n gazed at the gold-printed letters a little incredulously.

"Read it out," Nora insisted.

Helen obeyed:

"Schmidt,
Berlin,
Unter den Linden, 127."

"That sounds German," she admitted.

"It's a trophy, all right," Nora declared. "One of the crew--probably
the Commander--must have come on board in a hurry and changed into
uniform after they had started."

"It is my painful duty, Miss Nora," Harrison announced solemnly,
"to inform you, on behalf of Captain Griffiths, that all articles of
whatsoever description, found in the vicinity of Dutchman's Common,
which might possibly have belonged to any one in the Zeppelin, must be
sent at once to the War Office."

"Rubbish!" Nora scoffed. "The War Office aren't going to have my hat."

"Duty," the young man began--

"You can go back to the Depot and do your duty, then, Mr. Harrison,"
Nora interrupted, "but you're not going to have my hat. I'd throw it
into the fire sooner than give it up."

"Military regulations must be obeyed, Miss Nora," Captain Griffiths
ventured thoughtfully.

"Nothing so important as hats," Harrison put in. "You see they
fit--somebody."

The girl's gesture was irreverent but convincing. "I'd listen to
anything Captain Griffiths had to say," she declared, "but you boys who
are learning to be soldiers are simply eaten up with conceit. There's
nothing in your textbook about hats. If you're going to make yourselves
disagreeable about this, I shall simply ignore the regiment."

The two young men fell into attitudes of mock dismay. Nora took a
chocolate from a box.

"Be merciful, Miss Nora!" Harrison pleaded tearfully.

"Don't break the regiment up altogether," Somerfield begged, with a
little catch in his voice.

"All very well for you two to be funny," Nora went on, revisiting the
chocolate box, "but you've heard about the Seaforths coming, haven't
you? I adore kilts, and so does Helen; don't you, Helen?"

"Every woman does," Helen admitted, smiling. "I suppose the child really
can keep the hat, can't she?" she added, turning to the Commandant.

"Officially the matter is outside my cognizance," he declared. "I shall
have nothing to say."

The two young men exchanged glances.

"A hat," Somerfield ruminated, "especially a Homburg hat, is scarcely an
appurtenance of warfare."

His brother officer stood for a moment looking gravely at the object in
question. Then he winked at S