"It made me uneasy and embarrassed," said Eileen. "I don't like to be the cause of any man's suffering, and he was certainly suffering because of me. It was a tragic thing for both of us when I was found out at last."
"What happened?" asked Brand.
The thing that happened was simple—and horrible. When Eileen and her companions were denounced by the sentry at the Citadel the case was reported to the Kommandant of the Intelligence office, who was in charge of all anti-espionage business in Lille. He was enormously disturbed by the suspicion directed against Eileen. It seemed to him incredible, at first, that he could have been duped by her. After that, his anger was so violent that he became incapable of any personal action. He ordered Franz von Kreuzenach to arrest Eileen and search her rooms. "If she resist, shoot her at once," he thundered out.
It was at seven o'clock in the evening when Baron Franz von Kreuzenach appeared at Eileen's door with two soldiers. He was extremely pale and agitated.
Eileen rose from her little table, where she was having an evening meal of soup and bread. She knew the moment had come which in imagination she had seen a thousand times.
"Come in, Baron!"
She spoke with an attempt at cheerfulness, but had to hold to the back of her chair to save herself from falling, and she felt her face become white.
He stood for a moment in the room, silently, with the two soldiers behind him, and when he spoke it was in a low voice, in English.
"It is my painful duty to arrest you, Miss O'Connor."
She pretended to be amazed, incredulous, but it was, as she knew, a feeble mimicry.
