"How sorry you must be now that he did not
naturalise!" she exclaimed.

An odd look came over Manfred Hegner's face.
"Yes, it is very regretful -- the more so that it would
do me harm if it were known in the town that I had a
son in the German Army. But he will not fight against
the English," he added hastily. "No one will do that
but the German sailors -- is not that so, madam?"

"I really don't know."

"If at any time the gracious lady should hear anything
of the sort, I should be grateful -- nay, far more
than grateful if she will let me know it!" He had
lapsed back into German, and Mrs. Otway smiled
very kindly at him.

"Yes, I will certainly let you know anything I
hear. I know how very anxious you must be about
this sad state of things."

Mrs. Otway had left the shop, and she was already
some way back across the Market Place, when there
came the rather raucous sound of an urgent voice
in her ear. Startled, she turned round. The owner
of the Witanbury Stores stood by her side.

"Pardon, pardon!" he said breathlessly. "But
would you, gracious lady, ask your servant" (he used
the German word "St??tze") "if she could make it
convenient to join our gathering this evening at nine
o'clock? Frau Anna Bauer is so very highly respected
among the Germans here that we should like her to
be present."

"Certainly I will arrange for Anna to come,"
answered Mrs. Otway. "But you may not be aware,
Mr. Hegner, that my cook has become to all intents
and purposes quite English -- without, of course," she

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