“I know him,” I said. “And I agree with you.”
He caught our eyes fixed on him, and blinked through his goggles, and then waved his hand, and made his way to us.
“Hulloa, doc,” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me you know Susy Whincop?”
“No need,” he answered. “Miss Whincop is the golden link between all men of good-will.”
Susy was pleased with that. She patted the little doctor’s hand and said, “Bully for you, Doctor—and may the Stars and Stripes wave over the League of Nations!”
Then she was assailed by other guests, and the Doctor and I took refuge in a corner.
“How’s everything?” I asked.
The doctor was profoundly dejected, and did not hide the gloom that possessed his soul.
“Sonny,” he answered, “we shall have to fight with our backs to the wall, because the enemy—the old Devil—is prevailing against us. I have just come over from Paris, and I don’t mind telling you that what I saw during the Peace Conference has made me doubt the power of goodness over evil.”
“Tell me,” I said.