ch
was the worst they could do, he would escape, for I would have backed
him to get through 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
seemed to have about as much chance of joining Blenkiron and Sandy as
of flying to the moon.

After breakfast I was told to get ready. When I asked where I was
going Stumm advised me to mind my own business, but I remembered that
last night he had talked of taking me home with him and giving me my
orders. I wondered where his home was.

Gaudian patted me on the back when we started and wrung my hand. He
was a capital good fellow, and it made me feel sick to think that I was
humbugging him. We got into the same big grey car, with Stumm's
servant sitting beside the chauffeur. It was a morning of hard frost,
the bare fields were white with rime, and the fir-trees powdered like a
wedding-cake. We took a different road from the night before, and
after a run of half a dozen miles came to a little town with a big
railway station. It was a junction on some main line, and after five
minutes' waiting we found our train. Once again we were alone in the
carriage. Stumm must have had some colossal graft, for the train was
crowded.

I had another three hours of complete boredom. I dared not smoke, and
could do nothing but stare out of the window. We soon got into hilly
country, where a good deal of snow was lying. It was the 23rd day of
December, and even in war time one had a sort of feel of Christmas.
You could see girls carrying evergreens, and when we stopped at a
station the soldiers on leave had all the air of holiday making. The
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 came, there was not the same
stage-management 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 now he wanted to draw
me into ordinary conversation. He had no notion how to do it. He was
either peremptory and provocative, like a drill-sergeant, or so
obviously diplomatic that any fool would have been put on his guard.
That is the weakness of the German. He has no gift for layi