There was a moment's silence. Then, "Bring him in," the man said quietly to the soldiers, and I was taken into the room where I had been before. I now felt a little more confidence, for I felt that I had cowed them down and thereafter they did not seem to be quite so cold and arrogant. But I was put into the hands of a different man. They have such a wonderful system of dodging responsibility and of passing you over to other people. I do not believe that cowardly cur dared to deal with me any longer and I never saw him again. I was now given over to Laubenthal, a very tall, business-like fellow, who seemed to have great authority. He asked me many more questions, writing down the answers and seeming to put in his own ideas, and then he told me to sign the paper, which was several pages long. He said it was simply my own story, and like a fool, I wrote my name to it, before I really knew what it was I was signing. Later, when I thought what it might be, I trembled. It might have been my death warrant! Over an hour passed, not much was said for a time. I was in the same room where Edith Cavell was sentenced and out of which she was taken through the back door, lined up against a blank wall and shot. Presently, at an ominous moment, Laubenthal stepped over to the wall and took down a white cloth. Holding it dangling conspicuously by the corner he started over toward my chair. My spine went ice. I thought he was going to tie it about my eyes and I was going to be taken out the back door and stood up against the blank wall. All my former sins came back. I faced eternity. It was an awful moment, but quickly passing from the sublime to the ridiculous, do you know I never realized before what a difference there is in the way a man can carry a rag! If he had taken it by the middle, as any decent, sane man would do, I might have thought he was going to do what I believe he eventually did, wash his hands and use it as a towel. Holding it by that corner, however, looked too suspicious for me. It was an innocent rag, but he carried it in a funny way, and without joking, I will say that I have had a wholesome respect for a rag ever since. I now believe he was purposely trying to scare me. Well, if he was, he certainly succeeded. Von Bissing then came in and gave me a ten minute curtain lecture which was anything but pleasant. After a time, however, evidently deciding that there was no case against me, Laubenthal went to the telephone and had a conversation in German. I heard him mention my name, but I did not know whether it meant release or execution, and there is quite a difference. Soon he called over to me and asked me if I was ready to leave that day. Like a flash I said, "Yes, sir; yes, sir." I had been ready for several days. He gave me a permit, saying, "Get out on the seven o'clock train tonight and don't come back." Well, I've been in the habit of missing trains all my life, but I was at that depot at six o'clock. I wouldn't have missed that