rank of Acting
+Rear-Admiral.
+</p>
+<p>
+"What does it mean?" she asked feverishly.  "Henry?  A D.S.O. for
+Henry for special services?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"It means," he told her, with a forced smile, "that your husband is,
+as you put it in your expressive language, a fraud."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0032"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXXII
+</h2>
+<p>
+For a moment Philippa was unsteady upon her feet.  Lessingham led
+her to a chair.  From outside came the low, cautious hooting of the
+motor horn, calling to its dilatory passenger.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can not, of course, explain everything to you," he began, in a
+tone of unusual restraint, "but I do know that for the last two
+years your husband has been responsible to the Admiralty for most
+of the mine fields around your east coast.  To begin with, his stay
+in Scotland was a sham.  He was most of the time with the fleet and
+round the coasts.  His fishing excursions from here have been of
+the same order, only more so.  All the places of importance, from
+here to the mouth of the Thames, have been mined, or rather the
+approaches to them have been mined, under his instructions.  My
+mission in this country, here at Dreymarsh&mdash;do not shrink from
+me if you can help it&mdash;was to obtain a copy of his mine protection
+scheme of a certain town on the east coast."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Why should I shrink from you?" she murmured.  "This is all too
+wonderful!  What a little beast Henry must think me!" she added,
+with truly feminine and marvellously selfish irrelevance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You and Miss Fairclough," Lessingham went on, "have rather scoffed
+at my presence here on behalf of our Secret Service.  It seemed to
+you both very ridiculous.  Now you understand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It makes no difference," Philippa protested tearfully.  "You always
+told us the truth."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I shall continue to do so," Lessingham assured her.  "I am not
+a clever person at my work which is all new to me, but fortune
+favoured me the night your husband was shipwrecked.  I succeeded
+in stealing from him, on board that wrecked trawler, the plan of
+the mine field which I was sent over to procure."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Of course you had to do it if you could," Philippa sobbed.  "I
+think it was very clever of you."
+</p>
+<p>
+He smiled.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There are others who might look at the matter differently," he said.
+"I am going to ask you a question which I know is unnecessary, but
+I must have your answer to take away with me.  If you had known all
+the time that your husband, instead of being a skulker, as you
+thought him, was really doing splendid work for his country, you
+would not have listened to me for one moment, would you?  You
+would not have let me grow to love you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She clutched his hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You are the dearest man in the world," she exclaimed, her lips
+still quivering, "but, as you say, you know the answer.  I was
+always in love with Henry.  It was because I loved him that I was
+so furious.  I liked you so much that it was mean of me ever to
+think of&mdash;of what so nearly happened."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So nearly happened!" he repeated, with a sudden access of the
+bitterest self-pity.
+</p>
+<p>
+Once more the low, warning hoot of the motor horn, this time a
+little more impatient, broke the silence.  Philippa was filled
+with an unreasoning terror.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must go!" she implored.  "You must go this minute!  If they
+were to take you, I couldn't bear it.  And that man Griffiths&mdash;he
+has sworn that if he can not get the Government authority, he
+will shoot you!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Griffiths has gone to London," he reminded her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, but he may be back by this train," she cried, glancing at the
+clock, "and I have a strange sort of fancy&mdash;I have had it all day
+&mdash;that Henry might come, too.  It is overdue now.  Any one might
+arrive here.  Oh, please, for my sake, hurry away!" she begged, the
+tears streaming from her eyes.  "If anything should happen, I could
+never forgive myself.  It is because you have been so dear, so true
+and honourable, that all this time has been wasted.  If it were to
+cost you your life!"
+</p>
+<p>
+She was seized by a fit of nervous anxiety which became almost a
+paroxysm.  She buttoned his coat for him and almost dragged him to
+the door.  And then she stopped for a moment to listen.  Her eyes
+became distended.  Her lips were parted.  She shook as though with
+an ague.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is too late!" she faltered hysterically.  "I can hear Henry's
+voice!  Quick!  Come to the window.  You must get out that way and
+through the postern gate."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Your husband will have seen the car," he protested.  "And besides,
+there is your dressing-bag and your travelling coat."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall tell him everything," she declared wildly.  "Nothing
+matters except that you escape.  Oh, hurry!  I can hear Henry
+talking to Jimmy Dumble&mdash;for God's sake&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+The words died away upon her lips.  The door had been opened and
+closed again immediately.  There was the quick turn of the lock,
+sounding like the click of fate.  Sir Henry, well inside the room,
+nodded to them both affably.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Well, Philippa?  You weren't expecting me, eh?  Hullo, Lessingham!
+Not gone yet?  Running it a trifle fine, aren't you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham glanced towards the fastened door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Perhaps," he admitted, "a trifle too fine."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry was suddenly taken by storm.  Philippa had thrown herself
+into his arms.  Her fingers were locked around his neck.  Her lips,
+her eyes, were pleading with him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry!  Henry, you must forgive me!  I never knew&mdash;I never dreamed
+what you were really doing.  I shall never forgive myself, but you
+&mdash;you will be generous."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's all right, dear," he promised, stooping down to kiss her.
+"Partly my fault, of course.  I had to humour those old ladies down
+at Whitehall who wanted me to pose as a particularly harmless
+idiot.  You see," he went on, glancing towards Lessingham, "they
+were always afraid that my steps might be dogged by spies, if my
+position were generally known."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa did not relinquish her attitude.  She was still clinging
+to her husband.  She refused to let him go.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry," she begged, "oh, listen to me!  I have so much to confess,
+so much of which I am ashamed!  And yet, with it all, I want to
+entreat&mdash;to implore one great favour from you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry looked down into his wife's face.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is it one I can grant?" he asked gravely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"If you want me ever to be happy again, you will," she sobbed.
+"For Helen's sake as well as mine, help Mr. Lessingham to escape."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham took a quick step forward.  He had the air of one who
+has reached the limits of his endurance.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean this kindly, Lady Cranston, I know," he said, "but I
+desire no intervention."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry patted his wife's hand and held her a little away from
+him.  There was a curious but unmistakable change in his deportment.
+His mouth had not altogether lost its humorous twist, but his jaw
+seemed more apparent, the light in his eyes was keener, and there
+was a ring of authority in his tone.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Come," he said, "let us understand one another, Philippa, and you
+had better listen, too, Mr. Lessingham.  I can promise you that
+your chances of escape will not be diminished by my taking up these
+few minutes of your time.  Philippa," he went on, turning back to
+her, "you have always posed as being an exceedingly patriotic
+Englishwoman, yet it seems to me that you have made a bargain with
+this man, knowing full well that he was in the service of Germany,
+to give him shelter and hospitality here, access to my house and
+protection amongst your friends, in return for certain favours
+shown towards your brother."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was speechless.  It was a view of the matter which she and
+Helen had striven so eagerly to avoid.
+</p>
+<p>
+"But, Henry," she protested, "his stay here seemed so harmless.  You
+yourself have laughed at the idea of espionage at Dreymarsh.  There
+is nothing to discover.  There is nothing going on here which the
+whole world might not know."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That was never my plea," Lessingham intervened.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Nor is it the truth," Sir Henry added sternly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The Baron Maderstrom was sent here, Philippa, to spy upon me, to
+gain access by any means to this house, to steal, if he could,
+certain plans and charts prepared by me."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa began to tremble.  She seemed bereft of words.
+</p>
+<p>
+"He told me this," she faltered.  "He told me not half an hour ago."
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a tapping at the door.  Sir Henry moved towards it but
+did not turn the key.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Who is that?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths is here with an escort, sir," Mills announced.
+"He has seized the motor car outside, and he begs to be allowed
+to come in."
+</p>
+<a name="2HCH0033"><!-- H2 anchor --></a>
+
+<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<h2>
+    CHAPTER XXXIII
+</h2>
+<p>
+Mills' words were plainly audible throughout the room.  Philippa
+made eager signs to Lessingham, pointing to the French windows.
+Lessingham, however, shook his head.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I prefer," he said gently, "to finish my conversation with your
+husband."'
+</p>
+<p>
+There was another and more insistent summons from outside.  This
+time it was Captain Griffiths' raucous voice.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sir Henry Cranston," he called out, "I am here with authority.  I
+beg to be admitted."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is your escort?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"In the hall."
+</p>
+<p>
+"If I let you come in," Sir Henry continued, "will you come alone?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I should prefer it," was the eager reply.  "I wish to make this
+business as little unpleasant to&mdash;to everybody as possible."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry softly turned the key, opened the door, and admitted
+Griffiths.  The man seemed to see no one else but Lessingham.  He
+would have hastened at once towards him, but Sir Henry laid his hand
+upon his arm.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You must kindly restrain your impatience for a few moments," he
+insisted.  "This is a private conference.  Your business with the
+Baron Maderstrom can be adjusted later."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is my duty," Griffiths proclaimed impatiently, "to arrest that
+man as a spy.  I have authority, granted me this morning in London."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Quite so," Sir Henry observed, "but we are in the midst of a very
+interesting little discussion which I intend to conclude.  Your turn
+will come later, Captain Griffiths."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I can countenance no discussion with such men as that," Griffiths
+declared scornfully.  "I am here in the execution of my duty, and
+I resent any interference with it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"No one wishes to interfere with you," Sir Henry assured him, "but
+until I say the word you will obey my orders."
+</p>
+<p>
+"So far as I am concerned," Lessingham intervened, "I wish it to be
+understood that I offer no defence."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You have no defence," Sir Henry reminded him suavely.  "I gather
+that not only had you the effrontery to steal a chart from my pocket
+in the midst of a life struggle upon the trawler, but you have
+capped this exploit with a deliberate attempt to abduct my wife."
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths seemed for a moment almost beside himself.  His eyes
+glowed.  His long fingers twitched.  He kept edging a little nearer
+to Lessingham.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Both charges," the latter confessed, looking Sir Henry in the eyes,
+"are true."
+</p>
+<p>
+Then Philippa found herself.  She saw the sudden flash in her
+husband's eyes, the grim fury in Griffiths' face.  She stepped once
+more forward.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Henry," she insisted, "you must listen to what I have to say."
+</p>
+<p>
+"We have had enough words," Griffiths interposed savagely.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry ignored the interruption.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am listening, Philippa," he said calmly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was my intention an hour ago to leave this place with Mr.
+Lessingham to-night," she told him deliberately.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The devil it was!" Sir Henry muttered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"As for the reason, you know it," she continued, her tone full of
+courage.  "I am willing to throw myself at your feet now, but all
+the same I was hardly treated.  I was made the scapegoat of your
+stupid promise.  You kept me in ignorance of things a wife should
+know.  You even encouraged me to believe you a coward, when a
+single word from you would have changed everything.  Therefore, I
+say that it is you who are responsible for what I nearly did, and
+what I should have done but for him&mdash;listen, Henry&mdash;but for him!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"But for him," her husband repeated curiously.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was Mr. Lessingham," she declared, "who opened my eyes concerning
+you.  It was he who refused to let me yield to that impulse of anger.
+Look at my coat there.  My bag is on that table.  I was ready to
+leave with him to-night.  Before we went, he insisted on telling me
+everything about you.  He could have escaped, and I was willing to
+go with him.  Instead, he spent those precious minutes telling me
+the truth about you.  That was the end."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Lady Cranston omits to add," Lessingham put in, "that before I did
+so she told me frankly that her feelings for me were of warm
+friendliness&mdash;that her love was given to her husband, and her
+husband only."
+</p>
+<p>
+"How long is this to go on?" Griffiths asked harshly.  "I have the
+authority here and the power to take that man.  These domestic
+explanations have nothing to do with the case."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Excuse me," Sir Henry retorted, with quiet emphasis, "they have a
+great deal to do with it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am Commandant of this place&mdash;" Griffiths commenced.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And I possess an authority here which you had better not dispute,"
+Sir Henry reminded him sternly.
+</p>
+<p>
+There was a moment's tense silence.  Griffiths set his teeth hard,
+but his hand wandered towards the back of his belt.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I am now," Sir Henry continued, "going to announce to you a piece
+of news, over which we shall all be gloating when to-morrow morning's
+newspapers are issued, but which is not as yet generally known.
+During last night, a considerable squadron of German cruisers managed
+to cross the North Sea and found their way to a certain port of
+considerable importance to us."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham started, His face was drawn as though with pain.  He had
+the air of one who shrinks from the news he is about to hear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Incidentally," Sir Henry continued, "three-quarters of the squadron
+also found their way to the bottom of the sea, and the other quarter
+met our own squadron, lying in wait for their retreat, and will not
+return."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham swayed for a moment upon his feet.  One could almost
+fancy that Sir Henry's tone was tinged with pity as he turned
+towards him.
+</p>
+<p>
+"The chart of the mine field of which you possessed yourself," he said,
+"which it was the object of your visit here to secure, was a chart
+specially prepared for you.  You see, our own Secret Service is not
+altogether asleep.  Those very safe and inviting-looking channels
+for British and Allied traffic&mdash;I marked them very clearly, didn't
+I?&mdash;were where I'd laid my mines.  The channels which your cruisers
+so carefully avoided were the only safe avenues.  So you see why it
+is, Maderstrom, that I have no grudge against you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham's face for a moment was the face of a stricken man.
+There was a look of dull horror in his eyes.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Is this the truth?" he gasped.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It is the truth," Sir Henry assured him gravely.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Does this conclude the explanations?" Captain Griffiths demanded
+impatiently.  "Your news is magnificent, Sir Henry.  As regards this
+felon&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry held up his hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom's fate," he said, "is mine to deal with and not yours,
+Captain Griffiths."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa was the first to grasp the intentions of the man who was
+standing only a few feet from her.  She threw herself upon his arm
+and dragged down the revolver which he had raised.  Sir Henry, with
+a shout of fury, was upon them at once.  He took Griffiths by the
+throat and threw him upon the sofa.  The revolver clattered
+harmlessly on to the carpet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"His Majesty's Service has no use for madmen," he thundered.  "You
+know that I possess superior authority here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"That man shall not escape!" Griffiths shouted.
+</p>
+<p>
+He struggled for his whistle.  Sir Henry snatched it from him and
+picked up the revolver from the carpet.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Look here, Griffiths," he remonstrated severely, "one single move
+in opposition to my wishes will cost you your career.  Let there be
+no misunderstanding about it.  That man will not be arrested by you
+to-night."
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths staggered to his feet.  He was half cowed, half furious.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You take the responsibility for this, Sir Henry?" he demanded
+thickly.  "The man is a proved traitor.  If you assist him to escape,
+you are subject to penalties&mdash;"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry threw open the door.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Captain Griffiths," he interrupted, "I am not ignorant of my
+position in this matter.  Believe me, your last chance of retaining
+your position here is to remember that you have had specific orders
+to yield to my authority in all matters.  Kindly leave this room
+and take your soldiers back to their quarters."
+</p>
+<p>
+Griffiths hesitated for a single moment.  He had the appearance of
+a man half demented by a passion which could find no outlet.  Then
+he left the room, without salute, without a glance to the right or
+to the left.  Out in the hall, a moment later, they heard a harsh
+voice of command.  The hall door was opened and closed behind the
+sound of retreating footsteps.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Sir Henry," Lessingham reminded him, "I have not asked for your
+intervention."
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear fellow, you wouldn't," was the prompt reply.  "As for the
+little trouble that has happened in the North Sea, don't take it
+too much to heart, it was entirely the fault of the people who sent
+you here."
+</p>
+<p>
+"The fault of the people who sent me here," Lessingham repeated.
+"I scarcely understand."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's simple enough," Sir Henry continued.  "You see, you are about
+as fit to be a spy as Philippa, my wife here, is to be a detective.
+You possess the one insuperable obstacle of having the instincts
+of a gentleman.&mdash;Come, come," he went on, "we have nothing more to
+say to one another.  Open that window and take the narrow path down
+to the beach.  Jimmy Dumble is waiting for you at the gate.  He will
+row you out to a Dutch trawler which is lying even now off the point."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You mean me to get away?" Lessingham exclaimed, bewildered.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Believe me, it will cost nothing," Sir Henry assured him.  "I was
+not bluffing when I told Captain Griffiths that I had supreme
+authority here.  He knows perfectly well that I am within my rights
+in aiding your escape."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa moved swiftly to where Lessingham was standing.  She gave
+him her hands.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Dear friend," she begged, "so wonderful a friend as you have been,
+don't refuse this last thing."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Be a sensible fellow, Maderstrom," Sir Henry said.  "Remember that
+you can't do yourself or your adopted country a ha'porth of good by
+playing the Quixote."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Besides," Philippa continued, holding his hands tightly, "it is,
+after all, only an exchange.  You have saved Henry's life, set
+Richard free, and brought us happiness.  Why should you hesitate to
+accept your own liberty?"
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry threw open the window and looked towards a green light
+out at sea.
+</p>
+<p>
+"There's your trawler," he pointed out, "and remember the tide will
+turn in half an hour.  I don't wish to hurry you."
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham raised Philippa's fingers to his lips.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I shall think of you both always," he said simply.  "You are very
+wonderful people."
+</p>
+<p>
+He turned towards the window.  Sir Henry took up the Homburg hat
+from the table by his side.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Better take your hat," he suggested.
+</p>
+<p>
+Lessingham paused, accepted it, and looked steadfastly at the donor.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You knew from the first?" he asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+"From the very first," Sir Henry assured him.  "Don't look so
+confounded," he went on consolingly.  "Remember that espionage is
+the only profession in which it is an honour to fail."
+</p>
+<p>
+Philippa came a little shyly into her husband's arms, as he turned
+back into the room.  The tenderness in his own face, however, and
+a little catch in his voice, broke down at once the wall of reserve
+which had grown up between them.
+</p>
+<p>
+"My dear little woman!" he murmured.  "My little sweetheart!  You
+don't know how I've ached to explain everything to you&mdash;including
+the Russian ladies."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Explain them at once, sir!" Philippa insisted, pretending to draw
+her face away for a moment.
+</p>
+<p>
+"They were the wife and sister-in-law of the Russian Admiral,
+Draskieff, who was sent over to report upon our method of mine
+laying," he told her.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You and I have to go up to a little dinner they are giving to-morrow
+or the next day."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Oh, dear, what an idiot I was!" Philippa exclaimed ruefully.  "I
+imagined&mdash;all sorts of things.  But, Henry dear," she went on, "do
+you know that we have a great surprise for you&mdash;here in the house?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"No surprise, dear," he assured her, shaking his head.  "I knew the
+very hour that Richard left Wittenberg.  And here he is, by Jove!"
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard and Helen entered together.  Philippa could not even wait
+for the conclusion of the hearty but exceedingly British greeting
+which passed between the two men.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Listen to me, both of you!" she cried incoherently.  "Helen, you
+especially!  You never heard anything so wonderful in your life!
+They weren't fishing excursions at all.  There weren't any whiting.
+Henry was laying mines all the time, and he's blown up half the
+German fleet!  It's all in the Times this morning.  He's got a D.S.O.
+&mdash;Henry has&mdash;and he's a Rear-Admiral!  Oh, Helen, I want to cry!"
+</p>
+<p>
+The two women wandered into a far corner of the room.  Richard wrung
+his brother-in-law's hand.
+</p>
+<p>
+"Philippa isn't exactly coherent," he remarked, "but it sounds all
+right."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You see," Sir Henry explained, "I've been mine laying ever since
+the war started.  I always had ideas of my own about mine fields,
+as you may remember.  I started with Scotland, and then they moved
+me down here.  The Admiralty thought they'd be mighty clever, and
+they insisted upon my keeping my job secret.  It led to a little
+trouble with Philippa, but I think we are through with all that.
+&mdash;I suppose you know that those two young women have been engaged
+in a regular conspiracy, Dick?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"I know a little," Richard replied gravely, "and I'm sure you will
+believe that I wouldn't have countenanced it for a moment if I'd
+had any idea what they were up to."
+</p>
+<p>
+"I'm sure you wouldn't," Sir Henry agreed.  "Anyway, it led to no
+harm."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Maderstrom, then," Richard asked, with a sudden more complete
+apprehension of the affair, "was over here to spy upon you?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"That's the ticket," Sir Henry assented.
+</p>
+<p>
+Richard frowned.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And he bribed Philippa and Helen with my liberty!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Don't you worry about that," his brother-in-law begged.  "They
+must have known by instinct that a chap like Maderstrom couldn't do
+any harm."
+</p>
+<p>
+"Where is he now?" Richard asked eagerly.  "Helen insisted upon
+keeping me out of the way but we've heard all sorts of rumours.  The
+Commandant has been up here after him, hasn't he?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"Yes, and I sent him away with a flea in his ear!  I don't like the
+fellow."
+</p>
+<p>
+"And Maderstrom?"
+</p>
+<p>
+"The pseudo-Mr. Lessingham, eh?" Sir Henry observed.  "Well, to tell
+you the truth, Dick, if there is one person I am a little sorry for
+in the history of the last few weeks, it's Maderstrom."
+</p>
+<p>
+"You, too?" Richard exclaimed.  "Why, every one seems crazy about
+the fellow."
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry nodded.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I remember him in your college days, Dick.  He was a gentleman and
+a good sort, only unfortunately his mother was a German.  He did his
+bit of soldiering with the Prussian Guards at the beginning of the
+war, got a knock and volunteered for the Secret Service.  They sent
+him over here.  The fellow must have no end of pluck, for, as I dare
+say you know, they let him down from the observation car of a
+Zeppelin.  He finds his way here all right, makes his silly little
+bargain with our dear but gullible womenkind, and sets himself to
+watch&mdash;to watch me, mind.  The whole affair is too ridiculously
+transparent.  For a time he can't bring himself even to touch my
+papers here, although, as it happens, they wouldn't have done him
+the least bit of good.  It was only the stress and excitement of
+the shipwreck last week that he ventured to steal the chart which
+I had so carefully prepared for him.  I really think, if he hadn't
+done that, I should have had to slip it into his pocket or absolutely
+force it upon him somehow.  He sends it off like a lamb and behold
+the result!  We've crippled the German Navy for the rest of the war."
+</p>
+<p>
+"It was a faked chart, then, of course?" Richard demanded
+breathlessly.
+</p>
+<p>
+"And quite the cleverest I ever prepared," Sir Henry acknowledged.
+"I can assure you that it would have taken in Von Tirpitz himself,
+if he'd got hold of it."
+</p>
+<p>
+"But where is Maderstrom now, sir?" Richard asked.
+</p>
+<p>
+Sir Henry moved his head towards the window, where Philippa, for the
+last few moments, had softly taken her place.  Her eyes were watching
+a green light bobbing up and down in the distance.  Suddenly she gave
+a little exclamation.
+</p>
+<p>
+"It's moving!" she cried.  "He's off!"
+</p>
+<p>
+"He's safe on a Dutch trawler," Sir Henry declared.  "And I think,"
+he added, moving towards the sideboard, "it's time you and I had
+a drink together, Dick."
+</p>
+<p>
+They helped themselves to whisky and soda.  There were still many
+explanations to be given.  Half-concealed by the curtain, Philippa
+stood with her eyes turned seawards.  The green light was dimmer
+now, and the low, black outline of the trawler crept slowly over
+the glittering track of moonlight.  She gave a little start as it
+came into sight.  There was a sob in her throat, tears burning in
+her eyes.  Her fingers clutched the curtains almost passionately.
+She stood there watching until her eyes ached.  Then she felt an
+arm around her waist and her husband's whisper in her ear.
+</p>
+<p>
+"I haven't let you wander too far, have I, Phil?"
+</p>
+<p>
+She turned quickly towards him, eager for the comfort of his
+extended arms.  Her face was buried in his shoulder.
+</p>
+<p>
+"You know," she murmured.
+</p>
+
+
+<div style="height: 6em;"><br><br><br><br><br><br></div>
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of The Zeppelin's Passenger, by Oppenheim
+
+</pre>
+</body>
+</html>
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