Latest / Miss Pims Camouflage / 26 - Miss Pim's Camouflage by Dorothy Tennant
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Dorothy Stanley, Chapter twenty six. Miss Pim's journey to Flanders
- 0:05Speaker 1: was so trying that she could never think of it
- 0:08Speaker 1: without a shudder. From Berlin to Cologne it took over
- 0:11Speaker 1: twenty hours. She dared not get a ticket and go
- 0:15Speaker 1: as an ordinary passenger. She stood for many hours in
- 0:19Speaker 1: a corridor, but at Stendel she crawled into a luggage van,
- 0:23Speaker 1: where she lay on a crate in darkness and stifling heat,
- 0:28Speaker 1: afraid to sleep had sleep been possible. Indeed, she became
- 0:33Speaker 1: afraid of unconsciousness descending on her, and her fear was
- 0:37Speaker 1: mainly on account of her precious rucksack, for invisibility returned
- 0:41Speaker 1: to her unawares. All her belongings might be torn from
- 0:45Speaker 1: her before she could disappear. At Cologne, she went straight
- 0:49Speaker 1: to a hotel near the station and found an unoccupied room,
- 0:54Speaker 1: where she was fortunate enough to sleep undisturbed. The next
- 0:58Speaker 1: day she traveled more easily to Auchan, but suffered great
- 1:02Speaker 1: discomfort on her journey to Brussels. She was too bruised
- 1:07Speaker 1: and exhausted to take the interest she otherwise would have
- 1:10Speaker 1: in this greatly tried capital of unhappy Belgium. She rested
- 1:15Speaker 1: there quietly till she felt sufficient energy to get to Courtrey,
- 1:20Speaker 1: where she was told the headquarters of the German Army
- 1:24Speaker 1: of the Northwest was established under General Sixth von Arnem.
- 1:29Speaker 1: At Brussels, she heard of a Prince Chemnits, belonging to
- 1:34Speaker 1: the Staff. He occupied the fine house of a Belgian
- 1:37Speaker 1: banker near Courtrey, and was married to a very beautiful
- 1:42Speaker 1: American Miss Sadie Bunga, who had an immense fortune. Perdit
- 1:47Speaker 1: to Pim was so tired of hotels where she heard
- 1:51Speaker 1: nothing of any value, that she determined to stay uninvited
- 1:55Speaker 1: at the house of Princess Chemnitts. Arrived at Kortrey, she
- 2:00Speaker 1: went first to a hotel, where, according to her custom,
- 2:04Speaker 1: she commandeered the best room, and locking herself in, she
- 2:08Speaker 1: carefully looked round, pulled down the blinds, and dragged a
- 2:12Speaker 1: table to the wardrobe. Cautiously mounting the table holding her
- 2:17Speaker 1: canvas bundle, she tumbled it on to the top of
- 2:20Speaker 1: the wardrobe, where it lay in a hollow quite out
- 2:24Speaker 1: of sight. In the town of Courtray. Miss Pim, after
- 2:28Speaker 1: making a few needful purchases, asked the address of Prince
- 2:32Speaker 1: and Princess Chemnts, half an hour's walk beyond the tramway
- 2:37Speaker 1: in a pretty park where a much neglected flower garden
- 2:41Speaker 1: stood a so called chateau rather in the style of
- 2:44Speaker 1: a showy villa. Miss Pim, now invisible, of course, searched
- 2:49Speaker 1: high and low for a room, and decided to wait
- 2:52Speaker 1: till night, when she could alight on any unoccupied room.
- 2:56Speaker 1: The princess was out, but a beautiful little boy of
- 3:00Speaker 1: two and a half, the only child of the Prince
- 3:03Speaker 1: and Princess, gave her a great fright. She was standing
- 3:07Speaker 1: in the room where he was playing with his German nurse.
- 3:11Speaker 1: Miss Pim was admiring his golden curls and exquisite coloring.
- 3:16Speaker 1: When the child looked up at her, smiled and held
- 3:19Speaker 1: out his arms. As Miss Pim drew back, much alarmed,
- 3:24Speaker 1: the little fellow toddled across the room to her. She
- 3:27Speaker 1: knelt down and kissed him gently, but she was very
- 3:30Speaker 1: careful to keep away from him, lest by touching her,
- 3:34Speaker 1: he too should disappear. Miss Pim realized that though invisible
- 3:39Speaker 1: to herself and others, she was visible to the little child.
- 3:43Speaker 1: This might prove very awkward, since the child wanted to
- 3:47Speaker 1: come to her, might he not by his insistence somehow
- 3:51Speaker 1: betray her presence. She managed to make her escape and
- 3:55Speaker 1: wandered down to the rather gaudy salon, opening on to
- 3:59Speaker 1: a law large conservatory. Miss Pim sat in a corner
- 4:03Speaker 1: of the room, and, as she put it to herself,
- 4:06Speaker 1: awaited developments. These quickly came in the persons of the
- 4:11Speaker 1: Prince and his American wife, the most lovely creature Miss
- 4:15Speaker 1: Pimp had ever set eyes on, tall, fair, faultless in
- 4:19Speaker 1: feature and figure, but restless in thought and movement. She
- 4:24Speaker 1: threw herself on a sofa, then jumped up and sat
- 4:27Speaker 1: on the arm of the couch, swinging her feet. Then
- 4:31Speaker 1: she walked up and down the room, her husband, a tall,
- 4:34Speaker 1: handsome young German in uniform, watching her with adoring eyes.
- 4:40Speaker 1: You say I should invite von Hindenburg to stay here,
- 4:44Speaker 1: she said, pouting, and his shadow his spokesman Ludendorf, that
- 4:49Speaker 1: it is a great honor for us. Well, Otto, I
- 4:52Speaker 1: don't count it an honor at all. Oh, I know,
- 4:55Speaker 1: Krieg is Kreeg, and I must meet and entertain horrid
- 4:59Speaker 1: offe officers and their still horrider wives. But I think
- 5:04Speaker 1: when my own countrymen are out to kill Germans I
- 5:07Speaker 1: ought to be spared meeting Germans, and I ought not
- 5:11Speaker 1: to be asked to receive them under my own roof.
- 5:14Speaker 1: But Sadie, my angel, you are a German now, said
- 5:19Speaker 1: Prince Chemnitz plaintively. I a German, No, siree, I'm no German,
- 5:25Speaker 1: and I guess Otto Bung Chemnitz Junior is no German either.
- 5:30Speaker 1: I want to get back with him to Montana, where
- 5:33Speaker 1: you can join us after the war and raise sheep
- 5:37Speaker 1: or cattle. You said yourself that after this war Germany
- 5:41Speaker 1: would be an impossible country to live in. You may
- 5:44Speaker 1: bet your bottom dollar that after this war I get Otto,
- 5:49Speaker 1: my dear boy, don't ask me to invite von Hindenburg here.
- 5:53Speaker 1: You say he is coming this afternoon to talk over
- 5:57Speaker 1: plans with you. Why should I see him at all?
- 6:00Speaker 1: He despises women. On the contrary, he is a good
- 6:04Speaker 1: husband and father. His daughters are charming. What a pity
- 6:08Speaker 1: you did not marry one of them. Otto, and the
- 6:11Speaker 1: pretty creature came behind her husband's chair and put her
- 6:15Speaker 1: arms round his neck. Let us escape to Holland, and
- 6:19Speaker 1: then you could join our boys at the front and
- 6:22Speaker 1: fight on the other side. Oh, it has turned out
- 6:25Speaker 1: so dreadful being a German. If I really am a German,
- 6:29Speaker 1: I don't believe a real, downright American could ever feel German.
- 6:34Speaker 1: Not since the Americans came into the war. Why every
- 6:38Speaker 1: bit of Germanness fell from me the day the Lusitania
- 6:42Speaker 1: was sunk. Sadie, your talk is terrible. I tremble lest
- 6:47Speaker 1: anyone hear you and report you to headquarters. My mother
- 6:51Speaker 1: wants me to shut you up in the schwarzwrets Schloss.
- 6:55Speaker 1: She says you will bring disgrace and ruin on the family,
- 6:58Speaker 1: and she wishes to educate Kate Ottalin herself. She shall
- 7:02Speaker 1: never never have my boy. My boy is myself, and
- 7:07Speaker 1: I guessed no living being, no hun hag, no bosh,
- 7:11Speaker 1: which is going to take him from me? Are you
- 7:15Speaker 1: speaking of my honored mother? Said Prince Chemnitz, rising and
- 7:19Speaker 1: turning pale. No words are too strong for any one
- 7:23Speaker 1: who would dare to attempt, I say, attempt to separate
- 7:27Speaker 1: an American woman from her child. The princess stood up,
- 7:31Speaker 1: facing him, her eyes blazing, her cheeks aflame, and her
- 7:36Speaker 1: golden hair loosened by her passionate movements, hanging low on
- 7:41Speaker 1: her white neck. Fortunately, the scene was cut short by
- 7:45Speaker 1: the arrival of Master Otto. His mother snatched him from
- 7:49Speaker 1: his nurse and kissed him so violently that he set
- 7:53Speaker 1: up a howl. Then, catching sight of Miss Pim, he
- 7:56Speaker 1: put out his arms to her, crying, shouna dama, shunadama.
- 8:01Speaker 1: What does he mean? Said his mother, putting him down.
- 8:04Speaker 1: He straightway crawled to Miss Pim, who edged away round
- 8:09Speaker 1: the room. He followed her, crying, pretty lady. At intervals,
- 8:13Speaker 1: his father picked him up and, pointing to the princess,
- 8:17Speaker 1: said in German, there is the pretty lady. But Master
- 8:21Speaker 1: Otto was as determined as his mother. He took his
- 8:25Speaker 1: finger out of his mouth and pointed to Miss Pym
- 8:28Speaker 1: by the door. As she slipped out, she heard him say,
- 8:31Speaker 1: with assurance, pretty lady gone. Von Hindenburg was to be
- 8:36Speaker 1: there that very afternoon. Miss Pim's heart beat quite jumpily
- 8:41Speaker 1: at the prospect of the meeting. She would be present
- 8:44Speaker 1: at that important council. What might she not learn there unseen?
- 8:49Speaker 1: She joined the family at lunch, taking what she required
- 8:53Speaker 1: and sitting in a corner of the dining room, her
- 8:56Speaker 1: plate on her lap. At first, it was very distance,
- 9:00Speaker 1: asserting when the princeling kept on nodding at her and
- 9:04Speaker 1: pointing with his spoon in her direction, but after staring round,
- 9:08Speaker 1: no one took any notice of the child's vagaries. Lunch
- 9:13Speaker 1: was rather gloomy, but conversation was kept up for appearance's sake.
- 9:18Speaker 1: When the servants had left and Master Otto had been
- 9:21Speaker 1: carried off, the Prince and his wife sat together over
- 9:25Speaker 1: coffee and cigarettes. I suppose you will be hours and
- 9:29Speaker 1: hours at this old pow wow, said Sadie Chemnitz, blowing
- 9:34Speaker 1: up little curls of smoke. It is awfully important, said
- 9:38Speaker 1: the Prince gravely. Von Hindenburgh is to settle the line
- 9:42Speaker 1: of retreat according to plan, said his wife, looking quite innocent. Yes,
- 9:48Speaker 1: said the Prince. I needn't tell you that the outlook
- 9:52Speaker 1: is really hopeless. So von Hindenburg has come just to
- 9:56Speaker 1: try his hand at prolonging the agony. His wife trying
- 10:01Speaker 1: to blow smoke rings. There is no way of shortening it,
- 10:05Speaker 1: said the Prince, simply excepting by surrender, She retorted, Do
- 10:10Speaker 1: you see Germans surrendering? He replied angrily, Oh, I guess
- 10:15Speaker 1: Germans will have to do exactly the same as any
- 10:17Speaker 1: other conquered people. When they are beaten, they will give in.
- 10:21Speaker 1: You are always saying war is war. I now say
- 10:26Speaker 1: defeat is defeat. The prince looked sulky and rising. He said, ah, well,
- 10:32Speaker 1: since this is the biggest room in this beastly little hole,
- 10:36Speaker 1: we shall have the conference here, So we had better
- 10:39Speaker 1: give instructions accordingly. I must see to the wine and cigars.
- 10:44Speaker 1: The princess then moved into the salon adjacent. Miss Pym
- 10:48Speaker 1: followed and enjoyed listening to her hostess, singing coon songs
- 10:54Speaker 1: in a low voice. This sweet, undisciplined American attracted her.
- 10:59Speaker 1: It was a delight to look on such loveliness, such
- 11:03Speaker 1: freshness in her company. The cruelty and horror of this
- 11:07Speaker 1: German made war could be forgotten for a little space. Suddenly,
- 11:12Speaker 1: the princess ran to the door and peeped out. Harsh
- 11:16Speaker 1: gutturals and clinking of spurs could be heard. Miss Pim,
- 11:20Speaker 1: in a fever to get out, had to wait whilst
- 11:23Speaker 1: the princess watched holding the door. But prolonged patience becomes
- 11:29Speaker 1: wild impatience. Miss Pim wrenched the door open and rushed out,
- 11:35Speaker 1: entering the council room. As the officers were settling themselves
- 11:39Speaker 1: round the table. Miss Pim stared, Was it possible? Could
- 11:43Speaker 1: that man be on Hindenburg, the commander in chief, the
- 11:47Speaker 1: man who held in his hands the destinies of Germany?
- 11:51Speaker 1: Miss Pim looked and looked, and a gasp of relief,
- 11:55Speaker 1: with something like a sob of grief and fear, almost
- 11:58Speaker 1: choked her. He looked so horrible and deadly, and yet
- 12:02Speaker 1: at the same time so inadequate. She compared Sir Hugh Douglas,
- 12:08Speaker 1: Sir Hector Russell, Sir Robert Williamson, Petan cadorna pershing with
- 12:15Speaker 1: this big german brute. His face had such an awful
- 12:19Speaker 1: fascination for her that she could not move her eyes away.
- 12:23Speaker 1: Miss Pim felt that he was brutal, forceful, contemptuous and vain.
- 12:29Speaker 1: His eyes, small and observant, had puffed under lids. His
- 12:33Speaker 1: square face was fleshy and warty. But his mouth, his
- 12:38Speaker 1: small mouth, gave him away. It was like the mouth
- 12:41Speaker 1: of some dreadful flatfish of the depths. Utterly cruel. Hindenburg
- 12:47Speaker 1: repelled because he looked inhuman. He seemed to Miss Pim
- 12:52Speaker 1: the very spirit of evil made man. His uniform was
- 12:56Speaker 1: much creased by his stout body folds being ruckled up
- 13:01Speaker 1: from under the arms round to the front. He sat
- 13:05Speaker 1: absent minded, staring about whilst Ludendorf talked. A typical German officer,
- 13:11Speaker 1: well set up and having the military style of good
- 13:15Speaker 1: looks common to many. Ludendorf constantly turned to von Hindenburg
- 13:21Speaker 1: as though he sought his agreement or his approval, but
- 13:25Speaker 1: Hindenburg sat impassive, though occasionally he frowned, His nostrils distended,
- 13:31Speaker 1: and he looked about suspiciously, like an animal nosing danger.
- 13:36Speaker 1: Miss Pym began to have a very uneasy feeling. Now
- 13:41Speaker 1: and then his small animal eyes seemed to rest on her,
- 13:46Speaker 1: and she positively trembled. But this feeling passed when Ludendorf
- 13:51Speaker 1: produced maps and began explaining Hindenburgh's plan. The English here
- 13:57Speaker 1: at this point are convinced that we shall hold this line,
- 14:02Speaker 1: and that possibly we shall withdraw in this direction, said Ludendorf,
- 14:07Speaker 1: running his finger along a line on the map spread
- 14:11Speaker 1: out on the table. The officers all came round and
- 14:14Speaker 1: stared at the map, but Hindenburg took no notice. Whatever.
- 14:18Speaker 1: Pardon me, said a gray haired colonel in spectacles but
- 14:22Speaker 1: the enemy surely will be right. We must hold this line.
- 14:27Speaker 1: Hindenburg beckoned to Prince Chemnitz and whispered something. The Prince
- 14:32Speaker 1: nodded and went out, and Hindenburg resumed his utter impassivity.
- 14:37Speaker 1: If we abandon this position, continued the Colonel, we give
- 14:41Speaker 1: up a most important point. We lose the support of
- 14:45Speaker 1: this line of railways. To me, it looks like running away.
- 14:50Speaker 1: It would be too terrible. Surely, surely the commander in
- 14:54Speaker 1: chief is not seriously contemplating such a course. And he
- 14:58Speaker 1: looked at Hindenburg, who sat swinging his foot and looking,
- 15:03Speaker 1: as it seemed, straight, at Miss Pim. There was a
- 15:07Speaker 1: strained silence, broken by the return of the Prince, carrying bottles.
- 15:12Speaker 1: He put a quart tumbler before Hindenburg, who laughed heartily
- 15:16Speaker 1: and made some joke to the Prince. The glass was
- 15:20Speaker 1: then half filled with beer, the General measuring off the
- 15:24Speaker 1: amount with his finger. To this was added champagne till
- 15:28Speaker 1: the foam ran over the side, and then Hindenburg drank
- 15:32Speaker 1: without breathing. Everyone waited. When he had replaced the empty
- 15:37Speaker 1: tumbler with a wicked, half veiled smile, he resumed his
- 15:41Speaker 1: attitude of an indifferent spectator. If we fall back, cried
- 15:46Speaker 1: an eager young officer, what becomes of these divisions? And
- 15:51Speaker 1: he pointed to another portion of the map. Miss Pim
- 15:54Speaker 1: longed to come round and look at the map they
- 15:57Speaker 1: were all so eagerly examining. Then she saw Hindenburg draw
- 16:01Speaker 1: up to the table, take a sheet of paper, and
- 16:04Speaker 1: commence drawing lines with a remarkably steady hand. Miss Pim
- 16:10Speaker 1: cautiously moved round the table, and coming behind Hindenburg, attentively
- 16:16Speaker 1: watched him. When she moved, Hindenburg again threw back his
- 16:20Speaker 1: head like a buffalo, sensing danger. Hindenburg then drew the
- 16:25Speaker 1: line of the Rhine and writing the names of French
- 16:28Speaker 1: and Belgian towns. He drew double lines of trenches and
- 16:33Speaker 1: isolated forts marked by crosses, and wrote dates on them.
- 16:38Speaker 1: He also indicated divisions by squares with their numbers, then
- 16:44Speaker 1: threw down the plans, saying, with finality, it is all there,
- 16:49Speaker 1: just as Ludendorf tells you, just as you can see
- 16:52Speaker 1: it on the map. Yes, we are to abandon those lines.
- 16:56Speaker 1: I am glad Colonel Vinckler thinks it impossible, because that
- 17:00Speaker 1: is what I want. The British to think. If we
- 17:03Speaker 1: hold the line, we are finished. It is as clear
- 17:07Speaker 1: as as noonday. Oh not at once, but Ludendorf will
- 17:12Speaker 1: buy and buy. Explain why we are crumbling, gentlemen. We
- 17:16Speaker 1: must become mobile. We must facilitate the retreat of our
- 17:20Speaker 1: guns and men in Belgium. I mark here where we
- 17:24Speaker 1: shall eschel on our forces. This plan is the only plan,
- 17:29Speaker 1: and it is for the conservation of energy. Its value
- 17:33Speaker 1: depends on secrecy and celerity. The sheet of paper passed
- 17:38Speaker 1: from hand to hand. Hindenburg now pointed out his ideas
- 17:43Speaker 1: on the map. Then, leaning back, he turned to Chemnitz
- 17:47Speaker 1: and nodded at his glass, which was again filled. Ludendorf
- 17:52Speaker 1: will now develop the ideal we have. The officers sat
- 17:56Speaker 1: down again. Miss Pym was left standing alone at the
- 17:59Speaker 1: table near Hindenborg. She saw the map and the plan
- 18:04Speaker 1: there almost under her hand, but a numbing fear held
- 18:08Speaker 1: her back. Her heart beat like a winged thing caged
- 18:12Speaker 1: behind her ribs. She could not follow what Ludendorf said.
- 18:16Speaker 1: She could only struggle against a strange inhibitory feeling as
- 18:22Speaker 1: though you shall not met you must in her brain.
- 18:27Speaker 1: She turned her head away from the maps and met
- 18:30Speaker 1: Hindenburg's deadly eyes. Had those drinks made him a seer
- 18:34Speaker 1: by any chance? She could feel the heat radiating from
- 18:38Speaker 1: his big body, and still she shivered. Suddenly he jumped up,
- 18:43Speaker 1: shouting like a bull, like a minotaur. There is someone
- 18:47Speaker 1: here in the room, a spy. I feel it. Hold
- 18:51Speaker 1: the door. Search Winkler walked to the door. The others
- 18:55Speaker 1: gazed at Hindenborg, who turned about, putting out his arms
- 19:00Speaker 1: groping for someone as in blind Man's buff Miss Pim
- 19:04Speaker 1: made a tremendous effort at self control. Moving out of
- 19:08Speaker 1: reach of Hindenburg, she took up the map, folded it roughly,
- 19:13Speaker 1: and stuck it in her belt. The small plans she
- 19:16Speaker 1: rolled up into a ball in her nervousness, and ran
- 19:20Speaker 1: it into her bodice with trembling fingers. Hindenburg kept on bellowing,
- 19:26Speaker 1: there is some one here. Feel round for him. You'll
- 19:29Speaker 1: get him. Do as I do. Feel round. The officers,
- 19:33Speaker 1: shocked at what they considered Hindenburg's drunken fit, drew together
- 19:38Speaker 1: at the window. Even Colonel Vinkler left the door. Ludendorf
- 19:42Speaker 1: went up soothingly to Hindenburg, whose face and throat positively
- 19:47Speaker 1: swelled and pulsated with excitement. Miss Pim tried to dart
- 19:52Speaker 1: past him to the door, but he shot out his
- 19:55Speaker 1: hand and caught her by the throat. She gave the
- 19:57Speaker 1: agonized squeal of a hare by dogs, and to the
- 20:02Speaker 1: horror of herself and every one present, she reappeared. Even
- 20:07Speaker 1: her captor relaxed his hold from amazement, and Miss Pim
- 20:11Speaker 1: darted to the door and shot down the corridor into
- 20:15Speaker 1: the drawing room. Save me, hide me, she cried to
- 20:19Speaker 1: Princess Chemnitz, who, with extraordinary presence of mind, pushed her
- 20:24Speaker 1: behind the sofa where she was sitting, and going to
- 20:27Speaker 1: the piano, she began singing softly O dem Golden Slippers.
- 20:33Speaker 1: The officers in full cry after Miss Pym had been
- 20:37Speaker 1: diverted for a few seconds by an open door leading
- 20:41Speaker 1: into the princess boudoir. Satisfied that she was not there,
- 20:45Speaker 1: they now came full tilt into the salon. The princess
- 20:50Speaker 1: looked round archly and said, is the meeting over? Gentlemen?
- 20:54Speaker 1: Have you seen a woman a spy rush in here?
- 20:58Speaker 1: Cried her husband. Spy. How exciting, cried Princess Sadie, clasping
- 21:04Speaker 1: her hands. She would not come here, surely. The Prince
- 21:08Speaker 1: looked at her suspiciously, noting her pallor Yes, here she
- 21:13Speaker 1: is right enough, cried Ludendorf, dragging Miss Pym up by
- 21:17Speaker 1: the arm. The Germans crowded round her. Hindenburg, now quite calm,
- 21:23Speaker 1: his evil little eyes exultant, stood looking at her. The
- 21:27Speaker 1: englishwoman is caught, and if I mistake not, she has
- 21:32Speaker 1: our map in her belt. Ludendorf snatched it with an
- 21:36Speaker 1: exclamation of horror. Hindenburg, with an affectation of indifference, said
- 21:42Speaker 1: I felt someone was there in that room all the time. However,
- 21:47Speaker 1: no harm is done. We have the map and the woman. Finckler,
- 21:52Speaker 1: go outside and bring in my four men, also the
- 21:56Speaker 1: sentinel and your orderly Chemnitts. Then take her out and
- 22:00Speaker 1: shoot her. And now, Princess, said Hindenburg truculently, how comes
- 22:06Speaker 1: it you are concealing an English or maybe an American
- 22:10Speaker 1: spy in the house of a German staff officer. Prince
- 22:15Speaker 1: Chemnitts walked up and stood beside his wife. General I
- 22:19Speaker 1: will undertake to swear that my wife knows no more
- 22:22Speaker 1: about this woman than you do yourself. Sadie speak, tell
- 22:27Speaker 1: General Hindenburg that you know nothing about her. I never
- 22:30Speaker 1: saw the woman before, and she is very likely a German,
- 22:34Speaker 1: said the young princess, looking defiantly at Hindenburg. But Hindenburg
- 22:39Speaker 1: was not susceptible to female charm, and he had taken
- 22:43Speaker 1: enough Champagne to excite him. He looked at her with
- 22:47Speaker 1: intense hatred. You belong to a nation at war with us,
- 22:52Speaker 1: a nation of hypocrites and liars. I do not take
- 22:55Speaker 1: the word of an American Prince Chemnitz as pale as
- 22:59Speaker 1: a hens. Beautiful wife advanced one step nearer to Hindenburg.
- 23:04Speaker 1: Do you dare General to insult my wife? To insult
- 23:08Speaker 1: me here in my own home, It will not be
- 23:11Speaker 1: your home any longer. Prince, you will leave tomorrow for Riga.
- 23:16Speaker 1: As for your American wife, she will go by my
- 23:20Speaker 1: orders to your rocky Schloss and consider herself under arrest there,
- 23:26Speaker 1: where she will remain till this war ends. You have children.
- 23:31Speaker 1: The prince and princess were silent. General Ludendorff answered for them,
- 23:36Speaker 1: a son General a child. He will be entrusted to
- 23:40Speaker 1: the care of his grandmother, Princess Elizabeth Chemnitz, who will
- 23:44Speaker 1: bring him up to be a good German. I know
- 23:47Speaker 1: the old lady. She will do her duty. You would
- 23:51Speaker 1: take my baby from me, cried the young princess, my
- 23:54Speaker 1: own little baby. You shall not, oh you butcher, Oh
- 23:59Speaker 1: you vile. Before she could finish the sentence, the lovely,
- 24:03Speaker 1: free born American woman suddenly felt the room spin round.
- 24:08Speaker 1: Darkness seemed to envelop her, and she collapsed where she
- 24:12Speaker 1: stood into complete unconsciousness. The tramp of feet made Miss
- 24:18Speaker 1: Pim look round. Seven German soldiers stood in the doorway.
- 24:23Speaker 1: Take that woman to the parade plots. Put her against
- 24:27Speaker 1: the drill hall and shoot her dead at once, and stay.
- 24:32Speaker 1: Have all the new recruits present. It's good to blood
- 24:36Speaker 1: their young snouts. Colonel Winkler interposed, Would it not be
- 24:40Speaker 1: as well to get some confession, some signed deposition from
- 24:44Speaker 1: the prisoner. Is it not desirable to go through some formality, however, rapid,
- 24:50Speaker 1: some formality of a trial. All that can be done
- 24:54Speaker 1: after the execution, said Hindenburg savagely. What a mockery to
- 24:59Speaker 1: talk of a tree trial or a confession. As for
- 25:02Speaker 1: the woman's name, spy, is enough, take her away and
- 25:07Speaker 1: report her death at headquarters. Now order my car. You
- 25:12Speaker 1: chemnuts had better come round this evening. Colonel Boyce will
- 25:16Speaker 1: give you your orders and some dispatches. Miss Pym was
- 25:20Speaker 1: dragged out and marched along the dusty road to Courtray
- 25:25Speaker 1: in vain. She strove to disappear once she stopped in
- 25:29Speaker 1: her agony of mind, thinking that the motion of walking
- 25:34Speaker 1: impeded the process of disappearing. But the sharp agony of
- 25:38Speaker 1: a bayonet thrust in her left arm obliged her to
- 25:42Speaker 1: go on, the warm blood trickling down and dropping through
- 25:47Speaker 1: her fingers. End of Chapter twenty six.