Even the man in the street seems to know what is coming." Sir James leaned a little back in his seat.

His hands were tightly clenched, and there was a fierce light in his hollow eyes.

Those who were intimate with him knew that he had aged many years during the last few weeks.
"The cruel part is," he said softly, "that it should have come in my administration, when for ten years I have prayed from the Opposition benches for the one thing which would have made us safe to-day." "An army," murmured Bellamy.
"The days are coming," Sir James continued, "when those who prated of militarism and the security of our island walls will see with their own eyes the ruin they have brought upon us.

Secretly we are mobilizing all that we have to mobilize," he added, with a little sigh.

"At the very best, however, our position is pitiful.