The Crimson Patch

in brass beds, two willow rockers, one straight chair, an imposing mahogany bureau and one small table—absolutely all the furniture, if one excepted the stiff draperies at the windo

their luggage,—a snub-nosed, blue-eyed, curly-haired young chap whose gaze was rivetted adoringly on t

you can stand it for three months? Jove!—if she h

frantically flinging

ran across the room and thumped both stiff pillows on the beds, knocking them a trifle awry. "There! Now they look more like real beds that you 5sleep in and less like advertisements in the back of a magazine!" she laughed. "The sitting-room's a little better, with that big table and the pretty reading-lam

d only be with

er's daughter; and,—well, brace up! Mother's going to be beautifully taken care of in that Sanatorium, and Aunt Har

o happen just 6now?" wailed Pat

come back from France? And feeling sure, too, for the last six months that she'd never see me alive again after she heard I'd be

ed Patricia, hiding her head in his shoulder and shuddering a

tunately or unfortunately, my constitution will never stand the strain of trench-life again, after a few months of

riosity. I want to understand. I want to help you if I can. I love America, and I am a soldier's daughter, and I want to act intelligently about things and be of some use. That's one reason I'm so glad you've allowed me to be with

ven to one's nearest and dearest. This much only, I can tell you. While I was a prisoner, I stumbled upon a very valuable secret, something new possessed by the enemy which, however, they have not had the gumption to make use of properly. But I saw that it could be vastly improved upon and made a hundred times more effective. The Government has charged me with this task, and I'm to ta

ll-boy of the snub-nose and twinkling e

us here, and will be laid up for the next six or eight weeks with a broken leg. Just like Evelyn!" he added impatiently. "She was always the worst youngster for falling

ward so to this three-months' holiday. She wrote that she 10hadn't been away from home even a week, for the l

days at a time. A young girl like you can't stay alone in a big hotel. What in sancho are we going to do?" He ran his hands through his hair despairingly. "It was only on the basis of her be

ng around her all the time, (I know her!) and there'd be nothing to do and I'd be simply wretched and unhappy all the while. We can have such a cosy time here, just you and I, and I'll promise to be very good and quiet and read a lot, and stay he

t may possibly even be dangerous. There are spies about us all the time. If they should happen to nose out my missi

have to go away for any length of time 12

bout on my experiences as a prisoner. That, however, is hardly more than a 'blind,' to cover my real work. It will ta

ime, let me stay with you. If later on you should find you must go, then we can see what to do. Meantime let's be happy together for a w

so, at least for a while. But, Patricia, attend to what I am going to say, and never forget it under any circumstances. It's an old saying that 'walls have ears,' but it was never truer th

s excitement. "Spies," "danger," "secret mission"—the magic words gave her an indescribable thrill! And yet, with it al

gaily, glad to change to a subject less tense. "I've

ir door. "Suite number 403!" she murmured, squeezing her father's arm. "Now I wond