"No!" was the short, morose answer. "I was quite of the contrary opinion."
"And so was I! We judged wrongly, as it appears! This is the tame, patient, unpractical nation of thinkers! But I always said that in every one of these Germans lay hidden something of the bearish nature, and this seems now to have broken out all at once, among the whole people. It is no longer a struggle with changing fortunes; they throw down and crush all that comes in their way. An unblest success!"
"But we are not at the end yet," said Alison coldly. "The Emperor's mercenary hordes are beaten, but the republic summon the whole land to arms; nation now stands arrayed against nation. We shall yet see if the German bear does not at last find his master!"
"I wish he would find him!" growled Atkins surlily. "I wish he could be driven back over his Rhine, so that the intoxication and pride of victory might for all time be taken from him, and he again learn to dance tamely and patiently as when--"
The American got no further in his pious wishes for the future weal of Germany. Jane had suddenly risen, and stood erect and tall before him; her eyes flamed down upon the little man as if she would annihilate him.
"You quite forgot Mr. Atkins, that I too am a German by birth, and the child of German parents," she said.
Atkins stood there as if thunderstruck. "You, Miss Jane?" he asked, scarce believing his ears.
"Yes, I! and I will not hear my fatherland spoken of in this way. Keep your revilings and your hopes for Mr. Alison's ears; he shares your wishes; but do not utter them in my presence; I will bear it no longer!"
And throwing back her head with a gesture of lofty scorn, she turned away from the two men, and vanished inside the door of the house.
"What was that?" asked Alison, after a momentary pause.