"Ah, the Herr Lieutenant? Well," Paul replied slowly, "he does not return to the hospital. He is a guest of the Herr Major."
"A prisoner!"
"That I would not say," her cousin replied. "He was scarcely a witness at the trial. Indeed, witnesses were not needed—even that rat, Ernest Spiegel, was not called. What need of any evidence when the Frenchman confessed the crime? Besides, the Herr Lieutenant begged to be excused from testifying against the accused."
"Then why—oh, why!—was he not released?" cried Belinda.
"That I do not know," Paul said. "It was because of something the Herr Doktor said in confidence to the Herr Major, I believe, regarding the flying-man. The Herr Major had dismissed the aviator; but after a brief conference with Doctor Herschall, he called to the flying-man:
"'Remain, if you please, Herr Lieutenant. I find there is a point I wish to speak with you upon. I hope you are comfortable here?'
"Ah, that Baron von Brandenburg!" finished Paul, with a sigh. "He is a nobleman. He would be courteous if he were sentencing a man to purgatory."
CHAPTER XXIX
AT LAST!
The uncertainties—the desperate peril—of the situation wrung Belinda Melnotte's heart until it seemed that no longer drops could filter from her eyes. She had wept all her tears away without assuaging either her grief or her fears.