J. Storer Clouston

“ At the junction I obeyed an impulse, and, jumping off my cycle, paused to survey the scenery. A fertile vale fell from where I stood, down to a small bay between headlands. It was filled with little farms, and all at once there came over me an extraordinary impression of peacefulness and rest. Could it actually be that this was a country at war; that naval war, indeed, was very very close at hand, and beneath those shining waters a submarine might even now be stealing or a loose mine drifting? ”

“ It seems to me so un-German!"
They both looked at me rather hard.
"I'm afraid," said Miss Burnett, "that we of the secret service grow terribly cosmopolitan. Our habits are those of no country—or rather of all countries."
"I had almost forgotten," said Tiel, "that I once thought and felt like Mr Belke." And then he added this singular opinion: "It is Germany's greatest calamity—greater even than the coming in of Britain against her, or the Battle of the Marne—that those who guide her destinies have not forgotten it too." ”

“ Overhead were the stars; on one hand the pale sea merged into the dark horizon; all around me were low black hummocks that seem to fade into an infinity of shadows. The gulls still cried mournfully, and a strong pungent odour of seaweed filled the night air. I remember that pause very vividly.
I should have been reckless enough to light a cigarette had I not feared that our submarine might still be on the surface, and Wiedermann might see the flash and dub me an idiot. ”

“ If ever I had seen a wolf in sheep's clothing, it seemed to me that I beheld one now in the person of Adolph Tiel, attired as a Scottish clergyman, reading a solid Scottish newspaper over the peat fire of this remote and peaceful manse. And, to complete the picture, there sat I arrayed in a German naval uniform, with the unsuspecting Grand Fleet on the other side of those shuttered and curtained windows. ”

“ Gradually Mr Burnett recovered his composure. His guest was so genial and friendly and appreciative of the scones and the currant cake that he began to upbraid himself for churlishness in allowing anything like a suspicion of this pleasant gentleman to linger in his mind. There remained a persistent little shadow which he could not quite drive away, but he conscientiously tried his best. As for Mr Taylor, there never was a jollier and yet a more thoughtful companion. He seemed to think of every mortal thing that the minister could possibly need for his journey. ”

“ When Mrs Craigie returned, she found him sufficiently revived to jest again, though in a minor key.
"To think of the girl having the impudence to make me carry her luggage out of the house for her!" said he. "Gad, but it was a clever dodge to get clear with no one suspecting her! Well, anyhow, my reputation is safe again at last, Selina."
"Your reputation!" replied Mrs Craigie in a withering voice. "For what? Not for common-sense anyhow!"
"You're flustered, my dear," said the laird easily. "It's a habit women get into terrible easy. You should learn a lesson from Miss Eileen Holland. ”

“ Near him at the side of the road was drawn up a large dark-green touring car, which apparently the gentleman had driven himself, for there was no sign of a chauffeur.
"Good day, sir!" said the stranger affably, as the minister came up to him. "Lovely weather!"
Mr Burnett, nothing loath to hear a fresh voice, stopped and smiled and agreed that the day was fine. He saw now that the stranger was a middle-sized man with a full fair moustache, jovial eyes behind his gold-rimmed spectacles, and a rosy healthy colour; while his manner was friendliness itself. ”

“ Chance alone must protect me.
Down a still steeper hill I rode, only now amid numberless small farms and with another bay shining ahead. The road ran nearly straight into the water and then bent suddenly and followed the rim of the bay, with nothing but empty sea-links on the landward side. The farms were left behind, a mansion-house by the shore was still a little distance ahead, and there was not a living soul in sight as I came to a small stone-walled enclosure squeezed in between the road and the beach below. ”

“ It was so large as almost to be a minute room, and I remembered that it had a skylight in its sloping roof. I opened this, and as the room at once began to clear, I left it open.
And then I paced the floor and smoked and thought. What was to be made of these very disquieting events? Clearly Tiel was either a much less capable and clever man than he was reputed—a bit of a fraud in fact—or else he was carrying his fondness for mystery and for suddenly springing brilliant surprises, like conjuring tricks, upon people, to the most extreme lengths. ”

“ She must surrender; that is certain, for I have willed it, and what a German wills with all his soul takes place. It must! As to her heart, I feel sure that her kindness means what a woman's kindness always means—that a man has only to persevere. But marriage?
I shall never meet another woman like her; that is certain! Yet an adventuress, a paid agent of the Secret Service, marrying a von Belke—is it quite conceivable? On the whole I think no. But we can be very happy without that! I never loved a woman so much before—that is my last word for the night! ”

“ I certainly made no effort to conceal my distaste now.
"Thank God, I am not in the secret service!" I said devoutly.
"I understand you are in the submarine service," said Tiel in a dry voice.
"I am—and I am proud of it!"
"Have you never fired a torpedo at an inoffensive merchant ship?"
"That is very different!" I replied hotly.
"It is certainly more wholesale," said he.
I sprang up.
"Mr Tiel," I said, "kindly understand that a German naval officer is not in the habit of enduring affronts to his service!"
"But you think a German secret-service agent should have no such pride?" ”

“ The wind droned through a distant keyhole mournfully and continuously. That melancholy piping sound never rose and never fell; monotonous and unvarying it piped on and on. Otherwise the house had that peculiar feeling of quiet which houses have when stirring events are over and people have departed.
The two remaining inhabitants re-entered the parlour, glanced at one another with a half smile, and then seemed simultaneously to find a little difficulty in knowing what to do next.
"Well," said Blacklock, "our business seems over." ”

“ Should I take Tiel with me to see Wiedermann? It might perhaps be expected."
"No!" she replied emphatically.
"You feel sure?"
For reply she very gently pressed my hand at last. So confident did I feel of her sure judgment that I considered that question settled.
"By the way," she said in a moment, "I think perhaps it might be advisable to say nothing to Commander Wiedermann about me. It is quite unnecessary, and he—well, some men are always suspicious if they think there is a woman in the case. Of course I admit they sometimes have enough excuse, but—what do you think?" ”

“ They are not idiots! It seems to me you have been extraordinarily lucky to have escaped detection so far. Surely you are not going to risk a longer stay?"
"If it is my duty I must run the risk."
"But is it your duty? I am just wondering, Belke, whether I can spare you, with this attack coming on, and whether I ought to override Herr Tiel's orders and damn the consequences!"
I knew his independence and resolution, but just at that moment there passed before my mind's eye such a distinct, sweet picture of Eileen, that I was filled with a resolution and independence even greater than his. ”

“ My last word of advice to myself simply was to be perfectly firm on any such point, and permit no scheme to be set afoot, however tempting, unless it was thoroughly practical from the naval point of view.
From the rim of my hollow there on the hillside I could see several of the farms below me, as well as the manse, and I noted one little sign of British efficiency—no glimmer of light shown from any of their windows. At sea a light or two twinkled intermittently, and a searchlight was playing, though fortunately not in my direction. Otherwise land and water were alike plunged in darkness. ”

“ One takes advantages of the fact that even the most wary and watchful men take the greater part of their surroundings for granted. The head of any War Office—German, French, English, or whatever it may be—doesn't suddenly conceive a suspicion of one of his clerks, unless something in the clerk's conduct calls his attention. If, then, it were possible to enter the War Office, looking and behaving exactly like one of the clerks, suspicion would not begin. It is the beginning one has to guard against."
"Why don't you enter the British War Office, then?" asked Eileen with a smile. ”

“ If Miss Holland will pardon me for saying so in her presence, I had already been struck with the fact that she was a young lady of very exceptional looks and brains and character—and, moreover, she knew Germany and she knew German. It occurred to me that in dealing with a young and probably not unimpressionable man such an ally might conceivably come in useful."
"Robin," interrupted his old friend, with his rich laugh, "you are the coldest-blooded brute I ever met!"
"To plot against a man like that!" agreed von Belke with bitter emphasis. ”

“ I said in as matter-of-fact tone as I could compass.
"We got her through a Mrs Armitage in Kensington," said Mr Craigie. "It seemed all right—and mind you, I'm not saying it isn't all right now! Only between you and me, Mr——?"
"Wilson," I said promptly, breathing my thanks to Tiel at the same time.
"You'll be a relation of the minister's too, perhaps?"
"I am on government business," I replied in a suitable tone of grave mystery.
"Damn it, Mr Wilson," exclaimed my friend with surprising energy, "every one in the country seems to be on government business nowadays—except myself! ”

“ If it was a case of engaging another governess, that's a different story. I'd take care not to have any German spies next time!"
"German spies!" I exclaimed, with I hope well-simulated horror; "you don't mean to suspect Miss Holland of that surely!"
"Oh, 'German Spy' is just a kind of term nowadays for any one you don't know all about," said Mr Craigie easily. "Every one you haven't seen before is a German Spy. I spotted five myself in my own parish at the beginning of the war, and Mrs Craigie wrote straight off to the Naval Authorities and reported them all." ”

“ I never allow my chauffeur to touch a drop while I'm on the road, Mr Burnett—never, sir!"
Mr Burnett was slow to suspect ill of any one, but he was just as slow in getting rid of a suspicion. With all his simplicity, he could not but think that Mr Taylor jumped extraordinarily quickly to conclusions and got excited on smaller provocation than any one he had ever met. Over his first cup of tea he sat very silent.
In the meantime the sociable Mary had been suffering from a sense of disappointment. Surely the beautiful liveried figure in the car would require his tea and eggs like his master? ”

“ Nothing will ever efface the memory of the scene that met my eyes. Tiel, Eileen, and Ashington sat there, the two men each with a whisky-and-soda, and all three seemingly in the most extraordinarily high spirits. ”

“ I said.
"There speaks Germany," smiled Tiel.
"Germany disdains to act a part all the time!" I cried.
I confess I was nettled by his tone, but his charming "sister" disarmed me instantly.
"Mr Belke means that he wants footlights and an orchestra and an audience before he mutters 'Hush! I hear her coming!' He doesn't believe in saying 'Hush!' in the corner of every railway carriage or under his umbrella. And I really think it makes him much less alarming company!"
"You explain things very happily, Eileen," said Tiel. ”

“ In a moment the figure of Tiel appeared, and from a flash of light I saw that he carried his electric torch. He walked slowly towards the highroad till he came to a low wall that divided the fields at the side, and then from behind the wall up jumped the form of a man, illuminated for an instant by a flash from the torch, and then just distinguishable in the gloom. ”

“ Eileen explained that he had said he must do some errand in his capacity as parish minister, but what the mystery-monger was really about, Heaven knows!
"Now," said I to Eileen, when we were seated and I had lit a cigarette, "I want to ask you something about this new scheme that we three are embarked upon."
She began to shake her head at once.
"I am very much in the dark," said she. "Tiel tells me as little as he tells you."
"You must surely know one thing. What is your own part in it? Why were you brought into the islands? Such risks are not run for nothing." ”

“ I asked.
"The minister's sister is always admitted," said Tiel with his dry smile.
I asked presently if she had travelled far. She shrugged her shoulders, gave a delightful little laugh, and said—
"We get so used to travelling that I have forgotten what 'far' is!"
Meanwhile tea was brought in, and Miss Burnett sat down and poured it out with the graceful nonchalant air of a charming hostess in her own drawing-room, while Tiel talked of the weather and referred carelessly to the lastest news just like any gentleman who might have called casually upon her. ”

“ You are privileged to render your country such a service as few single Germans have been able to render her—if this plan succeeds! If it fails, your sacrifice will not be unknown or unappreciated. Whatever happens, you will have climbed a rung or two up the ladder of duty, and perhaps of fame. ”

“ This struck Mr Burnett as a novel and very interesting way of putting the matter. He forgot all about the dinner awaiting him at the manse, and when the stranger offered him a very promising-looking cigar, he accepted it with pleasure, and leaned over the parapet beside him. There, with his eyes on the running water, he listened and talked for some time.
The stranger began to talk about the various charming out-of-the-way places in Scotland. It seemed he was a perfervid admirer of everything Scottish, and had motored or tramped all over the country from Berwick to the Pentland Firth. ”