he said readily.

"But how do you know all this?" he asked slowly.

"Mrs. Otway told me. This Major is a great friend of my ladies. But
though it was she who told me about Boulogne, I heard the good-byes said
in the hall. Everything can be heard from my kitchen, you see."

"Try and remember exactly what it was that this Major said. It may be of
special interest to me."

"He said"--she hesitated a moment, and then, in English, quoted the
words: "He said, 'I shall be very busy seeing about my kit before I
leave England.'"

_"Before I leave England?"_ he repeated meditatively. "Yes, if you did
indeed hear him say those words they are proof positive, Frau Bauer."

"Of course they are!" she said triumphantly.

They had a long and pleasant meal, and old Anna enjoyed every moment of
it. Not since she had spent that delightful holiday in Berlin had she
drunk so much beer at one sitting. And it was such nice light beer, too!
Mrs. Otway, so understanding as to most things connected with Germany,
had sometimes expressed her astonishment at the Germans' love of beer;
she thought it, strange to say, unhealthy, as well as unpalatable.

To this day Anna could remember the resentful pain with which she had
learnt, some time after she had arrived at the Trellis House, that many
English ladies allowed their servants "beer money." Had she made a stand
at the first, she too might have had "beer money." But, alas! Mrs.
Otway, when engaging her, had observed that in her household coffee and
milk took the place of alcohol. Poor Anna, at that time in deep trouble,
finding her eight-year-old child an almost insuperable bar to
employment, would have accepted any conditions, however hard, to find a
respectable roof once more over her head and that of her little Louisa.

But, as time had gone on, she had naturally resented Mrs. Otway's
peculiar rule concerning beer, and she had so far broken it as to enjoy
a jug of beer--of course at her own expense--once a week. But she had
only begun doing that after Mrs. Otway had raised her wages.

Host and guest talked on and on. Mr. Hegner confided to Anna his coming
change of name, and he seemed pleased to know that she thought it quite
a good plan.

Then suddenly he began to cross-question her about Mr. James Hayley. But
unluckily she could tell him very little beyond at last admitting that
he was, without doubt, in love with her young lady. There was, however,
nothing very interesting in that.