d to the division commander. But there was no record of it in
the case."

"Why, I forwarded it myself," said Brant eagerly.

"So the division commander writes," said the President, smiling, "and he
forwarded it to the department. But it was suppressed in some way. Have
you any enemies, General Brant?"

"Not that I know of."

"Then you probably have. You are young and successful. Think of the
hundred other officers who naturally believe themselves better than you
are, and haven't a traitorous wife. Still, the department may have made
an example of you for the benefit of the only man who couldn't profit by
it."

"Might it not have been, sir, that this suppression was for the good
report of the service--as the chief offender was dead?"

"I am glad to hear you say so, General, for it is the argument I have
used successfully in behalf of your wife."

"Then you know it all, sir?" said Brant after a gloomy pause.

"All, I think. Come, General, you seemed just now to be uncertain about
your enemies. Let me assure you, you need not be so in regard to your
friends."

"I dare to hope I have found one, sir," said Brant with almost boyish
timidity.

"Oh, not me!" said the President, with a laugh of deprecation. "Some one
much more potent."

"May I know his name, Mr. President?"

"No, for it is a woman. You were nearly ruined by one, General. I
suppose it's quite right that you should be saved by one. And, of
course, irregularly."

"A woman!" echoed Brant.

"Yes; one who was willing to confess herself a worse spy than your
wife--a double traitor--to save you! Upon my word, General, I don't
know if the department was far wrong; a man with such an alternately
unsettling and convincing effect upon a woman's highest political
convictions should be under some restraint. Luckily the department knows
nothing of it."

"Nor would any one else have known from me," said Brant eagerly. "I
trust that she did not think--that you, sir, did not for an instant
believe that I"--

"Oh dear, no! Nobody would have believed you! It was her free confidence
to me. That was what made the affair so difficult to handle. For even
her bringing your dispatch to the division commander looked bad for you;
and you know he even doubted its authenticity."

"Does she--does Miss Faulkner know the spy was my wife?" hesitated
Brant.

The President twisted himself in his chair, so as to regard Brant more
gravely with his deep-set eyes, and then th