Patriotism, he said, was a relic of barbarism; and sensual enjoyment was the only certain good.

Of course, every one laughed at him.

It was said that without religion there could be no adequate motive among the masses for even the simplest social order.

But he was right, it seemed.

After the fall of the French Church at the beginning of the century and the massacres of 1914, the bourgeoisie settled down to organise itself; and that extraordinary movement began in earnest, pushed through by the middle classes, with no patriotism, no class distinctions, practically no army.