nfluence of a woman would have taken such a course. Those were
the facts I had to face, and--well, the thing came off, thanks entirely
to Miss Holland. I have apologised to her twenty times already for
making such a use of her, and I apologise again."

Suddenly the young German broke out.

"Ah! But were there not consolations?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Miss Holland living by yourselves in this house--is it that
you need apologise for?"

"Miss Holland never spent a single night under this roof," said
Blacklock quietly.

"Not--not a night," stammered von Belke. "Then where----?"

"She stayed at a house in the neighbourhood."

The lieutenant seemed incapable of comment, and Captain Phipps observed
genially,

"There seem to have been some rum goings-on behind your back, Mr Belke!"

Von Belke seemed to be realising this fact himself, and resenting it.

"You seem to have amused yourself very much by deceiving me," he
remarked.

"I assure you I did nothing for fun," said Blacklock gravely, yet with
a twinkle in his eye. "It was all in the way of business."

"The story that you preached, for instance!"

"Would you have felt quite happy if I had told you I had omitted to do
the one thing I had professed to come here for?"

Von Belke gave a little sound that might have meant anything. Then he
exclaimed--

"But your servant who was not supposed to know anything--that was to
annoy me, I suppose!"

"To isolate you. I didn't want you to speak to a soul but me."

The captive sat silent for a moment, and then said--

"You had the house watched by the police--I see that now."

"A compliment to you, Mr Belke," smiled the Commander; and then he
added, "You gave me one or two anxious moments, I may tell you. Your
demand for mufti necessitated a very hurried interview with the
commander of a destroyer, and old Craigie's visit very nearly upset the
apple-cart. I had to tell him pretty nearly the whole truth when I got
him outside. But those incidents came after the chief crisis was over.
The nearest squeak was when I thought you were safely engaged with Miss
Holland, and a certain officer was calling on me, who was _not_ Captain
Phipps. In fact, he was an even more exalted person. Miss Holland
saved the situation by crying out that you were coming, or I'm afraid
that would have been the end of the submarine attack."

"So?" said the young German slowly and with a very wry face, and then
he turned t