but he made no attempt to conceal his feelings. Ordinarily Lord Robert
did not wear his emotions on the surface; but he took occasion on this
visit to tell Page how greatly the President's communication had grieved
him.

"The President," he said, "has seemed to pass judgment on the allied
cause by putting it on the same level as the German. I am deeply hurt."

Page conveyed Mr. Lansing's message that no such inference was
justified. But this was not reassuring.

"Moreover," Lord Robert added, "there is one sentence in the note--that
in which the President says that the position of neutrals is becoming
intolerable--that seems almost a veiled threat."

Page hastened to assure Lord Robert that no threat was intended.

Lord Robert's manner became increasingly serious.

"There is nothing that the American Government or any other human power
can do," he remarked slowly and solemnly, "which will bring this war to
a close before the Allies have spent their utmost force to secure a
victory. A failure to secure such a victory will leave the world at the
mercy of the most arrogant and the bloodiest tyranny that has ever been
organized. It is far better to die in an effort to defeat that tyranny
than to perish under its success."

On any occasion Lord Robert is an impressive or at least a striking and
unusual figure; he is tall, lank, and ungainly, almost Lincolnesque in
the carelessness of his apparel and the exceeding awkwardness of his
postures and manners. His angular features, sharp nose, pale face, and
dark hair suggest the strain of ascetism, almost of fanaticism, which
runs in the present generation of his family. And the deep sincerity and
power of his words on this occasion made an impression which Page never
forgot; they transformed the British statesman into an eloquent, almost
an heroic figure. If we are to understand the full tragedy of this
moment we must remember that, incredible as it now seems, there was a
fear in British officialdom that the United States might not only not
pursue a course favourable to the Allies, but that it might even throw
its support to Germany. The fear, of course, was baseless; any
suggestion of such a policy in the United States would have destroyed
any official who had brought it forward; but Lord Robert knew and Page
knew that there were insidious influences at work at that time, both in
the United States and in Great Britain, which looked in this direction.
A group of American