"You're English, I'm German," he said. "We represent the positive and negative poles of thought. If it hurts your feelings that I should speak of Lady Irene, let's forget her. What I really want to ask you is this--why has England been so mad as to fight Germany?" CHAPTER XIII THE WOODEN HORSE OF TROY The question struck Dalroy as so bizarre--in the conditions so ludicrous--that, despite the cold fury evoked by Von Halwig's innuendoes with regard to Irene, he nearly laughed. "I am in no mood to discuss international politics," he answered curtly. The other, who seemed to have his temper well under control, merely nodded. Indeed, he was obviously, if unconsciously, modelling his behaviour on that of his prisoner. "I only imagined that you might be interested in hearing what's going to happen to your damned country," he said. "I know already. She will emerge from this struggle greater, more renowned, more invincible than ever." "_Dummes zeug!_ All rubbish! That's your House of Commons and music-hall patter, meant to tickle the ears of the British working-man. England is going to be wiped off the map. We're obliterating her now. You've been in Belgium a month, and must have seen things which your stupid John Bulls at home can't even comprehend, which they never will comprehend till too late." He paused, awaiting a reply perhaps. None came. "It's rough luck that you, a soldier like myself, may not share in the game, even on the losing side," went on Von Halwig. "But you would be a particularly dangerous sort of spy if you contrived to reach England, especially with the information I'm now going to give you. You can't possibly escape, of course. You will be executed, not as a spy, but as a murderer. You left a rather heavy mark on us. Two soldiers in a hut near Visé, three officers and a private in the mill, five soldiers in the wood at Argenteau----" "You flatter me," put in Dalroy. "I may have shot one fellow in the wood, a real spy, named Schwartz. But that is all. Your men killed one another there." "The credit was given to you," was the dry retort. "But--_es ist mir ganz einerlei_--what does it matter? You're an intelligent Englishman, and that is why I am taking the trouble to tell you exactly why Great Britain will soon be Little Britain. Understand, I'm supplying facts, not war bulletins. On land you're beaten already. Our armies are near Paris. German cavalry entered Chantilly to-day. Your men made a great stand, and fought a four days' rearguard action which will figure in the text-books for the next fifty years. But the French are broken, the English Expeditionary Force nearly destroyed. The French Government has deserted Paris for Bordeaux. And, excuse me if I laugh, Lord Kitchener has asked for a hundred thousand more men!" "He will get five millions if he needs them." Von Halwig swept the retort aside with an impatient flourish.