'I'm afraid I mustn't do that. You know how military secrets are regarded, and as even yet the scheme I discussed with the General is not completed, my lips are sealed. But I found that Springfield had suggested to the General that my loss of memory was very fishy--a mere blind in fact to cover up a very suspicious past. He also told him he was sure he had seen me, in pre-war days, in Berlin, wearing the uniform of a German officer. Had I not been able to show an absolutely clean sheet I should have been done for. As it was, there was a time when I wouldn't have given a sou for my life. I was, of course, shut off from the General's confidence, and pending the results of the inquiry was practically a prisoner.' 'I say, old man, you can't mean that?' 'Fact, I assure you. Still as nothing, absolutely _nothing_ wrong could be traced to me, and as----' 'Yes, what,' I said as he hesitated. 'Oh, a little thing I was mixed up in came off rather well--very well in fact.' 'What? Don't keep me in suspense, old man.' 'Oh, nothing much; nothing worth talking about. Still I may as well tell you as it's bound to come out. It seems I am to get the D.S.O.' 'The D.S.O.! Great, old man! I congratulate you with all my heart. Tell me about it,' I cried. 'It was really nothing. Still I had concocted a scheme which gave us a big advantage. It was rather risky, but it came off so well that--that--it got to the notice of the G.H.Q. and--and--there you are. When the details of my little stunt became known to the Chief he--he said it was impossible for its author to be anything but a loyal Englishman, that I was a valuable man, and all that sort of rot.' Of course I read between the lines. I knew Edgecumbe's reticence about anything he had done, and I was sure he had accomplished a big thing. 'It came in jolly handy to me,' he went on, 'for it spiked Springfield's guns right away, and I was regarded as sort of tin god. Congratulations poured in on every hand and--and, but there's no need to say any more about it.' 'And what did Springfield say then?' 'Oh, he was louder in his congratulations than any one. It makes me sick to think of it!' 'But didn't you expose him?' 'I couldn't. You see, I only learnt in a roundabout way that he had tried to poison the General's mind against me, and he very nearly covered his traces everywhere. Oh, he's a clever beggar. Still, you see the situation. It was jolly sultry for a time.' 'I see you have had another move,' I said looking at his uniform. 'Yes, I've had great luck; but don't let's talk any more about me. How are _you_ getting on? And can't you get some leave?' 'I have some due,' I replied, noting the far-away look in his eyes, and wondering what was in his mind. 'Why do you ask?' 'Big things are going to happen,' he said after a long silence. 'What do you mean? Tell me, Edgecumbe, has your memory come back? Have you learnt anything--in--in that direction?'