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25 - Miss Pim's Camouflage by Dorothy Tennant · Miss Pims Camouflage

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  Speaker 1: Dorothy Stanley, chapter twenty five. Miss Barton, he cried, striding
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  Speaker 1: towards her, dragging his leg. Oh, we'll take care of
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  Speaker 1: you and smuggle you out of the country in safety.
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  Speaker 1: My goodness, you should thank Himmel and Koit Sick that
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  Speaker 1: you got here. But she has not come here for herself.
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  Speaker 1: It is to warn you, Johann, said the German, affectionately,
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  Speaker 1: putting his hand on Koit Sick's shoulder. Is that so,
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  Speaker 1: said Koit Sick, grinning and looking at her with his restless,
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  Speaker 1: melancholy eyes. Then there is nothing urgent, nothing to bother
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  Speaker 1: ourselves about. Tell Katy, we have a lady guest, and
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  Speaker 1: see here Hartburg, get us something extra for supper. Turning
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  Speaker 1: to Miss Pim, We are growing greedier and greedier every day.
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  Speaker 1: I am sure all Berlin dreams at night of succulent dishes.
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  Speaker 1: And peace to most of us means a full belly.
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  Speaker 1: Now sit down on the least uncomfortable chair, which is
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  Speaker 1: this one, and Sick pulled out a very stiff backed
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  Speaker 1: arm chair. You can see how high our principles are
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  Speaker 1: by the order, cleanliness and discomfort all around here. Quite
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  Speaker 1: Sick began Miss Pim. Now you have to call me
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  Speaker 1: Koite Sick two corps, or brother quite sick, as they
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  Speaker 1: do in socialist circles. How do you like me for
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  Speaker 1: a brother? Shall I call you sister Jane quite sick?
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  Speaker 1: Said Miss Pim. I am troubled and anxious on your account.
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  Speaker 1: Now do sit down quietly and listen to me. I
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  Speaker 1: have heard as an absolutely certain and settled thing that
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  Speaker 1: you are to be arrested the day after tomorrow at
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  Speaker 1: a big revolutionary meeting. You are then to have a
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  Speaker 1: week's training or so at the machine gun, and be
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  Speaker 1: sent to the western front, put in the frontmost line
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  Speaker 1: of trenches, chained to your gun, and in that way
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  Speaker 1: they will get rid of me. I have always made
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  Speaker 1: as much noise as I possibly could, and it isn't
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  Speaker 1: altogether an inappropriate end to be blown up in a
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  Speaker 1: deafening roar of guns. But you will defeat this plot, pleaded,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim. You know that you are of more use
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  Speaker 1: alive than dead. Just so, said Cooit Sick, with a
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  Speaker 1: whimsical smile. Still I might be useful as Saint Koit Sick,
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  Speaker 1: wearing the aureole of saints and martyrs. You know, socialists
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  Speaker 1: have a remarkable calendar of saints. That meeting you allude
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  Speaker 1: to is in commemoration of LaSalle, though in confidence I
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  Speaker 1: may assure you that he was much more interesting dead
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  Speaker 1: than alive. Cooit sick, do let us talk seriously, said
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim, very earnestly, promise me that you will not
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  Speaker 1: go to this meeting. Indeed, I want you to do more.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to leave Germany. I will help you
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  Speaker 1: to escape. I have maps, compasses, I can always obtain
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  Speaker 1: food and shelter. You can hide in woods and outhouses,
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  Speaker 1: and we could walk at night. It is easier than
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  Speaker 1: you think. And then you shall come to England. I
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  Speaker 1: can explain your presence and make it safe for you,
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  Speaker 1: or if you prefer it, you can go to Sweden
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  Speaker 1: and work out your ideas there. There need be no
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  Speaker 1: difficulty about money. Brother quite sick. He sat looking at
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  Speaker 1: her with a very kindly smile. How nicely you arrange
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  Speaker 1: it all like a very kind, very silly little girl.
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  Speaker 1: But you lack intuition, that's certain. So you really think
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  Speaker 1: I would leave my country and my people at such
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  Speaker 1: a crisis. You think I do not love Germany, that
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  Speaker 1: I am not German through and through, and you picture
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  Speaker 1: me living by police permission in England or else, making
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  Speaker 1: futile speeches at Stockholm. Miss Pim looked crestfallen. There there.
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  Speaker 1: You meant it all kindly and beautifully, and I am
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  Speaker 1: ungrateful to resent the proposal. No, I do not resent it.
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  Speaker 1: I just set it aside. You see, Unfortunately I resemble
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  Speaker 1: the all highest in one respect. We both have a
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  Speaker 1: withered limb, but I have not, like him, a withered soul.
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  Speaker 1: I would much prefer being chained to a machine gun
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  Speaker 1: to escaping, say to England or Sweden. But by warning
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  Speaker 1: me about this plot to kill me, you have done
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  Speaker 1: me a great service. I am not at all anxious
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  Speaker 1: to have my career cut short just when dawn maybe
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  Speaker 1: is breaking. I am convinced that the old order of
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  Speaker 1: things is passing. I am so certain of this that
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  Speaker 1: I think meetings and speeches are hardly necessary. When the
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  Speaker 1: saucepan is on a roaring fire, it is hardly necessary
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  Speaker 1: to add a lighted match. The boiling over is sure
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  Speaker 1: to come. I do not, as a rule, care much
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  Speaker 1: for paradox But what I am about to say, though
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  Speaker 1: it appears paradoxical, is really a great truth. Now, Miss Barton,
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  Speaker 1: listen to the words of a staunch German. Our only
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  Speaker 1: chance of victory lies in defeat, complete and not partial defeat.
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  Speaker 1: Just as surely as the only chance of the Allies
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  Speaker 1: is incomplete and not partial victory. We must lose to win.
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  Speaker 1: The flaming dawn is breaking. How many have died to
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  Speaker 1: see No German boy has died in vain. If only
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  Speaker 1: we are beaten, Germany must lose her body to save
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  Speaker 1: her soul. War is damnable, But who knows. The all Highest,
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  Speaker 1: by some awful irony, is destined to liberate Germany from Kaiserdom.
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  Speaker 1: If the Allies falter or fail, we are lost. Shades
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  Speaker 1: of the prison house envelop us once more, the Allies
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  Speaker 1: must not meet German emissaries of the Kaiser masquerading as
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  Speaker 1: labor or socialists. They only seek to deceive and to
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  Speaker 1: win by fraud what they cannot win by force of arms.
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  Speaker 1: I am convinced that the uplifting of Germany can only
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  Speaker 1: come after her downthrow. I do not therefore look on
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  Speaker 1: the Allies as enemies. You are, in reality our allies.
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  Speaker 1: My prayer to England and France would be do not
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  Speaker 1: fail us. The rot in Russia is the work of
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  Speaker 1: German imperialism. Let that be a warning to fools and
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  Speaker 1: visionaries in the West. Bismarck liberated France. France will liberate Germany.
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  Speaker 1: Tell them this in England. As for me, for my fate,
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  Speaker 1: it is exceedingly unimportant. Of course, I hope to see
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  Speaker 1: the new birth day of Germany, and though I shall
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  Speaker 1: not be able to dance, I shall hop with the
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  Speaker 1: merriest and drink good riine wine to celebrate the arrival
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  Speaker 1: of der Tag. And now, my sister, how about yourself?
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  Speaker 1: I cannot in the least understand how you come to
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  Speaker 1: be walking about free in Berlin. You are a very
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  Speaker 1: a wonderful woman, and even a very mysterious woman. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: by the way, you will excuse my asking, said the
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  Speaker 1: monkey faced one, his eyes dancing with fun. But after
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  Speaker 1: we parted at Cologne, did you, by any chance marry
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  Speaker 1: a German and since become widowed? I asked? Because of this,
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  Speaker 1: and he lifted up Miss Pim's long crape veil hurdy
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  Speaker 1: to blushed. I did it for safety to look more
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  Speaker 1: German alas you wear the livery of Europe to day,
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  Speaker 1: sighed Koitzik. But here come Katti and Hartburg with refreshment.
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  Speaker 1: You will not mind supping with us, and then Hartburg
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  Speaker 1: will accompany you to your hotel. By the way, where
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  Speaker 1: are you hiding yourself? When Miss Pim told him she
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  Speaker 1: was staying at the Adlon, he gave a low whistle
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  Speaker 1: the Adlon, Well, perhaps the greatest daring means the greatest wisdom.
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  Speaker 1: The police won't be looking for you there. Still, I
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  Speaker 1: don't understand how you registered, how you got the permit
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  Speaker 1: and without a passport. But here's the evening meal. Questions
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  Speaker 1: can wait. Miss Pim sat down at the polished table
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  Speaker 1: between Koit Sik and Hartburg. Katti, a calm, solemn German
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  Speaker 1: woman dressed in black, waited upon them. The meal consisted
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  Speaker 1: of sardines, one egg for miss Pim, and some very
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  Speaker 1: nice Hamburg rusks, fine black grapes, and three ripe figs.
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  Speaker 1: The wine, amber colored, was very fine and sweet enough
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  Speaker 1: to please Miss Pim. Koit sickskillfully filled her glass whenever
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  Speaker 1: she turned to talk to Hartborg. Whether it was the
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  Speaker 1: wine or the kindness and sympathy, Miss Pim warmed and
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  Speaker 1: expanded and ended by telling that which she had not
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  Speaker 1: meant to tell I spent yesterday at Potsdam, she began,
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  Speaker 1: and as this in no way surprised her audience, she added, Ah,
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  Speaker 1: but you will never guess where I slept and whom
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  Speaker 1: I saw. Give it up, said koit Sik, slipping a
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  Speaker 1: fig on to her plate. I saw the Kaiser, and
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  Speaker 1: I slept at the new palace, and and I breakfasted there.
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  Speaker 1: Koitzik dropped the bunch of grapes, and Hartborg violently pushed
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  Speaker 1: back his chair. You did not, said Hartborg roughly, How
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  Speaker 1: did you, said koit Sick gently. I got into the
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  Speaker 1: palace at dark. I slipped in and hid myself. I
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  Speaker 1: evaded the guards. Hartborg was going to speak, but koit
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  Speaker 1: Sik stayed him with uplifted hand. I got into the
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  Speaker 1: Kaiser's room unseen. He was talking to a big, heavy man.
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  Speaker 1: He called Anton. Yes, yes, cried Hartborg, wildly excited. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: that's Count Anton von Ortmann. Hushed. Let miss Barton speak uninterrupted,
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  Speaker 1: said koit Sik. The Kaiser was in bed, very dolorous
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  Speaker 1: about his feelings and his dislike of going to the
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  Speaker 1: front because he hated seeing dead or or suffering men.
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  Speaker 1: He spoke with dread of the cold on the Russian front.
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  Speaker 1: He pitied himself a lot, he would, interjected Hartburg. He
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  Speaker 1: also complained bitterly that Mikaielis was thrust upon him as
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  Speaker 1: Chancellor by the Crown Prince. He had just had a
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  Speaker 1: violent scene with the Crown Prince, and this Anton soothed
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  Speaker 1: him like an old nurse. After a while, the Count
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  Speaker 1: what do you call him? Ortmann asked the Kaiser to
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  Speaker 1: spare the life of an English girl condemned to death
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  Speaker 1: at Liege for helping her lover to escape. She was
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  Speaker 1: to be shot this morning, and the stout man called
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  Speaker 1: Anton had motored over to try and get a reprieve,
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  Speaker 1: but because the girl was English, the Kaiser would not
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  Speaker 1: hear of it. He became so furious that the man left.
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  Speaker 1: And then I came out and told the Kaiser he
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  Speaker 1: was a wicked devil, and I fired off a pistol
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  Speaker 1: at him, a pistol I had taken from an officer.
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  Speaker 1: I pulled the trigger six times, but all in vain.
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  Speaker 1: It was not loaded. I had never thought of examining
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  Speaker 1: the pistol. How splendid of you, cried Harborg, and what
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  Speaker 1: a pity you failed, How utterly foolish of you, said
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  Speaker 1: koit sick, and how fortunate that you failed. No, we
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  Speaker 1: don't want the Kaiser to slip out of his difficulties
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  Speaker 1: the results of his crimes and mistakes. In that way,
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  Speaker 1: it is in the great plan of things that he
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  Speaker 1: should suffer and pay. With the Crown Princess Kaiser, things
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  Speaker 1: would be just as bad. But even if he were
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  Speaker 1: an improvement on his father, it is not the individuals
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  Speaker 1: we have to pick off. It is the whole system
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  Speaker 1: we have to uproot. So allow me to congratulate you
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  Speaker 1: on failing to execute the All Highest. I believe you
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  Speaker 1: are right, said miss Pim. I acted on impulse, thinking
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  Speaker 1: I would rid the world of a monster of cruelty.
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  Speaker 1: When I heard him refuse so brutally to reprieve that
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  Speaker 1: poor girl, I could not contain myself. Oh, I understand
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  Speaker 1: your feeling and share your indignation. But tell me how
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  Speaker 1: did you escape? I rushed out by a farther room,
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  Speaker 1: dodged along corridors, and hid myself in one of many
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  Speaker 1: unoccupied apartments. A very surprising adventure. So you were the
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  Speaker 1: guest of the All Highest? After all? Does this end
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  Speaker 1: your ambitious program? It is time I returned to England,
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  Speaker 1: replied Miss Pym, though I should like to see Hindenburg.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose you want him to sign an autograph book,
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  Speaker 1: said quite sick with a smile. You are pleased to
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  Speaker 1: be sarcastic, said Miss Pim, rather embarrassed. Hindenburg. I can
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  Speaker 1: assure you is not an agreeable person to meet, but
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  Speaker 1: you are hardly likely to do so. He is now
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  Speaker 1: on his way to Flanders and will probably visit headquarters
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  Speaker 1: near tu Quan, and you, of course will try and
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  Speaker 1: escape by Holland. But I cannot, for the life of
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  Speaker 1: me see how you will do it. You came here
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  Speaker 1: at great risk to yourself to warn me. I wish
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  Speaker 1: I could make some return and save you. If you
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  Speaker 1: could lie hidden, I might work out a plan. I
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  Speaker 1: have friends, but I have plans of my own which
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  Speaker 1: will safeguard me. So you need not be troubled about
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  Speaker 1: me in the least, said Miss Pim earnestly. I wish
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  Speaker 1: I could let you know when I am safe home again.
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  Speaker 1: You might advertise in your Times newspaper at a definite date,
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  Speaker 1: say this day, month, and on three consecutive days. English
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  Speaker 1: newspapers are obtainable here. You know, and now we must part,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: said miss Pym, rising, do you know Cooit Sick. It
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  Speaker 1: has made a great difference to me meeting you. You
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  Speaker 1: have shown me a glimpse of a chastened, purified Germany,
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  Speaker 1: where I saw nothing but a welter of savagery and treachery.
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  Speaker 1: I believe in your tog, but remember our defeat is
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  Speaker 1: the condition, replied Koit Sick. Germany cannot conquer herself. She
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  Speaker 1: must be conquered. We can only rise reborn from the
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  Speaker 1: flaming pyre. The phoenix could not nestle peaceably. The fiery
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  Speaker 1: furnace was her cradle. Hartborg, you will see miss Pym
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  Speaker 1: to the Linden, and now make sure the coast is clear.
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  Speaker 1: Hartborg went ahead and perda to Pym followed slowly with
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  Speaker 1: Koit Sik on the second floor. She paused, under a
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  Speaker 1: gas jet. We must wait here a moment, he said.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim suddenly felt a strange pang, a premonition that
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  Speaker 1: Koit Sik would soon behold his great day, but not
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  Speaker 1: on this earth. I I shall see you again, she murmured.
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  Speaker 1: He answered her thought, how curious it is you all
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: seemed to think dying the most dreadful thing, and the
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  Speaker 1: end of everything. To me, it is beautiful and to
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  Speaker 1: be deserved. And the best kiss is that tender, desired
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: last embrace of our great mother the earth. Marclestrass is
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  Speaker 1: quite clear, said Hartburg, panting up the steps. As she descended,
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim looked back at Koit sick, and she saw
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  Speaker 1: that his face had become beautiful. End of Chapter twenty five.