"So are the German girls," declared Gustav, loyally.
"What a romantic episode!" sighed Otto, rolling his eyes in a sentimental manner. "I discover this beautiful American here in Warsaw, in the heart of the war; I love her; I marry her. It is wonderful!"
"It certainly is," said Gustav. "Wonderful indeed! And in order to bring her to a proper idea of your goodness and charm, you shoot her father and brother-do you shoot her brother, by the way?"
Otto scowled. "You are coarse, my friend," he said. "I do not shoot anyone. Germany merely destroys a spy. As for the brother, he is small, I think he disappears."
"Does the German army cause that too?" asked Gustav.
"Don't jest," said Otto. "I am in earnest."
"In truth, so am I!" answered Gustav. "You are crazy, just plain crazy.
The man is no more a spy than I am, I'll be bound!"
Otto shrugged his broad shoulders. "You don't know whereof you speak," he said. "You have not heard him talk, have you?"
"No, I'll grant that," Gustav acknowledged. "Have him brought in and let me hear him."
"Very well," said Otto, "but speak English to him. His German is so bad that he ought to be shot for that if for nothing else."