he more intelligent of the two. It would not surprise me in the
least if he were not old Hoff's nephew at all, but really his superior,
sent over especially by Wilhelmstrasse to take charge of the plotters.
He doesn't in the least resemble old Hoff."

"No indeed, he doesn't," admitted Jane. "He certainly is clever, too.
We haven't learned a single thing that incriminates him, have we?"

"Nothing definite, yet everything taken together looks damaging enough.
Here is a young German of military age and appearance, who arrived from
Sweden just before we went into the war. He has plenty of money and
spends his time idling about New York, in frequent communication with at
least one navy officer. He selects a home overlooking the river from
which our soldiers are departing for France. You yourself saw him
pursuing K-19--the other K-19--who a few hours afterward was found
murdered."

"Things don't look right," Jane agreed, yet a few hours later as she sat
opposite the young man at tea, she found herself doubting. It seemed
incredible, impossible, that Frederic Hoff could be a murderer. Her
instinctive sense of justice forced her to admit that it was hard for
her to believe him even a spy. He seemed so cultured, so clean, so
straightforward, so nice. If she had not seen that unforgettable look of
hate on his face that night as she watched him from the window she
could not, she would not have believed evil of him.

The tremor of nervous excitement in which she met him quickly passed,
and she found herself once more chatting intimately with him and
enjoying it. He talked well on practically all subjects, showing
reserve only when she tried to draw him out about himself. Her previous
experiences with the opposite sex had taught her that most men's
favorite topic of conversation is themselves, but Mr. Hoff appeared to
be the exception. Adroitly he baffled all her efforts to get him to
discuss his family, his achievements, or his past, even when she sought
to encourage intimacy by telling about her brother who was abroad in
Pershing's army.

"You must let me be your big brother while he is away," her escort had
suggested gallantly.

"All right, brother," she had challenged him. "I'll take you on at once.
I have seats for a matinee to-morrow. I'd much rather go with a brother
than with one of the girls."

"I would be delighted," he answered unsuspectingly, "but unfortunately I
have an engagement that takes me out of town."