and by no means young, for the flesh hung in bags about his face. Long
years of the habit of command had left their mark in an imperiousness of
manner which might easily yield to ruthlessness I judged.

"I thought I should have had orders before I left the Villa," the
General said to his son, "then you could have gone straight there. I
suppose he means to see him here: that is why he wanted him brought to
the Villa. But he's always the same: he never can make up his mind." And
he grunted.

"Perhaps there will be something waiting at home," he added in his
hoarse barrack-yard voice.

We drove through a white gate into a little drive which brought us up in
front of a long, low villa. Neither father nor son had opened their lips
to me during the drive from the station and I had not ventured to put a
question to either of them, but I knew we were in Potsdam. The little
station in the woods was Wild-Park, I suspected, the private station
used by the Emperor on his frequent journeys and situated in the grounds
of the New Palace. All the officials of the Prussian Court have villas
at Potsdam, though why I had been brought there in connection with an
affair that must surely rather interest the Wilhelm-Strasse or the
Police Presidency was more than I could fathom.

There was a frightful scene in the hall. Without any warning the General
turned on the orderly who had opened the door and screamed abuse at him.
"Camel! Ox! Sheep's-head!" he roared, his face and shining pate
deepening their vermilion hue. "Do I give orders that they shall be
forgotten? What do you mean? You ass...." He put his white-gloved hands
on the man's shoulders and shook him until the fellow's teeth must have