"By Jove!" he said. "You're the limit. Can't a fellow look at a pretty girl without drawing some such remark from you?"
"But I know you so well," laughed Hal.
"Rats!" Chester ejaculated.
At that moment two young German officers entered the room and strode toward the table where mother and daughter—as Chester had surmised the two to be—sat. They stopped suddenly, noticing apparently for the first time that the table was occupied.
"Himmel!" one exclaimed. "Conditions are pretty bad when a man cannot find a seat at his own table."
The words were plainly audible to the mother, and daughter, and their faces turned red. The elder made as though to rise, but the girl restrained her.
"We have as much right here as they have, Mother," she said.
Chester grinned to himself. It did him good to hear the girl talk like that, for he had not been favorably impressed with the appearance of the officers—both in the uniform of captains—in the first place.
"We shall have to ask you to leave our table," said the German officer who had spoken before.
It was the girl who protested.