hairman was good-humoured, tolerant, a
little wistful. The Duke's few words, prefaced by an indignant protest
against the intrusion of a German propagandist into an English patriotic
meeting, did nothing to undo the effect produced by this undesired
stranger. When the meeting broke up, it was doubtful whether a single
adherent had been gained to the cause of National Service. The Duke went
home full of wrath, and Seaman chuckled with genuine merriment as he
stepped into the taxi which Dominey had secured, at the corner of the
street.

"I promised you entertainment," he observed. "Confess that I have kept
my word."

Dominey smiled enigmatically. "You certainly succeeded in making fools
of a number of respectable and well-meaning men."

"The miracle of it extends further," Seaman agreed. "To-night, in
its small way, is a supreme example of the transcendental follies of
democracy. England is being slowly choked and strangled with too much
liberty. She is like a child being overfed with jam. Imagine, in our
dear country, an Englishman being allowed to mount the platform and
spout, undisturbed, English propaganda in deadly opposition to German
interests. The so-called liberty of the Englishman is like the cuckoo
in his political nest. Countries must be governed. They cannot govern
themselves. The time of war will prove all that."

"Yet in any great crisis of a nation's history," Dominey queried,
"surely there is safety in a multitude of counsellors?"

"There would be always a multitude of counsellors," Seaman replied, "in
Germany as in England. The trouble for this country is that they would
be all expressed publicly and in the press, each view would have its
adherents, and the Government be split up into factions. In Germany,
the real destinies of the country are decided in secret. There are
counsellors there, too, earnest and wise counsellors, but no one knows
their varying views. All that one learns is the result, spoken through
the lips of the Kaiser, spoken once and for all."

Dominey was showing signs of a rare interest in his companion's
conversation. His eyes were bright, his usually impassive features
seemed to have become more mobile and strained. He laid his hand on
Seaman's arm.

"Listen," he said, "we are in London, alone in a taxicab, secure against
any possible eavesdropping. You preach the advantage of our Kaiser-led
country. Do you really believe that the Kaiser is the man for the task
which is comi