' said the other, frowning, 'I deserve better than sarcasm from
you.'

'I'm sorry,' said Watson with a laugh, 'but I can't just get this new
Austin Selwyn right off the bat. Of course war is wrong--any boob
knows that--but what can you hope to do with writing about it?'

Selwyn rose to his feet, and thrusting his hands in his pockets, strode
up and down the room. 'What can I hope to do?' he said. 'Remove the
scales from the eyes of the blind; recall to life the spirit of
universal brotherhood; destroy ignorance instead of destroying life.'

'Some platform!' said Watson, making rings of tobacco-smoke.

'Take yourself, for example,' said Selwyn vehemently, pausing in his
walk and pointing towards the younger man. 'You are a man of
international experience and university education. On the surface you
have the attributes of a man of thought. You are one that the world
has a right to expect will take the correct stand on great human
questions. Yet the moment the barriers are down and jingoism floods
the earth you give up without a struggle and join the great mass of the
world's driftwood.'

'H'm,' mused Watson, 'so that's your tack, eh?'

'I tell you, Doug, you have no right to fight in this war.'

'Thanks.'

'You should have the courage to keep out of it. Even assuming that
Germany is wholly in the wrong and Britain completely in the right,
can't you see that when the Kaiser and his advisers said, "Let there be
war," you and I and the millions of men in every country who believe in
justice and Christianity should have risen up and answered, "_You shall
not have war_"?'

Watson rose to his feet, and crossing to the fireplace, flicked the ash
from his cigar, and leaned lazily against the stone shelf. 'You're a
member of the Royal Automobile Club, aren't you?' he drawled.

Selwyn nodded and resumed his nervous walk.

'Take my advice, Austin. Every time you feel that kind of dope
mounting to your head, trot across the road to the club and have a swim
in their tank. You'd be surprised how it would bring you down to
earth.'

'You talk like a child,' said Selwyn angrily.

'Well,' retorted the other, 'that's better than talking like an old
woman.'

With an impatient movement of his shoulders the younger man left the
fireplace, and walking over to the piano, picked up a Hawaiian ukulele
which had been left there by Mrs. Jarvis. Getting the pitch from the
piano, while Selwyn continued his restless march