"Not on the lines I mean to work it. Did you lose any relatives in the war?" "It depends." "I feel sure you did. And at this moment the bodies of those patriots are sepultured in Alsatian soil. I want you to dig them up again." "_Mon Dieu! Ce charmant homme!_" "I want you to form a league for the recovery of the remains of those noble spirits who died for their native land, and whose bones now lie interred in what was France, but which now, alas! is France no more. I want you to go in for this bone recovery business as far as possible on a wholesale scale." "_Ciel! Maintenant j'ai trouvé un homme extraordinaire!_" "You will find no difficulty in obtaining the permission of the necessary authorities sanctioning your schemes; but at the very last moment, owing to some stated informality, the German brigands will interfere even at the edge of the already open grave; patriot bones will be dishonoured, France will be shamed in the face of all the world." "And then?" "The great heart of France is a patient heart, my friend, but even France will not stand that. There will be war." "And then?" "On the day on which war is declared, one hundred thousand pounds will be paid to you in cash." "And supposing there is no war?" "Should France prefer to cower beneath her shame, you shall still receive ten thousand pounds." CHAPTER III The following extract is from the _Times'_ Parisian correspondence-- "The party of La Revanche is taking a new departure. I am in a position to state that certain gentlemen are putting their heads together. A league is being formed for the recovery of the bodies of various patriots who are at present asleep in Alsace. I have my own reasons for asserting that some remarkable proceedings may be expected soon. No man knows better than myself that there is nothing some Frenchmen will not do." On the same day there appeared in _La Patrie_ a really touching article. It was the story of two brothers--one was, the other was not; in life they had been together, but in death they were divided. Both alike had fought for their native land. One returned--_désolé!_--to Paris. The other stayed behind. He still stayed behind. It appeared that he was buried in Alsace, in a nameless grave! But they had vowed, these two, that they would share all things--among the rest, that sleep which even patriots must know, the unending sleep of death. "It is said," said the article in conclusion, "that that nameless grave, in what was France, will soon know none--or two!" It appeared that the surviving brother was going for that "nameless grave" on the principle of double or quits. The story appeared, with variations, in a considerable number of journals. The _Daily Telegraph_ had an amusing allusion to the fondness displayed by certain Frenchmen for their relatives--dead, for the "bones" of their fathers. But no one was at all prepared for the events which followed.