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“Humility is for fools,” Schultz growled. “We are neither despots like the Russians nor weakling democrats like the French. Our achievements give Germany the right, the duty, the lofty duty, to seek more colonies.”
“Good God, man, you’ve got German East Africa and German South-West Africa. You’ve even got a sliver of Togoland, as I recall. What more do you need?”
“Leopold, king of minuscule Belgium, has the entire Congo. Germany demands her rightful share of Africa. And South America, and the Pacific, and China. England has had too much for too long.”
The earl’s lips tightened, and he started to rise to his feet.
Hermann Wagner intervened, placating him with smiles and pleasantries. Strone settled back down in his chair, harrumphing like an indignant mastiff, “The colonies are already spoken for.”
“Strone’s a darned good actor,” Isaac Bell told Archie.
“Actor? What do you mean?”
“Ten-to-one he’s British Military Intelligence.”
Archie Abbott looked more closely.
“And twenty-to-one,” Bell added, “he’s not retired.”
Archie, who himself would have become an actor if his mother had not forbidden such a leap from society’s bosom, nodded agreement. “No bet.”
The Briton said to the German, “You want war in hopes of grasping the spoils of war.”
“Those powers that try to impede German ascendancy will eventually recover from the weakening we mete out and accept their place in the new order.”
Lord Strone rounded suddenly on Isaac Bell. “You, sir, you look like an American.”
“I have that honor.”
“Will the United States accept the ‘new order’?”
Bell answered diplomatically. “Britain’s navy rules the seas, and the German Army is the largest in the world. We have every hope that you will work out your differences. In fact,” he added sternly, “we expect you to work out your differences.”
“Not likely so long as Germany keeps building dreadnoughts,” said the earl.
Schultz’s cheeks flushed crimson. “I quote Kaiser Wilhelm: ‘Our armor must be without flaw.’”
Hermann Wagner intervened again, smiling polite apologies for his countryman’s florid aggressiveness. “But if — God forbid — Great Britain and the German Empire are on a collision course, on which side will America stand?”
“On the far side of the Atlantic Ocean,” drawled Archie Abbott, sparking laughter around the room.
The Berliner laughed with them and even the Chimney Baron smiled. But Lord Strone replied gravely, “We are sailing in a four-day ship, sir. Mauretania steams to New York at twenty-six knots. The world is closer than Americans think.”
“Not so close we won’t see it coming,” said Isaac Bell.
The men laughed again, sipped their drinks, and drew on cigarettes and cigars.
Hermann Wagner broke the silence, and Isaac Bell wondered why he persisted so. “But if America had to choose, was forced to choose, to whom would you gravitate?”
“Germany,” Schultz answered. “More Germans have emigrated to the United States than from any other nation.”
“Americans and Englishmen share blood and centuries of tradition,” countered the Earl of Strone. “We are brothers.”
“But Americans fought their brothers in the Civil War.”
A grim glance flickered between Isaac Bell and Archie Abbott. It sounded as if the German Empire and the British Empire would fight sooner than later. God knows if France, Russia, Italy, and Austria would pile on. But the two detectives had no doubt that the United States of America should steer clear of Europe’s chaotic politics.
Isaac Bell stood to his full height and looked the certainly not re
