There was a color in her cheeks and her eyes were bright and quiet. To Senor Jose Barrydos y Maria y Leon she gave both her hands, and he bowed over them and kissed them both. His courtliness made Harrigan and McTee exchange a glance, perhaps of envy and perhaps of disquiet, for she accepted this profound courtesy with an ease as if she had been accustomed to nothing else all her life. But what a smile there was for each of them afterward! It left them speechless, so that they glowered upon each other and were glad of the soft flow of Senor Jose's words as he led them in to the breakfast table. And when the meal had progressed a little and some of the edge of the novelty of the situation and story had worn away, the Spaniard said: "But is it not true? Strange news floats in the air this week." "What news?" asked Harrigan. "Our wireless was out of commission for days." "True! Then you must learn from me?" He drew a breath and stiffened in his chair, then with a gesture of apology and a smile he added: "Why should I hunt for pompous words? I can tell you in one phrase: the world is at war, gentlemen!" They merely gaped upon him. "German troops have entered Belgium; France, England, and Russia are at war with Germany and Austria!" He waited for the astonishment to die away in their eyes. Kate was shaking her head. "It is impossible," she said. "There may be a disturbance, but the world is past the time of great wars. Men are now too civilized, and--" Here she stopped, for her eyes fell on the faces of Harrigan and McTee. Civilized? No; she had seen enough to know that civilization strikes no deeper in human nature than clothes go to change the man. "Civilized?" Don Jose had taken her up. "Ah, madam, already wild tales reach us of the Germans in Belgium." "But there was a treaty," she cried, "and the greatest nations in the world have guaranteed the neutrality of Belgium. Germany herself--" "True!" said Jose; "but it is because of the violation of Belgian neutrality, among other things, that England has entered the war, it is said." "Ah-h!" said Harrigan, lapsing suddenly from Spanish into his Irish brogue. "Thrue for ye, man! John Bull will take the Kaiser by the throat. In time of peace, why, to hell with England, say I, like all good Irishmen; but in time av war-r, it's shoulder to shoulder, John Bull an' Paddy, say I, an' we'll lick the wor-r-rld!" And McTee broke in savagely. "You forget the Scotch. Without the Scotch, England and Ireland--what could they do? Nothing!" "Could they not?" said Harrigan, with rising temper. "I tell ye, ye black Highlander, that wan Irishman--" "Hush," said Kate earnestly; for the Spaniard was staring at them in amaze. "It is a world war, and no time for jealousy. England--Scotland --Ireland--and America, too, in time--we will all be fighting for one purpose. And when the last test comes, the United States--"