any moment. The
supposed strength of the Socialist Party in Germany is an utter sham.
The signatures attached to the document which was handed to your Council
some days ago will be repudiated. The whole scheme of coming into touch
with your Labour classes has been fostered and developed by the
German War Cabinet. England will be placed in the most humiliating and
ridiculous position. It will mean the end of the war."

"And Germany?" she gasped.

"Germany," the Baron pronounced calmly, "will have taken the first great
step up the ladder in her climb towards the dominance of the world."

CHAPTER XIX

There were one or two amongst those present in the Council room
at Westminster that evening, who noted and never forgot a certain
indefinable dignity which seemed to come to Stenson's aid and enabled
him to face what must have been an unwelcome and anxious ordeal without
discomposure or disquiet. He entered the room accompanied by Julian and
Phineas Cross, and he had very much the air of a man who has come to pay
a business visit, concerning the final issue of which there could be no
possible doubt. He shook hands with the Bishop gravely but courteously,
nodded to the others with whom he was acquainted, asked the names of the
few strangers present, and made a careful mental note of what industries
and districts they represented. He then accepted a chair by the side of
the Bishop, who immediately opened the proceedings.

"My friends," the latter began, "as I sent word to you a little time
ago, Mr. Stenson has preferred to bring you his answer himself. Our
ambassador--Mr. Julian Orden--waited upon him at Downing Street at the
hour arranged upon, and, in accordance with his wish to meet you all,
Mr. Stenson is paying us this visit."

The Bishop hesitated, and the Prime Minister promptly drew his chair a
little farther into the circle.

"Gentlemen," he said, "the issue which you have raised is so tremendous,
and its results may well be so catastrophic, that I thought it my duty
to beg Mr. Orden to arrange for me to come and speak to you all, to
explain to you face to face why, on behalf of His Majesty's Government,
I cannot do your bidding."

"You don't want peace, then?" one of the delegates from the other side
of the table asked bluntly.

"We do not," was the quiet reply. "We are not ready for it."

"The country is," Fenn declared firmly. "We are."

"So your ambassador has told me," was the calm reply. "In