The Men Who Wrought

d along over the grass-grown cart track, which skirted those fields abut

grass-grown track failed to remind him that the shoes he wore had never been intended for country rambles. The soft s

of that force which had come to make his contemporaries realize that here was a man of that unusual calibre

he diamond-studded sky suggested no jewel-bedecked cloak of mysterious night as at other times it was wont to appeal. All romance was dead for the time, as though the shutter of h

s head was towards the sea, and craning over the very edge of the dizzy cliff. There was no thought in his mind of the dangerous proximity. He had known these cliffs almost from his birth up. They were the friends of his whole life, and their possible latent treachery

oral welfare, he felt, should be in hands far more capable in that direction than his life and learning had made his. It had been his habit of life to feed his mind upon hard and incontrovertible facts which bore upon the goal of his ideal

them all, when arranged in due order, one stream like some rushing rive

d and odd million souls. The war had proved that. And the only possible peace resulting from it had added the conviction that, from a peace point of view, the war had proved utterly useless and damaging. Besides the enormous expenditure of tre

nce again all the moral development of the human race towards those higher planes of light, learning, and religious ideals was s

t would smoulder, like some slumbering volcano, only to break out again when the arrogance of

od brooked no obstruction to its course. It clamored for its goal and swept all side issues out of its path. Great Britain lay in that sea beyond. Great Britain, who, in German eyes, owned the earth, and incidentally had snatched even those inadequate colonies from her bosom, which, through long yea

all others in its significance, and reduced them all almost to nothingness. His father had dwelt upon the lack of national spirit when war broke out. That had bee

im as a support. He gazed down at the calm summer moonlit s

neath that shimmering surface and-nothing. In that instant there flashed through his mind a memory of just such another sea. The perfect summer sea. The great ship, one of the wonders of the age. A stealing trail of foam across the glass-like surface. An explosion. Then fifteen hund

sion. He propped his head upon one hand with his eyes fixed on the vague horizon beyon

gain? No, I think not. Not at least while there is a chance that his

erburdened soul the truth

answered him, had proceeded. In the brilliant moonlight he saw the outline of a figure standing upon the footpath which ran parallel to the coast

he had permitted himself to respond to the challenge of this stranger, who was probably something in

s logical result. The figure was moving towards him, and as it drew near he became

ting on the heather, but his eyes were wide with astonished admiration, and his clean-

London or Paris. He stared, stared as might some schoolboy budding into manhood at the sight of a perfect womanhood. Then, in a moment, questions r

ould think of no other color which could match such a presence. Her figure, sharply outlined in the moonlight, was superb. It suggested all he had ever seen in those ardent dreams

another moment his whole attention was absorbed by the rich voice, the

blame the night," she

ter Ruxton had nothing but a

and a sigh some

lood was set swiftly pul

"I have had a long walk, and am a li

xton felt that her expression of weariness was f

ittle tired," he said,

es were large and almost oriental in their shape. Her cheeks were as delicate as the petals of a lily.

y him. But a sm

content, turning her face towards the sea, and

of the encounter. He felt himself to be like a callow youth of seventeen rather than a man of over t

, and there is no habitation between-except Dorby Towers. Beyond this there is a village or two, but no railway f

those villages. Still, I have had a long wal

further explanatio

not expl

t nee

nd her Eastern eyes were

n's beauty, her frank unconventionality, were wholly charming. He asked nothing better than that she should satisfy her whim, and sit there, beside him

and adventure. Let us forget there are such things as conventionality, and just-talk. Let us talk as this silver night prompts. Let us try and forget

his invitation. A little pucker o

e moment there is the difference of sex between us? Will you forget that I am a woman who has wilfully thrust her presence upon a man, a stranger, and laid herself open to a dreadful interpretation of her actions? Will you simply regard me as some one who is st

ired Ruxton, ignoring the

my feet for three hours. W

ew. The situation, as she put it, was wholly impossible. Yet her

comrades in a common cause," h

his, and the thought in the man's mind

pporting his head upon his hand and facing her. The moon was shining full down upon

he said with attempted lightnes

Nature's riot. He was probably pulling apart the wretched threads himself, seeking hope in his endeavor, hope for the future, hope for the future of this land we both love, and for its people. Doubtless he, as others, has found the task something mor

fathomed his secret feelings as his eyes had searched the surface of the shimmering summer sea. Her understanding was even m

at," he found

e mind that distorts with painful fancy the threat which has not yet fallen. It is the mind which is inspired by a heart strong with hope, which in its turn owes its inspiration to a spirit p

ain. Their gaze was introspective, and she talked as she

And, through it all, he was noting and endeavoring to place that suggestion of foreign intonation in her perfect English accent. More and more was this splend

he said, as the musical tones ceased, and the m

a rea

gaze, for the moment, left the beautiful prof

" he sai

came the impres

came back to t

you te

with a crisis. Now he understood why she had worn herself to weariness for three hours

. It would convey simply-words.

s at peace now,"

when-the telling came fro

one li

d refused to hear. And thos

w you

could give him of life's leisure and delight, has dedica

xton was smiling, but behind his sm

strial, there is still the Teuton mind ready and yearning for such a revenge as will stagger all conscious life. Well may the sensitive imagination distort and magnify the threat that cannot yet be grasped. Well may the straining mind contemplate with ecstasy the oblivion gained by those poor creatures on the Lusitania. But for those who would learn, and know, and see, there is a better, braver death to die than the bosom of the ocean can offer. I tell you there is work for every true Briton, man and woman. Work that can offer little else than the reward of a conscience that, maybe, is rendered easy in death. The men who would lead Britain must be men with eyes, and ears, and mind wide o

nths. That I have felt. That in my heart I have known as surely as

d at the contiguity. So close was she that her breath fanned his

have felt, and thought, and known these things for months-if I can s

s? Was she just as she represented, just an ardent patriot, to whom chance had revealed some damaging secret of his country's enemies, or was she merely a woman endowed with superlative beauty exercising

hallenged, in a voice he ha

m a

sion came

erfectly," he persis

m-gl

e you-duri

Engl

flew back and forth withou

"There were thousands of forei

all wer

A flush stole up to his br

" he said. The mind h

y should be first in your th

hand across his br

a Pole. I

n you will understand my motives. I have lived through centuries of horror during that terrible war. A horror that even you, who know the horrors committed, will never be able to understand. The innocent women and children in Belgium and France, and my own country, on your own shores, on the high seas. O God," she buried he

I underst

panied her next words. "But no. Don't answer now. It would not be fair to yourself. It would not be fair to your country. It woul

he occupied herself with that truly feminine process of smoothing out th

g to his feet. He realized that she was about to vanish out

ing?" he sa

you will b

ed hand a shade longe

ne?" Somehow her going ha

oman laug

liffs. It is nothing. Remember I have bee

Good-

, and a considerable distance to other villages, she would only be on the cliffs a few moments.

od-

but was promptly arrest

t know yo

up her radiant features till Ruxton felt that never

not? It is Vladimi

er her, as the brilliant moonlight outlined