"command me, for I am entirely at her service." "I have come to see
you," began the lady with
a peculiar sinuous smile, "as a public man and a patriot." Mr.
Lavender bowed, and the lady went on: "I am in very great
trouble. The fact is, my sister's husband's sister is married to a
German."
"Is it possible, madam?" murmured Mr. Lavender, crossing his knees,
and joining the tips of his
fingers. "Yes," resumed the lady, "and what's more, he is still at
large."
Mr. Lavender, into whose mind there had instantly
rushed a flood of public utterances, stood gazing
at her
haggard face in silent sympathy. "You may imagine my distress, sir,
and the condition of my conscience," pursued the lady, "when I tell
you that my sister's husband's sister is a very old friend of
mine--and, indeed,
so was this German. The two are a very attached young couple, and,
being childless, are quite wrapped up in each other. I have
come to you, feeling it my duty to secure his internment." Mr.
Lavender, moved by the human element in her
words, was about to say, "But why, madam?" when the lady continued: "I
have not myself precisely heard him speak well of his country.
But the sister of a friend of mine who was having tea in their
house distinctly heard him say that there were two sides to every
question, and
that he could not believe all that was said in the English papers.
"Dear me!" said Mr. Lavender, troubled; "that
is serious." "Yes," went on the lady; "and
on another occasion my sister's husband himself heard
him remark that a man could
not help loving his country and hoping that it would win." "But that
is natural," began Mr. Lavender. "What!" said the lady, nearly rising,
"when that country is Germany?" The word revived Mr. Lavender's sense
of proportion.
"True," he said, "true. I was forgetting for the moment. It is
extraordinary how irresponsible one's thoughts are sometimes. Have you
reason
to suppose that he is
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