"
"Go on, please, dear Baron," she begged. "It is when you talk
like this and show me your mind that I seem to be listening to a
second Bismarck."
"You flatter me, Countess," the young man said, "but indeed these
events are interesting. Trace their course for yourself after the
failure of Stockholm. The Kaiser has established certain
relations with the Socialist Party. Once more he turns towards
them. He affects a war weariness he does not feel. He puts it
into their heads that they shall approach without molestation
certain men in England who have a great Labour following. The
plot is started. You know quite well how it has progressed."
"Naturally," Catherine assented, "but after all, tell me, where
does the wonderful diplomacy come in? The terms of peace are not
the terms of a conqueror. Germany is to engage herself to give up
what she has sworn to hold, even to pay indemnities, to restore
all conquered countries, and to retire her armies behind the
Rhine."
The young man looked at his companion steadfastly for several
seconds.
"In the idiom of this country, Countess," he said, "I raise my hat
to you. You preserve your mask of ignorance to the end. So much
so, indeed, that I find myself asking do you really believe that
Germany intends to do this?"
"But you forget," she reminded him. "I was one of those present
at the discussion of the preliminaries. The confirmation of the
agreed terms, with the signatures, has arrived, and is to be
placed before the Labour Council at six o'clock this evening.
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