We were due at Basle at 5 A.M., and I
expected to join forces then with Tiler, my colleague, coming from the
side of Ostend, via Brussels and Strasburg.
Meanwhile I kept quiet and made no sign beyond showing that I was
there and on the spot ready to act if it should be necessary. Thus,
when the train slackened speed on approaching a station, I was always
on the move and the first to descend and patrol the platform. The
Colonel always got out too, but he never accosted me; indeed, he
seemed disposed to despise me, to ignore my existence, or dare me to
the worst I could do.
I suppose the lady must have been of the same mind, for when
dinner-time arrived, she came boldly out of her compartment, and I met
her face to face for the first time, on her way to the restaurant. I
was standing at the door of my compartment.
"Dinner is ready," the Colonel said to me significantly, but I did not
choose to understand, and shook my head, holding my ground.
"You are coming to dinner, I think," he repeated in a sharp commanding
way, as if he were talking to his soldiers.
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