“But this order means nothing to me.” Patty stared blankly at the signed and stamped document, that was so complicated of wording and vague of intent.
“Good for you! I’m glad you’re cautious. Now, listen; Captain Farnsworth said you might be wary about giving it up, and he told me to tell you that he sent you the words ‘Apple Blossom’ as a talisman. He said if I told you those words, you would know he sent me. I suppose they are code words.”
Patty stared at the man. It seemed to her Bill must have sent him when he gave her such a key word as that!
And yet, Patty was very wary of possible spies or alien influences. Would it not be better to withhold a necessary paper, than to give it wrongfully? Would it not be better to incur Farnsworth’s displeasure for not having done his bidding, than to do it if it were not really his? And then she remembered Helen’s frantic message. Surely that meant something! Surely it could mean nothing but that the packet must be kept from possible predatory hands!
She determined, rightly or wrongly, she would not believe Farnsworth had sent this man unless she had some more indubitable proof.
She knew that an alien spy in our country’s uniform was not an impossibility, and she feared to accept this man’s word.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but I must repeat that I have no such packet as you speak of.”
The untruth of this did not disturb Patty’s conscience, for she knew that aside from the accepted law that all’s fair in love and war,—military secrets must be kept inviolate even at the sacrifice of truth.
“I’m sorry,” the visitor returned, “that I must disbelieve that. Moreover, I regret to add, I must do my best to find the packet. Captain Farnsworth warned me that you might prove thus obdurate, and that in that case, I must seek the papers for myself. He even went so far as to tell me that they were in the old Winthrop desk. Now do you believe in my integrity?”
It was only the triumphant glance of the man’s eye that kept Patty from believing him. She reasoned that if he were an honest messenger he would be earnestly anxious but not victoriously glad.