And so when he looked at this strange front page it gave him a swift twinge of alarm.

For the news was not of men but of nations.

Austria was massing her troops along the Serbian frontier, and Germany, Italy, Russia, France and even England, all were in a turmoil, with panics in their capitals, money markets going wild.
Edith came down, in her neat black dress with its narrow white collar, ready for supper.

She glanced at her father.
"Why, what's the matter ?" "Look at this." And he tossed her a paper.
"Oh-h-h," she murmured softly.

"Oh, how frightful that would be." And she read on with lips compressed.