The Men Who Wrought

us, there is, at least, one significant certainty, my boy. It's the inventor. He's

ssolution of Parliament had released the latter from his political duties, had at last reached the end of a long discussion of the position brought about by the hopelessl

liquor glass. There was a smile in his keen blue eyes. Bu

out the war-and to some purpose. Now we have a

ion was still oppressing him. His mind was full of the appalling

refully shaded table lights. Father and son were occupying only the extreme end of the dining-table, which had, at some far-distant age, served to bear the burden of the daily meals of half a hundred monks. There were no other lights in the room, and even

rman submarine warfare during the late war. His extreme wealth, and the fact of the enormous Government contracts in his ship-building yards, had left him prac

f his country. Not in the actual fighting line but in the work of organizati

pierced and

orget." Then his manner lightened. "Henceforth the inventor must be to us a rare and precious orchid. We must spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on him, the same as I spend thousands on my orchid houses. I count myself well repaid if I

olical engines of destruction w

ed himself

of the defence, not the offenc

n nodded as he

are-prepare. We have only

be no more

ing the country to se

Party prejudices, as antique

through dividing the country into classes

s security, economic or military, to be h

hiver when I think

uction," added Si

that intangible threat inspired by the unsatisfactory termination of the war, which lef

igure. His broad shoulders and shortish figure; his round, strong, Yorkshire face, with its crowning of snow-white,

xton it was almost in eve

hman, just as no Englishman but would have charged him with possessing

s over one year with one of the most beautiful women amongst th

ese things all came from his Russian mother, who had possessed them herself in a marked degree. Furthermore he inherited other qualities which could never be claimed for his Yorkshire fath

university with the backing of a keen, well-balanced brain, and a natural aptitude for statecraft in relation to the rest of the world. He

all times. It is the purpose of my life to devote myself to, and associate

alize in Great Britain,"

hat? Do you rea

stirred i

ole. One or two, however, are so prodigious, and have been so pronouncedly marked, that the veriest optimist has not failed to observe. One which stood out remarkably was the attitude of the reigning Government when war was declared. Every newspaper cried aloud that our ranks had closed up to meet the peril. They did close up, as far as the will of the country was concerned, but our machinery was geared to certain movement, a machine built through years of partizanship in politics. The result was pitiful. When the party in power was faced with Labor troubles which threatened our downfall in the war, they dared not face their task of drastic remedy because they saw in the dim future the loss of votes which would return their opponents to power at the next election. Hence the political crisis, at a time when we could ill afford such crises, and the formation of a coalition. Ten months were thus lost in drifting while Labor played, and our soldiers, inadequately armed, went to their deaths. The press, a divided press, mark you, sought a scapegoat in the individual, when they, no less than our national machinery, were to blame for the disaster. Is such a condition conceivable in a fervent Latin race, or an iron-shod Teuton? No, no. Is it right to blame Labor, who, for the past decade and more, has been coddled and pampered into the belief that like any baby in its cradle it has only to cry loud enough to obtain the alleviating fluid? It at least has cunning enough to realize that its weight of vote in the country is sufficient to control the destiny of the demagogues who seek place and power through its ignorance. Man, but it makes me sweat to think of it. National spirit? Faugh! Look at the manufacturers. Patriotism? They were full of newspaper patriotism until those who were executing Government contracts discovered that their profits were to be limited. The Army? Our voluntary system? The Arm

s, passed one strong hand over his lined brow. He swallowed like a man choking back an emotion threatening to overwhelm him. Then the flush died out of his rugged cheeks, and he smiled at the son he loved, and who

ponsively and thr

e life of this country. From the beginning to the end of this war England has had to pay out of her coffers, to those of her people whose services she needed, a price so extortionate that one wonders

ble and led the way towards

f it will prove to be

itten on thin paper. When they reached the great hall and stood under the

cally, "and few enough turn out worth while. T

S

hirty-five ocean-going ships. At the end of the war you owned thirteen coastwise and twenty-one ocean-going traders

ly y

les S

A simple 'yes' addressed by wire to

nterested me," Sir Andrew went on, as Ruxt

nger man looked u

"Let it work. Let it run riot. That's what we want in England-now. I shou

an wreathed into a warm smile as

ed to," he s

t mullioned window and looked out upon the perfect summer night. Th

Andrew went on. "If you want me I shall be

me good, Dad. I want to feel our beloved Yorkshire cliff

n lau

father enquired presently. "You've got seven weeks in

in my native air," Ruxton said lightly. "

hall win

re to link forces with them, they couldn't obtain a twenty-five per cent. representation. No, Dad, whatever the country failed to realize during the first two years of war, it's been all br

mile from his father. Also a world of pride in t

ardently. "And what a sweeping, what a garn

that lies before us, and without it the other side can never be achieved. But all my future is to be given up to the material security side of the problem. It may be only my dreaming, but I seem to see a terrible threat sweeping up over the eas

assed through the entrance hall, out into the brillian