"You're at liberty to think anything you like, General--the truth or otherwise." Her answer, though given smilingly, had a sting behind it. "I'm not going to think much longer. I'm going to _know_!" He clapped his lips shut over the last word with a smack of authority. "Are you really, General Crandall?" The girl's eyes hardened just perceptibly. He took a turn of the room and paused, facing her. The situation pleased him no more than it did his breezy guest, but he knew his duty and doggedly pursued it. "Come--come, Miss Gerson! I believe you're straightforward and sincere or I wouldn't be wasting my time this way. I'll be the same with you. This is a time of war; you understand all that implies, I hope. A serious question concerning Captain Woodhouse's position here has arisen. If you have met him before--as I think you have--it will be to your advantage to tell me where and when. I am in command of the Rock, you know." He finished with an odd tenseness of tone that conveyed assurance of his authority even more than did the sense of his words. His guest, her back to the table on which the roses rested and her hands bracing her by their tense grip on the table edge, sought his eyes boldly. "General Crandall," she began, "my training in Hildebrand's store hasn't made me much of a diplomat. All this war and intrigue makes me dizzy. But I know one thing: this isn't my war, or my country's, and I'm going to follow my country's example and keep out of it." General Crandall shrugged his shoulders and smiled at the girl's defiance. "Maybe your country may not be able to do that," he declared, with a touch of solemnity. "I pray God it may. But I'm afraid your resolution will not hold, Miss Gerson." "I'm going to try to make it, anyway," she answered. Gibraltar's commander, baffled thus by a neutral--a neutral fair to look on, in the bargain--tried another tack. He assumed the fatherly air. "Lady Crandall and I have tried to show you we were friends--tried to help you get home," he began. "You've been very good to me," Jane broke in feelingly. "What I say now is spoken as a friend, not as governor of the Rock. If it is true that you have met Woodhouse before--and our conversation here verifies my suspicion--that very fact makes his word worthless and releases you from any promise you may have made not to reveal this and what you may know about him. Also it should put you on your guard--his motives in any attentions he may pay you can not be above suspicion." "I think that is a personal matter I am perfectly capable of handling." Jane's resentment sent the flags to her cheeks. General Crandall was quick to back-water: "Yes, yes! Don't misunderstand me. What I mean to say is----" He was interrupted by his wife's voice calling for Jane from the near-by room. Anticipating her interruption, he hurried on: