United States or Somalia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"I am Herr Wetten; Your Excellency is Herr Steinlach. It could not be simpler." The Baron laughed quietly. "Very good, indeed," he agreed. "And Haase? You did not think of him? Well, the good Haase, for the time being, shall be the Herr von Haase. Eh, Haase?" "Zu Befehl, Excellenz," deferred Herr Haase.
And finally, from Basle, came the news that the train and its passengers had crossed the frontier; Colonel von Specht was in Switzerland. "You, my good Haase, will meet the train," said the Baron von Steinlach. "The Embassy has arranged to have it shunted to a siding outside the station. You will, of course, tell them nothing of what is in contemplation.
"Yes, it is warm," he agreed, without interest, and yawned. "You have come to see" he jerked his head towards the white staircase and its strip of red carpet "to see him not? He is up there. But what do you think of the news this morning?" Herr Haase was running, his handkerchief round the inside of his collar. "To see him! I have come to see the Herr Baron von Steinlach," he retorted, crossly.
Years and the moving forces of life had polished him as running water polishes a stone. The Baron von Steinlach showed to Herr Haase a countenance supple as a hand and formidable as a fist. "Thank you, my good Haase," he said, in his strong deliberate German. "You look hot. This sun, eh? Poor fellow!" But he did not bid him sit down.
Herr Haase came shuffling towards the steps. "Ich stelle Mich vor; I introduce myself," he said ceremoniously. "Haase sent by his Excellency, the Herr Baron von Steinlach." The other gazed down on him, a youngish man, golden-blond as to beard and hair, with wide, friendly eyes magnified by his glasses.
To Herr Haase, watching through his mask of respectful aloofness, it was as though the Baron's mind and countenance together snapped almost audibly into a narrowed and intensified alertness. The deep, white-fringed brows gathered over the shrewd pale eyes. "Not a Swiss?" he queried. "What are you, then?" "Huh!" the other jeered, openly. "I knew you the moment I saw you. Old Herr Steinlach, eh?
Herr Haase was brushed aside. It was as if the Baron von Steinlach, choosing his moment, released his power of personality upon the scene as a man lets go his held breath. "A wonderful view you have here, Herr Bettermann," was all he said. The young man turned to him to reply; it was as though their opposite purposes and wills crossed and clashed like engaged swords.
But it was more than shyness that narrowed her German-blue eyes as she stood behind the bars, looking at the three men. Von Wetten, tall, comely, stepped forward. "Good afternoon, gnadige Frau. We have an appointment with your husband for this hour. Let me present Herr Steinlach Herr von Haase." The two bowed at her; she inspected each in turn, still with that narrow-eyed reserve.
Word Of The Day