She looked very pretty that night—a sweet, rather demure little figure in a smart, but young-looking dinner-gown of pale cornflower-blue crêpe-de-chine, a dress which well became her, setting off her trim, dainty figure to perfection, while the touch of velvet of the same shade in her fair hair enhanced her beauty.
“Oh! I’m so glad you’ve come, dear!” cried the girl, as she looked fondly into her lover’s face with those clear, childlike eyes, which held him always beneath their indescribable spell. And as he imprinted soft kisses upon her lips, she added: “Do you know, Jack, I may be most awfully silly—probably you’ll say I am—but the truth is I have suddenly been seized by grave apprehensions concerning you.”
“Why, darling?” he asked quickly, still holding her in his strong arms.
“Well, I’ll confess, however silly it may appear,” said the girl. “All day to-day I’ve felt ever so anxious about you. I know that, like poor Dr Jerrold, you are trying to discover and punish the spies of Germany. Now, those people know it. They are as unscrupulous as they are vindictive, and I—well, I’ve been seriously wondering whether, knowing that you are their enemy, they may not endeavour to do you some grave harm.”
“Harm!” laughed the young man. “Why, whatever makes you anticipate such a thing, darling?”
“Well—I don’t really know,” was her reply. “Only to-day I’ve been thinking so much about it all—about Dr Jerrold’s strange death, and of all you’ve lately told me—that I’m very apprehensive. Do take care of yourself, Jack dear, won’t you—for my sake?”
“Of course I will,” he said, with a smile. “But what terrible fate do you anticipate for me? You don’t really think that the Germans will try and murder me, do you?”
“Ah! You don’t know what revenge they might not take upon you,” the girl said as they stood together near the fire in the big, handsome room, his arm tenderly around her waist. “Remember that poor Dr Jerrold upset a good many of their plans, and that you helped him.”
“Well, and if I did, I don’t really anticipate being assassinated,” he answered, quite calmly.
“But the doctor died. Why?” asked the girl. “Could his death have been due to revenge, do you think?”