Chapter XIII

"There is good news!" exclaimed Anna's host,
as soon as the door was shut behind his wife.
"The British have sunk one of our little steamers, but
we have blown up one of theirs -- a very big, important
war-vessel, Frau Bauer!"

Good old Anna's face beamed. It was not that she
disliked England -- indeed, she was very fond of England.
But she naturally felt that in this great game
of war it was only right and fair that the Fatherland
should win. It did not occur to her, and well
he knew it would not occur to her, that the man who
had just spoken was at any rate nominally an Englishman.
She, quite as much as he did himself, regarded
the naturalisation certificate as a mere matter
of business. It had never made any difference to any
of the Germans Anna had known in England -- in fact
the only German-Englishman she knew was old Frohling,
who had never taken out his certificate at all.
Frohling really did adore England, and this had sometimes
made old Anna feel very impatient. To Frohling
everything English was perfect, and he had been
quite pleased, instead of sorry, when his son had joined
the British Army.

"So? That is good!" she exclaimed. "Very good!
But we must not seem too pleased, must we, Herr
Hegner?"

And he shook his head. "No, to be _too_ pleased
would not be grateful," he said, "to good old Eng-

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v?