action. We are enclosing a compensation form which..."

But neither troubled to read further.

"Gone to the bottom, by Jove!" cried Desmond. "But isn't it
strange," he went on, "to think of the Star of Poland lying out
there on the bed of the Channel? Well, I'm not so sure that it
isn't the best place for it. It won't create any further trouble
in this world at least!"

"Poor Nur-el-Din!" sighed the girl.

They sat awhile in silence together and watched the gulls
circling unceasingly above the receding tide.

"You're leaving here to-morrow then?" said Desmond presently.

Barbara nodded

"And going back to your work with the Chief?"

Barbara nodded again.

"It's not good enough," cried Desmond. "This is no job for a girl
like you, Barbara. The strain is too much; the risks are too
great. Besides, there's something I wanted to say..."

Barbara stopped him.

"Don't say it!" she bade him.

"But you don't know what I was going to say!" he protested.

Barbara smiled a little happy smile.

"Barbara..." Desmond began.

Her hand still rested on his shoulder and he put his hand over
hers. For a brief moment she let him have his way.

Then she withdrew her hand.

"Desmond," she said, looking at him with kindly eyes, "we both
have work to do..."

"We have," replied the man somberly, "and mine's at the front!"

The girl shook her head.

"No!" she said. "Henceforward it's where the Chief sends you!"

Desmond set his jaw obstinately.

"I may have been a Secret Service agent by accident," he
answered, "but I'm a soldier by trade. My place is in the
fighting-line!"

"The Secret Service has its fighting-line, too," Barbara replied,
"though the war correspondents don't write about it. It never
gets a mention in despatches, and Victoria Crosses don't come its
way. The newspapers don't publish its casualty list, though you
and I know that it's a long one. A man slips quietly away and
never comes back, and after a certain lapse of time we just mark
him off the books and there's an end of it. But it's a great
service; and you've made your mark in it. The Chief wants men
like you. You'll have to stay!"

Desmond was about to speak; but the girl stopped him. "What do
you and I matter," she asked, "when the whole future of England
is at stake! If you are to give of your best to this silent game
of ours, you must be free with no responsibilities and no ties,
with nothing that will ever make you hesitate to take