f another, and Baron Glumthal was already
leaning over the balustrade beside him ere he had perceived him.

"Well, is it more assuring now that you have looked at it?" asked the
German, in English, of which there was the very slightest trace of a
foreign accent.

"I see nothing to deter one from the project," said Dunn, slowly. "These
questions resolve themselves purely into two conditions,--time and
money. The grand army was only a corporal's guard, multiplied by
hundreds of thousands."

"But the difficulties--"

"Difficulties!" broke in Dunn; "thank Heaven for them, Baron, or you and
I would be no better off in this world than the herd about us. Strong
heads and stout hearts are the breaching artillery of mankind,--you can
find rank and file any day."

"When I said difficulties, I might have used a stronger word."

"And yet," said Dunn, smiling, "I'd rather contract to turn the Alps
yonder, than to drive a new idea into the heads of a people. See here,
now," said he, entering the room, and returning with a large plan in his
hand, "this is Chiavenna. Well, the levels show that a line drawn
from this spot comes out below Andeer, at a place called Muehlen,--the
distance something less than twenty-two miles. By Brumall's contract,
you will perceive that if he don't meet with water--"

"But in that lies the whole question," broke in the other.

"I know it, and I am not going to blink it. I mean to take the
alternatives in turn."

"Shall I spare you a deal of trouble, Dunn?" said the German, laying his
hand on his arm. "Our house has decided against the enterprise. I have
no need to explain the reasons."

"And can you be swayed by such counsels?" cried Dunn, eagerly. "Is
it possible that you will suffer yourselves to be made the dupes of a
Russian intrigue?"

"Say, rather, the agents of a great policy," said Glumthal, "and you
will be nearer the mark. My dear friend," added he, in a lower and more
confidential tone, "have I to tell _you_ that _your_ whole late
policy in England is a mistake, your Crimean war a mistake, your French
alliance a mistake, and your present attempt at a reconciliation with
Austria the greatest mistake of all?"

"You would find it a hard task to make the nation believe this," said
Dunn, smiling.

"So I might; but not to convince your statesmen of it. They see it
already. They perceive even now some of the perils of the coarse they
have adopted."

"The old story. I have heard it a