George and Hugo were in the drawing-room with Grandmother when
we arrived. They were talking about Dostoievski. Grandmother
did not like the Russian novelists.
‘My dear, a lunatic asylum,’ she said once. ‘It may be very true
to life, of a sort, as you say, but I do not enjoy the society
of lunatics.’
Hugo was saying:
‘We are all like that really, Aunt Gerry, only we don’t realize
it, incredibly weak, and uncertain, and yet sometimes a bit heroic,
only we don’t like to think we are like that, so we don’t think
it.’
‘I certainly do not think it, Hugo. I hope that you are not like
that, and I know that I am not.’
She laughed, and turning to us, held out her hands.
‘Here she is!’ she said, as though they had been speaking about
me. I realized that evening how much she cared for me, and felt
grateful to her. I bent down and kissed her, and shook hands
with George and Hugo. I did not feel shy of Hugo now; it seemed,
here in this room, just as it used to be.
George gave me his chair, and we all sat down.
‘How is my great-granddaughter?’ asked Grandmother, and I said
she was very well.
George said:
‘I can’t imagine you with a daughter.’
Then Guy and Mollie came in together. They looked happy, and
I thought:
‘They will be married soon,’ and I was glad.
Mollie said:
‘We have run all the way from Notting Hill Gate, we thought we
should be late.’
Guy said:
‘Ralph is later. A diplomat should know better.’
‘Does Ralph count as a diplomat now?’ asked Mollie.
Guy said:
‘Yes, of the fifteenth class, I believe.’
And every one laughed, for it was a joke against Ralph Freeman
that he was very punctilious.
Then he came in.
He apologized to Grandmother. He said he had been kept at the
Office; there was anxiety over the murder of Franz Ferdinand.
‘Franz Ferdinand,’ repeated Hugo, ‘who on earth is he?’
‘The Austrian Archduke. Francis Joseph’s heir, you know. Haven’t
you seen the paper?’
Guy said:
‘I saw something about it. Herzegovina, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes, and Austria is sure to suspect Serbian influence.’
George said:
‘Trouble in the Balkans. Do you remember Old Moore’s prediction?’
Mollie said:
‘That was last year.’
George said:
‘Every year.’
Grandmother said:
‘I read about it this morning. The young man and his wife were
both shot in their carriage—a very horrid affair.’
Ralph said:
‘My chief takes an exceedingly grave view of the situation.’
The dinner was ready and we went into the dining-room. When we
had all sat down, Ralph began again.
‘You see,’ he said to Grandmother, ‘the tension between Vienna
and Belgrade has been growing more acute every year. It was amazing
to hear the Austrians talk, when I was out there. They would
believe anything of the Serbs.’
‘No doubt the crime was political,’ Grandmother observed. ‘It
is something to be truly thankful for that we have outgrown political
crimes in this country; they are always futile.’
‘This may be worse than futile,’ said Ralph. He was looking serious
and excited, and we felt amused; Ralph was always proud of his
inside information.
‘Well, yes, worse than futile for the dozen poor devils who are
put to death because of it,’ said George. ‘They have not got
the man who threw the bomb, I see. There will have to be a demonstration.’
‘They are saying at the Office that it may mean War.’
‘War? between Austria—Hungary and Serbia?’
‘That would be short and decisive. I should think.’
Guy wrinkled his forehead.
‘You forget Serbia’s relation to Russia,’ Ralph put in; ‘we might
very easily have war between Russia and Austria over this.’
Mollie said:
‘It all seems very remote.’
Grandmother said:
‘In Eastern Europe they are always fighting. I remember so many
wars—Russo-Turkish, Bulgaro-Turkish, Russo-Japanese, Græco-Turkish
and the Balkan Wars. One cannot feel as distressed, as no doubt
one ought. If the Russians are all like Hugo’s friends they should
not prove very formidable to Austrian troops. I used to know
a good many Austrian officers—very charming people.’
We all had an impulse to rag Ralph Freeman. He took himself and
his news so seriously, it made us want to take it lightly.
Hugo said:
‘Russian Ballet versus Hungarian Band. Much more “life force”
in the Ballet.’
‘It is all very well to joke,’ protested Ralph, ‘but this may
be the beginning of a European War.’
‘How often have we heard that, Ralph?’ asked Guy. ‘Everything
may be the beginning of a European War—Dogger Bank, Agadir, Morocco—but
fortunately, it does not begin.’
‘Sophia belongs to a society which shows European War to be impossible,’
said Mollie. ‘Economically impossible, in a modern world like
ours, because of international trade, credit, and so on, and
international banking. I went to some of the meetings with her
once.’
‘I wish it were impossible,’ said Ralph portentously, and we
all felt sure that he was very glad it was not impossible.
‘Russia and France,’ said George abruptly, ‘Austria and Germany—My
God!’ Then he laughed. ‘It is fantastic,’ he said. ‘Why, _we_ have
an entente with France and Russia!’
‘Exactly,’ said Ralph.