XIII. DOWN WITH AMERICA! 94 XIV. AFTERMATH 106 XV. MILITARY BLOCKHEADS 113 XVI. A LIVELY MUSICIAN 120 XVII. IMMORALITY AND OBSCENITY 125 XVIII. THE NAKED CULT 134 XIX. JIM DEMING OF ERIE, PAY 145 XX. AN AMERICAN VICTORY 152 XXI. A PEOPLE PECULIAR OR PAGAN? 160 XXII. MAKING FOR WAR 168 XXIII. SOCIAL ETIQUETTE 178 XXIV. THE COURT BALL 186 XXV. FRITZI AND ANOTHER CONVERSATION 192 XXVI. SOME OF THE LESS KNOWN EFFICIENCY 200 XXVII. THE IMPERIAL SECRET SERVICE 210 XXVIII. JIM DEMING'S FATE 218 XXIX. WINTER AND SPRING 229 XXX. VILLA ELSA OUTDOORS 238 XXXI. A CASUAL TRAGEDY 247 XXXII. A GERMAN MARRIAGE PROPOSAL 256 XXXIII. A WAITRESS DANCE 263 XXXIV. CHAMPAGNE 272 XXXV. RECUPERATION 279 XXXVI. THE GERMAN PROBLEM. AN ANSWER 285 XXXVII. A GERMAN "GOTT BE WITH YE" 294 XXXVIII. A JOURNEY 302 XXXIX. THE TOMB OF CHARLEMAGNE 313 XL. THE END OF A LITTLE GAME 323 XLI. ARE THEY HUNS? 329 XLII. THE ANTI-CHRISTIANS? 336 XLIII. THE TEUTON PROBLEM. A SOLUTION 347 VILLA ELSA CHAPTER I TRIUMPHANT GERMANY IN 1913 In the late summer of 1913 a quiet American college man of twenty-three, tall, lean, somewhat listless in bearing, who had been idling on a trip in Germany without a thought of adventure, was observing, without being able to define or understand, one of the most remarkable conditions of national and racial exhilaration that ever blessed a country in time of ripest peace. He had never been out of America, and supposed his Yankee people, with all their wide liberty, contemplated life with as much enjoyment as any other. But in that land which is governed with iron, where (as Bismarck said) a man cannot even get up out of his bed and walk to a window without breaking a law, Gard Kirtley was finding something different, strange, wonderful, in the way of marked happiness. It pulsated everywhere, in every man, woman and child. It seemed to be a sensation of victory, yet there had been no victory. It appeared to reflect some mighty distinctive human achievement or event of which a whole race could be proud in unison. There had been nothing of the sort.