We
also know that you are not a German. Is there any reason why you
should not work for us? Any private reason?"
"Captain," I said, "you of all men ought to know that the betrayal of
your employers for a monetary or a liberty reason alone is never
entertained by a man who has been in my work. We go into it with our
eyes open, well knowing the consequences if we are caught. We do not
squeal if we are hurt."
For a time he looked at me very earnestly.
"H-m," he said. "That just bears out what we have been able to
ascertain about you. It puzzled us how a man of your known ability
acted the way you did. From the moment you landed in England, all the
time you were doing your work, even after your arrest, in prison and
in court you show a sort of listless, almost an indifferent attitude.
If I may put it this way, you seemed in noways keen to go to extremes
in any possible missions you might have had," he paused. "We think
you could have done more than you did . . . The mildness of your
sentence, has it surprised you?"
I grinned.
"Nothing surprises me, Captain."
His manner became very earnest.
"Supposing," he said, "we show you that it was a _quasi_-deliberate
intention on the part of your employers to have you caught--what
then?"
This did not startle me either. I had an idea of that all along. It
is why I played my cards so quietly, why I did not accomplish in
England everything I had a chance to accomplish.
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