"Now we will make a start," he said. "I can always work better if I am well fed, and you, I am sure, are very sharpset."
"We are indeed," said Kenneth. "But what about the Germans?"
"There will be at least a smell of cooking when they arrive. The pleasures of hope are keener than the pleasures of memory, I believe. While you eat, I will talk. What I say may aid your digestion; but you must exercise your own united judgment. When you have finished, I suggest that you rest until they come; they are not soft-tongued, and if you fall asleep their entrance will waken you. There are excellent divans in the smoking-room on the other side of that curtain."
During the meal Granger outlined the plan which their arrival had suggested. It was audacious enough, but, as he remarked with a smile, they had had some training for important parts. When there was nothing left of the poultry but the bones, they went into the smoking-room and threw themselves on two luxurious divans upholstered in saddle bags. Granger cleared away, and placed clean plates and cutlery on the table.
Fatigued though they were, excitement kept them awake. Soon after one they heard the car approaching. It drew up at the gates, which were closed, and the soldier-chauffeur sounded his horn, while two of his comrades alighted and pushed the gates open. Granger, after glancing into the smoking-room, hastened to the front door, which he opened, once more a frail old servingman, as Hellwig and the major, followed by the sergeant, with two bottles of wine, came up the steps.
"Poultry--or game!" exclaimed Hellwig, sniffing appreciatively as he entered.
"That is well; I am ravenous," said the officer. "At any rate we shall not be poisoned to-day by the old man's vinegar.... Lay those bottles down," he added, addressing the sergeant, "then go out. You and the men shall have what is left from our meal."
The sergeant saluted and went out. Hellwig and the officer drew chairs to the table and seated themselves.
"Make haste!" Hellwig called in French through the open door towards the kitchen. "Stir your stumps, old man."
Granger came shuffling into the room, bent of back, nervously clasping his hands.