Brand told me that he met Elsa’s father and brother on the third evening that he slept in the Kreuzenachs’ house. When he arrived that evening at about five o’clock, the maid-servant, Truda, who “did” his bedroom and dusted his sitting-room with a German passion for cleanliness and with many conversational advances, informed him with a look of mysterious importance that the “Old Man” wanted to see him in the drawing-room. “What old man?” asked Brand, at which Truda giggled and said, “The old Herr Baron.” “He hates the English like ten thousand devils,” added Truda confidentially. “Perhaps I had better not go then,” was Brand’s answer. Truda told him that he would have to go. When the old Herr Baron asked for a thing it had to be given him. The only person who dared to disobey him was Frâulein Elsa, who was very brave and a “_hubsches Madchen._” Brand braced himself for the interview, but felt extremely nervous when Truda rapped at the drawingroom door, opened it, and announced in German: “The English officer!” The family von Kreuzenach was in full strength, obviously waiting for his arrival. The Baroness was in an evening gown, of black silk showing her bare neck and arms. She was sitting stiffly in a high-backed chair by the piano, and was very handsome in her cold way. Her husband, General von Kreuzenach, was pretending to read a book by the fireside. He was a tall, bald-headed, heavy-jowled man with a short white moustache. The ribbon of the Iron Cross was fastened to the top buttonhole of his frock-coat. Elsa was sitting on a stool by his side, and on a low seat, with his back to the fire, was a tall young man with his left arm in a sling, whom Brand knew at once to be Franz von Kreuzenach, Eileen O’Connor’s friend. When Brand came into the room everybody rose in a formal, frightening way, and Elsa’s mother rose very graciously and spoke to her husband. “This, Baron, is Captain Brand, the English officer who is billeted in our house.” The Baron bowed stiffly to Brand. “I hope, sir, that my servants are attending to your needs in every way. I beg of you to believe that as an old soldier I wish to fulfil my duty as an officer and a gentleman, however painful the circumstances in which you find us.” Brand replied with equal gravity, regretting his intrusion, and expressing his gratitude for the great courtesy that had been shown to him. Curiously, he told me, he had a strong temptation to laugh. The enormous formality of the reception touched some sense of absurdity so that he wanted to laugh loudly and wildly. Probably that was sheer nervousness. “Permit me to present my son,” said the lady. “Lieutenant Franz von Kreuzenach.”