And as I walked through the twilight with the paper clenched in my
hand, I forgot where I was, I seemed to see over the grey sea to where,
silently and secretly, the long service trains to Germany crawled to that
far northward point, disgorging all the while their endless stream of
soldiers, with mathematical regularity. The great plot moved. I read the
extracts from the Berlin and Frankfort papers, and I knew that the
wonderful example of the world's newest Power had been scrupulously
followed. No word was there of secret manoeuvres amidst the wastes of
those northern sands. I read the imposing list of battleships and
cruisers, now ploughing their stately way across the dark waters, and
I shuddered as I thought of the mine-sown track across which they would
return. I remembered what a great German statesman had once boldly
declared--"there is no treachery, if it be only on sufficiently great a
scale, which success does not justify." And here was I, almost the only
Englishman who knew the truth--powerless!
It was a busy night at the Cafe Suisse.
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