"General," he said, "could I ask your aid in a little matter that concerns me?"
"If it is not to betray our army to the Germans I think you can."
"I want you to help me to become a spy. I'll make the request to Captain Colton, and then, if it's indorsed, I'll go eastward and see what I can find out about the Germans."
"But I understood that she was not a German."
John reddened from brow to chin.
"I admit that much," he said, "but at the same time I intend to serve France all I can. I might be of more help that way than as a mere minor officer in the trenches."
"If you're successful, yes; if caught, all's lost. Hard trade, that of spy."
"But I want to go, sir. I never wanted to do anything so much before in my life. You'll help me, won't you?"
"But how can you go among the Germans? Your German is not the best in the world."
"It's better than you think. I've been devoting most of my leisure to the study of it in the last six months. Besides there are subjects of Germany who do not speak German at all. I shall claim to be a native of French Lorraine. I learned French in my infancy and I speak it not like an American or an Englishman but like a Frenchman."