"Yes, sir. And he hid us in a forest while a fight was going on, and then in the morning he brought us inside the Greek lines. Oh, there is a lot to tell-"Whereupon they told it, or as much as they could of it. In the end, the minister said: " Well, where are the professor and Mrs. Wainwright ? I want you all to dine with me to-night. I am dining in the public room, but you won't mind that after Epirus."" They should be down now, sir," answered a Student.
People were now coming rapidly to dinner and presently the professor and Mrs. Wainwright appeared.
The old man looked haggard and white. He accepted the minister's warm greeting with a strained pathetic smile. " Thank you. We are glad to return safely."Once at dinner the minister launched immediately into the subject of Coleman. " He must be altogether a most remarkable man. When he told me, very quietly, that he was going to try to rescue you, Ifrankly warned him against any such attempt. Ithought he would merely add one more to a party of suffering people. But the. boys tell- me that he did actually rescue you.""Yes, he did," said the professor. " It was a very gallant performance, and we are very grateful.""Of course," spoke Mrs. Wainwright, "we might have rescued ourselves. We were on the right road, and all we had to do was to keep going on."" Yes, but I understand-" said the minister. " Iunderstand he took you into a wood to protect you from that fight, and generally protected you from all, kinds of trouble. It seems wonderful to me, not so much because it was done as because it was done by the man who, some time ago, calmy announced to me that he was going to do it. Extraordinary.""Of course," said Mrs. Wainwright. " Oh, of course.""And where is he now? " asked the minister suddenly.
"Has he now left you to the mercies of civilisation ? "There was a moment's curious stillness, and then Mrs. Wainwright used that high voice which-the students believed-could only come to her when she was about to say something peculiarly destructive to the sensibilities. " Oh, of course, Mr. Coleman rendered us a great service, but in his private character he is not a man whom we exactly care to associate with."" Indeed" said the minister staring. Then he hastily addressed the students. " Well, isn't this a comic war? Did you ever imagine war could be like this ? " The professor remained looking at his wife with an air of stupefaction, as if she had opened up to him visions of imbecility of which he had not even dreamed. The students loyally began to chatter at the minister. " Yes, sir, it is a queer war. After all their bragging, it is funny to hear that they are running away with such agility. We thought, of course, of the old Greek wars."Later, the minister asked them all to his rooms for coffee and cigarettes, but the professor and Mrs.
1
The minister and the students made clouds of smoke, through which sang the eloquent descriptions of late adventures.
The minister had spent days of listening to questions from the State Department at Washington as to the whereabouts of the Wainwright party. "I suppose you know that you,are very prominent people in, the United States just now ? Your pictures must have been in all the papers, and there must have been columns printed about you. My life here was made almost insupportable by your friends, who consist, Ishould think, of about half the population of the country. Of course they laid regular siege to the de.
partment. I am angry at Coleman for only one thing.
When he cabled the news of your rescue to his news.
paper from Arta, he should have also wired me, if only to relieve my failing mind. My first news of your escape was from Washington-think of that.""Coleman had us all on his hands at Arta," said Peter Tounley. " He was a fairly busy man."" I suppose so," said the minister. " By the way,"he asked bluntly, "what is wrong with him? What did Mrs. Wainwright mean? "They were silent for a time, but it seemed plain to him that it was not evidence that his question had demoralised them. They seemed to be deliberating upon the form of answer. Ultimately Peter Tounley coughed behind his hand. " You see, sir," he began, " there is-well, there is a woman in the case. Not that anybody would care to speak of it excepting to you. But that is what is the cause of things, and then, you see, Mrs. Wainwright is-well-" He hesitated a moment and then completed his sentence in the ingenuous profanity of his age and condition. " She is rather an extraordinary old bird."" But who is the woman ?
"Why, it is Nora Blaick, the actress."
"Oh," cried the minister, enlightened. " Her Why, I saw her here. She was very beautiful, but she seemed harmless enough. She was somewhat-er-confident, perhaps, but she did not alarm me. She called upon me, and I confess I-why, she seemed charming."" She's sweet on little Rufus. That's the point,"said an oracular voice.
