"
"That is not impossible," was her guarded reply. "It is true, I
have talked with some in that part of the country."
"You were witness of the anxiety of our attempt to keep war and the
talk of it far in the background,--our desire to preserve the
present state of peace."
"Assuredly. But, Sirs, you will forgive me,--I do not believe
peace will last. I thought so, until this very day. In my belief,
now, there will be war. It can not be averted."
"We are glad to hear the belief of all, on all sides," was the
courteous rejoinder. "We ourselves hope the compromise to be more
nearly final. Perhaps you as well as others hold to the so-called
doctrine of the 'higher law'? Perhaps you found your politics in
Rousseau's _Nouvelle Heloise_, rather than in the more sober words
of our own Constitution?" His eyes were quizzical, yet not unkind.
"Certain doctrines seem to endure," was her stout answer, kindling.
"I am but a woman, yet I take it that anything that I can say will
have no value unless it shall be sincere.
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