When the two Americans parted for the night a methodical program had
been worked out, with every date at command and every fact in damning
sequence. The result of this momentous conference was that none of the
five went to bed on the following night, but sat about a large oval
table in the common sitting-room of Mrs. Prentiss and Mrs. Tolby, and
wrangled until dawn.
2
The challenge was given by the Americans and accepted by the Germans,
whose curiosity had been carefully pricked, and all had agreed that no
matter how intensely distasteful any argument might be they would not
separate for at least eight hours, and that there should be as little
"hot stuff" (quoting Mimi Brandt) as possible.
The avowed object of the Americans was to prove conclusively that
Germany, carrying out a deliberate program, had precipitated the war in
1914, believing Russia to be deliquescent, France riddled with
syndicalism, and Britain on the verge of civil war; consequently that
the exact moment had come for the swift execution of her scientifically
wrought plan for world dominion.
The three German girls, deep and many as were their causes for
resentment and disgust, had clung fast to the belief in their country's
defensive attitude in the face of a gigantic conspiracy, and were not
pried apart from it without hours of argument, hot and resentful on the
one side, cool, precise, and logical on the other.
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