spite of her clothes. Always was a remarkable woman, though
you didn't care for her. There's been a lot of trouble about Ascher."

"Did he go bankrupt?"

"Oh, dear no. Quite the contrary. All that financial part of the
business was well managed and there wasn't any serious smash-up. They
say that Ascher helped a lot, in fact that it was very largely his
advice which the Government took. All the same a lot of people turned
on him afterwards, in spite of all I did to get him naturalised. They
wanted to imprison him; but that was absurd. It's all very well to round
up ordinary Germans, barbers, waiters and people of that sort, and put
them in concentration camps. But you can't imprison a man who's worth
millions. That sort of thing isn't done in any civilised state."

"Besides," I said, "Ascher didn't deserve it."

"Of course not. But that wouldn't have saved him. In fact that has
nothing whatever to do with the matter. Popular opinion ran very
strongly against Germans, whether naturalised or not. And things were
beginning to look very nasty for Ascher. However, we managed all right."

"How?"

"Oh," said Gorman, "in the usual way. Diverted it."

"Gorman," I said, "I'm afraid I'm getting stupid. Fighting must have
muddled my brain. I don't quite follow you. What did you divert?"

"Popular opinion," said Gorman. "We turned it away from Ascher, started
everybody hunting a fresh hare. It wouldn't have done to imprison
Ascher, really wouldn't, for a lot of reasons; so we all began making
speeches about beer. Temperance, you know; I made one myself. Then
everybody forgot about Ascher and things settled down."

"Politics aren't as dead as you said they were, Gorman. You
politicians----"

"It's all very well sneering at politicians, and I don't mind your doing
it, not a bit, especially as you're wounded. But if it hadn't been
for us politicians---- Tell me this now, is there anybody else in the
country who can divert popular opinion from an awkward subject?"

I do not suppose there is. But I did not care to argue about it.

"Do you think," I said, "that Ascher ever regretted his decision?"

"What decision? Oh, to stay in England? No. I don't think he ever has.
He's done pretty well for himself in spite of any little trouble there's
been. I should say he's no worse off than he was."

"I wasn't thinking of the matter from a business point of view," I said.

"From every other point of view," said Gorman, "he was wrong