Hastily Craig gave a whispered account of our strange visit from Miss Lowe, while Burke listened, open-mouthed.
He had scarcely finished when he reached for the telephone and asked for long distance.
“Is this the German embassy in Washington?” asked Craig a few moments later when he got his number. “This is Craig Kennedy, in New York. The United States Secret Service will vouch for me—mention to them Mr. Burke of their New York office who is here with me now. I understand that Baron Kreiger is leaving for New York to meet some bankers this afternoon. He must not do so. He is in the gravest danger if he—What? He left last night at midnight and is already here?”
Kennedy turned to us blankly.
The door to his room opened suddenly.
There stood Miss Lowe, gazing wild-eyed at us. Evidently her supernervous condition had heightened the keenness of her senses. She had heard what we were saying. I tried to read her face. It was not fear that I saw there. It was rage; it was jealousy.
“The traitress—it is Marie!” she shrieked.
For a moment, obtusely, I did not understand.
“She has made a secret appointment with him,” she cried.
At last I saw the truth. Paula Lowe had fallen in love with the man she had sworn to kill!