"Yes, and Belgium, too."

Von Bork shook his head. "I don't see how that could be. There
is a definite treaty there. She could never recover from such a
humiliation."

"She would at least have peace for the moment."

"But her honor?"

"Tut, my dear sir, we live in a utilitarian age. Honour is a
mediaeval conception. Besides England is not ready. It is an
inconceivable thing, but even our special war tax of fifty
million, which one would think made our purpose as clear as if we
had advertised it on the front page of the Times, has not roused
these people from their slumbers. Here and there one hears a
question. It is my business to find an answer. Here and there
also there is an irritation. It is my business to soothe it.
But I can assure you that so far as the essentials go--the
storage of munitions, the preparation for submarine attack, the
arrangements for making high explosives--nothing is prepared.
How, then, can England come in, especially when we have stirred
he up such a devil's brew of Irish civil war, window-breaking
Furies, and God knows what to keep her thoughts at home."

"She must think of her future."

"Ah, that is another matter. I fancy that in the future we have
our own very definite plans about England, and that your