Nan lifted her eyes from the register to the man's face. He was taking this business too seriously, with his "Germany, you mean," as if Greta had tried to pretend that Hanover was somewhere else.
"I'm not English, either," said Miss Ellis in an explanatory tone.
"No?" The Inspector fixed her with his serious, blue eyes. "What are you?"
"Now, Miss--a--Sworsenburger, what is the date of your birth?"
If Miss Greta hesitated a second, it seemed to be from a natural disgust at hearing her name murdered.
"Born 1886--and the name is von Schwarzenberg." She must have been aware of the touch of hauteur in the tone of her correction, for instantly she changed it. "You, too,"--she smiled at the burly inspector--"you have a German name."
"Adler is one of the most com--usual names in Germany."
"That's only a corruption," she said, less cautiously than was her wont.
"No corruption about it," he spoke roughly.
"Never 'eard in me life of a corrupt Adler. What's your business over 'ere?"
"This lady," Napier intervened, "came into the family of Sir William and Lady McIntyre as a governess."
"She has become a valued personal friend," Miss Ellis put in stiffly. "Haven't you heard that by telephone? You have only to ring up Sir William himself--"
"We are not supposed to take our information by telephone. How long do you want to stay in this country?"
"She lives here, as I've told you," said Napier, "in the family of--"
The interrogatory went on, Nan more and more furious, appealing silently to Napier from time to time; Miss Greta taking it all with a dignity that made even Napier feel that he had never yet seen her to such advantage. The inspector, too, must in his way have felt that this foreigner who had accused him of being a German (_him_, James Adler, for the love of God!) and had accused the Adlers of being corrupted, was somehow getting the best of the interview. He was already accustomed (and the war was as yet counted by weeks) to seeing the few Germans who had presented themselves to be registered adopt an attitude either humorous (accompanied by offers of cigars), or uneasy, or tending toward the apologetic. Napier was sure that Adler lorded it a little even over people who knew how to treat an inspector proper.