Sir Robert.
[Going to bookcase, taking down book.] His name
was Paul Schiller, wasn't it?
Margaret.
[With surly defiance.] You know it was.
Sir Robert.
[Finding reference.] Naturalized Englishman,
medical doctor, acting as consul for the enemy
Government, charged with helping by means of
forged passports his compatriots of military age to
escape to their own country.
Margaret.
That was a lie!
Sir Robert.
The case was taken in camera; this is the official
report. [Reading.] "After the evidence for Crown,
prisoner asked permission to amend his plea. Pleaded
guilty. Said he had always, since naturalization,
been a loyal subject of his adopted country, but the
day after the declaration of war he had received from
a secret source a command to assist reservists to
cross the Channel. Had first refused, then been
threatened with loss of consulate appointment after
the war, together with ruin of professional practice.
'As these were my only means of livelihood,' said
prisoner,' and I had two children dependent upon
me (a son who was a medical student, requiring
money for his fees, and a daughter to whom I was
devotedly attached), I yielded, in a moment of weakness and temptation, to the merciless threats of the
