"If Adele succeeds in Paris, a hint may
come from there."
"It is a slender reed," Gilbert said, "for so mighty an issue to rest
upon."
I was thoughtful for a few moments.
"I have had proof within the last few hours," I said, "that I am under a
certain amount of suspicion, and it is very possible that I am watched.
Yet, after all, that is comparatively unimportant. Do you think that
Polloch would see me?"
"I am sure that he would not," Gilbert answered promptly. "In fact, I may
as well tell you at once, that he has set us down for a pair of cranks.
He dismissed me to-day almost peremptorily. And I have reason to know
that he has warned other members of the Cabinet against us. He told me
plainly that it was the policy of his government to conciliate Germany,
and he considered that a good deal of the ill-feeling in the past had
been due to the fact that we were always over-suspicious of Germany and
her actions. When I spoke of organized corps of waiters and clerks here,
300,000 of them, in commission, all of whom had had military training and
possessed rifles, he practically called me an ass.
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