“I hate to resort to such subterfuge, but I’ll do my best,” sighed Molly.
“Wouldn’t it be better to bring one criminal to justice than to kill thousands of poor wounded men by dressing their wounds with tetanus germs?”
“Of course, only—but—you see——”
“Yes, I see that your heart is so tender and you are so honest yourself you think all the world must be like you.”
Molly went sadly back to her packing, all the joy and zest gone out of her work. How could nice men like Andy and Kent think such things about a poor defenseless woman? No doubt she did have a sneaking sympathy for Germany. Was not that natural? Had she and her countrymen not been under German rule long enough to consider the kaiser as their rightful ruler? Because her husband chose to pretend to be lame was no reason why everybody should think Madame Misel capable of such a dastardly thing as putting tetanus germs on the bandages of poor wounded soldiers. That was something no woman, no matter how bad, could do,—and surely this woman was not bad, not really bad. Molly Brown was so constituted that one had to be proven to be bad before she could believe evil of him or her, and then, as a rule, she would find some excuse for the sinner if not for the sin.
Nance and Judy stayed on to help in the work, while Andy and Kent went to find the Secret Service agents. While the task of making bandages, etc., went rapidly forward, the detectives quietly ransacked the cottage occupied by the Misels. This was the first opportunity they had had of going over the house. The occupants had never before left it alone. Much of dire importance was discovered. Among other things a small laboratory where no doubt all kinds of evil germs were incubated. The search was made very rapidly, as they were anxious to leave things in such order that the owners would not suspect that they were under surveillance.
CHAPTER XX
GERMS
As the two quietly-dressed, intelligent looking men were in the act of going through a desk, they saw from the window the slow and painful approach of M. Misel. Without a word they let themselves out of a back window, left open for emergencies, and before the master had opened the front door the detectives were over the back fence and out of sight. They were desirous of catching more than the Misels in their net and did not want to act too quickly.