d! they shan't." And
it was as the Kid watched the scene, with parted lips and quickened
breath, that the curtain moved aside, and he saw the Colonel, like an
evil spirit, regarding the pair with cold malevolence.

"Delightful!" he remarked after a few moments of cynical observation;
"delightful! Lieutenant Rutter, you are to be congratulated.
Mademoiselle--you are charming; all that my young friend has said, and
more."

He moved forward and stood by the table, while Marie--her face as white
as death--clung to her lover. "Who is he, Fritz, this ugly old man?"
she whispered terrified.

"Permit me to introduce to you . . ." Fritz forced the words from his
dry lips, only to stop at the upraised hand of the other.

"My name, dear young lady, is immaterial," he remarked genially. "Just
an ugly old man, who has had no time to bask in the sunshine of the
smiles of your charming sex." He sat down and lit a cigar. "So you
are going to become a German's wife! Ah, Fritz, my boy, you're a lucky
dog! You'll have to guard your Marie carefully from the rest of the
garrison, when we have finally won and the war is over." He gave a
grating laugh, and blew out a cloud of smoke.

"What do you want of me?" asked Marie, in a terrified whisper, looking
at him like a bird at a snake.

"A little service, my dear young Fraeulein to be--a little service to
the Fatherland. You must not forget that Germany is now your country
in spirit, if not in actual truth. You are pledged to her just as you
are pledged to your Fritz--in fact, he being an officer, the two are
one and the same thing." He smiled again, and waved his cigar gently
in the air. "And not only will your service benefit the country that
you have chosen as your own, but it will benefit you, because it will
bring the end of the war, and with it your marriage, closer."

He paused to let the words sink in, but she still watched him
fascinated.

"One thing more." His eyes gleamed dully through the haze of smoke as
he fixed them on her. "Unless this little service is fulfilled, though
it won't make any difference to the ultimate result as far as Germany
is concerned, it will make a very considerable difference as far as you
and--er--Fritz are concerned."

"What do you mean?" The girl hardly breathed the words.

"I mean that there will be no marriage. Painful--but true."

The Kid watched the young officer's arm tighten convulsively round her
waist--and began to