After a silence Buckhurst said: “All that may be, madame, yet not impair your creed.”
“What!” she said, “does not hatred of the stranger impair my creed?”
“It will die out and give place to reason.”
“When? When I attain the lofty, dispassionate level I have never attained? That will not be while this war endures.”
“Who knows?” said Buckhurst, gently. 106
“I know!” replied the Countess, the pale flames in her cheeks deepening again.
“And yet,” observed Buckhurst, patiently, “you are going to Paradise to work for the Internationale.”
“I shall try to do my work and love France,” she said, steadily. “I cannot believe that one renders the other impossible.”
“Yet,” said I, “if you teach the nation non-resistance, what would become of the armies of France?”
“I shall not teach non-resistance until we are at peace,” she said—“until there is not a German soldier left in France. After that I shall teach acquiescence and personal liberty.”