" There was even present a more distinguished
acquaintance of the past: a long-retired Commissaire de Police of
the Quartier in which Mrs. Warren's hotel was situated.
He appeared in the tightly-buttoned frock-coat of civil life, with a
minute disc of some civic decoration in his button hole, and an
incredibly tall chimney-pot hat. He came to render his _respectueux
hommages_ to the maitresse-femme who had conducted her business
within the four corners of the law, "sans avoir maille a partir avec
la police des moeurs."
Mrs. Warren at least died with the reputation of one who promptly
paid her bills; and the whole _assistance_, as it walked slowly back
to Brussels, recalled many a deed of kindness and jovial charity on
the part of the dead Englishwoman.
* * * * *
Vivie, on sizing up her affairs, got Monsieur Walcker, the Baptist
pasteur, to convey a letter to the American Consulate General.
Walcker was used to such missions as these, of which the German
Government was more or less cognizant. The Germans, among their many
contradictory features, had a great respect for religion, a great
tolerance as to its forms. They not only appreciated the difference
between Jews and Christians, Catholics and Lutherans, but between
the Church of England and the various Free Churches of Britain and
America. The many people whom they sentenced to death must all have
their appropriate religious consolation before facing the firing
party.
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