"I fancy Kurt thinks you admire him--because he wants you to, I suppose." "Will you take me to Cousin Amalia’s after lunch?" asked Frieda, with a disconcerting change of subject. "I promised to spend the rest of the day with her. And you’ll fetch me this evening, won’t you?" After escorting Frieda to her cousin’s, Kenneth strolled about, watching the war preparations, then turned homewards to pack his bag, as he had promised Finkelstein to do. On the way he bought a copy of the _Cologne Gazette_ containing a mangled version of Sir Edward Grey’s speech in the House of Commons on the previous day. When he had finished packing, he sat down with the paper at the open window of his room. Having risen early, he was rather tired, and the heat of the afternoon soon sent him to sleep. He was wakened by voices near at hand. There was no one but himself in the room; after a moment’s confusion of senses he realised that the sounds came up from the balcony beneath his window. It was reached from the drawing-room, and since it was shaded by a light awning, someone had evidently gone there for the sake of fresh air. The awning concealed the speakers from Kenneth’s view, but in a few moments he recognised Hellwig’s voice. The other speaker was a man and a stranger. Kenneth at first paid no attention to them; Hellwig had many acquaintances, and was fond of entertaining them. But presently he caught a sentence that made him suddenly alert. "The bridge has been mined." It was the stranger speaking, in German. Kenneth rose silently from his chair, and leant out of the window, so that he should not miss a word. "The train can be fired at any moment, thanks to our forethought in tunnelling between the mill-house and the bridge." "That is well," said Hellwig, in the tone of a superior commending the report brought him by a subordinate. "Get back as quickly as you can, and tell them to be ready to act instantly on receipt of a marconigram." "The stations are closed to private messages," remarked the visitor. "Yes: but mine will get through. What news have you?" "When I left yesterday the Belgians were becoming alive to their danger. They are mobilising feverishly. The forts at Liége are fully manned. But many people refuse to believe that we shall go to extremes and invade their territory. They say that its inviolability is guaranteed by treaty." Hellwig laughed. "Keep in touch with London," he said. "In a few hours I shall be cut off from London except through Amsterdam, and I shall have to move my headquarters there. You remember the address?" "As before?" "Yes. Send there any information that comes through from London, and keep me informed of your whereabouts." "There was talk, as I came through, of possible English intervention. I learn that crowds clamoured for war in front of Buckingham Palace last night."