representing."

"It is not a question of your personal sympathies," Mr. Sidney
returned swiftly. "In black and white you pledged your Government to
abstain from war against Germany."

"How could I tell," the statesman protested, "that Germany was
thinking of tearing up treaties, of entering into a campaign of sheer
and scandalous aggression?"

"You made no stipulations or conditions in what you wrote," was the
calm reply. "You pledged your word that your Government would never
declare war against Germany. You alluded to the French entente as an
unnatural one. You spoke eloquently of the kinship of spirit between
England and Germany."

Lord Romsey moved uneasily in his chair. He had expected to find
this an unpleasant interview and he was certainly not being
disappointed.

"Well, I was mistaken," he admitted. "What I said was true enough.
I never did believe that the Government with which I was associated
would declare war against Germany. Even now, let me tell you that
there isn't a soul breathing who knows how close the real issue was.
If your people had only chosen any other line of advance!"

"I have not come here to recriminate," Mr. Sidney declared. "That is
not my mission. I am here to state our terms for refraining from
sending your letters--your personal letters to the Kaiser--to the
English Press."