revolution, there was Napoleon. Again France, under
him, was the strongest nation in Europe. He conquered Germany, and Austria,
Italy and Spain, the Netherlands. And he tried to conquer England, so that
France could rule the world. But Nelson beat his fleet at Trafalgar--"

"Hurrah!" interrupted Dick, carried away. "Three cheers for Nelson!"

Grenfel smiled as the cheers were given.

"Even after Trafalgar," he went on, "Napoleon hoped to conquer England. He
had massed a great army near Boulogne, ready to send it across the channel.
And so we took the side of the weaker nations again. All Europe, led by
England, rose against Napoleon. And you know what happened. He was beaten
finally at Waterloo. And so there was peace again in Europe for a long
time, with no one nation strong enough to dictate to all the others. But
then Germany began to rise. She beat Austria, and that made her the
strongest German country. Then she beat France, in 1870, and that gave her
her start toward being the strongest nation on the continent.

"And then, I believe--and so do most Englishmen--she began to be jealous of
England. She wanted our colonies. She began, finally, to build a great
navy. For years we have had to spend great sums of money to keep our fleet
stronger than hers. And she made an alliance with Austria and Italy.
Because of that France and Russia made an alliance, too, and we had to be
friendly with them. And now it looks to me as if Germany thought she saw a
chance to beat France and Russia. Perhaps she thinks that we won't fight,
on account of the trouble in Ireland. And what we English fear is that, if
she wins, she will take Belgium and Holland. Then she would be so close to
our coasts that we would never be safe. We would have to be prepared always
for invasion. So, you see, it seems to me that we are facing the same sort
of danger we have faced before. Only this time it is Germany, instead of
France, that we shall have to fight--if we do fight."

"If the Germans go through Belgium, will that mean that we shall fight?"
asked Leslie Franklin.

"Almost certainly, yes," said Grenfel. "And it is through Belgium that
Germany has her best chance to strike at France. So you see how serious
things are. I don't want to go into all the history that is back of all
this. I just want you to understand what England's interest is. If we make
war, it will be a war of self-defence. Suppose you owned a house. And
suppose the house next d