I passed my tongue once or twice across my lips, and, taking hold of all my courage, I began to speak. Although I had been quite unprepared for meeting this man, I had realized that whoever was to receive the document which I bore might quite possibly question me as to the undertaking. I had accordingly more or less made up my mind what to say.
I began with a few general statements on the deplorable condition of Germany after the War. Our country, I said, was on the verge of ruin. We were defenceless and broken. But there were still many thousands who hoped, apparently in vain, for better things, for the dawn of a brighter day, for the restoration of the German nation.
He listened to my platitudes in silence, and, so far as I could see, unmoved, but when I said that there was still youth
