The Golden Virgin Read Online Free
Author: Henry Williamson
London book-stall where, regularly every month, he called for his favourite Nash’s and Pall Mall Magazine.
Always meticulous when he was not emotionally disturbed, Richard read the title-page carefully.
Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages appointed by His Majesty’s Government and Presided over by The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M., etc., etc., formerly British Ambassador at Washington.
He read the first two pages of the preamble, and then his eye wandered. He turned to Part 1, The Conduct of the German Troops in Belgium, read a little, and turned over again to read a passage about Liége. Villages around the fortress burned … systematic execution of civilians, by being summarily shot … survivors of volleys bayonetted, including a young girl of thirteen. He breathed deeply, and took a few sips of hot water.
There followed page upon page of the same thing, shooting, bayonetting, burning. Where were the rapings? He turned over more pages, until he came to Part 2 (b) The Treatment of Women and Children. He was reading with horror entwined in fascination when his wife came into the room. His privacy thus being broken into, he put down the booklet.
“I am ready, Dickie, if you would like to play a game of chess,” said Hetty, almost gaily.
“You’re back early, aren’t you?”
“Yes, dear, Papa wants to write a letter, so I shall go back later for the game of piquet.”
It did not take much to make Richard feel unwanted. She could put herself out for her father, but would she ever do the same for him? He picked up the blue book and went on reading; but soon the disharmony of his thoughts broke into indignation.
“Listen to this incident, Hetty! It took place not far from the district where your convent stands, or did stand, at Wespelaer, a little more than a year ago. I can only thank heaven that Mavis came home last year in the nick of time.”
“On the afternoon of the 14th or 15th August, three German cavalry officers entered the house and demanded champagne. Having drunk ten bottles, and invited five or six officers and three or four private soldiers to join them, they continued their carouse, and then called for the master and the mistress of the house: ‘Immediately my mistress came in’, says the valet de chambre, ‘one of the officers who was sitting on the floor got up, and, putting a revolver to my mistress’ temple, shot her dead. The officer was obviously drunk. The other officers continued to drink and sing, and they did not pay great attention to the killing of my mistress. My master and the officer went into the garden, the officer threatening my master with a pistol. My master was then forced to dig the grave, and bury the body of my mistress in it. I cannot say for what reason they killed my mistress. The officer who did so was singing all the time’.”
“Terrible, terrible,” murmured Hetty, making a clicking noise between tongue and palate.
“But that is not the worst, Hetty!
‘One witness reports that a young girl who was being pursued by a drunken soldier at Louvain appealed to a German officer, and that the offender was then and there shot: another describes how an officer of the 32nd Regiment of the Line was led out to execution for the violation of two young girls, but reprieved at the request or with the consent of the girls’ mothers. These instances are sufficient to show that the maltreatment of women was no part of the military scheme of the invaders …’”
Richard’s voice ceased. He put down the Report, with a further feeling of being cheated. However, there was the clean,unopened copy of Nash’ s at his elbow. He turned to his wife and said rhetorically,
“What is the point of publishing an indictment of German military brutality, which we know exists, if in the same breath the Report exonerates the guilty? In my opinion such two-facedness is typical of that old woman Asquith, whose wife, the blatant ‘Margot’, openly visited German
Always meticulous when he was not emotionally disturbed, Richard read the title-page carefully.
Report of the Committee on Alleged German Outrages appointed by His Majesty’s Government and Presided over by The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M., etc., etc., formerly British Ambassador at Washington.
He read the first two pages of the preamble, and then his eye wandered. He turned to Part 1, The Conduct of the German Troops in Belgium, read a little, and turned over again to read a passage about Liége. Villages around the fortress burned … systematic execution of civilians, by being summarily shot … survivors of volleys bayonetted, including a young girl of thirteen. He breathed deeply, and took a few sips of hot water.
There followed page upon page of the same thing, shooting, bayonetting, burning. Where were the rapings? He turned over more pages, until he came to Part 2 (b) The Treatment of Women and Children. He was reading with horror entwined in fascination when his wife came into the room. His privacy thus being broken into, he put down the booklet.
“I am ready, Dickie, if you would like to play a game of chess,” said Hetty, almost gaily.
“You’re back early, aren’t you?”
“Yes, dear, Papa wants to write a letter, so I shall go back later for the game of piquet.”
It did not take much to make Richard feel unwanted. She could put herself out for her father, but would she ever do the same for him? He picked up the blue book and went on reading; but soon the disharmony of his thoughts broke into indignation.
“Listen to this incident, Hetty! It took place not far from the district where your convent stands, or did stand, at Wespelaer, a little more than a year ago. I can only thank heaven that Mavis came home last year in the nick of time.”
“On the afternoon of the 14th or 15th August, three German cavalry officers entered the house and demanded champagne. Having drunk ten bottles, and invited five or six officers and three or four private soldiers to join them, they continued their carouse, and then called for the master and the mistress of the house: ‘Immediately my mistress came in’, says the valet de chambre, ‘one of the officers who was sitting on the floor got up, and, putting a revolver to my mistress’ temple, shot her dead. The officer was obviously drunk. The other officers continued to drink and sing, and they did not pay great attention to the killing of my mistress. My master and the officer went into the garden, the officer threatening my master with a pistol. My master was then forced to dig the grave, and bury the body of my mistress in it. I cannot say for what reason they killed my mistress. The officer who did so was singing all the time’.”
“Terrible, terrible,” murmured Hetty, making a clicking noise between tongue and palate.
“But that is not the worst, Hetty!
‘One witness reports that a young girl who was being pursued by a drunken soldier at Louvain appealed to a German officer, and that the offender was then and there shot: another describes how an officer of the 32nd Regiment of the Line was led out to execution for the violation of two young girls, but reprieved at the request or with the consent of the girls’ mothers. These instances are sufficient to show that the maltreatment of women was no part of the military scheme of the invaders …’”
Richard’s voice ceased. He put down the Report, with a further feeling of being cheated. However, there was the clean,unopened copy of Nash’ s at his elbow. He turned to his wife and said rhetorically,
“What is the point of publishing an indictment of German military brutality, which we know exists, if in the same breath the Report exonerates the guilty? In my opinion such two-facedness is typical of that old woman Asquith, whose wife, the blatant ‘Margot’, openly visited German
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