sinuatingly.

"You've interrupted our game. Will you please go? And I must remind you
that this is a military area, and that, unless you have a signed permit
for photography, you are liable to be arrested."

"Oh, that is all right! I have the credentials of my newspaper, as well
as the assent of Miss Kingsley."

Miss Paget's temper, which had been rapidly rising, now fizzed over.

"If you don't take yourself off, I'll send some of my pupils to fetch
the coast-guard!" she thundered.

With an apologetic shrug of the shoulders the interloper packed up his
camera and departed, not without trying to secure a hurried
surreptitious snapshot with a small kodak, an effort which was nipped in
the bud by Miss Paget, who stood like a sentry at the gate, speeding his
departure. She watched him till he was safely out of sight and then
joined the excited girls, some of whom had overheard the conversation.

"That's no American!" she proclaimed. "And I don't for a moment believe
that he had permission from Miss Kingsley to photograph the school."

"She'd have said so, surely," commented Vivien.

"Probably he didn't even know her name till you mentioned it, Miss
Paget," said Lorraine.

"He's a foreigner in my opinion--possibly a spy," continued the
mistress. "This field would make a most excellent landing-place for
enemy aircraft. One can't be too careful in these matters--living as we
do near the coast, in a military zone. The cheek of the man, too! Calmly
to set up his camera and begin to take us without asking leave! Even in
times of peace it would be unpardonable. I must say I have the very
strongest suspicions of his intentions."

"It seems rather the wrong time for an American magazine to be wanting
an article on English Girls' Schools," said Patsie.

"It's the most flimsy excuse."

The affair made quite a sensation in the school. Miss Kingsley, when
the matter was reported to her, disclaimed all knowledge of the
photographer or any commission to him to take the hockey teams. She was
justly indignant, and almost thought of mentioning the incident to the
police. The girls talked the affair threadbare. They were quite sure
they had had an encounter with a spy. Their suspicions were further
justified in the course of a few days by an experience of Lorraine's.

She was going by train on Saturday morning to Ranock, a little place a
few miles from Porthkeverne, whither her mother had sent her to return
some books to a frie