The secretary's lips curled down in disapproval.
"Wasn't it rather unusual, to put it mildly, to leave your prisoners to their own devices that way?" he asked.
"Well, yes," Mr. Grimm admitted. "But the circumstances were unusual. When I entered the house I had locked a man in the cellar. I had to go back to save his life, otherwise—"
"Oh, the guard at the door, you mean?" came the interruption. "Who was it?"
Mr. Grimm glanced at his chief, who nodded.
"It was Mr. Charles Winthrop Rankin of the German embassy," said the young man.
"Mr. Rankin of the German embassy was on guard at the door?" demanded the president quickly.
"Yes. We got out safely."
"And that means that Germany was—!"
The president paused and startled glances passed around the table. After a moment of deep abstraction the secretary went on: