“Yes, yes,” said Polly hastily. “It was dreadful! But look at this, Mrs. Bauer——” She held towards Anna a large sheet of thick, fine cream-laid paper. Across the top was typed—
“TO ALFRED HEAD,
CITY COUNCILLOR OF WITANBURY.”
Then underneath, also in typewriting, the following words:
“We the undersigned, your fellow-countrymen and fellow-citizens of Witanbury, wish to express to you our utter abhorrence and sense of personal shame in the dastardly attack which was made on your house and property on March 25, 1915. As a small token of regard we desire to inform you that we have started a fund for compensating you for any material loss you may have incurred which is not covered by your plate-glass insurance.”
There followed, written in ink, a considerable number of signatures. These were headed by the Dean, and included the names of most of the canons and minor canons, four Dissenting ministers, and about a hundred others belonging to all classes in and near the cathedral city.
True, there were certain regrettable omissions, but fortunately neither Mr. and Mrs. Head nor Anna seemed aware of it. One such omission was that of the Catholic priest. Great pressure had been brought to bear on him, but perhaps because there was little doubt that members of his congregation had been concerned in the outrage, he had obstinately refused to sign the Address. More strange and regrettable was the fact that Miss Forsyth’s name was also omitted from the list. In answer to a personal appeal made to her by the Dean, who had himself gone to the trouble of calling in order to obtain her signature, she had explained that she never did give her signature. She had made the rule thirty years ago, and she saw no reason for breaking it to-day.
Anna looked up from the paper, and her pale blue, now red-rimmed, eyes sparkled with congratulation. “This is good!” she exclaimed in German. “Very, very good!”
Her host answered in English, “Truly I am gratified. It is a compensation to me for all I have gone through these last few days.”
“Yes,” said Polly quickly. “And as you see, Mrs. Bauer, we are to be really compensated. We were thinking only yesterday that the damage done—I mean the damage by which we should be out of pocket—was at least £15. But, as Alfred says, that was putting it very low. He thinks, and I quite agree—don’t you, Mrs. Bauer?—that it would be fair to put the damage down at—let me see, what did you say, Alfred?”
“According to my calculation,” he said cautiously, “I think we may truly call it twenty-seven pounds ten shillings and ninepence.”