"See, then, how diplomacy or secret service work, or whatever you like to call it, can gather the ends of the world together! Only a quarter of an hour ago that Japanese valet of my brother's, having searched my rooms in vain, demanded from me that formula!" "From you?" Lutchester gasped. "But you haven't got it!" "Of course not. On the other hand Sunyea pitched upon me as being one of the possible thieves, and cabled his instructions over." "Have you got it?" he asked abruptly. "If I had," she smiled, "I should not tell you." "But come," he expostulated, "the thing's no use to you." "So Baron Sunyea evidently thought," she laughed. "We'll leave that, if you don't mind." Lutchester was still looking a little bewildered. "I had an idea when I came in," he muttered, "that things were a little scrappy between you and the Japanese gentleman." She was suddenly serious. "Now that I have told you the truth," she said, "I really ought to thank you. You certainly seem to have a knack of appearing when you are wanted." "Fluke this time, I'm afraid," he acknowledged, "but I rather like the suggestion. You ought to see a great deal of me, Miss Van Teyl. Do you realise that I am a stranger in New York, and any hospitality you can show me may be doubly rewarded? Are you going to take me round and show me the sights?" "Are you going to have any time for sight-seeing?" "Well, I hope so. Why not? A fellow can't do more than a certain number of hours' work in a day." She looked at him curiously. "And yet," she murmured, "you expect to win the war!" "Of course we shall win the war," he assured her confidently. "You haven't any doubt about that yourself, have you, Miss Van Teyl?" "I don't know," she told him calmly. Lutchester was almost horrified. He rose to his feet and stood looking down at his companion. "Tell me what on earth you mean?" he demanded. "We always win in the long run, even if we muddle things about a little." "I was just contrasting in my mind," she said thoughtfully, "some of the Germans whom I have met since the war, with some of the Englishmen. They are taking it very seriously, you know, Mr. Lutchester. They don't find time for luncheon parties or sight-seeing." "That's just their way," he protested. "They turn themselves into machines. They are what we used to call suckers at school, but you can take my word for it that before next autumn they will be on the run." "You call them suckers," she observed. "That's because they're always working, always studying, always experimenting. Supposing they got hold of something like this new explosive?" "First of all," he told her, "I don't believe in it, and secondly, if it exists, the formula isn't in their hands." "Supposing it is in mine?" she suggested. "I might sell it to them." "I'd trust you all the time," he laughed lightheartedly. "I can't see you giving a leg up to the Huns.... Will you lunch with me at one o'clock to-morrow, please?"