"You must ask her when we are in Berlin," Hildegarde said, in the same sharp, determined tone. "I could not see her every day like that and not know."
"You are quite right. When we are settled in Berlin I will tell her everything that has happened. Until then we must believe the best."
"Yes, of course—believe the best," Hildegarde answered thoughtfully.
CHAPTER V
THE CUB AS LION
The express steamed in between the crowded platforms of the Potsdamer Bahnhof, and from one of the windows of a carriage labelled "Vlissingen" a rather sallow face and a loud voice announced the fact that Mr. Miles Ingestre had made his triumphal entry into the Fatherland.
Nora, who had been threading her way through the crowd, with Wolff's arm in hers, ran off and was received by her brother with that English prosaicness which has the advantage of being equally admirable as Spartan disguise for rich and noble emotions or as an expression of no emotion at all.
"Hullo, old girl, how are you?"
"Very well, thanks. What was the journey like?"
"Might have been worse. There were a lot of beastly Germans in the carriage, so of course the windows——" He caught sight of Wolff, who had approached at a more leisurely pace, and his tone shaded down somewhat. "Hullo, Wolff, how are you?"