The Man with the Clubfoot

ermany. My brother's extraordinary knowledge of the Germans, their customs, life and dialects, rendered him ideally suitable for any such perilous mis

our time, I could speak German like a German, Francis was able, in addition, to speak Bonn and Cologne patois like a native of those anci

s delight when he was claimed as a fellow Rheinl?nder by a German officer we met,

his imitative faculty; philology had always interested him, so even after he had gone into the

nd August Bebel and "interruptions"; another, a patriotic oration by an old Prussian General at a Kaiser's birthday dinner. Francis had a marve

lar utterance had made everything clear to me. Why a mission to Germany would be the very thing that Francis would give his eyes to be allowed to attempt! Francis with his utter disregard of danger,

the frontiers closed and ingress and egress practically barred even to pro-German neutrals? Many a night in the t

me professed ignorance, as I knew, in duty bound, they would, and I had nothing to hang any theory on to until Dicky Allerton's letter came. Ashcroft at the

he tidings I had come to Groningen to seek. Yet so trivial, so nonsensical, so baffling

t Francis had disappeared. When I told him of my meeting with Red Tabs at the Bath Club, of the lat

o the point in his

oor Francis' disappearance will be for you to judge. Until now I must confess-I had felt inclined to dismiss the only reference this document appears to make

ventry in the old days and Francis has stayed with him at Nymwegen once or twice on his way back from Germany-Nymwegen, you know, is close to the German frontie

th the story. What the devil's all thi

e reply, "let me spin my yarn my own w

ntered the army and was missing. It was no business of the old Mynheer if Francis was in the Intelligence, so I didn't te

bling over with excitement. 'Mr. Allerton' he says, 'I haf a wri

tions coming they were going to be Dut

plates-what you call 'em-of tin, hein? What I haf to advertise my business. They arri

he has a good sen

bite you or say "Gott s

esumed. 'I open the envelope and there

y, diving into his po

eet of foreign notepaper, of that kind of cheap glazed notepaper yo

characters in purple ink beneath the name and

ointment and wretchedness

the do

lem van

bilges

weg

r-Straat

Iten J

olz! O Ei

sind dein

les in d

ie sic

sich der

nsla

lem van

obile

weg

lexander

1st Ju

ree! O

y are th

iles in

people

d party

cument in silence. My thoughts

st I

nly trying to suppress the bitterness in my voice. "This looks like a l

o the study of t

olly, "let me finish my story. Old Stick-

t then I ask myself, Who shall put robbish in my invoices? And then I

"of course, what an ass

he first to see, Eichenholz translated into English

ky...." I

simply a coincidence of name and that somebody's idle scribbling had found its way into old van U.'s invoice. But now that you have told me

man's packet of stuf

Steglitz, a suburb of Berlin: he

rest of it mean ... all this

"that's where you've got not only

e thy leaves!'.... That sounds like a

us know that he has done nothing, adding that he i

said, "Francis would never spell 'Ach

a very uneducated person. I know nothing about German, but tell me,

an say whether it is Francis' German handwriting: it can scarcely be b

s again. We sat helplessly an

ng back to London with me and hand it over to the Intelligence. After all, Francis

u've made yet. Go home and good luck to you. But promise me you'll come back here

o home. I was not destined to s