“If such are your sentiments”—Patterson broke rudely into the conversation, and for the first time since their interview in the drawing room, addressed Barclay directly. “Why have you expatriated yourself?”
“You are mistaken. I never renounce what I admire and love,” answered Barclay curtly, and turned back to his dinner partner.
There was a brief silence, which Lois made no attempt to break, and Patterson, too angry to speak, emptied his champagne glass.
“Ogden has an excellent wine cellar,” he commented, putting down his glass. “Ever heard how he made his money?”
“No, except that Ethel once said he held heavy interests in the Pacific shipping trade with the Far East.”
“Humph! Most of the carrying trade between the Pacific Coast and the Orient has been transferred to Japanese steamship lines,” remarked Patterson thoughtfully. “I’m afraid he’ll find he has made a poor investment, unless—Ever been to Guam?”
“Yes. It is a delightful naval station.”
“Quite true, also one of our most strategic points, and not far away, commanding the entrance of Guam, is Jaluit Island, of the Marshall group, which was seized by the Japanese from the Germans. It is strongly fortified, another Gibraltar in fact,” Patterson spoke with growing earnestness. “If we have interests in the Far East, it is time to take steps to safeguard them, or they will vanish in a night.”
“I do recall that when we stopped at Hawaii I was struck by the hundreds of Japanese in Honolulu and its vicinity,” said Lois. “Did I not hear that the Japanese had also taken the Caroline Islands near the Philippines, from the Germans?”
“They have,” grimly.