g; but it couldn't all be brag. The life of this
spy of the first water, of international fame, must be rather marvelous;
to defy one's enemies with success, to journey calmly through their
capitals, to stroll undetected among their agents of justice--were not
things any fool could do. He carried his life in his hand, this Franz
von Blenheim. He had courage; he even had genius along his special
lines. His impersonation on the liner, shrewd, slangy, coarse-grained,
patronizing, had been a triumph. Then, suddenly, I remembered a murdered
boy beside whom I had knelt that morning, and my brief flicker of homage
died.

"You think I can't do it, eh?" He had misinterpreted my expression.
"Well, let me tell you I did just a year ago and got over without a
scratch. To get across no-man's-land you have to play dead, as you
Yankees put it; you lie flat on the ground and pull yourself forward a
foot at a time and keep your eye on the search-lights so that when they
come your way you can drop on your face and lie like a corpse until
they move on. It's not pleasant, of course; but in this game we take our
chances. And now I think I'll be claiming my winnings if you please."

I straightened in my chair, recognizing a crisis. With his last phrase
he had shed the bearing of Mr. John Van Blarcom, and from the disguise
all in an instant there emerged the Prussian, insolent, overbearing,
fixing us with a look of challenge, and addressing us with crisp
command. No; the kaiser's agent was not a figure of romance or of
adventure. He was a force as able, as ruthless, as cruel as the land he
served.

"Miss Falconer," he demanded briefly, "where are those papers? I am not
to be played with, I assure you. If you think I am, just recall this
morning, and your chauffeur. We didn't kill him for the pleasure of it;
he had his chance as you have. But when we went for our car he was there
in the garage, sleeping; he seemed to think we had designs on him, and
tried to rouse the inn."

"Do you call that an excuse for a murder?" I exclaimed. "You
cold-blooded villain!"

"I don't make excuses." His voice was hard and arrogant. "I am calling
the matter to your notice as a kind warning, Mr. Bayne. You said a
little while ago that to see a woman gagged and bound distressed you.
Well, unless I have those papers within five minutes, you will see
something worse than that!"

At the moment what I saw was red. There was something beating in my
throat, chok