All for a Scrap of Paper Part 21

Yes, he had counted the cost, and paid it. He had sacrificed the dearest thing on earth, he had lost the woman he loved. Nancy could never be his now. She had driven him from her mind and heart, because she believed him to be a s.h.i.+rker, a recreant, a coward.

He took from his pocket-book the white feather she had given him, and looked at it. Yes, that was what she thought of him. A coward! And all the time he would have given anything to be able to offer himself for the front.

A knock came at the door, and a servant entered bearing a letter.

"It's from my mother," said Bob to himself, as he broke the seal.

CHAPTER XI

Evidently some one had sent Mrs. Nancarrow an Oxford newspaper, for her letter was in the main about what Bob had done there.

"I am proud of you," she wrote. "People down here have been saying that you are a coward, and that you ran away from home because you did not dare to meet the people who knew of your action in relation to the war. What you did at Oxford at least shows that is untrue. I am delighted that you defended the poor creature, and thrashed the wretches badly. I see that one of them is still suffering from the blow you struck him. I have written to Oxford for fifty copies of the paper, and shall send them to all our friends. I cannot bear, I simply cannot bear people to think of you as a coward; and I have also arranged with our local paper to insert a full account of what you did.

I was glad yesterday to see that one of the Cornish papers had a full report of it, and in its bill of contents printed the following:

"'PLUCKY CONDUCT OF A YOUNG CORNISHMAN IN OXFORD

"'MR. ROBERT NANCARROW THRASHES TWO BLACKGUARDS AND HANDS THEM OVER TO THE POLICE.'

"But, Bob, I don't understand you. In spite of your Quaker principles you felt it right to thrash these villains. What is the difference between thras.h.i.+ng the wretches who would harm a weak and defenceless woman, and helping your country to thrash that German bully who is a menace to Europe? If it was your duty to do one, it is surely your duty to do the other? The same principle is involved.

"By the way, Nancy Tresize has been accepted for Nursing work abroad.

You remember that years ago she took a full certificate as a Nurse, and through the Admiral's influence she has obtained a post in France--at a French hospital, I expect. Perhaps she thinks she will thus be nearer Captain Trevanion, to whom report says she is going to be, if she is not already, engaged, If he is wounded, it might be that she would be able to nurse him.

"Oh, Bob, my boy, my boy, you've lost her. I am told that she despises you beyond words, while the Admiral regrets having given you free access to his house and called you his friend. All this is an awful grief to me. If you went to the front I should of course live in daily and hourly dread of anything happening to you, but all the same I should be proud beyond words to know that my son had offered his life for his country. But now--well, before I received this Oxford paper I felt ashamed to meet my friends."

Bob closed the letter with a sigh. He was wounded in the house of his friends. If it were only right, if it were Christian to----; but no, it was not. It was a violation of every known principle of Christ.

Because the Germans used murderous means to make Europe a h.e.l.l, it did not follow that England should do the same. Two wrongs could not make a right Besides, how much peace and good-will was there in it all?

The next day he saw an announcement that a great meeting was to be held that same night at the Imperial Opera House, to be addressed by certain well-known statesmen. The purpose of the meeting was to instruct the public as to the real causes of the war, and to point out the nation's duty. Bob made up his mind to go. Throughout the day he applied himself to his work, and then after an early dinner he left the Temple, and going out by way of the Temple Church found himself in Fleet Street.

Everywhere the evidences of the war were manifest. On every conveyance was a call to arms. Newsboys were eagerly shouting the contents of the papers, people were talking in the streets of the one prevailing topic.

Presently he stopped at a bookshop, and was immediately struck with the changed character of the literature in the window. There were no "latest novels," no "new and important biographies"; instead every shelf was weighted with books about the war.

"GERMANY AND THE NEXT WAR, by General von Bernhardi. Startling disclosures of Germany's aims and plans, by a well-known German General," he read. "This is one of the most popular books in Germany, and is recommended by the Kaiser and the Crown Prince of Germany, as a book which every patriot should read. It explains why we are at war to-day."

Side by side were others of a similar description, all written by men who bore the greatest German names.

Prince von Bulow, ex-German Chancellor, Nietzsche, Trietschke, and similar great names were given as the authors of the books.

Bob entered the shop, and having selected three which he thought promised to give him the best idea of Germany's aims and methods, ordered the bookseller to send them to his chambers.

When he reached the Great Opera House, early as it was, he found a vast concourse of people. After some little difficulty he found a seat in a good position for viewing the audience. He was immediately struck by the fact that here was no thoughtless, irresponsible crowd; rather one largely made up of men of grim determination and iron will. They were intelligent, well-read men too. They knew the history of their country, knew its weakness, and realised its faults. Nevertheless they loved it.

They were not saints. They were just commonplace people, who lived commonplace lives, amidst commonplace surroundings. But they had a sense of right and wrong, and in spite of their failings they had an inherent love of right. They were Englishmen who instinctively hated war, and would do anything in their power to avoid it. But there were, to them, worse things than war. Breach of faith was one; the destruction of truth, honour, and the nation's good name was another.

If England had made a promise, no matter what it cost her, she must keep it. England could not stand by and see a little nation whom she had promised to protect, crushed:

But above all, they were Englishmen. Love of country was a tremendous factor. The homeland was dearer than their own lives. They could not stand by and see it filched from them.

Of course there were a lot of patriotic songs in which the whole audience joined. Some of them were silly doggerel, but there was nothing coa.r.s.e or unworthy in them.

"Yes," thought Bob, "there is something almost divine in this love of home and country. It is eternal in the human heart. One can't get away from that."

Presently the speakers came on the stage, amidst great cheering and waving of handkerchiefs.

The chief speaker, one who held the supreme position in Naval matters, spoke first. It was a masterly speech, every sentence of which was carefully prepared and tellingly delivered. He did not appeal to pa.s.sion, but in cold, measured terms spoke of the causes which led to the war, and then pa.s.sed on to the success of the Navy and the Army.

"Yes," reflected Bob, as the young statesman sat down amidst the thundering applause of the mult.i.tude, "as far as a war can be righteous, this is. If ever a war were justified, this is. But can a resort to brute force and instruments of murder ever be justified?

That is the question. No, it is not right that these Germans should be a menace to Europe and the world; but do we not believe in G.o.d? Can we not trust Him? Must blood be washed out by blood, must brutal arrogance be swept away at the cost of carnage and infinite misery?"

The second speaker, although he had not the same weight, deepened the impression the other had made by his brilliance and rhetoric. He too told the story of the English Amba.s.sador in Berlin who was asked whether England would go to war for "a sc.r.a.p of paper."

That was the question which he asked amidst the cheers of the crowd, and then waited a second.

"Yes," and his voice rang clearly through the great building, "when that sc.r.a.p of paper meant England's honour and faithfulness."

Before Bob knew what he was doing, he found himself cheering wildly. A man, a nation should fight for its honour, its plighted word.

Then the old question came back. But how could it do so in the name of Christ? Should not the weapons of Christ be used? Should not an appeal be made to the Founder of the Christian religion? Would not the Kaiser, he who professed to be a Christian, have laid down the sword if he had been appealed to in the name of the Prince of Peace? How could a b.l.o.o.d.y war be waged by those who believed in Christ? It was all confusing, maddening!

The last speaker was a Labour Member of Parliament. He used no polished phrases, no brilliant epigrams. He had no knowledge of the cla.s.sics, and could not ill.u.s.trate his arguments by quotations from great writers. But he had something better--a homely wit, a great human sympathy. He had a ready tongue, too, and the crowd roared at his homely humour.

"Six years ago," he said, "I went to Berlin. I was a delegate at a Peace Conference in that capital. I was one of many sent there by all the nations of Europe. Our aim was to discuss means whereby national quarrels could be settled without an appeal to the sword--by brotherly counsel, by friendly arrangement, by arbitration.

"What happened? Remember this was in Berlin, the capital of the German Empire. We had met there in the interests of the peace of the world.

Surely the n.o.blest, the most Christ-like purpose for which any conference could meet."

Bob's heart grew warm at this. It was the dream of his own life, it accorded with the teaching of Hint Who died for the world.

"What happened?" went on the speaker. "This happened. No sooner had the President of the Conference got on his feet to address the delegates, before a single sentence had been spoken, than a number of soldiers rushed in, sent there by the German Government, and brutally broke up the Conference. We were not allowed even to discuss the means whereby the nations might live at peace, there in the German capital.

What would become of the liberties of England if we were conquered by a nation like that?"

Bob had no knowledge of what took place at the meeting after that. The incident told, as it was, in homely, yet forcible fas.h.i.+on, seemed unbelievable. Yet, he thought, the man would not dare to tell it if it were not true. It was not a matter of hearsay; the thing had been seen, experienced by the speaker. Not only did the Germans not desire peace, but they made it impossible even to discuss means of maintaining it. That was Germany! War they could engage in proudly, but even friendly discussion among lovers of peace, to obtain peace, was made impossible by the soldiers of the Kaiser.

Bob left the meeting bewildered. The brilliant speeches were forgotten in the recital of this single incident. Surely there must be some mistake! It could not be! It was opposed to, nay, it was the grossest violation of the first elements of Christianity. And it had, been done by the Government of the Kaiser.

No, no, the Kaiser did not know, he could not know! But this must have been because of the law of the land, and the Kaiser must be cognisant of it.

As he entered the door of the building where his chambers were, he saw a young fellow whom he knew slightly.

"I say, have you seen this, Nancarrow?" he said.

"What is it?"