the world its kultur, who lead in every
department of science, art and literature!"

She stared at him in amazement.

"You are joking, of course," she said, forgetting her danger for the
moment in face of this extraordinary phenomenon. "If you are a German,
and I suppose you are, and an educated German at that, you don't for a
moment imagine you gave the world anything. Why, the Germans have never
been anything but exploiters of other men's brains."

From dull red, his face had gone white, his lip was trembling with
passion and when he spoke he could scarcely control his voice.

"We were of all people ordained by God to save the world through the
German spirit."

So far he got when she burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. It
was so like all the caricatures of German character she had read or seen
depicted. He looked at her, his face distorted with rage, and before she
had realized what had happened he had raised his hand and struck her
across the mouth.

She staggered back, speechless. To her had happened the most incredible
thing in the world, more incredible than her abduction, more incredible
than all the villainies known or suspected, in this man.

He stood there glowering at her, unrepentant, half-tempted, it seemed,
to repeat the blow. He had struck a woman and was not overwhelmed by
shame. All her views of men and things, all her conceptions of the codes
which govern mankind in their dealings one with the other, crumbled
away. If he had fallen on his knees and asked her pardon, if he had
shown any contrition, any fear, any shame, she might have gone back to
her old standards.

"You swine cat!" he said in German, "Herr Gott, but I will punish you if
you laugh at me!"

She was staring at him in intense curiosity. Her lip was bleeding a
little, the red mark of his fingers showed against her white face, but
she seemed to have forgotten the pain or the shock of the actual blow
and was wholly concerned in this new revelation.

"A Hun," she said, but she seemed to be speaking to herself, "of course
he's a Hun. They do that sort of thing, but I never believed it before."

He took a step toward her, but she did not flinch, and he turned and
walked quickly from the room, locking the door behind him.

CHAPTER XII

INTRODUCING PARSON HOMO

When Beale left Krooman Mansions with his two companions he had only the
haziest idea as to where he should begin his search. Perhaps the
personal interes