“Not under the circumstances. Nothing would pass into or out of Germany the moment they began to mobilise,--no letters, no telegrams, certainly no foreigners. But they would start at the latest on Monday. This is Friday. They ought certainly to be well on their way by this time. But, you see, they may have had to take some roundabout route,--perhaps off the beaten track. We shall hear from them all right in time. They don’t cause me the slightest anxiety.” “Think of closing the Exchange! ... and eight per cent! That shows what the big pots think of things anyway,” said Gregor, beating a soft tattoo on the floor with his heels in his amazement. “Shows I was right in stopping away too! Sight better here than mouching about down there! I wonder when they’ll open shop again.” “If we’re right into it--as we shall be,” said the Colonel, with conviction, “it’s impossible to say how things will go on. We’ve never had such a crisis before, you see, and I don’t suppose any living man can foresee just how things will work out. Money will be very tight, I expect. Provisions may go up beyond anything we’ve ever known. That will depend on the fleet. If we can hold the seas----” “Why, of course we can, sir. What’s our fleet for?” said Gregor. “They have some ships too, I believe.” “They have, and we’ll give them beans if they’ll give us half a chance,” said Noel. “It might be wise to lay in a stock of provisions,” suggested Miss Mitten. “I remember during the--I mean, hearing--that food went to extraordinary prices during the Crimean War.” “Go it, Auntie Mitt! We’ll go up to the Army and Navy to-morrow and clear them out,” laughed Vic. “This really sounds like war times.” “You’d better load us up too, while you’re at it, Vic,” said Honor, “or maybe we’ll be sitting by the roadside crying for a crust.” “Wait a moment, you giddy young people,” said Uncle Tony, nodding his gray head sagely at them. “Let us look at this matter for a moment. Suppose everybody acts on that idea. What is going to be the result?” “The bulls will clear the market and outsiders will go short,” said Gregor. “Exactly! And the outsiders would be in the proportion of a hundred--perhaps a thousand--to one. I’ve no doubt some--perhaps even many--will do as Auntie Mitt proposes. It will naturally suggest itself to the provident housekeeper,”--with a conciliatory little bow to the already conscience-stricken little lady,--“but the effect will be bad all round. It will drive up prices unnecessarily. It will deplete stocks. It will emphasise the gap between the rich and the poor. Carried to extremes it might well lead to riot and revolution, for starving men stick at nothing.”--Miss Mitten clasped her thin little black-mittened hands as though she saw them coming and begged for mercy, and her face was woe-begone. “Indeed, in such a case, I would hold a man justified in storming any house which had provisioned itself in such a way----”