was afraid that it would give you a terrible shock -- in
fact, he himself seems extremely surprised and distressed;
he had evidently quite a personal feeling of
affection and respect for this old German woman,
Anna Bauer!"

"And I am sure that if you had known her you
would have had it too, Mr. Reynolds," she answered
naively. Somehow the fact that the Dean had taken
this strange and dreadful thing as he had done, made
her feel less miserable.

"Ah! One thing more before I take you to her.
Anything incriminating she may say to you will _not_ be
brought as evidence against her. The point you have
to remember is that it is vitally important to us to obtain
information as to this local spy conspiracy or system,
to which we believe we already hold certain clues."

The police cell into which Mrs. Guthrie was introduced
was in the half-basement of the ancient Council
House. The walls of the cell were whitewashed with
a peculiar, dusty whitewash that came off upon the
occupant's clothes at the slightest touch. There was a
bench fixed to the wall, and in a corner a bed, also fixed
to the ground. A little light came in from the window
high out of reach, and in the middle of the ceiling hung
a disused gas bracket.

Those of Anna Bauer's personal possessions she had
been allowed to bring with her were lying on the bed.

The old woman was sitting on the bench, her head
bowed in an abandonment of stupor, and of misery.
She did not even move as the door opened. But when
she heard the kind, familiar voice exclaim, "Anna?
My poor old Anna! -- it is terrible to find you here, like

[[331]]

p330 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p331w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p332

v?