"But war!" protested Lépine. "Nonsense! For war there must be a cause."
"A pretext will do—and a pretext can always be found. Already Germany is preparing her pretext: she has demanded equal rights with France in Morocco—a preposterous demand, and one which France can never grant. What cares Germany about Morocco? Nothing! But the pretext must be ready. And now, Lépine," he added, pushing back the papers, and speaking in another tone, "I will tell you why I have come to you: I should prefer to work alone; but, in the first place, it was necessary to provide a means of access to M. Delcassé; in the second place, you got these papers, where I might have failed; in the third place, there are certain questions to which you can get an answer more easily than I."
"What are the questions?" asked Lépine, moved, in spite of himself, by Crochard's manner.
"There are two to which I would ask you to get answers at once. The first: does the government maintain, or has it authorised, any wireless stations in the town or in the neighbourhood? The second: have the wireless operators on any of the battleships noticed any unusual interference during the past few days? How long will it take you to secure answers to those questions—authoritative answers?"
"An hour."
Crochard glanced at his watch.
"It is now ten o'clock. At eleven, you will arrange for a conference with M. Delcassé. There must be no one present but we three."
"M. Crochard," said Lépine, drily, "I do not like your imperatives. I am not accustomed to them."
"M. Lépine," Crochard retorted, "my way of speaking is my own, and I am too old to change. In this affair, it is you who work with me, not I with you. Shall we go on, or shall we stop here?"
Lépine trembled with a severe inward struggle. Crochard impressed and fascinated him; but his terms were humiliating.