THE WORLD SET FREE
has survived so many misfortunes, should not presently revive."
"I do not think it will ever revive. Paris is finished. London, too, I am told—Berlin. All the great capitals were stricken. . . ."
"But—! Monsieur must permit me to differ."
"It is so."
"It is impossible. Civilisations do not end in this manner. Mankind will insist."
"On Paris?"
"On Paris."
"Monsieur, you might as well hope to go down the Maelstrom and resume business there."
"I am content, Monsieur, with my own faith."
"The winter comes on. Would not Monsieur be wiser to seek a house?"
"Farther from Paris? No, Monsieur. But it is not possible, Monsieur, what you say, and you are under a tremendous mistake. . . . Indeed you are in error. . . . I asked merely for information. . . ."
"When last I saw him," said Barnet, "he was standing under the signpost at the crest of the hill, gazing wistfully, yet it seemed to me a little doubtfully, now towards Paris, and altogether heedless of a drizzling rain that was wetting him through and through. . . ."
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