ere
was some person or some power at which even Germany would pause.

Two incidents had been distinctly disquieting: the wireless from Lepine
and the assault on Schroeder. The thing which filled Pachmann with
dismay was not so much these incidents themselves as the degree of
knowledge they indicated. Why did Lepine think Vard was on the boat? How
had he connected the inventor with the disaster at Toulon? How had the
person who assaulted Schroeder known of the conference in the Captain's
cabin? How much had he heard of that conference? What use would he make
of what he had heard? In a word, did France suspect what had happened to
_La Liberte_, and, if so, how much did she know?

A hundred times Pachmann asked himself these questions, and a hundred
times tried to find some answer to them other than the obvious answer.
He tried to persuade himself that Lepine had not connected Vard with the
Toulon disaster, but was searching for him for some other reason; he
tried to make himself believe that the assault on Schroeder was merely
the result of a seaman's quarrel; he told himself over and over again
that France could _not_ suspect, that it was impossible she should
suspect. But he could not convince himself. Always he came back to the
obvious fact that, if Vard was wanted at all, it could only be for the
affair at Toulon, and that the man who had taken Schroeder's place at
the door of the Captain's cabin could only have done so because he
wanted to hear what was passing on the other side of it.

Always, with sinking heart, Pachmann came back to this point; and at
such moments he wondered whether, after all, the Emperor would not do
well to lay aside his personal ambition, to consent to Vard's proposal
and assume the leadership of this great world-movement, in all good
faith. Surely that would be glory enough! Better, as Vard had said, to
lead than to follow; better to stand proudly forth at the head of the
movement than to be whipped into place in the rear. What humiliation!

And suppose Vard should manage to escape; suppose he should really get
into touch with France! Pachmann, closing his eyes, could see a great
fortress leaping into the air; could hear the thunder of the explosion
which destroyed a dreadnought! It was a dangerous game he was playing,
and yet, to accede to Vard's proposal meant the loss of Alsace-Lorraine,
meant the eventual abasement of the Hohenzollerns, the rise of
socialism. No, he could not consent;