"They did not tell me his name, but that must have been the man."
"He was in a great, dark red automobile."
"Then it was surely he. One could not mistake that automobile. I take it that only kings and princes travel in its like."
"He carried with him two Frenchwomen, dangerous spies, intended for imprisonment in Germany."
"So I heard, and we saw the face of one of them, very young and with the most marvelous golden hair. I never saw a fairer face. But, as all the world knows, the most beautiful women are often the most wicked. I suppose there wasn't a woman among the Philistines who could compare with Delilah in either face or figure."
"I suppose not," said John, scarcely able to restrain a smile. "Did the women come into the inn?"
"Oh, no. My wife took food to them in the automobile. She saw them much better than I did. She says that the younger one—and she was but a girl—spoke softly and did not look wicked at all. But then, my wife is fat and sentimental."
The stout hausfrau smiled.
"It is Hans who has the heart full of sentiment," she said. "When he saw that the French spy was a girl of such beauty and such youth he believed that she should not be punished, and he a good German! Ah, all men are alike!"
Hans filled his pipe and wisely made no reply. But John smiled also.