It is exceedingly difficult to say, I observed. Diplomacy is so involved, so intricate, so uncertain, that no one can say until all things are really settled.
“I wonder,” he immediately said, “whether England will go to war.”
I cannot say, I answered; I sincerely hope not.
“If there be war, I wonder,” he said, “which way it would go. I wonder whether Russia would take Constantinople. I wonder whether she would crush Turkey. I wonder what the effect would be upon our way to India. I wonder how Germany and Austria would act in the matter.”
After he had done, I said, I wonder what time it is.
He said, “It is eight o’clock.”
I must go, I have another engagement at half-past eight. So leaving my friend’s friend in his wonders, I retired.
Another Wonderer I met with shortly after the one just named, when the conversation turned upon the new Bishopric of Cornwall.
“I wonder what effect it will have upon the Methodists.”
It will stir them up to duty and diligence, I hope.