presently my Ehrenwort lad of the previous night came bursting
into the room, crying, "The American! The American!" I do not
have to describe the thrill of joy that those words shot through me;
but I wish that I might do justice to the beaming face of my young
officer friend. I am sure that I could not have looked more radiant
than he did when, almost like a mother, he led me forth to greet de
Leval and two other assistants from the American Ambassador.
Now de Leval is not built on any sylph-like plan, but he looked to
me then like an ethereal being from another world--the angel who
opened the prison door.

I presumed that I was to walk away without further ado; but not so
easy. We proceeded into another office, where the whole
assemblage was standing. I have no idea who the high superior
officer was; but he held in his hand a blue book which contained a
long report of my case, with all the documents except the defense
I had written. Again I was cross-examined, and my papers were
carefully passed upon one by one.

One they could not or would not overlook, and to it throughout all
this last examination they kept perpetually referring. When I had
made my thirty-seven-mile journey into Liege on August 20,1 had
secured this paper at Maastricht signed by the Dutch and German
authorities. Over the Dutch seal were the words, "To the passing
over the boundary into Belgian-Germany of Mr. Albert Williams
there exists on the part of the undersigned no objection. Signed,
The Commissioner of Police Souten." Over the German seal were
the words, "At the Imperial German Vice-Consulate the foregoing
signature is hereby attested to be that of Souten, the Police
Commissioner of Maastricht." For this beautifully non-committal
affair I had delivered up six marks. I would have cheerfully paid six
hundred to disown it now.

"What explanation is there for his possession of that paper?"
asked the General sternly.

De Leval pleaded cleverly, dilating upon the natural inquisitiveness
and roaming disposition of the American race.

"I know what the Wanderlust is," said the General, "but I fail to
understand the peculiar desire of this man to travel only in
dangerous and forbidden war zones."

"In the second place," the General continued, "there is no doubt
that he has made some remark to the effect that in the long run
Germany cannot win. That was overheard by an officer in a cafe
and is undeniable. The other charges we will for the time w