"I see; and you come from what is called a good family in England, I suppose?"
"I can claim to have that honour, sir," and again the lonely figure was silent, and appeared to be reexamining the papers before him. His face was still in the shade, but, as far as Bob could judge, he appeared to be thinking deeply. "Who is he, and what does he want with me, I wonder?" he reflected. "I am nobody; why have I been treated in this wonderful fashion?"
"You Englishmen think you are winning in this war, I suppose?"
Again the words came suddenly, and still in the same, almost light, weak voice.
For a moment Bob felt afraid to speak; the silence of the room, save for the ticking of the little clock, and the occasional rustle of papers, together with the experiences through which he had been passing, almost unnerved him; besides, there was something uncanny, almost ghostly, about the silent, lonely figure there.
"We shall win, sir, because God is always on the side of right."
"Right! Then you think you are in the right?"
"What doubt can there be? We stand for liberty against tyranny; for faithfulness to our promises; but, more than all, we stand for peace against war,--that is why God will be on our side."
Again the lonely figure looked at Bob intently; the young man's words seemed to have caused him some surprise.
"Nonsense!" he said presently. "I suppose you are thinking of the Belgian Treaty? What do you English care about the Belgian Treaty?"
"Enough to risk our very existence, sir."
"Come, tell me frankly--of course, you cannot speak for your statesmen--but do you know anything of the English people as a whole? I was informed just now that you seemed intelligent; perhaps you are. It will be interesting to hear what you regard as the general feeling in England about this war."
"The English hate it, sir--hate it as they hate the devil; they think it is the greatest crime in history. The English are a peace-loving people; they want only peace."
"And, as a consequence, they do not support it."
"On the contrary, sir, never was so much enthusiasm shown about any war in the history of the nation as is shown about this."
"And yet they hate it. Why then are they enthusiastic?"
"Because they believe it to be war against war; against the spirit of war; against the doctrines that might is right, and that force is the will of God."