me to think of it, why
should you waste your time in talking to an old woman who can only give
you echoes? It is only half an hour since Conny started. Why not hurry
on to John Crondall's place, and join them there? He has often spoken of
you, Conny tells me."

This seemed to me too good a suggestion to neglect, and ten minutes
later I was on my way to St. James's Park by underground railway. I
bought an evening paper on my way, and read an announcement to the
effect that General Baron von Fuechter, after returning to Portsmouth
from his visit to Berlin, had definitely decided that Portsmouth and
Devonport could no longer remain British naval bases, and that no
British sailors or soldiers in uniform could in future be admitted into
any of the towns in England now occupied by Germany.

IV

THE CONFERENCE

Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, God's new Messiah offering each the bloom or
blight,
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right;
And the choice goes by for ever 'twixt that darkness and that light.

JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.

A few seconds after his servant had shown me into the dining-room of
John Crondall's flat, the man himself entered to me with a rush, as his
manner was, both hands outstretched to welcome me.

"Good man!" he said. "I've had fine news of you from Constance Grey, and
now you're here to confirm it. Splendid!"

And then, with sudden gravity, and a glance at my coat sleeve: "I heard
of your loss. I know what it means. I lost my mother when I was in Port
Arthur, and I know London looked different because of it when I got
back. It's a big wrench; one we've all got to face."

"Yes. I think my mother died without regret; she was very tired."

There was a pause, and then I said:

"But I may have chosen my time badly, to-day. Mrs. Van Homrey said you
had a conference. If you----"

"Tut, tut, man! Don't talk nonsense. I was just going to say how well
you'd timed things. I don't know about a conference, but Constance is
here, and Varley, and Sir Herbert Tate--he took on the secretaryship of
the Army League, you know, after Gilbert chucked it--and Winchester. You
know Winchester, the Australian rough-rider, who did such fine work with
his bushman corps in the South African war--and--let