“I have, sir; and it is a most disagreeable one.”
“Disagreeable? Has some disaster occurred?”
“No, sir. It is even worse, if possible.”
“Explain yourself.”
“Very well, sir. I am commanded to charge the young lady who has just come aboard with being a German spy!”
“A spy! Lord Hastings has not informed me of this, and I have been in communication with him.”
“Very true, sir, but with good reason. There are others aboard the Sylph whom he did not wish to overhear such a communication. She was seen to steal a message relating to the movements of the fleet from the wireless room. Also she is a German. Lord Hastings requests that she be tried at once!”
“Very good, sir,” replied Captain Johnson.
He called his first officer.
“Have Miss Beulow summoned here at once,” he commanded.