"You ask a very difficult thing," she sighed.

"Difficult but not impossible," he insisted. "I can quite understand that
your discovery of the fact that you had been made use of to assist in the
bringing to England of treasonable documents is of itself likely to be a
severe shock to you, but, if you will permit me to say so, it is not
sufficient to account for your present state of nerves."

"You don't know all that is happening," she replied, in some agitation.
"There is a very astute lady detective who has a room near mine, and a man
who shadows me every time I come in or go out. I am expecting every moment
that the manager will ask me to leave the hotel."

"That is all very annoying, of course," he acknowledged sympathetically,
"and yet I believe that at the back of your head there is still something
else troubling you."

"You are very observant," she murmured.

"In your case," he replied, "close observation is scarcely necessary. Why,
it is only four days since we left the steamer, and you look simply the
wreck of yourself."

"A great deal has happened since then," she confessed.

He seized upon the admission.

"You see, I was right.--There is something else! Miss Beverley, I am your
friend. You must confide in me."