There could be but one result. At ten o'clock a Cabinet Council was
called, and Staunton was telephoned for. Before midday, everything that
he had suggested was done.
Even then, we knew that the question of peace or war must be trembling in
the balance.
"Let it come if it will," Guest declared from his easy-chair in Gilbert's
study, "the great plot is smashed. I pledge you my word that to-morrow
the German newspapers will hold us up to scorn, will seek to make of
us the laughing-stock of the world. They will explain everything. There
will be no war. A German invasion of England is only possible by
intrigues which will keep France apart, and treachery which will render
our fleet ineffective. This plot has taken five years to develop, and I
have been on its track from the first. Thank God, I can call myself
square now with the past! ..."
There was no war, but the laughter of the German newspapers was a little
hysterical. The Press of the world took the matter more seriously. But
there was no war, and there are people even to-day, mostly his
journalistic enemies, who say that Staunton was hoaxed.
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