s face for a moment was blanched,
his lips opened but closed again without speech. Thomson was watching
him closely.

"Precisely," he went on. "You have guessed the truth, I can see. We have
been able, within the last few hours, to decode that very interesting
message which reached your uncle some little time ago."

Geraldine's bewilderment increased. Granet's almost stupefied silence
seemed to amaze her.

"Hugh, what does it all mean?" she cried. "Is Captain Granet in trouble
because he has come here to warn me of something? He has not said a word
except to beg me to go down into the country tonight."

"And he as begged you to do that," Thomson said, "because he is one of
those privileged few who have been warned that to-night or to-morrow
morning is the time selected for the Zeppelin raid on London of which
we have heard so much. Oh! He knows all about it, and his uncle, and
a great many of the guests they have gathered together. They'll all be
safe enough at Reigate! Come, Captain Granet, what have you to say about
it?"

Granet drew himself up. He looked every inch a soldier, and, curiously
enough, he seemed in his bearing and attitude to be respecting the
higher rank by virtue of which Thomson had spoken.

"To-morrow, as you have reminded me, is my tenth day, sir," he said.
"I shall report myself at your office at nine o'clock. Good-bye, Miss
Conyers! I hope that even though I have failed, Major Thomson may
persuade you to change your mind."

He left the room. Geraldine was so amazed that she made no movement
towards ringing the bell. She turned instead towards Thomson.

"What does it mean? You must tell me!" she insisted. "I am not a child."

"It means that what I have told you all along is the truth," Thomson
replied earnestly. "You thought, Geraldine, that I was narrow and
suspicious. I had powers and an office and responsibilities, too, which
you knew nothing of. That young man who has just left the room is in the
pay of Germany. So is his uncle."

"What, Sir Alfred Anselman?" she exclaimed. "Are you mad, Hugh?"

"Not in the least," he assured her. "These are bald facts."

"But Sir Alfred Anselman! He has done such wonderful things for the
country. They all say that he ought to have been in the Cabinet. Hugh,
you can't be serious!"

"I am so far serious," Thomson declared grimly, "that an hour ago we
succeeded in decoding a message from Holland to Sir Alfred Anselman,
advising him to leave London