s had the sense to redeem that watch I
could not have sent to-morrow the message of German liberation! See, it
is very simple!" He pointed with his finger and held the watch half-way
to the roof that the light might better reveal the wording. "This word
means 'Proceed.' It will go to all my chief agents. They will transmit
it by telegram to hundreds of centres. By Thursday morning great
stretches of territory where the golden corn was waving so proudly
to-day will be blackened wastes. By Saturday the world will confront its
sublime catastrophe."

"But why have you three words?" she asked huskily.

"We Germans provide against all contingencies," he said, "we leave
nothing to chance. We are not gamblers. We work on lines of scientific
accuracy. The second word is to tell my agents to suspend operations
until they hear from me. The third word means 'Abandon the scheme for
this year'! We must work with the markets. A more favourable opportunity
might occur--with so grand a conception it is necessary that we should
obtain the maximum results for our labours."

He snapped the case of the watch and put it back in his pocket, turned
out the light and settled himself back with a sigh of content.

"You see you are unimportant," he said, "you are a beautiful woman and
to many men you would be most desirable. To me, you are just a woman, an
ordinary fellow-creature, amusing, beautiful, possessed of an agile
mind, though somewhat frivolous by our standards. Many of my
fellow-countrymen who do not think like I do would take you. It is my
intention to leave you just as soon as it is safe to do so unless----" A
thought struck him, and he frowned.

"Unless----?" she repeated with a sinking heart in spite of her
assurance.

"Bridgers was speaking to me of you. He who is driving." He nodded to
the dimly outlined shoulders of the chauffeur. "He has been a faithful
fellow----"

"You wouldn't?" she gasped.

"Why not?" he said coolly. "I don't want you. Bridgers thinks that you
are beautiful."

"Is he a Hun, too?" she asked, and he jerked round toward her.

"If Bridgers wants you he shall have you," he said harshly.

She knew she had made a mistake. There was no sense in antagonizing him,
the more especially so since she had not yet learnt all that she wanted
to know.

"I think your scheme is horrible," she said after awhile, "the wheat
destruction scheme, I mean, not Bridgers. But it is a very great one."

The man was suscep