The express steamed in between the crowded platforms of the Potsdamer Bahnhof, and from one of the windows of a carriage labelled "Vlissingen" a rather sallow face and a loud voice announced the fact that Mr. Miles Ingestre had made his triumphal entry into the Fatherland. Nora, who had been threading her way through the crowd, with Wolff’s arm in hers, ran off and was received by her brother with that English prosaicness which has the advantage of being equally admirable as Spartan disguise for rich and noble emotions or as an expression of no emotion at all. "Hullo, old girl, how are you?" "Very well, thanks. What was the journey like?" "Might have been worse. There were a lot of beastly Germans in the carriage, so of course the windows——" He caught sight of Wolff, who had approached at a more leisurely pace, and his tone shaded down somewhat. "Hullo, Wolff, how are you?" They shook hands, and whilst the _Gepäckträger_ was bustling round in the search for the new-comer’s luggage, one of those painful silences threatened to set in which are the ghosts at all meetings where joy is too deep for words, or too shallow to stand much demonstration. Of the three, Miles himself was the only one who was sincerely in high spirits. They broke out in spurts and seemed regulated very much by how far he was conscious of Wolff’s presence. It was evident that his respect for his brother-in-law had gone up several degrees since the afternoon when he had criticised the latter’s Karlsburg civilian clothes, though whether that respect had its source in a juster appreciation of his relative’s character or in the knowledge that Wolff was now master in his own country was hard to determine. Certain it is that he did his best to be amiable after his own fashion. "I assure you I have been simply wild to come," he said as they made their way together towards the exit of the station. "It was as stale as ditch-water at home, and I was getting fairly fed up with it all. So I piled on my ’nerves,’ as the pater calls them, and dropped a few hints about the place, which the old man picked up quite brightly—for him. He was really quite game about it, and sent all sorts of amiable messages to you, Wolff." "Thanks. By the way, how long does your leave extend? You seem pretty liberal with that sort of thing in your Army." Miles chuckled. "My leave extends to all eternity," he said enigmatically, and then, as he saw Nora’s astonished face, he condescended to explanation. "I’ve chucked the Army, you know. I thought the pater had told you. I was fairly fed up with the drudgery and the routine of it all. It wasn’t so bad at first. It gave one a kind of standing, and as long as there was plenty of money going a fellow could amuse himself fairly well. But when the pater began drawing in the purse-strings I had enough of it. Ugh! Imagine duty one half of the day and trying to make both ends meet the other half! No, thanks!"