speaking to her with
a familiarity so sudden and jolly as to resemble nothing so much as a
slap on the back. She, of course, took no notice of him after the first
slight start and glance round, but stared out to sea with eyes grown
stony.

'In England you do not see such blue water, what?' shouted the jolly
man, who was plainly in the happy mood the French call _deboutonne_.

His wife and daughters, ladies clothed in dust-cloaks sitting at a rough
wooden table with empty beer-glasses before them, laughed hilariously.
The mere fact of the Harvey-Brownes being so obviously English appeared
to amuse them enormously. They too were in the mood _deboutonne_.

Ambrose, as ready to talk as his mother to turn her back, answered for
her, and assured the jolly man that he had indeed never seen such blue
water in England.

This seemed to give the whole family intense delight. '_Ja, ja,_'
shouted the father, '_Deutschland, Deutschland, ueber Alles!_' And he
trolled out that famous song in the sort of voice known as rich.

'Quite so,' said Ambrose politely, when he had done.

'Oh come, we must drink together,' cried the jolly man, 'drink in the
best beer in the world to the health of Old England, what?' And he
called the waiter, and in another moment he and Ambrose stood clinking
glasses and praising each other's countries, while the hilarious family
laughed and applauded in the background.

The bishop's wife had not moved. She stood staring out to sea, and her
stare grew ever stonier.

'I wish----' she began; but did not go on. Then, there being plainly no
means of stopping Ambrose's cordiality, she wisely resolved to pass the
time while we waited for him in exchanging luminous thoughts with me.
And we did exchange them for some minutes, until my luminousness was
clouded and put out by the following short conversation:--

'I must say I cannot see what there is about Germans that so fascinates
Ambrose. Do you hear that empty laughter? "The loud laugh that betrays
the empty mind"?'

'As Shakespeare says.'

'Dear Frau X., you are so beautifully read.'

'So nice of you.'

'I know you are a woman of a liberal mind, so you will not object to my
saying that I am much disappointed in the Germans.'

'Not a bit.'

'Ambrose has always been so enthusiastic about them that I expected
quite wonders. What do I find? I pass over in silence many things,
including the ill-bred mirth--just listen to those people--but I cannot
help