diplomacy, have all become so complicated and corrupt that a large
percentage of the brains of honest mankind are little willing to touch
either. We need shaking up--all of us. If nothing can make man realize
that he was not born to be merely happy and get rich, or to have a
fine old time, why, such a complete upheaval as this seems to me to be
necessary, and for me--if this war can rip off, with its shrapnel, the
selfishness with which prosperity has encrusted the lucky: if it can
explode our false values with its bombs: if it can break down our
absurd pretensions with its cannon,--all I can say is that Germany
will have done missionary work for the whole world--herself included."

Before he had done, we were all on our feet shouting at him, all but
the Lawyer, who smiled into his coffee cup.

"Why," cried the Critic, in anger, "one would think you held a brief
for them!"

"I do NOT," snapped the Doctor, "but I don't dislike them any
more than I do--well," catching himself up with a laugh, "lots of
other people."

"And you mean to tell me," said the gentle voice of the Divorcée at
his elbow, "that you calmly face the idea of the hundreds of
thousands of men,--well and strong to-day--dead to-morrow,--the
thought of the mothers who have borne their sons in pain, and bred
them in love, only to fling them before the cannon?"

"For what, after all, _are_ we born?" said the Doctor. "_Where_ we
die, or _when_ is a trifle, since die we must. But _why_ we die and
_how_ is vital. It is not only vital to the man that goes--it is vital