Vienna and Berlin to-day they look at an Englishman and smile. Even
the man in the street seems to know what is coming."

Sir James leaned a little back in his seat. His hands were tightly
clenched, and there was a fierce light in his hollow eyes. Those
who were intimate with him knew that he had aged many years during
the last few weeks.

"The cruel part is," he said softly, "that it should have come in
my administration, when for ten years I have prayed from the
Opposition benches for the one thing which would have made us safe
to-day."

"An army," murmured Bellamy.

"The days are coming," Sir James continued, "when those who prated
of militarism and the security of our island walls will see with
their own eyes the ruin they have brought upon us. Secretly we are
mobilizing all that we have to mobilize," he added, with a little
sigh. "At the very best, however, our position is pitiful. Even
if we are prepared to defend, I am afraid that we shall see things
on the Continent in which we shall be driven to interfere, or else
suffer the greatest blow which our prestige has ever known. If we
could only tell what was coming!" he wound up, looking once more at
those empty sheets of paper. "It is this darkness which is so
alarming!"

Bellamy turned toward the door.

"You have the telephone in your bedroom, sir?" he asked.