The major cleared his throat. “We are at least very close on the trail of the Japanese spies who are undoubtedly responsible for the outrage,” he assented guardedly, “For a time we were at sea, thinking they had fled the city, but through a hint astutely obtained by Mrs. Schilder”—he bowed pompously toward that lady—“from her butler, who is also a Japanese, we are now confident that they are still in Brantford, and, therefore, with the efforts we are making, must be run to earth in very short time.”
“Japanese spies?” Meredith repeated. “So that is what is back of the affair? Remember, I know nothing except what was contained in your telegram. Please tell me all the circumstances,” she pleaded.
The major started to comply, with a labored, heavy account, but Mrs. Schilder tactfully interposed, and, taking the recital into her own hands, told in a few words the story of the occurrences at the foundry the night before.
“But why are Japanese spies suspected?” The girl’s brows wrinkled into a little frown. “I see nothing in all this to indicate such a theory. Did Captain Grail see any Japanese around?”
“He did not say so,” stiffly responded the major. “To tell you the truth, my dear, Captain Grail, beyond giving a bare account of the incident, declined to commit himself in any way, or even to confer with the other officers of the post over measures looking toward your father’s recovery.”
The girl stared at him almost incredulously. “Yet he must know more of what happened than anybody else,” she cried. A wave of hot indignation swept over her face at the thought that an officer so closely associated with her father could from any cause show indifference at such a crisis.
Involuntarily she drew back, with a hand on Mrs. Schilder’s arm. “Would you mind taking me out to the fort before we go to your house? I must see Captain Grail myself, and question him—now, at once. I cannot understand what he means by such an attitude.”
The major endeavored to dissuade her. “I doubt if it would do you any good,” he urged. Then, hesitating, he excused himself to Mrs. Schilder, and leaned over to whisper: “If you must know, my dear, Grail is not popular at the fort just now. We have, in short, excellent reasons to believe that he himself is implicated in the colonel’s disappearance.”
Involuntarily she drew back, with a little cry of unbelief. “Impossible!” she declared. “You cannot realize what you are saying, major!”
“I not only realize, but reiterate it,” he said solemnly. “More than that, I have stated the case mildly to you, for we have evidence to prove that his was the crafty brain which hatched up this whole so-called mystery. Now, I am sure, you will see the futility of attempting to gain any information from him.”