_To MRS. SARAH VAIL GOULD my grandmother to whose affection belongs many joyous days of childhood at "Oaklands" this book is offered as a loving tribute to her memory._

CONTENTS

I. AT VICTORIA STATION

II. OUT OF THE VOID

III. POWERS THAT PREY

IV. "SHOULD AULD ACQUAINTANCE BE FORGOT?"

V. AN EVENTFUL EVENING

VI. AT THE CAPITOL

VII. PHANTOM WIRES

VIII. KAISER BLUMEN

IX. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY

X. SISTERS IN UNITY

XI. A MAN IN A HURRY

XII. A SINISTER DISCOVERY

XIII. HIDE AND SEEK

XIV. A QUESTION OF LOYALTY

XV. THE GAME, "I SPY"

XVI. AT THE MORGUE

XVII. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

XVIII. A PROPOSAL

XIX. THE YELLOW STREAK

XX. THE AWAKENING

XXI. THE FINGER PRINT

XXII. "TRENTON HURRY"

XXIII. IN FULL CRY

XXIV. RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE

XXV. LOVE PARAMOUNT

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

"He saw Kathleen quickly palm his place card"

"As Henry pushed back the door, she collapsed into her father's arms"

"'A flash, the rifle's recoil--and Mr. Whitney still standing just where he was'"

"Whitney paused to snatch up a magnifying glass and by its aid examined the finger prints"

CHAPTER I

AT VICTORIA STATION

The allied forces, English and French, had been bent backward day by day, until it seemed as if Paris was fairly within the Germans' grasp. Bent indeed, but never broken, and with the turning of the tide the Allied line had rushed forward, and France breathed again.

Two men, seated in a room of the United Service Club in London one gloomy afternoon in November, 1914, talked over the situation in tones too low to reach other ears. The older man, Sir Percival Hargraves, had been bemoaning the fact that England seemed honeycombed by the German Secret Service, and his nephew, John Hargraves, an officer in uniform, was attempting to reassure him. It was a farewell meeting, for the young officer was returning to the front.

"Much good will all this espionage do the Germans," said the young man. "We are easily holding our own, and with the spring will probably come our opportunity." He clicked his teeth together. "What price then all these suspected plots and futile intrigues?"

"Don't be so damned cocksure," rapped out his uncle, his exasperation showing in heightened color and snapping eyes. "It's that same cocksureness which has almost brought the British Empire to the very brink of dissolution."

His nephew smiled tolerantly, and shifted his thickset figure to a more comfortable position.

"Now, now," he cautioned. "Remember what old Sawbones told you yesterday about not exciting yourself. Said you weren't to read or talk about this bally old war. Leave the worrying to Kitchener; he'll see we chaps do our part."

"If everything were left to Kitchener!" Sir Percival thumped the arm of his chair. "Some of us would sleep easier in our beds. And I know you chaps at the front will do your part. Would to God I could be with you!" glancing at his shrunken and useless left leg. "If I could only take a pot at the beggars!"

"According to your belief the firing line will shortly be on English soil," chaffed his nephew, avoiding looking at his companion. He knew the tragic circumstances surrounding his uncle's maimed condition, and wished to avoid anything touching upon sentiment.