probably try and land in England -- invade it, in fact,
as the Normans did." The old lady smiled. "It's an
amusing idea, isn't it?"

"But surely the fleet's there to prevent that!" said
Mrs. Otway. She was surprised that so sensible a
man as Major Guthrie -- her opinion of him had gone
up very much this last week -- should imagine such a
thing as that a landing by the Germans on the English
coast was possible.

"Oh, but he says there are at least a dozen schemes
of English invasion pigeonholed in the German War
Office, and by now they've doubtless had them all out
and examined them. He has always said there is a
very good landing-place within twenty miles of here --
a place Napoleon selected!"

A pleasant interlude was provided by tea, and as
Mrs. Guthrie, her old hand shaking a little, poured out
a delicious cup for her visitor, and pressed on her a
specially nice home-made cake, Mrs. Otway began to
think that in the past she had perhaps misjudged Major
Guthrie's agreeable, lively mother.

Suddenly Mrs. Guthrie fixed on her visitor the penetrating
blue eyes which were so like those of her son,
and which were indeed the only feature of her very
handsome face she had transmitted to her only child.

"I think you know my son very well?" she observed
suavely.

Rather to her own surprise, Mrs. Otway grew a
little pink. "Yes," she said. "Major Guthrie and I
are very good friends. He has sometimes been most
kind in giving me advice about my money matters."

"Ah, well, he does that to a good many people.
You'd be amused to know how often he's asked to be

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p157 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p158w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p159

v?