rious an inquirer into the place
where curiosity ends. I sit and watch and I am well served. There are
men this morning at Buckingham Palace with a V.C. to be pinned upon
their breast, who faced dangers for ten minutes, less than I face day
and night."

Granet rose to his feet.

"For a moment," he exclaimed, "I had forgotten!... Tell me," he added,
with sudden vigour, "what have we done it for? You made your great name
in England, you were Eton and Oxford. Why is it that when the giant
struggle comes it should be Germany who governs your heart, it should be
Germany who calls even to me?"

Sir Alfred held out his hand. His eye had caught the clock.

"Ronnie," he said, "have you ever wondered why in a flock of sheep every
lamb knows its mother? Germany was the mother of our stock. Birth,
life and education count for nothing when the great days come, when the
mother voice speaks. It isn't that we are false to England, it is that
we are true to our own. You must go now, Ronnie! I have an appointment."

Granet walked out to the street a little dazed, and called for a taxi.

"I suppose that must be it," he muttered to himself.

CHAPTER XXV

Geraldine welcomed her unexpected visitor that afternoon cordially
enough but a little shyly.

"I thought that you were going to stay at Brancaster for a week," she
remarked, as they shook hands.

"We meant to stay longer," Granet admitted, "but things went a little
wrong. First of all there was this Zeppelin raid. Then my arm didn't go
very well. Altogether our little excursion fizzled out and I came back
last night."

"Did you see anything of the raid?" Geraldine inquired eagerly.

"Rather more than I wanted," he answered grimly. "I was motoring along
the road at the time, and I had to attend a perfect court martial
next day, with your friend Thomson in the chair. Can you tell me, Miss
Conyers," he continued, watching her closely, "how it is that a medical
major who is inspector of hospitals, should be sent down from the War
Office to hold an inquiry upon that raid?"

"Was Hugh really there?" she asked in a puzzled manner.

"He was, and very officially," Granet replied. "If it weren't that I had
conclusive evidence to prove what I was doing there, he seemed rather
set on getting me into trouble."

"Hugh is always very fair," she said a little coldly.

"You can't solve my puzzle for me, then?" he persisted.

"What puzzle?"

"Why an inspector of hospitals should