Page:The Wheel of Time, Collaboration, Owen Wingrave (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1893).djvu/145

Rh her eyes, and I don't think that for the moment I have ever been more touched by a reproach. But I pulled myself together sufficiently to affirm my faith as well as to disengage my responsibility. I explained that there was no horror to me in the matter, that if I was not a German neither was I a Frenchman, and that all I had before me was two young men inflamed by a great idea and nobly determined to work together to give it a great form.

"A great idea—to go over to ces gens-là?"

"To go over to them?"

"To put yourself on their side—to throw yourself into the arms of those who hate us—to fall into their abominable trap!"

"What do you call their abominable trap?"

"Their false bonhomie, the very impudence of their intrigues, their profound, scientific deceit, and their determination to get the advantage of us by exploiting our generosity."

"You attribute to such a man as Heidenmauer too many motives and too many calculations. He's quite ideally superior!"