What a FOOL I have
been!"
"How long will it be before other men awaken to say the same
thing?"
"Each man's folly is his own shame." He drew himself stiffly
upright as a man might who stood before a firing squad. "I had a
life to live or to throw away. Because I was hideously wounded at
the outset I threw it aside as done for. I said 'there is neither
God nor devil, vice nor virtue, love nor hate. I will do and leave
undone what I choose.' I had power and brain and money. A man
who could see clearly and who had words to choose from might have
stood firmly in the place to which he was born and have spoken in
a voice which might have been listened to. He might have fought
against folly and blindness and lassitude. I deliberately chose
privately to sneer at the thought of lifting a hand to serve any
thing but the cold fool who was myself. Life passes quickly. It
does not turn back." He ended with a short harsh laugh. "This
is Fear," he said. "Fear clears a man's mind of rubbish and
non-essentials. It is because I am AFRAID that I accuse myself. And
it is not for myself or you but for the whole world which before
the end comes will seem to fall into fragments."
"You have been seeing ominous signs?" the Duchess said leaning
forward and speaking low.
"There have been affectionate visits to Vienna. There is a certain
thing in the air--in the arrogance of the bearing of men clanking
their sabres as they stride through the streets.
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