Finally he looked up and said in a weary tone: "You're very clever, I'm sure, Colonel Hughes." "Oh--I wouldn't say that," replied Hughes.

"Luck was with me--from the first.

I am really very glad to have been of service in the matter, for I am convinced that if I had not taken part in the search it would have gone hard with some innocent man." Bray's big pudgy hands still played idly with the mail on his desk.
Hughes went on: "Perhaps, as a clever detective, you will be interested in the series of events which enabled me to win that Homburg hat?
You have heard, no doubt, that the man I have caught is Von der Herts--ten years ago the best secret-service man in the employ of the Berlin government, but for the past few years mysteriously missing from our line of vision.

We've been wondering about him--at the War Office." The colonel dropped into a chair, facing Bray.
"You know Von der Herts, of course ?" he remarked casually.
"Of course," said Bray, still in that dead tired voice.
"He is the head of that crowd in England," went on Hughes.

"Rather a feather in my cap to get him--but I mustn't boast.