There is
an exultant eagerness in their eyes. Things are said which hold
scarcely concealed braggart threats. They have always been given
to that sort of thing--but now it strikes one as a thing unleashed--or
barely leashed at all. The background of the sound of clashing
arms and the thudding of marching feet is more unendingly present.
One cannot get away from it. The great munition factories are
working night and day. In the streets, in private houses, in the
shops, one hears and recognizes signs. They are signs which might
not be clear to one who has not spent years in looking on with
interested eyes. But I have watched too long to see only the
surface of things. The nation is waiting for something--waiting."
"What will be the pretext--what," the Duchess pondered.
"Any pretext will do--or none--except that Germany must have what
she wants and that she is strong enough to take it--after forty
years of building her machine."
"And we others have built none. We almost deserve whatever comes
to us." The old woman's face was darkly grave.
"In three villages where I chance to be lord of the manor I have,
by means of my own, set lads drilling and training. It is supposed
to be a form of amusement and an eccentric whim of mine and it
is a change from eternal cricket. I have given prizes and made an
occasional speech on the ground that English brawn is so enviable
a possession that it ought to develop itself to the utmost.
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