m. "For what or for whom has
humanity proved too obstinate?"

"For _us_, Mario--for _us_. There is many an ancient knot to be untied
before man can be free to think unfettered. The myth, Imperialism, alone
is an iron barrier to universal brotherhood. Not even in the spectacle
of the Germanic peoples pouring out their blood in pursuit of that
shadow has the rest of the world perceived a lesson. A colony is like a
married son with whose domestic arrangements his father persists in
interfering. The jewels in an imperial crown mean nothing even to the
wearer of that crown, except additional headache. But attack the
blood-stained legend of Imperialism and you attack Patriotism, its
ferocious parent. Humanity has grown larger since the wolf suckled
Romulus, but no wiser, and strong wine is not for weak intellects."

He laid his hand upon the typed pages of _The Key_. "Is our friendship
staunch enough to sustain the shock of real candour, Mario?"

Paul was deeply and unaccountably moved by something in Thessaly's
manner. "I trust so," he replied.

"Then--forgive me--burn _The Key_. It is not yet too late."

"Thessaly! You offer me this counsel! Do you realise what it means to
me?"

"Some day, Mario, you may comprehend all that it meant to _me_."

Paul stared at him truly dumfounded. "What can have happened thus
suddenly to divert the current of your life and the tenor of your
philosophy?"

"The inevitable, against which we fight in vain."

"And your advice--that I burn _The Key_--is given sincerely?"

"It is."

"I cannot realise that you mean it, Thessaly. I cannot realise that you
are going."

"I am sorry, Mario. In these troublous days a cloud of misgiving hangs
over every parting, since _au revoir_ may mean good-bye. But I must go,
following the precept of that wise man who said, 'Live unobserved, and
if that cannot be, slip unobserved from life.'"

* * * * *

An hour later Paul was about to leave the house when a telegram was
brought to him. He experienced great difficulty in grasping its purport.
He could not make out from whom it came, and it seemed at first to be
without meaning....

"Regret to inform you Captain Donald H. Courtier,--Coy., Irish
Guards, killed in action...."

XI

On the following day a phenomenal storm burst upon London out of a blue
sky. Tropical rain beat down into the heated streets and thunder roared
in Titan anger. Paul came out of t