see. But have you any right to arrest me and send me to America?"

"None whatever, my dear sir. Please don't misunderstand me. This is just
a bit of friendly advice. 'Your country needs you.' You naturally want
an early chance to tell Washington what you have told me. The Rotterdam
is a very comfortable ship, and she sails for New York the day after
to-morrow. I have already bespoken an excellent room for you. Do you
accept?"

"Yes, and thank you for the way you have put the matter. But do you
think they will arrest me when I get to New York?"

"Probably not. But to help in forestalling that unpleasant possibility I
will cable Washington that you are coming at once, of your own free
will, and anxious to tell the whole story."

So he went, and I saw him off on the Rotterdam, a pallid and downcast
figure. I pitied him. It seemed strange that any one should ever trust
that unscrupulous, callous, thick-pated diplomatic-secret-service
machine which is always ready to expose a too confiding and admiring
friend to danger or disgrace in order to serve its imperious
necessities.

Holland, of course, owing to its geographical situation, was a regular
nest of German espionage. Other spies were there, too, but they were
much less in evidence than the Germans. Of the tricks and the manners of
the latter I had some picturesque experiences which I do not feel at
liberty to narrate. The Department of State has been informed of them,
and has no doubt put the information safely away with a lot of other
things which it knows but does not think it expedient or necessary to
tell until the proper time.

But there is no reason why the simple little tale of the futile attempt
to plant two German spies in my household at The Hague should not be
told. One of the men in our domestic service, a Hollander, had been
obliged to leave and we wanted to fill his place. This was difficult
because the requirements of the Dutch army service claimed such a large
number of the younger men.

The first who applied for the vacant place professed to be a Belgian.
Perhaps he was. On demand he produced his "papers"--birth-certificate,
baptismal registry, several Passier-scheine, and so forth. But down in a
corner on the back of one of the papers was a dim blue stamp--"Imperial
German Marine." What was the meaning of this? What had the Potsdam
High-Sea Fleet to do with this peaceable overland traveller from
Belgium? Voluble excuses, but no satisfactory exp