Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/57

 Garnier, to protect certain invaluable Navy secrets, has just shot a man who attempted to force those secrets from her. Is that not true?"

"Yes!" gasped Wilsnach.

"And is it not equally true that he was shot in the leg?"

"Yes."

"And yet, Wilsnach, entirely for our benefit! Listen to me, both of you. An hour ago Madame Garnier found she was under observation, when she stole certain papers I've already mentioned. She is a quick-witted woman. She proved this by the promptness with which she pretended she'd taken those papers to forestall their theft by quite another spy. But that spy is her own colleague, once known as Soldier-Ben. For the last three weeks, I find, he has been gay-catting for her here in this hotel as a waiter."

"Preposterous!" was the one word that came from Diehms' lips.

"Yet equally true," continued Kestner. "But that is not all. Madame Garnier had other evidence, to-night, that her position had become a dangerous one. She realized things had suddenly come to a final issue. She made several discoveries, yet one of them