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

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  Speaker 1: Stanley, chapter twenty nine. The next morning, a very restless
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim strolled about talking to the soldiers and children.
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  Speaker 1: She could not altogether dispel a sense of failure. What
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  Speaker 1: had she done with her miraculous power. She had just
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  Speaker 1: made a trip into Germany. She had not killed the
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  Speaker 1: Kaiser or Hindenburg. She had done little more than any
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  Speaker 1: Swiss or Swedish woman might have done without invisibility. And
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  Speaker 1: now she must face the Commander in Chief, tell her
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  Speaker 1: inadequate story, and steal back to Froghurst to become once
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  Speaker 1: more a vegetable marrow Leslie was right, Aunty Purr was
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  Speaker 1: not capable of high adventure. The throb of a motor
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  Speaker 1: broke upon her sad reverie. The Commander in Chief has
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  Speaker 1: sent his car for Miss Pim with a brief note,
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  Speaker 1: congratulations on safe return. I send Carr to bring you
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  Speaker 1: to headquarters if you feel well enough for the run.
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  Speaker 1: Hugh Douglas, seeing the surgeon enter the cottage, Miss Pim
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  Speaker 1: showed him the note. I must go now, doctor. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for your care for you explained to the colonel
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  Speaker 1: why I took French leave. But I have not passed
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  Speaker 1: you as fit, said the surgeon. Smiling, Sirhew Douglas expressly says,
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  Speaker 1: if you are well enough for the run? No, retorted
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim. He does not say if you are well enough,
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  Speaker 1: but if you feel well enough. And I feel quite
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  Speaker 1: well enough thanks to you. You see, he has sent
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  Speaker 1: his car the fresh air and the movement will complete
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  Speaker 1: my cure and do away with its restlessness. Miss Pim
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  Speaker 1: really felt better the moment she was off. She sank
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  Speaker 1: down in the seat amid cushions and rugs provided by
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  Speaker 1: some one's forethought, and wish she might journey thus for
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  Speaker 1: days and days instead of a few short hours. The
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  Speaker 1: afternoon was still golden hazy when the big car swung
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  Speaker 1: round a corner, and to Miss Pym's surprise, she found
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  Speaker 1: her once more at the door of the mayor Ee,
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  Speaker 1: where not so many days ago she had first met
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  Speaker 1: Sir Hugh Douglas and his staff. A lieutenant received her
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  Speaker 1: at the door and at once conducted her to the
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  Speaker 1: big council chamber, overlooking the place where she found Sir
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  Speaker 1: Hugh Douglas. Her welcome was extremely cordial. They all seemed
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  Speaker 1: glad and relieved to see her back safe. No one cried,
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  Speaker 1: but what did you succeed in doing? Miss Pim blushed
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  Speaker 1: when Sir Hugh Douglas led her to an arm chair
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  Speaker 1: and begged her to tell them the full story of
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  Speaker 1: her adventures. A shorthand writer sat at a small table,
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  Speaker 1: and Sir Hugh and his staff took chairs round Miss
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  Speaker 1: Pim and listened with parted lips like eager children as
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  Speaker 1: she related her curious experiences. When she had finished, Sir
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  Speaker 1: Hugh Douglas rose abruptly, and in a voice from which
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  Speaker 1: she could not eliminate altogether, a sharp note of excitement, said,
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  Speaker 1: that plan of Hindenburg's you have it here, and Miss Pim, trembling,
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  Speaker 1: turned out all the papers she had brought from Germany
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  Speaker 1: onto a large table. Here was the correspondence of the Kaiser.
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  Speaker 1: Sir Hugh Douglas set it aside, saying history. Here was
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  Speaker 1: the plan of the new submarine, and a list of
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  Speaker 1: submarine bases. Sir Hugh put these apart, saying navy. But
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  Speaker 1: when he saw the crumpled paper Hindenburg's own plan, his
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  Speaker 1: face shan, the army, now we shall know the German intentions,
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  Speaker 1: and he made Miss Pim repeat again and again what
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  Speaker 1: Hindenburg had said how this was, in his opinion, the
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  Speaker 1: only course to take. That they would begin at once
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  Speaker 1: cloaking their plan by feigned attacks and the movement of
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  Speaker 1: troops in other directions. Of course, it seemed possible they
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  Speaker 1: might attempt this, but I dismissed it as unlikely. The
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice seemed too great for them. Yet I see now
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  Speaker 1: that if they could have carried it through unbeknown to us,
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  Speaker 1: it would have been the best thing for them. And
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  Speaker 1: now what a coup for us. How we'll counter them
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  Speaker 1: appearing to be deceived. Why this is tremendous, This is
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  Speaker 1: worth all the rest, Miss Pim, this paper is priceless.
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  Speaker 1: We've got them. They forgot this plan in having taken
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  Speaker 1: the map from you. They won't imagine that you can
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  Speaker 1: give them away. Besides, Hindenburg, you say, was set on
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  Speaker 1: this plan. He is no doubt fixing it all up.
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  Speaker 1: Now we must start moving the troops to night. When
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pym has left us, we will figure it all out.
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  Speaker 1: And you saved Murcott's life and the lives of those
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  Speaker 1: men with him. Miss Pym, I shall recommend you for
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  Speaker 1: the Victoria Cross. Really, the value of your work is
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  Speaker 1: beyond telling the results incalculable. The Admiralty will want to
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  Speaker 1: thank you. The papers and plans you took from von
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  Speaker 1: Schlange are of great importance to us. They are signed
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  Speaker 1: by General von Lossberg, chief of the staff of von
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  Speaker 1: Arnim and the master brain of German defense in the West.
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  Speaker 1: And these letters from von Bettmann, Holveg and von Yagau
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  Speaker 1: doubtless give away the whole German plot. Miss Pim, I
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  Speaker 1: never dreamt you would do such wonderful things in Germany.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim's eyes were filled with tears. She looked steadily
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  Speaker 1: out on the place, unwinking lest the tears run down
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  Speaker 1: her cheeks. You are wounded, they tell me, continued Sir Hugh.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim made a little gesture of dissent, oh so little,
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  Speaker 1: just enough though to destroy my power to disappear. No
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  Speaker 1: one who knows you will ever want you to disappear again,
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  Speaker 1: said Sir Hugh, smiling like a happy boy. And Miss
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  Speaker 1: Pim again blushed with joy, joy that after all she
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  Speaker 1: had done something worth while. And now I will visit
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  Speaker 1: mere du Pont, as you will have plenty to do
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  Speaker 1: if you are going to counter Hindenburg. She said. It
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  Speaker 1: is such a relief to know all those papers are
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  Speaker 1: in your hands. I never felt they were safe in Germany.
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  Speaker 1: I was in constant dread lest by some accident they
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  Speaker 1: should fall into German hands. It would indeed have been
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  Speaker 1: a calamity. For the certainty we now have that Hindenburg
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  Speaker 1: has decided on this course puts us in a splendid position.
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  Speaker 1: It will save the lives of thousands of our men,
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  Speaker 1: mere du Pont, expected Macher Enfant. She gravely kissed her
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  Speaker 1: on both cheeks and led her to the ceylon bedroom.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pym had quite a feeling of coming home as
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  Speaker 1: she sank down in the fautiere by the window. Madame,
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  Speaker 1: you should thank the bon dieu that you got back
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  Speaker 1: safe out of the hands of those terrible people, said
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  Speaker 1: Mere DuPont, standing calm and abbesss like before. Miss Pim,
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  Speaker 1: Yes they are a terrible people, replied perdit of Pim.
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  Speaker 1: They are suffering, but they are not beaten. They are
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  Speaker 1: not hopeless. Ah well, that is because they do not
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  Speaker 1: realize what is going on, said Madame, with calm assurance.
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  Speaker 1: Food is very scarce and very bad, continued Miss Pim.
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  Speaker 1: The people are doing without those things indispensable to health
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  Speaker 1: and the most elementary comfort. Actual necessities are failing, such
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  Speaker 1: as light, heat, food, and hot water. And yet they
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  Speaker 1: hold on. But suddenly they will let go, declared Madame, solemnly,
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  Speaker 1: raising her hand. Oh, there de bat is preparing. My
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  Speaker 1: only fear is lest they give up before we enter
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  Speaker 1: their country. It is necessary that we cross their frontiers
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  Speaker 1: as destroyers as well as victors. Madame, do not doubt this,
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  Speaker 1: doubt in Feeble's purpose. I am an old woman. I
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  Speaker 1: was twenty when the Germans first attacked France. Their success
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  Speaker 1: in seventy prepared this war. If we do not break
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  Speaker 1: them this time, they will continue through the centuries, either
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  Speaker 1: preparing war or waging war, and the nations of the
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  Speaker 1: earth will know neither peace nor rest. We must give
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  Speaker 1: them such a beating as will destroy their appetite for war.
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  Speaker 1: And I have no doubt whatever that we are doing this.
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  Speaker 1: Once we enter Germany, they will crumple up. We will
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  Speaker 1: destroy everything. We French people have vowed that their homes
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  Speaker 1: shall be reduced to ruin because it is the only
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  Speaker 1: way to teach the Bosche. The French people will not
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  Speaker 1: leave a single factory nor a single machine standing. And
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  Speaker 1: this is the meaning of the war, dear Madame. He
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  Speaker 1: can only release the world by fighting. So we give
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  Speaker 1: our all, our best, our dearest, our sons, our husbands,
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  Speaker 1: to save not France alone, but le Monde antier, Madame,
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  Speaker 1: My boy died in Bois la Prette in nineteen fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: my grandson died at Verdun in nineteen sixteen. With them
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  Speaker 1: died all which makes life happy or beautiful for me.
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  Speaker 1: But I gave ungrudgingly for a great purpose, and I
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  Speaker 1: demand the fulfillment of that purpose. No politicians, no pacifists,
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  Speaker 1: shall take from us what our sons died to win.
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  Speaker 1: Madame's face shone with a spiritual light as she spoke.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim jumped up and took both the frenchwoman's hands.
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  Speaker 1: The women of England stand with those of France, dear Madame.
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  Speaker 1: Even in Germany there are men who recognize that Germany's
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  Speaker 1: only way of salvation is through defeat. That defeat is inevitable.
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  Speaker 1: Germany's man power is failing. Soon you will see her
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  Speaker 1: totter and fall as a man falls from loss of blood.
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  Speaker 1: But in France and in your country, said Madame severely,
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  Speaker 1: there are dangerous people who would negotiate with the enemy
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  Speaker 1: and make concessions, and weak sentimental people, especially in England,
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  Speaker 1: who would spare Germany, and greedy prophet loving people who,
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  Speaker 1: under the pretense of loving their enemies and forgiving their crimes,
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  Speaker 1: hope to trade with him again and make fortunes. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: there is always that danger, assented Miss Pim, But I
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  Speaker 1: believe the great majority is sane and righteous. In France too.
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  Speaker 1: It will be the same nations which have made such true,
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  Speaker 1: tremendous sacrifices are not going to submit tamely to sentimentalists
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  Speaker 1: and allow Germany to recover, pick herself up again and
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  Speaker 1: make ready for another war. Do you believe wars in
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  Speaker 1: future can be stopped by a police force of nations,
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  Speaker 1: asked Madame. Anxiously, force can be met and put down
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  Speaker 1: only by greater force, declared Miss Pim. If the police
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  Speaker 1: are armed and united and more numerous than the brigands,
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  Speaker 1: they can overcome them. And she added with conviction, you
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  Speaker 1: can take it from me. Germany is beaten, and her
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  Speaker 1: commander in chief, her staff and her generals know it.
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  Speaker 1: I heard this morning of your safe return, explained Madame.
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  Speaker 1: One of my officers came round and told me to
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  Speaker 1: make ready and here I am talking instead of seeing
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  Speaker 1: to your supper. Will you have it up here or
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  Speaker 1: in the sala Mange. Miss Pim came down and feasted,
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  Speaker 1: and then strolled into the untidy little kitchen garden and
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  Speaker 1: round the orchard, where she was joined by young officers
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  Speaker 1: eager for news. Yes, the Germans are a very hungry people,
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  Speaker 1: she assured them, and the food they get is not
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  Speaker 1: only insufficient, it is also injurious to health. Hunger is
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  Speaker 1: toning down their ferocity and making them think, and even
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  Speaker 1: making them question themselves and their government. Of course, the
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  Speaker 1: soldiers are disciplined and better fed than the civilians, but
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  Speaker 1: all are fighting for a cause which they know is lost.
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  Speaker 1: They do not believe in victory. They may pretend to
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  Speaker 1: when they are prisoners, but they talk among themselves in
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  Speaker 1: quite a different tone. Despondent is not the word. They
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  Speaker 1: are hopeless. Many are resentful. They do not think their
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  Speaker 1: artillery supports them at all adequately, and far too many
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  Speaker 1: of the German soldiers are looking forward to the chance
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  Speaker 1: of becoming prisoners, especially the very young soldiers. Thus Miss
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  Speaker 1: Pim talked with the officers, all sitting along the low
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  Speaker 1: archard wall in the scented darkness, the perfume of apples
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  Speaker 1: and wet grass making the air fragrant, and all the
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  Speaker 1: time the guns kept up their shout no peace before victory.
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  Speaker 1: Before leaving France began an officer, Captain Boyd of the
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  Speaker 1: Northumberland Fusiliers. Would you care to see a French chateau
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  Speaker 1: lately vacated by the huns? We arrived too late to
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  Speaker 1: save the inmates. There was a countess, her son and grandchildren.
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  Speaker 1: The son, an officer in the French Army in the
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  Speaker 1: Flying Corps, got leave and, disguising himself as a French peasant,
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  Speaker 1: he managed to fly over the German lines by night
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  Speaker 1: and to reach his chateau. The Bosche discovered him. They
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  Speaker 1: shot him on the terrace of the house. The grandmother
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  Speaker 1: or wife threatened the brutes, though of course they were
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  Speaker 1: quite helpless, but it was enough for the infuriated Germans,
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  Speaker 1: who shot the two women. After that they ran amok
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  Speaker 1: and killed the little children. We have no actual witness
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  Speaker 1: of the murders, but the bodies were found in a heap.
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  Speaker 1: One woman in the house fled after the count was shot.
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  Speaker 1: She heard the old countess calling out that she would
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  Speaker 1: shoot the brigands, and if she failed, the English were
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  Speaker 1: approaching and would see justice done. The chateau is not
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  Speaker 1: so very far from here. Miss Pim hesitated. It is
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  Speaker 1: a very painful sight, she said, and I ought to
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  Speaker 1: be going back. Still. You should see for yourself to
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  Speaker 1: what depths the German can descend. You ought to let
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  Speaker 1: it be known in England, where too many people appeared
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  Speaker 1: to be under the illusion that we are fighting a
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  Speaker 1: decent enemy. Were they these unfortunate people by any chance
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  Speaker 1: called Rockford? Asked Miss Pim. Why, yes, it is the
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  Speaker 1: Chateau de Rockport, and it was the Count and his
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  Speaker 1: whole family who were murdered. I suppose Mare du Pont
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  Speaker 1: told you about it. Then Miss Pim recounted her adventure
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in the railway truck from Valenciennes. How she opened a
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  Speaker 1: large hamper filled with clothes, et cetera, and read the
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  Speaker 1: letter of a German to his wife, in which he
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  Speaker 1: described the butchery at a chateau by order of General Wissmann,
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  Speaker 1: who carried off all the jewelry, the other officers, taking
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  Speaker 1: the pictures, plate and even lace and clothes. I hope
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  Speaker 1: now you will come to Rockfort, said Captain Boyd, and
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  Speaker 1: see the village notary. The French government is taking down
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  Speaker 1: on oath the evidence of all witnesses of atrocities, pillage, theft,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera. You can prove that all the valuables of
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  Speaker 1: the cat Castle were carried off, and by whom Miss
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  Speaker 1: Pim could no longer refuse. And so it was arranged
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  Speaker 1: that she should visit the chateau the next morning. End
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  Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty nine