ow them thoroughly and
understand them. Nothing ever takes us by surprise. We are always
forewarned. So far as any one can, we read the future."

"You are a very great nation, without a doubt," Norgate acknowledged,
"but my quarter of an hour is coming to an end. Tell me what else you
would expect from me if I accepted this post?"

"For the moment, I can think of nothing," Selingman replied. "There are
many ways in which we might make use of you, but to name them now would
be to look a little too far into the future."

"By whom should I really be employed?"

"By the Anglo-German Peace Society," Selingman answered promptly. "Let
me say a word more about that society. I am proud of it. I am one of
those prominent business men who are responsible for its initiation. I
have given years of time and thought to it. All our efforts are directed
towards promoting a better understanding with England, towards teaching
the two countries to appreciate one another. But in the background there
is always something else. It is useless to deny that the mistrust
existing between the two countries has brought them more than once
almost to the verge of war. What we want is to be able, at critical
times, to throw oil upon the troubled waters, and if the worst should
come, if a war really should break out, then we want to be able to act
as peacemakers, to heal as soon as possible any little sores that there
may be, and to enter afterwards upon a greater friendship with a
purified England."

"It sounds very interesting," Norgate confessed. "I had an idea that you
were proposing something quite different."

"Please explain."

"To be perfectly frank with you," Norgate acknowledged, "I thought you
wanted me to do the ordinary spy business--traces of fortresses, and
particulars about guns and aeroplanes--"

"Rubbish, my dear fellow!" Selingman interrupted. "Rubbish! Those things
we leave to our military department, and pray that the question of their
use may never arise. We are concerned wholly with economic and social
questions, and our great aim is not war but peace."

"Very well, then," Norgate decided, "I accept. When shall I start?"

Selingman laid his hand upon the other's shoulder as he rose to his feet.

"Young man," he said, "you have come to a wise decision. Your salary will
commence from the first of this month. Continue to live as usual. Let me
have the opportunity of seeing you at the club, and let me know each day
where