‘Seems unfair, doesn’t it?’ said Reggie. ‘In our policy of “Government by the poor,” they scarcely grasped the idea of a combined Japanese and Chinese force,—with a score of ironclads, landing an army corps in North Queensland, and marching south!’
‘But what would England’s Navy be doing all the time?’ demanded Vanda.
‘England’s Navy,’ replied Reggie, ‘might have something else to do at that particular time—more especially if Russia, Germany, and perhaps France, chose to consider it a befitting time to teach these proud islanders that the “sea, and all that in them is,” was not their inalienable birthright. Besides, it’s a long way to come, and our noble army of town-bred artisans, back-block shearers, swagmen, and shepherds would make no great stand against their countless hordes. The coast all looted, with banks and treasuries rifled, as also private property of all kinds; the city population helpless in the hands of the ruthless spoilers. Think of it! It would then be a case of “Oh, weep for fair Australia!” as an Australian poet sang a year or two since.’
[331]
]‘What a ghastly picture—a kind of Verestchagin nightmare! It’s enough to freeze the blood in one’s veins. And what power could come to our aid? Oh, I know! Blood is thicker than water. When it came to the actual spectacle of a British Commonwealth submerged beneath a flood of barbarism, America would come to our aid. The “Stars and Stripes” would “chip in,” as they say. The Dominion of Canada, more loyal than Britain itself——’
‘New Zealand too—that makes a respectable number of Allied Forces,’ said her father, smiling at the girl’s eagerness.
‘But the mere conception of such a calamity,’ he continued, ‘makes one’s flesh creep. When one reckons up the toil and thought which the subduing of the wilderness has cost, the labour and the treasure expended in building up these fair cities—these grand provinces, this population of British blood and nurture, not inferior to any people in the world; to believe that the fruit of heroic colonisation, for which noble lives have been spent, noble blood shed, should have been all for nought—for worse than nothing—for ruin and desolation—the degradation of a nation, as in the old-world chronicles, about which we read, and take no heed; then, and then indeed, might one come to doubt the purpose of the Most High, the Divine plan of Providence, the beneficent scheme of the Universe.’
. . . . . . . . .
The business of the installation of the new family was not completed without a fair allowance of work and labour, even excitement.
[332]
]There necessarily remained much to do before the final arrangements were complete. An additional morning-room for the girls was to be chosen, in which to write and make society arrangements, to receive their friends, to hold informal afternoon teas, and to perform any kind of needlework, and literary pastime, quietly and reposefully.
Of course furniture for some of the principal reception-rooms had to be purchased and arranged. Grave councils were held before this scheme could be carried out. But at length everything was completed, and the collective taste of the family fully satisfied.