“I observe that the mouse walked into the trap,” she said.
“What mouse do you refer to?”
“The mouse that is now on his way to a certain building near Paris known as the American prison.” Grace laughed merrily.
“Got it out of the air, sir.”
“Thanks to you we caught him. The screws in the hinges of the cellar window, we discovered in advance, had been loosened so that all one had to do was to pull the window out. There was no short-circuit about this affair. The man crept in and actually started a fire in the rubbish down there. The men we had planted there pounced upon him, but they had a time getting the fire out without calling for assistance, which we did not wish them to do. We tried to make him confess.”
“A waste of time,” observed Grace.
“Yes. Chinamen lose the power of speech absolutely when you try to drag information from them. The situation is really serious. It is those back of such cut-throats as Yat Sen that we wish to get. You have done a very great service to us, but you began at the wrong end. It isn’t the little man that we are after, it is the head and brains of the plot against the Army of Occupation.”
“I think it can be arranged to put that information into your hands too, sir.”
“If you can do that you ought to be promoted to the rank of General. You have discovered something! Gordon said you would. Tell me. We mustn’t sit here long.” They were keeping up a semblance of merry chatter through the conversation.