"There is but one spy, madame," said the officer; "a woman young and beautiful like yourself--accomplished, distinguished, a great linguist, a fine musician, of good family, and moving in the highest society in Alsace. She was on terms of intimacy with many of our officers; they did not hesitate to talk freely to her. Some of them, fascinated by her wit and beauty and wishing to prove their own importance, told her things which they had no right to tell. More than that, at the last moment she succeeded in getting possession for a time of certain confidential documents. But she had gone too far--she was suspected--she fled--and she has not yet been captured. But she cannot escape--we cannot permit her to escape. We know that she is still somewhere in Germany, and we have made it impossible for her to pass the frontier. A person who knows her is to be stationed at every post, and no woman will be permitted to pass until he has seen her. The man to be stationed here will arrive from Strassburg in an hour. As a final precaution, madame," he added, smiling, "and because my orders are most precise and stringent, I shall ask you and your husband to remain here at Herbesthal until morning. As I have said, you could not, in any event, go on to-night, for the frontier is closed. In the morning, I will ask my man from Strassburg to look at you, and will then provide you with a safe-conduct, and see that every possible facility is given you to get safely across the frontier." "Thank you," she said; "you are most kind. That is why you are keeping all those people shut up in the station?" "Yes, madame. They cannot pass until my man has seen them." "But you are not searching them?" "No; with most of them, the detention is a mere matter of obeying orders--one can tell their nationality at a glance. But to look at you, madame, I should never have supposed you to be an American--I should have supposed you to be French." "My grandmother was French," explained the girl, composedly, "and I am said to resemble her very closely. I must also warn you that my sympathies are French." The officer shrugged his shoulders with a smile. "That is a great misfortune. Perhaps when you see how our army fights, we may claim some of your sympathy--or, at least, your admiration." "It will fight well, then?" "It will fight so well--it will prove so irresistible--that our General Staff has been able to prepare in advance the schedule for the entire campaign. This is the first of August. On the fifth we shall capture Lille, on the ninth we shall cross the Marne, and on the eleventh we shall enter Paris. On the evening of the twelfth, the Emperor will dine the General Staff at the Ritz." Stewart stared in astonishment, not knowing whether to laugh or to be impressed. But there was no shadow of a smile on the bearded face of the speaker. "You are not in earnest!" Stewart protested.