The waiter placed the glass on the table, and withdrew, to attend to a man at the next table.
"As I was saying," Granger went on, "Hellwig is here, in what shape I don’t know, but I hope to catch him yet. Your friend Finkelstein, by the way, has been arrested in Cologne and thrown into prison."
"Good heavens! Not through me, I hope," said Kenneth.
"On a charge of espionage, at any rate. I have no doubt he owes that to ... Yes, it was a very dark night, and he didn’t recognise me until I was as near to him as I am to you. Then ... he owes it to Hellwig."
"But what can his motive be? He’s his cousin."
"The nearer the bone ... Finkelstein has a daughter, I believe?"
"Well, what more natural than that Hellwig should be appointed trustee to his cousin’s daughter and manager of the business?"
"I did suspect that he wants to marry Frieda."
The others watched the man. His manner was a strange compound of two servilities--the waiter’s and the German private’s.
"I must certainly have him arrested," said Granger. "So you see, my dear fellow, that if I manage to lay Hellwig by the heels I shall perhaps be able to make you some return for what I owe you."
"But that won’t release Max Finkelstein."
"I confess I was at that moment thinking of the daughter," said Granger with a whimsical look at Kenneth. Pariset glanced at his friend and smiled.
"The idea of her marrying that cur!" said Kenneth.
"It won’t bear thinking of, will it?" said Granger. "That fellow is rather long with the coffee."
They waited, discussing the probable course of the war. After a while Granger summoned the head waiter.
"Our waiter has been over long fetching our coffee," he said. "Will you stir him up?"
In a minute or two the head waiter returned, carrying the coffee himself.
"Pardon, messieurs," he said. "Gustave was suddenly taken sick, and is not able to serve at present."
"I have lost this trick," said Granger ruefully, when they were again alone. "While I had my eye on the German, he evidently had his eye on me. And for once the German was the quicker to act. Well, we all have our ups and downs--I might have said our exits and our entrances: exit spy, enter staff-officer, who is looking for you, Monsieur Pariset, if I am not mistaken."