Is that
explicit?"
"It is." The colonel got into his compartment and slammed the door
viciously.
In the next compartment sat Grumbach. He was smoking his faithful pipe.
He was, withal, content. This was far more satisfactory than standing up
before the firing-line. And, besides, he had made history in Ehrenstein
that night; they would not forget the name of Breunner right away. To
America, with a clean slate and a reposeful conscience; it was more than
he had any reasonable right to expect. Tekla! He laughed sardonically.
She was no doubt sound asleep by this time, and the end of the chapter
would never be written for her. What fools these young men a-courting
were! War and famine and pestilence; did these not always follow at the
heels of women?
As the station-master's bell rang, the door opened and a man jumped in.
He tossed his bag into the corner and plumped down in the seat.
"Captain?"
"You, Hans?"
"Yes. Where are you going?"
"I am weary of Dreiberg, so I am taking a little vacation."
"For how long?" suspiciously.
"Oh, for ever so long!" evasively. And Carmichael lifted his feet to the
opposite seat and prepared to go to sleep.
Hans said nothing more. He was full of wisdom. He had an idea. The
fleeing chancellor and his daughter were on the train, and he was
certain that his friend Carmichael knew it.
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