enward culture of my own people. I
recognise that spirit in you, and I will not give a lower tone to our
talk this afternoon by speaking of money. Yet what you wish for you may
have. When the time comes, what further reward you may desire, whether it
be rank or high position, you may have, but for the present let it be
sufficient that you are my man."

He held out his hand, and all the time his eyes never left Norgate's.
Gone the florid and beaming geniality of the man, his easy good-humour,
his air of good-living and rollicking gaiety. There were lines in his
forehead. The firm contraction of his lips brought lines even across his
plump cheeks. It was the face, this, of a strong man and a thinker. He
held Norgate's fingers, and Norgate never flinched.

"So!" he said at last, as he turned away. "Now you are indeed in the
inner circle, Mr. Francis Norgate. Good! Listen to me, then. We will
speak of war, the war that is to come, the war that is closer at hand
than even you might imagine."

"War with England?" Norgate exclaimed.

Selingman struck his hands together.

"No!" he declared. "You may take it as a compliment, if you like--a
national compliment. We do not at the present moment desire war with
England. Our plan of campaign, for its speedy and successful
accomplishment, demands your neutrality. The North Sea must be free to
us. Our fleet must be in a position to meet and destroy, as it is well
able to do, the Russian and the French fleets. Now you know what has kept
Germany from war for so long."

"You are ready for it, then?" Norgate remarked.

"We are over-ready for it," Selingman continued. "We are spoiling for
it. We have piled up enormous stores of ordnance, ammunition, and all
the appurtenances of warfare. Our schemes have been cut and dried to the
last detail. Yet time after time we have been forced to stay our hand.
Need I tell you why? It is because, in all those small diplomatic
complications which have arisen and from which war might have followed,
England has been involved. We want to choose a time and a cause which
will give England every opportunity of standing peacefully on one side.
That time is close at hand. From all that I can hear, your country is,
at the present moment, in danger of civil war. Your Ministers who are
most in favour are Radical pacifists. Your army has never been so small
or your shipbuilding programme more curtailed. Besides, there is no
warlike spirit in your nation; you