War meant ruin for her and the destruction of all her hopes for Toby.—And her own Jock!—but she never wavered.
CHAPTER XXXI
THE COLONEL
That night Sir Edward Grey made the historic speech, which swung the nation into line like one man, and launched Great Britain on the supreme adventure of her history.
The one bright spot in the situation is Ireland.
Redmond had followed in a speech which filled the Colonel's eyes with tears and his heart with gladness as he read it next morning, so generous it was, so chivalrous.
I say to the Government they may withdraw every one of their troops from Ireland. Ireland will be defended by her armed sons from invasion, and for that purpose Catholics in the South will join the Protestants in the North.
The Colonel paced to and fro on his lawns, the paper flapping in his hand.
Not even the spectacle of Carson, sulking in his tent, and answering never a word to his opponent's magnanimous appeal, could mar that vision splendid.
All day long the Colonel never left his garden, hovering round the telephone. Anything might happen at any moment.