"I say, Holsteig, is it true that your boy was going off to join the German army?"
"Yes," he said. "He was born in Germany; he's liable to military service. But thank heaven, it isn't possible for him to go."
"But his mother?" said Harburn. "She surely wouldn't have let him?"
"She was very miserable, of course, but she thought duty came first."
"Duty! Good God!—my dear man! Half British, and living in this country all his life! I never heard of such a thing!" Holsteig shrugged his shoulders.
"In a crisis like this, what can you do except follow the law strictly? He is of military age and a German subject. We were thinking of his honour; but of course we're most thankful he can't get over to Germany."
"Well, I'm damned!" said Harburn. "You Germans are too bally conscientious altogether."
Holsteig did not answer.
I travelled back with Harburn the same evening, and he said to me: