Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-12-02
CHAPTER TX.
AN EXPOSITION OF GERMAN
METHODS.

Three large and powerful automo-
biles stood at rest in the tiny square
of Argenteau. Nearly every little town
in Belgium and France possesses its
place. the hub Of social and business
life. the center where roads converge
and markets are held. In the road
way, near the cars. were several off,
GERS. deep in conversation.
Look" murmured Irene to Dalroy,
"the hfgh-shouldered. broadly built
man. facing this way. is Gen. Won En-
mich"
BY this time Da1roy was acquainted
with the name of the German COM
mander-in-chief. He found a fieeting
interest in watching him now. while
;Ioos and the others 1oftered irreso-
lutely on the pavement outside the i'm
provised office of the Kommandantur
though the moon was high and
clear: there was no other light. and
maiden. with white fire laden" is not
favorable to close observation. But
Won Emmich's bearing and gestures
Were significant. He put an abrupt
end to the conclave by an emphatic
sweep of his right arm. and the large
number of his staff disposed themselves
in two Of the cars. in which the chauf-
feurs and armed escorts were already
seated They made Off in the direc-
tion of AK. 1t was easy to guess their
errand More cannon. more cannon
fodder,
The genera1issimo himself remained
apart from the colonel and captain
who apparently formed his personal
suite. He STROBE to and fro, evidently
In deep thought. Once he halted quite
ants. and Dalroy believed he saw tears
IN his eyes, tears instantly brushed
away by an angry hand. Whatever
the cause of this emotion. the general
quickly mastered n momentary weak
ness. Indeed. that spasmodic yielding
seemed to have braced his will to a
fixed purpose. because he walked to
the waiting car. wrote something by
the light of an electric torch, and said
to the Younger of the STAFF officers,
ia Ike that to the field telegraph 1t
must have priority"
Somehow. Dalroy sensed the actual
was making the humiliating admission
that Liege. far from having fallen, as
he had announced during the first
hours of the advance. was still an i'm
rent of men. So the heart of this mid
dle-aged warrior. whose repute was
good when measured by the Prussian
standard. had not melted because of
the misery and desolation he and his
armed ruttians had brought into one of
the most peaceful, industrious and law
abiding communities in the world. His
tears flowed because of failure, not of
regret. His withers were wrung by
modification. not pity. He would have
waded knee-deep in the blood of Bel
gium if only he could have gained his
ends and substant:ated by literal fact
that first vainglorious telegram to the
war lord of Potsdam. Now he had to
ask for time. reinforcements, siege
guns. while the clock licked fnexora-
bly,. and England. France and Russia
We're mobilizing. Perhaps it was in
that hour that his morbid thoughts
first turned to a suicides death as the
only reparation for what he conceived
to be a personal blunder. Yet his gem
eralship was marked by no grave
strateEical fault. II aught erred, it
was the German state machine, which
counted only on mankind having a body
and brain, but denied 1t q soul
Won Emmich's troubles were no con-
Germ Of Da1roy's. save In their reaction