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It took some doing, and I felt like a witness in the box under a stiff cross-examination, or a man trying to play three games of chess at once. I heard Stumm telling Gaudian the gist of my plan. The engineer shook his head. 'Too late, he said. 'It should have been done at the beginning. We neglected Africa. You know the reason why. Stumm laughed. 'The von Einem!
I heard footsteps in the corridor, and very gently I let the map roll up and turned away. When the door opened I was bending over the stove trying to get a light for my pipe. It was Gaudian, to bid me join him and Stumm in his study. On our way there he put a kindly hand on my shoulder.
He was polite to both of us, but I am bound to say that I got a bad fright when I entered the room, for the first man I saw was Gaudian. I doubt if he would have recognized me even in the clothes I had worn in Stumm's company, for his eyesight was wretched. As it was, I ran no risk in dress-clothes, with my hair brushed back and a fine American accent.
'We can send no reinforcements, but have we used all the local resources? That is what I cannot satisfy myself about. Zimmerman says we have, but Tressler thinks differently, and now we have this fellow coming out of the void with a story which confirms my doubt. He seems to know his job. You try him. Thereupon Gaudian set about questioning me, and his questions were very thorough.
Stumm had talked of a von Einem woman who was interested in his department, perhaps the same woman as the Hilda he had mentioned the day before to the Under-Secretary. There was not much in that. She was probably some minister's or ambassador's wife who had a finger in high politics. If I could have caught the word Stumm had whispered to Gaudian which made him start and look askance at me!
Gaudian patted me on the back when we started and wrung my hand. He was a capital good fellow, and it made me feel sick to think that I was humbugging him. We got into the same big grey car, with Stumm's servant sitting beside the chauffeur. It was a morning of hard frost, the bare fields were white with rime, and the fir-trees powdered like a wedding-cake.
The king likes especially the romance of Messeurs Iffven and Gaudian, which describes King Arthur and his knights of the round table. He has joked about it with the gentlemen of his Court." "Well, I have certainly not read that," replied the counsellor. "I suppose it is quite new, and published by Heiberg." "No," answered the man, "it is not by Heiberg; Godfred von Gehman brought it out."
'I know, I said; 'he is called Greenmantle. Sandy scrambled to his feet, letting his pipe drop in the fireplace. 'Now how on earth did you find out that? he cried. Then I told them of Stumm and Gaudian and the whispered words I had not been meant to hear.
Tomorrow I go home and you will come with me and get your orders. I made shift to stand at attention and salute. Gaudian spoke in a pleasant voice, as if he wanted to atone for Stumm's imperiousness. 'We are men who love our Fatherland, Herr Brandt, he said. 'You are not of that Fatherland, but at least you hate its enemies. Therefore we are allies, and trust each other like allies.
Enver was on the point like a knife, far quicker than Gaudian. He cross-examined me in a way that showed he knew how to approach a technical subject, though he mightn't have much technical knowledge. He was just giving me a sketch of the flooding in Mesopotamia when an aide-de-camp brought in a chit which fetched him to his feet. 'I have gossiped long enough, he said.
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