* * * * *

At last he spoke, glancing first at Percy, on his left.

"Well," he said, "it is a great business to remember exactly; but this
is how I put it to myself."

"In England our party was first seriously alarmed at the Labour
Parliament of 1917. That showed us how deeply Herveism had impregnated
the whole social atmosphere. There had been Socialists before, but none
like Gustave Herve in his old age--at least no one of the same power.
He, perhaps you have read, taught absolute Materialism and Socialism
developed to their logical issues. Patriotism, he said, was a relic of
barbarism; and sensual enjoyment was the only certain good. Of course,
every one laughed at him. It was said that without religion there could
be no adequate motive among the masses for even the simplest social
order. But he was right, it seemed. After the fall of the French Church
at the beginning of the century and the massacres of 1914, the
bourgeoisie settled down to organise itself; and that extraordinary
movement began in earnest, pushed through by the middle classes, with no
patriotism, no class distinctions, practically no army. Of course,
Freemasonry directed it all. This spread to Germany, where the influence
of Karl Marx had already---"

"Yes, sir," put in Percy smoothly, "but what of England, if you don't
mind---"

"Ah, yes; England. Well, in 1917 the Labour party gathered up the reins,
and Communism really began. That was long before I can remember, of