The Frenchman looked at him quickly.
"You have seen the German army?"
"Yes," and Stewart told something of his experience, while the other listened intently.
"It is this first onslaught—this first rush—which is dangerous," said the Frenchman, when he had finished. "Germany has staked everything upon that—upon catching us unawares and winning the war with one swift, terrible blow. If we can escape that—if we can ward it off—we shall win. If not—well, it will be for England and America to free the world."
"America?" echoed Stewart. "Surely...."
"You in America do not understand," broke in his companion, "as we in Europe understand—but you will before this war is very old."
"Understand what?"
"That this is not a war of nations, but a war of ideals. It is the last desperate struggle of medieval despotism to save itself and to enslave the world. If it succeeds, democracy will vanish. Every free nation will go in fear, and one by one will perish. But it will not succeed—humanity cannot permit it to succeed. Before this war is finished, all the free peoples of the earth will be banded together in a league of brotherhood—America with all the others—at the head of all the others. She will be fighting for her freedom as truly as in her War of Independence—and for the freedom of all mankind as well. She will realize this—she will realize what this black menace of autocracy means for the world—and she will come in. She will be with us, hand in hand—shoulder to shoulder."
"Pray God it may be so!" said Stewart, in a low voice, but his heart misgave him.
How could America—that great, inchoate country, that ferment of all the nations of the world, aloof from Europe, guarded by three thousand miles of sea—be made to understand? How could she be made to see that this was her fight—specially and peculiarly her fight? How could she be made to realize that Germany's ruthless sword was slashing, not at Belgium or France or England, but at the ideals, the principles, the very foundation stones of the American Republic?