The Squire himself
went to his own desk.
'Will you sit there?' He pointed to her chair. 'I want to speak to
you.'
Then after a pause he added slowly, 'Will you tell me--what you
think I can now do with my time?'
His voice had a curious monotony--unlike its usual tone. But
Elizabeth divined a coming crisis. She went very white.
'Dear Mr. Mannering--I don't know what to say--except that the
country seems to want everything that each one of us can do.'
'Have you read Haig's Order of the Day?'
'Yes, I have just read it.'
The Squire's eyes, fixed upon her, had a strange intensity.
'You and I have never known--never dreamt--of anything like this.'
'No--never. But England has had her back to the wall before!'
She sat proudly erect, her hands quietly crossed. But he seemed to
hear the beating of her heart.
'You mean when Pitt said, "Roll up the map of Europe"? Yes--that too
was vital. But the people at home scarcely knew it--and it was not a
war of machines.'
'No matter! England will never yield.
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