They merely gaped upon him.
"German troops have entered Belgium; France, England, and Russia are at war with Germany and Austria!"
He waited for the astonishment to die away in their eyes.
Kate was shaking her head. "It is impossible," she said. "There may be a disturbance, but the world is past the time of great wars. Men are now too civilized, and—"
Here she stopped, for her eyes fell on the faces of Harrigan and McTee. Civilized? No; she had seen enough to know that civilization strikes no deeper in human nature than clothes go to change the man.
"Civilized?" Don Jose had taken her up. "Ah, madam, already wild tales reach us of the Germans in Belgium."
"But there was a treaty," she cried, "and the greatest nations in the world have guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium. Germany herself—"
"True!" said Jose; "but it is because of the violation of Belgian neutrality, among other things, that England has entered the war, it is said."
"Ah-h!" said Harrigan, lapsing suddenly from Spanish into his Irish brogue. "Thrue for ye, man! John Bull will take the Kaiser by the throat. In time of peace, why, to hell with England, say I, like all good Irishmen; but in time av war-r, it's shoulder to shoulder, John Bull an' Paddy, say I, an' we'll lick the wor-r-rld!"
And McTee broke in savagely. "You forget the Scotch. Without the
Scotch, England and Ireland—what could they do? Nothing!"