"You're an anarchist, then?"
"No," said Termite, "I'm an internationalist. That's why I enlisted."
"Ah!"
He tried to throw light on his words. "You understand, I'm against all wars."
"All wars! But there's times when war's good. There's defensive war."
"No," said Termite again, "there's only offensive war; because if there wasn't the offensive there wouldn't be the defensive."
"Ah!" we replied.
We went on chatting, dispassionately and for the sake of talking, strolling in the dubious security of the streets which were sometimes darkened by falls of wreckage, under a sky of formidable surprises.
"All the same, isn't it chaps like you that prevented France from being prepared?"
"There's not enough chaps like me to prevent anything; and if there'd been more, there wouldn't have been any war."