at that," said our host.

"A palpable bull's-eye," said Forbes Thompson.

I hardly needed George Stairs's friendly clap on the shoulder, nor the
assurance of his:

"You are right, Dick. You have shown me my way in three words."

"Good," said Reynolds. "Well, now I don't mind saying what I wouldn't
have said before, that among the notes we drew up nearly three years
ago----"

"You drew up, my friend," said Stairs.

"Among the notes we drew up, I say, on this question of neglected duty,
were details as to the citizen's obligations regarding the defence of
his home and native land, with special reference to the callous neglect
of Lord Roberts's campaign of warning and exhortation. Now, Stairs, you
know as well as I do, you wrote with your own hand the passage about the
Englishman's sphere of duty being as much wider than his country as
Greater Britain was wider than Great Britain. You know you did."

"Oh, you can count me in, all right, Reynolds; you know I'm not one for
half-measures."

"Well, now, my friends, I believe I see daylight. By joining hands I
really believe we are going to accomplish something for England."
Crondall looked round the table at the faces of his friends. "We are all
agreed, I know, that the present danger is the danger Kipling tried to
warn us about years and years ago."

"'Lest we forget!'" quoted Sir Herbert quietly.

"Exactly. There are so many in England who have neither seen nor felt
anything of the blow we have had."

And here I told them something of what I had seen and heard in Dorset;
how remote and unreal the whole thing was to folk there.

"That's it, exactly," continued Crondall. "That's one difficulty which
has just got to be overcome. Another is the danger that, among those who
did see and feel something of it, here in London, and even in East
Anglia, the habit of apathy in national matters, and the calls of
business and pleasure may mean forgetting, indifference--the old fatal
neglect. You see, we must remember that, crushing as the blow was, it
did not actually reach so very many people. It did not force them to get
up and fight for their lives. It was all over so soon. Directly they
cried out, 'The Destroyers' answered with surrender, and so helped to
strengthen the fatal delusion they had cherished so long, that
everything is a matter of pounds, shillings, and pence."

"'They'll never go for England, because England's got the dibs,'" quoted
Forbes Thompson, with