Page:War's dark frame (IA warsdarkframe00camp).pdf/265

Rh to the many rumours about at that time of Austria's anxiety to make peace. The official who handled the case told it to me with a reminiscent smile.

"It is hard," he said, " to learn just how much is behind these rumours of a nation's desire to make peace. It seemed likely that Austria would be rather better out of it, but you can't place much reliance on newspaper gossip. Then this youth came shambling into my office, white as a sheet, his eyes red beneath huge spectacles, stoop-shouldered, trembling as if he had a chill. His flashy clothing looked absurd. Mourning would have become him better. I fancy he expected to be condemned to death. He tried to avoid that by telling all he knew.

“He worked in a city office—clerical work in an insufficient light that explained his eyes and his shoulders and his bad complexion. You know how little that type gets. You know how destructive to ambition such work is. He plodded along with no bad habits, with no future, an inoffensive, pitiful little chap. Then the great romance came. A visitor was taken through the office one day. The clerk noticed him because he was so big and handsome and prosperous. He was nearly tongue-tied when this impressive figure paused and chatted with him. It developed that the visitor