to match, sir," said Thompson with another grin.
"Haricot beans, cabbage, they're nuts on cabbage, salad and all sorts
of things that are not rationed. I think it must be diabetes," he
added with another grin.

"Possibly, Thompson, possibly," said Malcolm Sage; "but in the meantime
we will assume other explanations. Some people eat more than others.
For instance, the German is a very big eater."

"And a dirty one, too, sir," added Thompson with disgust. "I've been
at hotels with 'em."

"Seven meals a day is one of the articles of faith of the good German,
Thompson," continued Malcolm Sage.

"And what's the result, sir?" remarked Thompson.

"I suppose," remarked Sage meditatively, "it's the same as with a
bean-fed horse. They go out looking for trouble."

"And they're going to get it," was the grim rejoinder.

"Well, carry on, Thompson," said Sage by way of dismissal. "You'll
learn a great deal about the green-grocery trade in the process."

"And waterworks--and gas and things, sir," grinned Thompson.

As Thompson opened the door of Malcolm Sage's room, he stepped aside to
allow Colonel Walton to enter, and then quietly closed the door behind
him.

"Bad time?" enquired Sage as Colonel Walton dropped into a chair and,
taking off his cap, mopped his forehead.

"On this occasion I resigned for both of us."

For once in his life Malcolm Sage was surprised. He looked
incredulously across at his chief, who gazed back with a comical
expression in his eyes.

"I thought I was left at home for fear I might resign," said Malcolm
Sage drily when Colonel Walton had finished telling him of the
interview.

But Colonel Walton did not look up from the end of his cigar, which he
was examining with great intentness.

"I'm not a sceptic," remarked Malcolm Sage presently, as he gazed at
his brilliantly-polished fingernails, "but I would give a great deal
for a dumb patriot domiciled in Apthorpe Road."

"Dumb?" queried Colonel Walton.

Malcolm Sage nodded without raising his eyes from his finger-nails.

"I have no doubt that Apthorpe Road is exclusively patriotic; but if we
were to ask one of its residents to lend us a front-bedroom and,
furthermore, if we spent all our days in the bedroom at the window----"
He shrugged his shoulders.

"There's always the domestic servant," suggested Colonel Walton.

"Not much use in this case, chief," was the reply. "It means that
Thompson has had to turn road-mender. Good