hable laurels which that gallant city was about to
gather. They elected to go on!

A station employe brought them some unpalatable food, which they made a
pretence of eating. Irene Beresford's Hanoverian German was perfect, so
Dalroy did not air his less accurate accent, and the presence of the
sentry was helpful at this crisis. Though sharp-eyed and rabbit-eared,
the man was quite civil.

At last the Prussian officers returned. He who had been chatty overnight
was now brusque, even overbearing. "You have no right here!" he
vociferated at Dalroy. "Why should a damned Englishman travel with
Germans? Your country is perfidious as ever. How do I know that you are
not a spy?"

"Spies are not vouched for by Councillors of State," was the calm reply.
"I have in my pocket a letter from his Excellency Staatsrath von
Auschenbaum authorising my journey, and you yourself must perceive that
I am escorting a lady to her home."

The other snorted, but subsided into his seat. Not yet had Teutonic
hatred of all things British burst its barriers. But the pressure was
increasing. Soon it would leap forth like the pent-up flood of some
mighty reservoir whose retaining wall had crumbled into ruin.

"Is there any news?" went on Dalroy civilly. At any hazard, he was
determined, for the sake of the girl, to maintain the semblance of
good-fellowship. She, he saw, was cool and collected. Evidently, she
had complete trust in him.

For a little while no one answered. Ultimately, the officer who regarded
Liege as a joke said shortly, "Your Sir Grey has made some impudent
suggestions. I suppose it is what the Americans call 'bluff'; but
bluffing Germany is a dangerous game."

"Newspapers exaggerate such matters," said Dalroy.

"It may be so. Still, you'll be lucky if you get beyond Aachen," was the
ungracious retort. The speaker refused to give the town its French name.

An hour passed, the third in Cologne, before the train rumbled away into
the darkness. The girl pretended to sleep. Indeed, she may have dozed
fitfully. Dalroy did not attempt to engage her in talk. The Germans
gossiped in low tones. They knew that their nation had spied on the
whole world. Naturally, they held every foreigner in their midst as
tainted in the same vile way.

From Cologne to Aix-la-Chapelle is only a two hours' run. That night
the journey consumed four. Dalroy no longer dared look out when the
train stood in a siding. He knew by the sounds that all the d