“Yes,” agreed Stewart, smiling, “I have heard of ‘la revanche’; I have seen the mourning wreaths on the Strassburg monument. I confess,” he added, “that I sympathize with France’s dream of regaining her lost provinces. So do most Americans. We are a sentimental people.”

“I, too, sympathize with that dream,” said Bloem, quickly, “or at least I understand it. So do many Germans. We have come to realize that the seizure of Alsace and Lorraine, however justified by history, was in effect a terrible mistake. We should have been generous in our hour of triumph—that way lay a chance of friendship with a people whose pride remained unbroken by disaster. Instead, we chose to heap insults upon a conquered foe, and we have reaped a merited reward of detestation. Ironically enough, those provinces which cost us so much have been to us a source of weakness, not of strength. We have had to fortify them, to police them, to hold them in stern repression. Even yet, they must be treated as conquered ground. You do not know—you cannot realize—what that means!” He stared out gloomily into the night. “I have served there,” he added, hoarsely.

There was something in his tone which sent a shiver across Stewart’s scalp, as though he had [Pg 7]found himself suddenly at the brink of a horrible abyss into which he dared not turn his eyes. He fancied he could see in his companion’s somber face the stirring of ghastly memories, of tragic experience——

[Pg 7]

“But since France has not yet declared war,” he said at last, “surely you will wait——”

“Ah, my friend,” Bloem broke in, “we cannot afford to wait. We must strike quickly and with all our strength. There is no secret as to Germany’s plan—France must be crushed under a mighty blow before she can defend herself; after that it will be Russia’s turn.”

“And after that?”

“After that? After that, we shall seize more provinces and exact more huge indemnities—and add just so much to our legacy of fear and hatred! We are bound to a wheel from which we cannot escape.”

Stewart looked dazedly out over the lighted square.

“I can’t understand it,” he said, at last. “I don’t understand how such things can be. They aren’t possible. They’re too terrible to be true. This is a civilized world—such things can never happen—humanity won’t endure it!”

[Pg 8]

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