Page:Biggers and Ritchie - Inside the Lines.djvu/82

 "I guess nothing."

"The target!"

At the word Louisa had used in describing Capper to Woodhouse, Koch's face underwent a change. He lowered his pistol.

"Ach!" he said. "The man they are to arrest. And you have the number."

"That was Capper—Capper, formerly of the Belgian office—kicked out for drunkenness. One time he sold out Downing Street in the matter of the Lord Fisher letters; you remember the scandal when they came to light—his majesty, the kaiser's, Kiel speech referring to them. He is a good stalking horse."

Koch's suspicion had left him. Still gripping the automatic, he sat down on the edge of the operating chair, regarding the other man respectfully.

"Come—come, Doctor Koch; you and I can not continue longer at cross-purposes." The captain spoke with terse displeasure. "This man Capper showed you nothing to prove his claims, yet you come back to this room and threaten my life on the strength of a drunkard's bare word. What his mission is you know; how he got that number, which is the