Edward Phillips Oppenheim

“ Her eyes were following the shadowed picture which had passed out of the room. He saw once more the slight, girlish form, the love-seeking light in those pleading dark eyes, the tremulous lips, the whole sweet appeal for safety from a frightened child to him, the strong man. ”

“ I have as many and as dear friends in Berlin as in London, and with the exception of my recent absence in Africa, where I had the pleasure to meet our host, I spent a great part of my time going back and forth between the two capitals. I have also the honour to be the secretary of a society for the promotion of a better understanding between the citizens of Germany and England."
"Rubbish!" the Duke exclaimed. "The Germans don't want a better understanding. They only want to fool us into believing that they do."
Seaman looked a little pained. ”

“ I insist upon it that we discuss something of more genuine interest."
"There isn't a more vital subject in the world," the Duke declared, resigning himself, however, to silence.
"We will speak," the Ambassador suggested, "of the way in which our host brought down those tall pheasants."
"You will tell me, perhaps," Seaman suggested to the lady to his right, "how you English women have been able to secure for yourselves so much more liberty than our German wives enjoy?"
"Later on," Stephanie whispered to her host, with a little tremble in her voice, "I have a surprise for you." ”

“ After dinner, Dominey's guests passed naturally enough to the relaxations which each preferred. There were two bridge tables, Terniloff and the Cabinet Minister played billiards, and Seaman, with a touch which amazed every one, drew strange music from the yellow keys of the old-fashioned grand piano in the drawing-room. Stephanie and her host made a slow progress through the hall and picture gallery. For some time their conversation was engaged solely with the objects to which Dominey drew his companion's attention. ”

“ Seaman, but you are a very ignorant one upon this particular topic."
"You are probably both right in your way," Dominey intervened, very much in the manner of a well-bred host making his usual effort to smooth over two widely divergent points of view. "There is no doubt a war party in Germany and a peace party, statesmen who place economic progress first, and others who are tainted with a purely military lust for conquest. In this country it is very hard for us to strike a balance between the two." ”