The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-06-17

in that country, and a quiet interro- i gatlon among the officers of her ac- quaintance did not bring forth one who had ever heard that Mrs. Powell had ever visited that country, much less lived there for any length of time.
 In a woman I suppose the suspi- cion that all was not as bad as ap- peared would be called intuition" while in a man one would call it a ''hunch." At any rate, it didn't sound entirely plausible, and l determined to play my hunch.
 That afternoon l wired my chief in Tours, and asked his to secure what information he could about Mrs. Powell, giving him all the facts as l had gathered them. In few days back came wire containing com plete details about her which the chief had been able to secure from the French. Her nationality was not known, though she claimed to be English. She was the former wife of an army officer who was at this time fighting in Flanders. About five years before he had divorced her. Shortly after the divorce she disappeared from England, and until 1 1918 there was no record of her ac- tivities. Then she suddenly appeared In Paris, travelling under an English passport. She was supposed to be receiving money from her former 1 husband through a bank in Switzer- i land. For a time she was under sus- l picion and the French secret service kept her under close surveillance; but, nothing having been found that would warrant action being taken, the French had withdrawn from the case and she was free to go where she wished.
 As soon as this report was received from the chief, I had a conference with the French secret service cap tain in Biarrtz, and together we carefully canvassed her case. We de- termined, in the light of what we knew about this woman, the fact that the leak was unquestiopably in this city. and the opportunities that she had for obtaining much valuable information, that Mrs. Powell would bear watching.
 Fortunately for our plans, I had my motor-car with me; for, since the French, owing to the scarcity of gas oline, had prohibited the operation | IDf ba1ieued a this woman would fall an easy prey to the lure of frequent rides in the surrounding country and the noun tains. She gladly accepted all my in vitations to ride, and soCn assumed kind of leadership over the Car and the driver. She was the one who de- cided who should and who should not go on the trips. Nearly every day we would go for spin, some times with her friends and sometimes alone. Various trips were made through the sountry and in the Pyrenees; in fact, !Irs. Powell had only to express a wish to go somewhere and the trip would be made.
 1 must win this woman's confi- dence; on her part, she had a two fold reason for wanting to go; first, because she really enjoyed the beauti- ful rides; and second, because she al ways rode in front with me, and thus had the opportunity to use me as source of information to further her own ends. It really was an unequal o1 mt q ore for I believed that I knew her game and, by being forewarned, could so play that 1 always held the winning hand.
 Why the word spy should be con sidered a term of reproach is beyond me. It all depends On the reasons why a spy is a spy; but whether he is patriot or not, few but the bray est of the brave engage in service. Intelligence work, as it is called in our army, is the most hazardous but at the same time the most fascinat- 1 ing, of all the duties connected with war. This is especially true when ones opponent is beautiful un- scrupulous woman. She not only fights with her keen and alert brain. but one must always be on guard | against the wCmanly wiles that she l is so sure to employ.
 1 We are, after all, human; and in l playing this game, where a woman i is concerned one can not but some l times remember rather sadly that her life is the stake we play for.
 As time went on and l became bet ter acquainted with Mrs. Powell, l was able to fathom her adroit ques- tions till l was sure of her guilt that the question of the penalty did not now enter into my calculations. l knew in my own mind that through ! this womans activities many good slider had paid the price-no one will ever know how many, but enough to make her life forfeit many | times over.
 I admired her boldness. She had surrounded herself with friends who were above suspicion as to their loyalty, and. behind them as a screen, she carried on her intriguing and dangerous work.
 Having settled in our own minds that we were not on false trail, we concentrated all our efforts on Mrs. Powell; both her incoming and out going mail was subjected to the closest scrutiny; but she was too clever to be caught sending any