Part 9 (1/2)

'You lied, because you said you know no Gerh to talk treason and blaspheave me back some heart

'I told you I knew a dozen words But I told you Peter could talk it a bit I told you that yesterday at the station' Fervently I blessed my luck for that casual remark

He evidently remembered, for his tone became a trifle more civil

'You are a precious pair If one of you is a scoundrel, why not the other?'

'I take no responsibility for Peter,' I said I felt I was a cad in saying it, but that was the bargain we had reat hunter and a brave lish But e him for yourself What has he done?'

I was told, for Stu it he was kind enough to allowI ht have foreseen Peter, left alone, had become first bored and then reckless He had persuaded the lieutenant to take hi Berlin restaurant There, inspired by the lights and s for a backveld hunter-and no doubt bored stiff by his coet drunk That had happened in my experience with Peter about once in every three years, and it always happened for the same reason Peter, bored and solitary in a toent on the spree He had a head like a rock, but he got to the required condition by wild entleman in his cups, and not in the least violent, but he was apt to be very free with his tongue And that hat occurred at the Franciscana

He had begun by insulting the Emperor, it seemed He drank his health, but said he re, and thereby scarified the lieutenant's soul Then an officer-so table had objected to his talking so loud, and Peter had replied insolently in respectable Gers beca which Peter calumniated the German army and all its feine, except that the lieutenant loudly proclaimed that he was a crazy Boer Anyhow the upshot was that Peter was aol, and I was left in a pretty pickle

'I don't believe a word of it,' I said fireous 'It is all a plot to get hirace and draft him off to the front'

Stumm did not storm as I expected, but smiled

'That was always his destiny,' he said, 'ever since I saw him He was no use to us except as a ine, you fool, that this great E to trouble its head to lay snares for an ignorant taakhaar?'

'I wash my hands of him,' I said 'If what you say of his folly is true I have no part in it But he was my companion and I wish him well What do you propose to do with him?'

'We will keep him under our eye,' he said, with a wicked twist of the mouth 'I have a notion that there is ate the antecedents of Herr Pienaar And you, too, my friend On you also we have our eye'

I did the best thing I could have done, for ith anxiety and disgust I lost my teh of this I ca to strike a blow for you But you haven't given mefrom you but suspicion and insult The only decent man I've met is Herr Gaudian It's because I believe that there are o on with this business and do the best I can But, by God, I wouldn't raise er for your sake'

He looked at me very steadily for a minute 'That sounds like honesty,' he said at last in a civil voice 'You had better coet your coffee'

I was safe for the moment but in very low spirits What on earth would happen to poor old Peter? I could do nothing even if I wanted, and, besides, my first duty was to my mission I had reed, but all the same it was a beastly reflection Here was that ancient worthy left to the tender mercies of the people he most detested on earth My only comfort was that they couldn't do very much with him If they sent him to the front, which was the worst they could do, he would escape, for I would have backed hih any mortal lines It wasn't much fun for me either Only when I was to be deprived of it did I realize how much his company had meant to me I was absolutely alone now, and I didn't like it I see Blenkiron and Sandy as of flying to the et ready When I asked where I was going Stumm advised ht he had talked of takingme my orders I wondered where his home was

Gaudian pattedood fellow, and it ot into the sa beside the chauffeur It was aof hard frost, the bare fields hite with ri-cake We took a different road froht before, and after a run of half a dozenrailway station It was a junction on so we found our train Once again ere alone in the carriage Sturaft, for the train was crowded

I had another three hours of co but stare out of theWe soon got into hilly country, where a good deal of snoas lying It was the 23rd day of December, and even in war tiirls carrying evergreens, and e stopped at a station the soldiers on leave had all the air of holidayThe middle of Germany was a cheerier place than Berlin or the western parts I liked the look of the old peasants, and the women in their neat Sunday best, but I noticed, too, how pinched they were Here in the country, where no neutral tourists caement as in the capital

Stumm made an attempt to talk to me on the journey I could see his aim Before this he had cross-examined me, but noanted to draw me into ordinary conversation He had no notion how to do it He was either pereeant, or so obviously diplouard That is the weakness of the Gerside different types ofthat he cannot put out feelers to his kind He may have plenty of brains, as Stuy of any of God's creatures In Geret outside himself, and that is why, if you look into the matter, you will find that the Jew is at the back of most German enterprises

After oodtwo officers entered Stuot up and saluted and went aside to talk to the-room, where he told me to stay till he fetched me I noticed that he called a porter and had the door locked when he went out

It was a chilly place with no fire, and I kickedby the hour now, and did not trouble to worry about this strange behaviour There was a volues idly till I struck a big railwayI had heard Stumm take my ticket for a place called Schwandorf, and after a lot of searching I found it It ay south in Bavaria, and so far as I could make out less than fifty miles from the Danube That cheered me enormously If Stumm lived there he would most likely startto Vienna and then on to the East It looked as if I et to Constantinople after all But I feared it would be a useless achieve hustled out of Ger up the slenderest clue