"That my dear," said Mrs. Y., "will be a question for you to ask _him_." "If they go about making mistakes like this," said Mrs. X., "it is impossible to say what they may not have done with him." "We will make enquiries in the morning, my dear," said Mrs. Y., consolingly. "I think these Kneipes are disgraceful affairs," said Mrs. X. "I shall never let Percy go to another, never--so long as I live." "My dear," remarked Mrs. Y., "if you know your duty, he will never want to." And rumour has it that he never did. But, as I have said, the mistake was in pinning the card to the tablecloth instead of to the coat. And error in this world is always severely punished. CHAPTER XIV Which is serious: as becomes a parting chapter--The German from the Anglo- Saxon's point of view--Providence in buttons and a helmet--Paradise of the helpless idiot--German conscience: its aggressiveness--How they hang in Germany, very possibly--What happens to good Germans when they die?--The military instinct: is it all-sufficient?--The German as a shopkeeper--How he supports life--The New Woman, here as everywhere--What can be said against the Germans, as a people--The Bummel is over and done. "Anybody could rule this country," said George; "_I_ could rule it." We were seated in the garden of the Kaiser Hof at Bonn, looking down upon the Rhine. It was the last evening of our Bummel; the early morning train would be the beginning of the end. "I should write down all I wanted the people to do on a piece of paper," continued George; "get a good firm to print off so many copies, have them posted about the towns and villages; and the thing would be done."