So you are a sentimentalist, after all?


MINISTER OF WAR

[_Looking out of the window._

No. Because there is something stronger in me, conquering the repulsion.
My temperament, character, destiny. I am impelled to war. A dozen
generations of soldiers in my blood press me on. My whole education
presses me on. My sympathies and my religious sense make me tremble
before the impending horror, but--I confess to you--I believe I want
this war.


CHIEF OF STAFF

[_Without turning._

So do we all. War is the soldier's work. And he does not want to play
all his life. Look. We land here and here and here.

[_He indicates places on the map with a paper-cutter, speaking with
growing excitement._

No defenses, except at this place--a masonry fort built thirty years
ago. Bad cement, moreover. Fraudulent contractor. Then--