"Hush!" She placed a finger on his lips and silenced him. "You mustn't say those things to me. All that he has done he has done with my approval--for me and mine. He has worked for the Dutch cause for years..." "And because of that," he interrupted savagely, "you felt it necessary to reward him with all that you had to give... As though he hasn't been well rewarded by his country, which pays its spies well for spreading sedition. And you're no longer Dutch--you are a German subject. You've renounced your people by your marriage. He'll renounce them too when it suits him." She drew back, hurt and angry. "I am not German," she contradicted proudly. "Heinrich's interest is identical with mine." "Oh, well!" he said wearily. "It doesn't matter anyway. At least it isn't any business of mine. I'm sorry... but being sorry won't undo things. Your feet are on the road now which they always wanted to travel. And you can't see whither it is tending..." "Can you?" she asked scornfully. "I see it leading to disappointment and sorrow," he returned. "This pitiful rebellion which you have assisted in bringing about is going to make a sad difference in this land. And only hurt can come to you. It is going to throw a still darker shadow across your path. My dear, I'm grieved about that. If it were possible I would sweep all the shadows out of your life and leave it fair and untroubled; but that is a power no human will can compass. Why couldn't you leave the bitterness of strife to men, and turn your thoughts to gentler things? It's unnatural for women to cherish hate. Hate never accomplished anything but destruction. In this case it will be the destruction of your hopes and ambitions." "We _must_ win," she asserted doggedly. "This is our chance. We are bound to seize it. Your country can't send big armies to fight us now: you have bigger armies against you. You will lose this war, and we shall come again into our own. If only all the Dutch were with us! ... I can't understand those Boers who go over to the British. It isn't loyal; it is abject servility." "You are altogether mistaken," he said. "You don't understand the position. It isn't a question of going over to the British, but of protecting this country from a serious menace. These men lode deeper than you do; they have the welfare of the country at heart; they have bigger stakes to occupy themselves with than nursing a spirit of revenge. They think for the future generations--for their children, whose heritage this country is. You are thinking only of your grievances: you live in the past. The maker of history must live in the future. Can't you see, Honor, that you are fighting for your generation to the hurt of the generations to come? The statesman may not reckon for his own brief span; he has to look ahead."