d,
unwilling to commit themselves. Upon one occasion, in a minor commission,
the Japanese delegate held the deciding vote, the other four delegations
being tied; when asked by the chairman how he voted, whether with the
French and Americans or with the British and Italians, the Japanese
responded simply, "Yes." Next the Japanese, but facing Clemenceau and
about twelve feet from him, were the Italians: Sonnino with his
close-cropped white bullet head and heavy drooping mustache, his great
Roman nose coming down to meet an equally strong out-jutting chin, his jaw
set like a steel latch. The hawklike appearance of the man was softened in
debate by the urbanity of his manner and the modulations of his voice.
Orlando was less distinctive in appearance and character. Eloquent and
warm-hearted, he was troubled by the consciousness that failure to secure
the full extent of Italian claims spelled the downfall of his ministry in
Rome. It is of some historical importance that Sonnino, who spoke perfect
English with just a trace of Etonian inflection, was the more obstinate in
his demands; Orlando, who showed himself inclined to compromise, spoke no
English and therefore could come into intellectual contact with Wilson and
Lloyd George only through the medium of an interpreter.

Proceedings were necessarily in both French and English, because none of
the big men except Clemenceau and Sonnino used the two languages with
comfort. The interpreter, Mantoux, who sat behind Clemenceau, was no mere
translator. A few notes scribbled on a pad were sufficient for him to
render the sense of a speech with keen accuracy and frequently with a
fire and a pungency that surpassed the original. He spoke always in the
first person as though the points made in debate were his own, and the
carrying of each particular point the ideal nearest his heart. Behind the
principals, the "Olympians," as they came to be called, were the experts
and attaches, with long rolls of maps and complex tables of statistics,
ready to answer questions of detailed facts. In truth there was more
reference to sources of exact information by the chief delegates than
would have been expected by the student of former diplomatic practices.

In the center of the room, facing the Olympians, stood or sat the
particular claimant or expert witness of the seance. Now it might be
Marshal Foch, with wrinkled, weary, war-worn visage, and thin rumpled
hair, in shabby uniform, telling of Ger