German cause
in large and in detail. Ransacking her soul for an explanation, she
ran upon the idea that it was because of her association with the
Weblings.

She was ashamed to have given such a thought passage through her mind.
But it came back as often as she drove it out and then the thought
began to hover about her that perhaps the suspicion was not so insane
as she believed. The public is generally unreasonable, but its
intuitions, like a woman's, are the resultants of such complex
instincts that they are above analysis.

But the note-carrying went on, and she could not escape from the
suspicion or its shadow of disgrace. Like a hateful buzzard it was
always somewhere in her sky.

Once the suspicion had domiciled itself in her world, it was
incessantly confirmed by the minutiae of every-day existence. The
interchange of messages with Nicky Easton grew unexplainable on any
other ground. The theory of secret financial dealings looked
ludicrous; or if the dealings were financial, they must be some of the
trading with the enemy that was so much discussed in the papers.

She felt that she had been conniving in one of the spy-plots that all
the Empire was talking about. She grew afraid to the last degree of
fear. She saw herself on the scaffold. She resolved to carry no more
messages.

But the next request of Sir Joseph's found her complying automatically.
It had come to be her habit to do what he asked her to do, and to take
pride in the service as a small installment on her infinite debt. And
every time her resentment rose to an overboiling point, Sir Joseph or
Lady Webling would show her some exquisite kindness or do some great
public service that won commendation from on high.

One day when she was keyed up to protest Lady Webling discharged
Fraeulein Ernst for her pro-Germanism and engaged an English nurse.
Another day Lady Webling asked her to go on a visit to a hospital.
There she lavished tenderness on the British wounded and ignored the
German. How could Marie Louise suspect her of being anti-British?
Another time when Marie Louise was almost ready to rebel she saw Sir
Joseph's name heading a war subscription, and that night he made, at a
public meeting, a speech denouncing Germany in terms of vitriol.

After all, Marie Louise was not English. And America was still
neutral. The President had wrung from Germany a promise of better
behavior, and in a sneaking way the promise was kept, with many a
violati