I sat down, horror-stricken,
by the broken desk, and I read this letter, a translation of which I have
in my hand:--

MURREYFIELD HOUSE, RADCHURCH.

DEAR M. VARDIN,--Stringer has told me that he has kept you
sufficiently informed as to Chelmsford and Colchester, so I have not
troubled to write. They have moved the Midland Territorial Brigade
and the heavy guns towards the coast near Cromer, but only for a time.
It is for training, not embarkation.

And now for my great news, which I have straight from the War Office
itself. Within a week there is to be a very severe attack from
Verdun, which is to be supported by a holding attack at Ypres. It is
all on a very large scale, and you must send off a special Dutch
messenger to Von Starmer by the first boat. I hope to get the exact
date and some further particulars from my informant to-night, but
meanwhile you must act with energy.

I dare not post this here--you know what village postmasters are, so I
am taking it into Colchester, where Stringer will include it with his
own report which goes by hand.--Yours faithfully, SOPHIA HEFFNER.

I was stunned at first as I read this letter, and then a kind of cold,
concentrated rage came over me. So this woman was a German and a spy! I
thought of her hypocrisy and her treachery towards me, but, above all, I
thought of the danger to the Army and the State. A great defeat, the
death of thousands of men, might spring from my misplaced confidence.
There was still time, by judgment and energy, to stop this frightful
evil. I heard her step upon the stairs outside, and an instant later she
had come through the doorway. She started, and her face was bloodless as
she saw me seated there with the open letter in my hand.

"How did you get that?" she gasped. "How dared you break my desk and
steal my letter?"

I said nothing. I simply sat and looked at her and pondered what I
should do. She suddenly sprang forward and tried to snatch the letter. I
caught her wrist and pushed her down on to the sofa, where she lay,
collapsed. Then I rang the bell, and told the maid that I must see Mr.
Murreyfield at once.

He was a genial, elderly man, who had treated this woman with as much
kindness as if she were his daughter. He was horrified at what I said. I
could not show him the letter on account of the secret that it contained,
but I made him understand that it was of desperate importa