"No doubt, no doubt," said Alfred Head carelessly. "But now I suppose you are thinking of yourself, Frau Bauer?"
Polly broke in: "Do talk in English," she said pettishly. "You can"t think how tiresome it is to hear that rook"s language going on all the time!"
Her husband laughed. "Well, I suppose this marriage will make a difference to you?" he said in English.
"A difference?" exclaimed Anna ruefully. "Why, my good situation me it loses. Home to the Fatherland my present idea is----" her eyes filled with big tears.
Her host looked at her thoughtfully. What an old fool she was! But that, from his point of view, was certainly not to be regretted. She had served his purpose well--and more than once.
"Mrs. Otway she a friend has who a German maid had. The maid last week to Holland was sent, so no trouble can there be. However, one thing there is----" she looked dubiously at Polly. "Mrs. Head here knows, does she, about my----?"
And then at once between Alfred Head"s teeth came the angry command, in her own language, to speak German.
She went on eagerly, fluently now: "You will understand, Mr. Head, that I cannot behave wrongly to my dear nephew Willi"s superior. I have been wondering to-night whether I could hand the affair over to you. After all, a hundred marks a year are not to be despised in these times. You yourself say that after the War the money will be made up----" she looked at him expectantly.
He said rather quickly to his wife, "Look here, Polly! Never mind this--it"s business you wouldn"t understand!" And his wife shrugged her shoulders. She didn"t care what the old woman was saying to Alfred. She supposed it was something about the War--the War of which she was so heartily sick, and which had brought them, personally, such bad luck.
"It is difficult to decide such a thing in a hurry," said Alfred Head slowly.
"But it will have to be decided in a hurry," said Anna firmly. "What is to happen if to-morrow Mrs. Otway comes and tells me that I am to go away to London, to Louisa? English people are very funny, as you know well, Herr Hegner!" In her excitement she forgot his new name, and he winced a little when he heard the old appellation, but he did not rebuke her, and she went on: "Willi told me, and so did the gentleman, that on _no_ account must I move that which was confided to me."
"Attend to me, Frau Bauer!" he said imperiously. "This matter is perhaps more important than even you know, especially at such a time as this."
"Ach, yes!" she said. "I have often said that to myself. Willi"s friend may be interned by now in one of those horrible camps--it is indeed a difficult question!"
"I do not say I shall be able to do it, but I will make a big effort to have the whole business settled for you to-morrow morning. What do you say to that?"
"Splendid!" she exclaimed. "You are in truth a good friend to poor old Anna Bauer!"
"I wish to be," he said. "And you understand, do you not, Frau Bauer, that under no conceivable circ.u.mstances are you to bring me into the affair? Have I your word--your oath--on that?"
"Certainly," she said soberly. "You have my word, my oath, on it."
"You see it does not do for me to be mixed up with any Germans," he went on quickly. "I am an Englishman now--as this gratifying Address truly says----" he waited a moment. "What would be the best time for the person who will come to call?"
Anna hesitated. "I don"t know," she said helplessly. "The marriage is to be at twelve, and before then there will be a great deal of coming and going at the Trellis House."
"Is it necessary for you to attend the bridal?" he asked.
Anna shook her head. "No," she said, "I do not think so; I shall not be missed." There was a tone of bitterness in her voice.
"Then the best thing will be for your visitor to come during the marriage ceremony. That marriage will draw away all the busybodies. And it is not as if your visitor need stay long----"
"Not more than a very few minutes," she said eagerly, and then, "Will it be the same gentleman who came three years ago?"
"Oh, no; it will be someone quite different. He will come in a motor, and I expect a Boy Scout will be with him."
A gleam of light shot across Anna"s mind. But she made no remark, and her host went on:
"You realise that great care must be taken of those things. In fact, you had better leave it all to him."
"Oh, yes," she nodded understandingly. "I know they are fragile. I was told so."
It was extraordinary the relief she felt--more than relief, positive joy.
"As to the other matter--the matter of your returning to Germany," he said musingly, still speaking in his and her native language, "I think, yes, on the whole your idea is a good one, Frau Bauer. It is shameful that it should be so, but England is no place at present for an honest German woman who has not taken out her certificate. I wonder if you are aware that you will only be allowed to take away a very little money?
You had better perhaps confide the rest of your savings to me. I will take care of them for you till the end of the War."
"Very little money?" repeated Anna, in a horrified, bewildered tone.
"What do you mean, Herr Hegner? I do not understand."
"And yet it is clear enough," he said calmly. "The British Government will not allow anyone going to the Fatherland to take more than a very few pounds--just enough to get them where they want to go, and a mark or two over. But that need not distress you, Frau Bauer."
"But it does distress me very much!" exclaimed Anna. "In fact, I do not see now how I can go----" She began to cry. "Are you sure--quite sure--of what you say?"
"Yes, I am quite sure," he spoke rather grimly. "Well, if you feel in that way, there is nothing more to be said. You will either stay with your present lady, or you will have to go to the Pollits."
She looked up at him quickly; she was surprised that he remembered her daughter"s married name, but it had slipped off his tongue quite easily.
"Never will I do that!" she exclaimed.
"Then you had better arrange to stop here. There are plenty of people in Witanbury who would be only too glad to have such an excellent help as you are, Frau Bauer."
"I shall not be compelled to look out for a new situation," she said quickly. "My young lady would never allow that--neither would Mrs.
Otway!"
But even so, poor Anna felt disturbed--disturbed and terribly disheartened. The money she had saved was her own money! She could not understand by what right the British Government could prevent her taking it with her. It was this money alone that would ensure a welcome from the Warshauers. Willi and Minna could not be expected to want her unless she brought with her enough, not only to feed herself, but to give them a little help in these hard times. But soon she began to feel more cheerful. Mrs. Otway and the Dean would surely obtain permission for her to take her money back to Germany. It was a great deal of money--over three hundred pounds altogether.
Within an hour of her return to the Trellis House Anna heard the fly which had been ordered to meet Mrs. Otway at the station drive into the Close. For the first time, the very first time in over eighteen years, Anna did not long to welcome her two ladies home. Indeed, her heart now felt so hurt and sore that when she heard the familiar rumble she would have liked to run away and hide herself, instead of going to the front door.
And yet, when the two came through into the hall, Rose with something of her old happy look back again, and Mrs. Otway"s face radiant as Anna had never seen it during all the peaceful years they two had dwelt so near to one another, the poor old woman"s heart softened. "Welcome!" she said, in German. "Welcome, my dear mistress, and all happiness be yours!"
And then, after Rose had hurried off to Robey"s, Mrs. Otway, while taking off her things, and watching Anna unpack her bag, told of Major Guthrie"s home-coming.
In simple words she described the little group of people--of mothers, of wives, of sweethearts and of friends--who had waited at the London Docks for that precious argosy, the ship from Holland, to come in. And Anna furtively wiped away her tears as she heard of the piteous case of all those who thus returned home, and of the glowing joy of certain of the reunions which had then taken place. "Even those who had no friends there to greet them--only kind strangers--seemed happier than anyone I had ever seen."
Anna nodded understandingly. So she herself would feel, even if maimed and blind, to be once more in her own dear Fatherland. But she kept her thoughts to herself....
At last, after she had a little supper, Mrs. Otway came into the kitchen, and motioning to Anna to do likewise, she sat down.
"Anna?" she asked rather nervously, "do you know what is going to happen to-morrow?"
Anna nodded, and Mrs. Otway went on, almost as if speaking to herself rather than to the woman who was now watching her with strangely conflicting feelings: "It seems the only thing to do. I could not bear for him to go and live alone--even for only a short time--in that big house where he left his mother. But it was all settled very hurriedly, partly by telephone to the Deanery." She paused, for what she felt to be the hardest part of her task lay before her, and before she could go on, Anna spoke.
"I think," she said slowly, "I think, dear honoured lady, that it will be best for me to go to Germany, to stay with Minna and Willi till the War is over."