e of this country."

Granet made a stealthy movement forward. He had been edging a little
closer to the desk and he was barely two yards away. He suddenly paused.
Thomson had closed the drawer now and he was holding a small revolver
very steadily in his right hand.

"Granet," he said, "that sort of thing won't do. You know now what I
think of you. Besides these little incidents which I have related,
you are suspected of having, in the disguise of an American clergyman,
delivered a message from the German Government to an English Cabinet
Minister, and, to come to more personal matters, I myself suspect you of
having made two attempts on my life. It is my firm belief that you
are nothing more nor less than a common and dangerous German spy. Keep
back!"

The veins were standing out like whipcord on Granet's flushed forehead.
He swayed on his feet. Twice he had seemed as though he would spring at
his opponent.

"Now listen to me," Thomson continued. "On Monday I am going from
Southampton to Boulogne for forty-eight hours, to attend a court martial
there. There is only one decent thing you can do. You know what that is.
I'll have you exchanged, if you are willing, into a line regiment with
your present rank. Your colonel will have a hint. It will be your duty
to meet the first German bullet you can find. If you are content with
that, I'll arrange it for you. If not--"

Major Thomson paused. There was a queer twisted smile at the corners of
his lips.

"If not," he concluded, "there is one more little note to add in this
book and the account will be full. You know now the terms, Captain
Granet, on which you can go to the Front. I will give you ten days to
consider."

"If I accept an offer like this," Granet protested, "I shall be pleading
guilty to all the rubbish you have talked."

"If it weren't for the fact," Major Thomson told him sternly, "that you
have worn his Majesty's uniform, that you are a soldier, and that the
horror of it would bring pain to every man who has shared with you that
privilege, I have quite enough evidence here to bring your career to a
disgraceful end. I give you your chance, not for your own sake but for
the honour of the Army. What do you say?"

Granet picked up his hat.

"I'll think it over," he muttered.

He walked out of the room without any attempt at farewell, pushed his
way along the corridors, down the steps and out into Whitehall. His face
was distorted by a new expression. A