just as well for you to be on your guard. You may be able to help.”

“Please don’t talk in riddles,” Nona returned with some irritation. “Besides, I wish you would not spoil our afternoon.”

Philip Dawson smiled.

“It may not be so bad as that. The truth is, I suppose you may have guessed this yourself. Most of us who are interested in finding out who is responsible for the injury to Lieutenant Martin, believe the man who struck him had a personal reason for getting Martin away from camp for a certain length of time. So far we don’t know the man and we don’t know the reason.[153] It may have been personal spite or it may have been due to his great diligence in investigating the German spy menace. There are two or three of our own men under suspicion, yet so far there is nothing sufficiently definite for any accusation. It is abominable, isn’t it?”

[153]

Nona nodded sympathetically.

“Yes, it does spoil my afternoon in a way to have to think there may be traitors in our own American camp. But I really don’t see why I should be on my guard, or what I can do to help, except perhaps to warn Lieutenant Martin, and he hates to discuss the subject, says he prefers anything to a scandal in camp. Besides, I am not the proper person to talk of it.”

“No,” Philip Dawson agreed. “When Martin is well enough his superior officer will discuss the situation with him. Martin is one of the favorite officers of the Colonel of his regiment. But the truth is, I might as well tell you frankly, one of the suspicions is that there is a woman who is also concerned in the trouble. As I said before, the information is far too uncertain to take[154] seriously, yet there is just one chance in a hundred she may be someone whom you know.”

[154]

“Someone whom I know,” Nona repeated rather stupidly. “But that is out of the question. I only know the dozen or more nurses who are at our American hospital, and Madame Bonnèt and Berthe. I have met no one else since I came to France this time, and I don’t see why I should so often be involved in suspicions of this kind. Please let us go on back.”

Philip Dawson got up instantly. He was one of the agreeable persons who did not dispute small matters.

“Just as you like, only come first to the little French farmhouse. You may find it sufficiently 

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