certain! Yet an
adventuress, a paid agent of the Secret Service, marrying a von
Belke--is it quite conceivable? On the whole I think _no_. But we can
be very happy without that! I never loved a woman so much before--that
is my last word for the night!

II.

THURSDAY.

_Friday morning_ (_very early_).--The events of yesterday and last
night have left me with more to think about than I seem to have wits to
think with. Mein Gott, if I could see daylight through everything!
What is ahead, Heaven knows, but here is what is behind.

Yesterday morning passed as the afternoon before had passed, in further
discussion of naval statistics with Tiel--with a background of Eileen.
Then we had lunch, and soon afterwards Tiel put on an oilskin coat and
went out. A thin fine drizzle still filled the air, drifting in clouds
before a rising wind and blotting out the view of the sea almost
completely. Behind it the ships were doing we knew not what; certainly
they were not firing, but we could see nothing of them at all.

A little later Eileen insisted on putting on a waterproof and going out
too. As the minister's sister she had to visit a farm, she said. I
believed her, of course, though I had ceased to pay much attention to
Tiel's statements as to his movements. I knew that he knew his own
business thoroughly, and I had ceased to mind if he had not the
courtesy to take me into his confidence. After all, if I come safely
out of this business, I am not likely to meet such as Tiel again!

Left to myself, I picked up a book and had been reading for about a
quarter of an hour when I was conscious of a shadow crossing the window
and heard a step on the gravel. Never doubting that it was either
Eileen or Tiel, I still sat reading until I was roused by the sound of
voices in the hall, just outside the parlour door. One I recognised as
our servant's, the other was a stranger's. I dropped my book and
started hastily to my feet, and as I did so I heard the stranger say--

"I tell you I recognise her coat. My good woman, d'ye think I'm blind?
I'm coming in to wait for her, I tell you."

The door opened, and a very large stout gentleman appeared, talking
over his shoulder as he entered.

"When Miss Holland comes in, tell her Mr Craigie is waiting to see
her," said he; and with that he closed the door and became aware of my
presence.

For a moment we looked at one another. My visitor, I saw, had a grey
beard, a larg