"It was easier than I expected," he said. "He was good enough to say that you're just the man we want. He told me, too, that we have already accepted the services of two English airmen who have volunteered, so everything is quite in order. We'll go into Liége and get you a suit of overalls. I am delighted."
After the necessary purchases had been made, they went into the Hôtel de l'Europe for dinner. The dining-room was crowded, and Kenneth, as he entered, glanced somewhat confusedly around the tables. Suddenly he heard his name, uttered in a low tone, and turning round in surprise, saw Granger beckoning him to a small table at which he sat alone.
"There's room here for you both, at a squeeze," he said. "I'm glad to see you again."
"It's all right, then?" asked Kenneth as they sat down.
"Oh yes! They got a reassuring telegram from my chief this morning. What's more, I am to stay in Liége for the present; I am lent to the Belgians."
"That's capital. I have lent myself."
"'Loan oft loses both itself and friend.' I hope it won't be so in our case! Well, what have you been doing?"
Kenneth plunged into an account of the affair at the mill. Granger interrupted him when the waiter came for orders, and again when the man returned with the dishes. At the conclusion of the story, which Kenneth gave only in outline, Granger said:
"Hellwig is in Liége. My own stay here is not unconnected with him. He is one of the most resourceful, ingenious and dangerous of the thousands of spies in the German service.... They were all County Kerry men, and when they stood at attention you might have heard a pin drop."
His companions stared at him in amazement. His last sentence, apparently unconnected with what had gone before, had been spoken without change of voice or expression, and he imperturbably sucked his lemon squash through a straw before he went on: