"I want to know exactly," she said, "what you think of it all. I know my husband has been making fun of it. He does not understand. He never will."
"Mr. de Valentin's scheme is a good one," I said slowly, "but he has not told us everything. If you want my opinion—"
"Of course I do," she declared.
"Then I think," I continued, "that his success depends a good deal upon something which he did not tell us."
"What is it?" she asked, eagerly.
"It depends, I think," I said, "upon the Power which has agreed to back his claims. If that Power is England, as he tried to make us believe, he has a great chance. If it is Germany, I think that he will fail."
She frowned impatiently.
"You are prejudiced," she declared.
"Perhaps," I answered. "Still, I may be right, you know."
"Germany is infinitely more powerful," she objected. "If she mobilized an army on the frontier, and France found half her soldiers disaffected—"