But the eyes were unalterable. They were still resolute, and strangely calm, because he had nerved himself not to flinch before this strutting popinjay.
"You wonder why I have brought you in here, eh?" began Von Halwig, in English.
"Perhaps to gloat over me," was the quiet reply.
"No. Is it necessary? At Aix I was excited. The Day had come. The Day of which we Germans have dreamed for many a year. I am young, but I have already won promotion. I belong to an irresistible army. War steadies a man. But when we reach Oombergen you will be paraded before a crusty old General, and even I, Von Halwig of the staff, and a friend of the Emperor, may not converse with a spy and a murderer. So we shall have a little chat now. What say you?"
"It all depends what you wish to talk about."
"May I ask whom you mean by 'her ladyship'?"
"It can be, if applied to a lady of title. But when used with reference presumably to a young lady who is a governess, it sounds like clumsy sarcasm."
"Governess the devil! With whom, then, have you been roaming Belgium?"
"You're not a fool, Captain Dalroy. Do you honestly tell me you don't _know_?"
"That the girl you brought from Berlin is Lady Irene Beresford, daughter of the Earl of Glastonbury."
There was a moment of intense silence. In some ways it was immaterial to Dalroy what social position had been filled by the woman he loved. But, in others, the discovery that Irene was actually the aristocrat she looked was a very vital and serious thing. It made clear the meaning of certain references to distinguished people, both in Germany and in England, which had puzzled him at times. Transcending all else in importance, it might even safeguard her from German malevolence, since the Teuton pays an absurd homage to mere rank.
"I did not know," he said, and his voice was not so thoroughly under control as he desired.
Von Halwig laughed loudly. "_Almächtig!_" he spluttered, "our smart corporal of hussars seems to have spoiled a romance. What a pity! You'll be shot before midnight, my gallant captain, but the lady will be sent to Berlin with the utmost care. Even I, who have an educated taste in the female line, daren't wink at her. Has she never told you why she bolted in such a hurry?"