o go to America, in his time he had been
everything--waiter, lift-man, engine-driver and heaven knows what
else, but when I met him he was apparently well-off. It was only
later on that I knew he was one of your principal secret agents
in America.

"He praised my talents highly and offered to furnish the capital
to start me as an Oriental dancer with a large company of my own.
There was only one condition attaching to his offer, a condition,
ma foi! which was not disagreeable to me. It was that, after six
months tour in the States and Canada, I should go to Brussels and
settle down there in a house that Herr von Schornbeek would
present me with.

"Mon ami, in those days, I understood nothing at all of
diplomacy. I knew only that I was often hungry and that I had a
little talent which, were it given a chance, might keep me from
want. Herr von Schornbeek fulfilled his promises to me. I had my
company, I did my tour of America and Canada with great success
and finally I came to Europe and made my debut at Brussels.

"I knew Brussels already from the old days. As a half-starved,
unhappy child with a troupe of acrobats, I had often appeared
there. But now I came to Brussels as a conqueror. A beautiful
villa in the suburb of Laeken was ready to receive me and I found
that a large credit had been opened in my name at one of the
principal banks so that I could keep open house.

"I think I scarcely realized then the role that I was destined to
fill by the German Secret Service. In all my life before, I had
never been happy, I had never ceased to struggle for my bare
existence, I had never had pretty clothes to wear, and motor-cars
and servants of my own."

She paused and glanced around her. The room was almost dark; the
fog outside hung like a veil before the window.

"Light the lamp!" she begged, "I do not like the dark!"

Desmond struck a match and kindled an oil lamp, which stood on
the sideboard.

"Ah! my friend," the girl resumed. "I took my fill of life with
both hands. The year was 1913. Now I know that I was one of the
German agents for the penetration of Belgium in preparation of
what was coming. My mission was to make friends among the
Belgians and the French and the cosmopolitan society of Brussels
generally, and invite them to my house where your people were
waiting to deal with them.

"My pretty villa became the rendezvous for half the rascals of
Europe, men and women, who used to meet there with all k