"Her maid is in trouble. This agency may be in trouble at any moment. She must not wait to pack. Get her into the car and take her to the wharf and on board at once. Do you understand?"
"Take her as your wife. Do you understand?"
"I understand what you say," he said, amazed.
"That is sufficient. Do as I tell you if you want to leave England."
"Very well. But I must first go to the War Office----"
"No. It is useless; hopeless. It would have been the thing to do yesterday. An explanation there would have given you credentials and security. But not today. _She_ could not hope to leave. Do you understand?"
"She could not expect permission to leave because her maid has been arrested."
"Get into your car with the young lady and start at once. Don't go to the steamship office in Fenchurch Street. Don't go to the War Office. Go nowhere except to the wharf. Your passage has been secured as Mr. and Mrs. Kervyn Guild of New York. The initials on the baggage will be K. G. Your steamer tickets will be handed to you. You will pay no attention to the man who hands them to you, no attention to anybody. You will go aboard and go to your cabin until the ship is out at sea. Do you understand?"
Guild hung up the receiver, stood a moment in thought then turned around and looked gravely at the girl behind him. She gazed back at him as though still a trifle breathless after some sudden shock.
"What did that man say to you over the wire?" he asked in pleasant, even tones.
"He told me to trust you, and do what you told me to do. He said Anna, my maid, had been arrested."
"Don't _you_ know him?" she said, astonished.
"I have never laid eyes on him. Your father recommended to me the Edmeston Agency and mentioned the name of a Louis Grätz who might be of use to me. That is all I know."
"Oh!... Then it must be quite all right. Only--I don't understand about my maid----"
"Did Mr. Grätz tell you she had been arrested?"
"Have you any idea what that charge may be?" he asked, studying her face.
"I haven't any idea," she said; "have you?"
"I don't know; perhaps I have. Is your maid German?"
"General von Reiter's housekeeper found her for me."
He hesitated, still looking steadily into those violet blue eyes of hers which seemed to question him so candidly. No, there could be no dishonesty there.