He did not answer, but read the missive twice, his face changing. She took alarm.
"It's bad news?"
He took no notice. She peered over his shoulder. Everybody was waiting for him to speak.
"It's in German," she announced to the expectant table. "Do tell us, Joe."
She put out her hand for the telegram, but he gave it to Ian instead. She sat down again, looking snubbed.
"Read that," he said. Ian obeyed, aloud, for Vanda's sake, and in English, for Minnie's.
"'The Head of this Military District orders your immediate return, that you may report at headquarters.'" He looked up, puzzled. "It's signed by your manager. What does it mean?"
"Mobilization," answered the Countess promptly. They looked at her in surprise. She was the only member of the household who had read the last batch of papers from Warsaw.
Frowning, Ian reread the telegram. There was silence round the table. Joseph, like Roman, was a German subject. Eastern Prussia, where he lived, belonged to Poland till Frederick the Great snatched it from the Polish Republic, weakened by internal strife. And ever since that sad day the Prussians have done all they know to hound the Poles off their land. But the owners stood firm from the first, helping one another to keep every acre they possessed from the German colonists, who have their government's backing in money and legislation. It is considered a disgrace for a Pole to sell his land in Prussia or the Grand Duchy of Poland, because Prussian law forbids a Pole to buy it. But a Polish squire or peasant in financial difficulties can always get a more fortunate compatriot to help him, so that he need not sell.
"I've got to go," remarked Joseph gloomily.