r house that night
into an English fortress."

"It seems incredible," Dominey declared bluntly.

"It is nevertheless true," Seaman insisted. "No member of our service
is allowed to remain more than one month without communicating his
existence and whereabouts to headquarters. No word has been received
from Wolff since that night in January. On the other hand, indirect
information has reached us that he is in durance over here."

"But such a thing is against the law, unheard of," Dominey protested.
"No country can keep the citizen of another country in prison without
formulating a definite charge or bringing him up for trial."

Seaman smiled grimly.

"That's all very well in any ordinary case," he said. "Wolff has been
a marked man for years, though. Wilhelmstrasse would soon make fuss
enough, if it were of any use, but it would not be. There are one or
two Englishmen in German prisons at the present moment, concerning whose
welfare the English Foreign Office has not even thought it worth while
to enquire. What troubles me more than the actual fact of Wolff's
disappearance is the mystery of his visit to you and his apprehension
practically on the spot."

"They must have tracked him down there," Dominey remarked.

"Yes, but they couldn't thrust a pair of tongs into your butler's
sitting-room, extract Johann Wolff, and set him down inside Norwich
Castle or whatever prison he may be in," Seaman objected. "However, the
most disquieting feature about Wolff is that it introduces something we
don't understand. For the rest, we have many men as good, and better,
and the time for their utility is past. You are our great hope now,
Dominey."

"It is to be, then?"

Seaman took a long and ecstatic draught of his hock and seltzer.

"It is to be," he declared solemnly. "There was never any doubt about
it. If Russia ceases to mobilise to-morrow, if every statesman in Servia
crawls to Vienna with a rope around his neck, the result would still
be the same. The word has gone out. The whole of Germany is like a vast
military camp. It comes exactly twelve months before the final day
fixed by our great authorities, but the opportunity is too great, too
wonderful for hesitation. By the end of August we shall be in Paris."

"You bring news indeed!" Dominey murmured, standing for a moment by the
opened window.

"I have been received with favour in the very loftiest circles," Seaman
continued. "You and I both stand high in the list