elivered at the German consulate, where the chief of the German
secret service, to whom it was addressed, read it with great care.

* * * * *

Miss Vard, meanwhile, was finding the hours long. The Prince had
furnished a slight divertissement the day before; but to-day there was
no such relief in sight, and she found herself singularly restless. This
was, in part, a reflection of her father's mood, for she had never known
him so nervous and irritable. The lines in his face had deepened, his
eyes were brighter than ever, and he waved her impatiently away whenever
she ventured to address him. Plainly, a crisis was at hand, and, as she
saw how her father was affected, she awaited it with foreboding.

She tried to read and gave it up, for she could not fix her attention on
the page; she sat for a long time looking at the sea, and then turned
her eyes away, for its restlessness increased her own; she went for a
walk about the deck, but it seemed to her in every pair of eyes turned
upon her there was suspicion and aversion. How glad she was that the
voyage was almost ended! It had started happily enough, and then, quite
suddenly, it had become wearisome and hateful.

It was inevitable that, at this point, her thoughts should fly to Dan.
What a nice boy he was! She would see him to-morrow night--she had
promised him that! And before that? Would it be too undignified for her
to steal up again to that bench on the after boat-deck--would it--would
it precipitate matters? She did not want to do that and yet....

"Good afternoon," said a voice, and some one fell into step beside her,
and she looked up and saw that it was Dan. For an instant, she fancied
it was only the visualisation of her own thoughts; then she winked the
mists away.

"This is nice of you," she said. "I was just wishing for--some one. I
was dreadfully bored."

"You were a thousand miles away. I passed you twice and you didn't even
see me. If it hadn't been for my newspaper training, I'd have made off
to my den."

"I'm very glad you didn't. I really wanted to talk to you."

"Suppose we go up to the boat-deck," said Dan, "where you...."

He stopped.

"Where I what?"

Dan led the way up the ladder without replying; but a gleam of
understanding penetrated Miss Vard's mind when she saw him go straight
to the bench where she and the Prince had sat.

"It was this way," Dan explained, sitting down beside her. "I happened
to be