"Nothing to make me afraid to face any man in the Empire," I replied positively. It was the truth, if not quite as I meant him to understand it.
"I only asked, because I have to be very careful," he said; and nothing more passed until we were smoking, while Nessa had resumed the knitting which she had kept up incessantly in the train.
"Now, you'd like to tell me your story," he opened.
I told him the tale we had prepared and he put a question or two which were easily answered.
"I'm sorry for you, my lass," he said to her. "Very sorry; you're only one among too many thousands; and you shall get away all right. They're not particular about women and girls, you know," he added to me. "But it's different with men. Their orders are to shoot first and ask questions afterwards. Three were found trying to jump the frontier last week and were shot. Two the week before; and one of 'em was our only engineer. So if that's what's brought you here, I can't help you. We'd all the trouble we wanted over the last affair."
"I'm no skulker, I assure you. If they call 'em up, I'm ready any time."
"You'll give me your word to stop here then?"
"Unless I have to go anywhere else. I'm pretty handy at my job, you know."
He seemed satisfied, and then told me his plans.
Nessa was to leave that night. He had a nephew in the Landwehr regiment at present guarding a part of the frontier, which was especially promising for the scheme, and we were to run out there in his car. I was to stay with him in Lingen, partly to help in the smuggling operations but largely to keep in order his and his associates' motors. There were a number of Lingen people in the thing, which was winked at by the authorities, who would not ask any questions about me if I was known to be in the swim.