Latest / Miss Pims Camouflage / 22 - Miss Pim's Camouflage by Dorothy Tennant

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

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  Speaker 1: Lady Dorothy Stanley, chapter twenty two. Miss Pim, without any
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  Speaker 1: special precautions to move noiselessly walked up to the bedside
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  Speaker 1: and took up the kaiser's ring, which she ran on
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  Speaker 1: to her left thumb. Then swiftly she returned to the
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  Speaker 1: foot of the bed. The world would be well rid
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  Speaker 1: of this monster, and she must be the instrument of
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  Speaker 1: its deliverance. Taking the revolver out of her bag, she
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  Speaker 1: calmly eyed the all highest. He was sitting up alert.
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  Speaker 1: He had heard some movement in the room. He shall
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  Speaker 1: see me. I will not shoot, unseen, thought Miss Pim,
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  Speaker 1: then straightening herself till she felt the short spinal spasm,
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  Speaker 1: she reappeared and covered the Kaiser with the automatic You
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  Speaker 1: abject villain, She cried, prepare to die, and fired, but
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  Speaker 1: there was only a click. Perhaps the first shot had
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  Speaker 1: been spent. Miss Pim thoroughly roused, click the pistol again
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  Speaker 1: and again, then hurled it at the Kaiser, who was
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  Speaker 1: yelling to the guard. He had thrown himself out of
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  Speaker 1: bed and was dodging about the room as Miss Pim
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  Speaker 1: kept getting between him and the door. She had no
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  Speaker 1: sooner flung away the pistol than the tall jagger rushed in,
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  Speaker 1: followed by other attendants. In a flash, Miss Pym became invisible,
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  Speaker 1: but her excitement was so great she feared that the
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  Speaker 1: beating of her heart would betray her presence. The Kaiser,
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  Speaker 1: still shaking, recovered his dignity with an effort. Seating himself
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  Speaker 1: on the bed, he directed his servants to search every
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  Speaker 1: corner and cupboard. When Anton appeared in a huge motor
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  Speaker 1: coat and goggles, Miss Pim's emotion took the form of laughter,
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  Speaker 1: which she could not stop. It was so wild and
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  Speaker 1: uncanny that everyone stood as though petrified. You hear that, Anton,
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  Speaker 1: said the Kaiser, It is the mad englishwoman? What englishwoman?
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  Speaker 1: As soon as you left, a woman dressed in black
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  Speaker 1: from head to foot crept up to this bed and
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  Speaker 1: fired at me repeatedly, or rather attempted to fire, But
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  Speaker 1: the pistol appears not to have been loaded. She then
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  Speaker 1: hurled it at me. Yes, there it is, as one
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  Speaker 1: of the servants picked up the pistol. You see, this
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  Speaker 1: is no dream, no disordered fancy. Besides, you heard that
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  Speaker 1: hyena laugh. She must be hidden somewhere. Miss Pim edged
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  Speaker 1: along to a door, opened it gently and slipped into
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  Speaker 1: a large dark room. She felt her way along by
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  Speaker 1: the wall on the left till she came to a
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  Speaker 1: door locked inside. Turning the key very softly, she let
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  Speaker 1: herself out into the corridor and descended the staircase. She
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  Speaker 1: must now commence the hunt for the papers, which was
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  Speaker 1: the Kaiser's private sitting room. She entered room after room,
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  Speaker 1: suites of empty unlived in apartments, and at last decided
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  Speaker 1: that the rooms she sought must be on the same
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  Speaker 1: floor as the bed chamber. Cautiously reascending, she peeped into
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  Speaker 1: many rooms, faintly illumined by the moon. At the end
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  Speaker 1: of the long passage, she entered a fine library somewhat
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  Speaker 1: after the English style. Switching on the electric light, she
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  Speaker 1: decided this must be the Kaiser's private sanctum. Bad works
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  Speaker 1: of art by himself, frightful designs in clay, photographs of
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  Speaker 1: children and grandchildren, but most of all, photographs of himself
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  Speaker 1: in every conceivable uniform, miniatures of himself painted on ivory,
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  Speaker 1: an oil portrait of the all Highest on his favorite charger.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly this was the Kaiser's room, Could it be doubted?
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  Speaker 1: She sat down at a beautiful writing table with armlou
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  Speaker 1: legs and tried to open the drawers which were locked.
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  Speaker 1: Taking off the ring, she turned the key out by
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  Speaker 1: a hinge and the drawers opened with feverish haste. She
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  Speaker 1: looked through the papers, but they were mostly architectural plans
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  Speaker 1: by the Kaiser mosques and Buddhist temples he intended building
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  Speaker 1: in the conquered East. Miss Pim, as she sat there,
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  Speaker 1: looked round the room for any likely places where the
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  Speaker 1: Kaiser might place his private correspondence. Her eyes fell on
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  Speaker 1: a tall cabinet of drawers of an exquisite grain of
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  Speaker 1: mahogany known as letter wood, set in a lacework of
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  Speaker 1: gilded metal. The drawers were all fastened by a single
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  Speaker 1: band of wood running down the side which was locked.
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  Speaker 1: The gold key opened this easily. The confining bar turned
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  Speaker 1: back on a hinge, and every drawer could be opened.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Pim pulled out one after another, and was rewarded
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  Speaker 1: by finding each drawer contained a year's most private and
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  Speaker 1: intimate correspondence. Neatly tied up and docketed every package dated Hastily,
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  Speaker 1: descending to the last five drawers, she emptied the contents
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  Speaker 1: on to the floor, closing each drawer as she emptied it.
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  Speaker 1: The last was only half full and less orderly. She
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  Speaker 1: was standing there wondering how to carry off all these
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  Speaker 1: papers when she heard voices and Anton entered with a tall,
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  Speaker 1: young officer she had seen at Mess. There was only
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  Speaker 1: one thing to do. Miss Pym subsided on the heap,
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  Speaker 1: just as a hen would over her chicks, all the
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  Speaker 1: papers disappearing even as she herself had disappeared. Anton was perturbed.
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  Speaker 1: He sat on the edge of the table, somberly, eyeing
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  Speaker 1: his big feet. The officer sat down in one of
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  Speaker 1: the large easy chairs and lit a cigarette. What do
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  Speaker 1: you think it all means? He asked, striking a match.
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  Speaker 1: Oh I am hanged if I know, replied Anton ruefully.
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  Speaker 1: But the story of a woman all in black? What
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  Speaker 1: do you make of it? Canntinued the other Well, someone
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  Speaker 1: did laugh in that room, and a pistol was picked up.
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  Speaker 1: But it is one of our own service automatics, you know,
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  Speaker 1: And why shouldn't the old boy have thrown it there himself?
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  Speaker 1: As for the laugh, in the mood he is in,
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  Speaker 1: he would as soon laugh as shout. I think Anton
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  Speaker 1: the Kaiser has attacks of insanity. Oh do hold your tongue,
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  Speaker 1: as if there wasn't trouble enough. I have had such
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  Speaker 1: a beastly day. The people are just wild for food.
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  Speaker 1: I came from Berlin this afternoon. They were firing on
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  Speaker 1: the women in the streets. Some women threw themselves before
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  Speaker 1: the trains at the Lerta station. I believe that lame devil,
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  Speaker 1: quite sick, is at the bottom of all this trouble.
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  Speaker 1: He was at Cologne the other day and tried to
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  Speaker 1: speak at the conference, urging the people to strike for peace,
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  Speaker 1: and do I know not what? Then he slipped away,
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  Speaker 1: But the police say he is hiding in Berlin. However,
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  Speaker 1: get him three days hence there is to be a
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  Speaker 1: big socialist gathering at which he is to speak, So
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  Speaker 1: we shall get him there and he will be sent
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  Speaker 1: to the front. What that lame fellow. Yes, I believe
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  Speaker 1: he hobbles a bit. He will be trained for a
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  Speaker 1: week or so at the machine gun, and then one
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  Speaker 1: fine day our reformer will be put in the front trenches,
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  Speaker 1: chained by the leg to his gun. And good bye,
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  Speaker 1: friend Koit sik. Well, I must be off. I return
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  Speaker 1: without the reprieve for that English girl. It is rather
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  Speaker 1: horrible executing a woman for helping her lover to escape?
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  Speaker 1: Is that so? Did the lover get clear away? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: And the poor wretch doesn't know. The girl is to
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  Speaker 1: pay with her life for his escape. Everything is horrible,
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  Speaker 1: and my position of aide de camp to the crown
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  Speaker 1: Prince is the most horrid of all. Well, I am off,
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  Speaker 1: said Anton. I hope the all highest won't break out again.
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  Speaker 1: You are here for tonight, so if the englishwoman in
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  Speaker 1: black reappears, you will have to catch her and attend
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  Speaker 1: her execution. And readjusting his goggles, Anton and his friend
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  Speaker 1: went out, extinguishing the lights. Miss Pims sat there till
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  Speaker 1: all was quiet, Then turning on the light, she examined
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  Speaker 1: the papers, but decided not to untie the packets. She
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  Speaker 1: spread a silken table cover on the floor and placed
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  Speaker 1: the heap of papers in the center and knotted up
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  Speaker 1: the corners of the silk. Then, shouldering this strange bundle,
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  Speaker 1: she walked quietly past the two guards down the grand
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  Speaker 1: staircase to one of the farther apartments, where the furniture
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  Speaker 1: was shrouded in linen sheets, and lying down with the
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  Speaker 1: letter bundle for pillow, she slept uneasily waking with heavy
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  Speaker 1: starts and sighs. Perhaps the contents of those letters exercised
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  Speaker 1: some baneful influence. Perhaps the thought of Koit six danger
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  Speaker 1: troubled her. But as the morning advanced she slept better,
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  Speaker 1: and it was quite nine o'clock before Miss Pim swung
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  Speaker 1: her feet to the floor and decided she badly needed breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: It will go hard if I cannot find a breakfast
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  Speaker 1: and a bath in the new Palace, thought miss Pim.
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  Speaker 1: After much exploration, a very up to date bathroom was discovered,
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  Speaker 1: but the water was cold. However, a cold bath with
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  Speaker 1: the thermometer rising to eighty was quite endurable, though Miss
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  Speaker 1: Pim always preferred hot, watered, cold, refreshed. She made her
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  Speaker 1: way along the gallery of shells and mineralogical specimens to
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  Speaker 1: the kitchens, intent on hot coffee, real coffee, not the
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  Speaker 1: disgusting substitute, and real bread. It is only in Germany,
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  Speaker 1: thought Miss Pim, that one's mind keeps running on food.
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  Speaker 1: She found a stout German chef, very busy over the fristick.
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  Speaker 1: The early breakfast coffee was being poured, boiling into silver
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  Speaker 1: jugs with discreet little blue flames beneath footmen with trays
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  Speaker 1: ready waited for the hot milk, which was palpitating in
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  Speaker 1: the great copper saucepins, hot milk rolls, thin slices of
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  Speaker 1: ham butter, pats imprinted with the Royal Eagle honey in
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  Speaker 1: the comb. Dishes of smoked delicacies and pati de foi
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  Speaker 1: gras were allotted to each tray. As soon as the
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  Speaker 1: jugs of milk and coffee were placed on the tray,
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  Speaker 1: a footman snatched it up and disappeared. Miss Pim found
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  Speaker 1: it very difficult to grab a tray with one hand,
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  Speaker 1: as she could not relinquish the letter bundle, but she
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  Speaker 1: accomplished the feet and wandered off to the long gallery
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  Speaker 1: of shells and mineralogical specimens, where she sat down to
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  Speaker 1: the best breakfast she had enjoyed since leaving home. End
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  Speaker 1: of the Time, Chapter twenty two,