this
time, anyway, since it is only three or four days since a French ship
was blown up."

He could hear the startled breath she drew, and the hand she laid on his
sleeve was trembling.

"Did he say that?" she gasped. "But he doesn't suspect--"

"That your father blew up _La Liberte_?" laughed Dan. "Of course not. He
said that was absurd. But, just the same, he thought it unwise to talk
about it."

"He is right," Kasia agreed. "What else did he say?"

"He seemed to think your being moved to first-class was part of a plot
of some kind, and thought you ought to be warned not to make any
acquaintances or confide in any one. But of course that was just his
imagination. If the Captain himself moved you why that settles it. He
wouldn't be concerned in any plot. The whole thing, anyway, sounds like
a bit of ten-twenty-thirty. I told Chevrial so."

"Who is this Chevrial?" asked Miss Vard.

"I don't know. He told me he was a dealer in wine. He seems to have
travelled a lot, and he is certainly a well-educated fellow, and one of
the best talkers I ever met. A Frenchman all through, from the way he
got worked up over Alsace-Lorraine. He said it was as bad as Poland. But
I suspect he was letting his Gallic imagination run away with him when
he got on the subject of spies."

"I am not so sure of that," she said, and fell silent for a moment. "I
have seen more of spies than have you, Mr. Webster--I know how Europe is
honeycombed with them. At any rate, it can do no harm to follow his
advice. Please make sure that there is no one near us. I have something
most important to say to you."

Dan glanced at her in surprise; then he got up, looked behind the boat
in whose shadow the bench stood, and made a careful survey of their
surroundings. Then he sat down again.

"There is no one near," he assured her.

"Mr. Webster," she began, leaning so close that a tendril of her hair
brushed his cheek, and speaking in a voice that was almost a whisper, "I
told you that I had need of a friend. It is a desperate need. I may rely
upon you, may I not?"

For answer, he sought her hand, found it and held it fast. It was very
cold.

"I was sure of it," she said, and her fingers closed upon his. "I knew,
in my first glance at you, that you were to be counted on."

Dan's heart was glowing and he could not trust himself to speak.

"My need is this," she went on rapidly, as though, having nerved herself
to speak, she must hurry through wit