Under the renewal of the hammer-strokes, Napier's sense of a world blindly driven to some incredible doom gave to the family group, when he rejoined it, an air of unreality. And this in spite of the fact that Miss Greta did not make the mistake of ignoring the subject which in all minds usurped the foreground.
She made her own little contribution with an air of engaging frankness. "If the war were going to be fought out on sea, the British fleet, of course--But you wouldn't say yourself, would you, that the British were a military people?"
"Not in the sense that Germany is," Napier agreed.
"But Germany! Every son of Germany is a soldier!" Miss Greta's tone was just a trifle too superior.
But wasn't she right? Even the Pforzheims. They, too, were soldiers. These friendly, slightly ridiculous neighbors underwent in Napier's mind a sudden and violent transformation. They stripped off their stage tweeds, their check shirts, their superabundant jewelry; they stood in uniform. Severe, infinitely _praktisch_, six foot, each, of formidable enemy.
"Coming for a stroll?" Julian stood looking down at Nan.
"Yes, but it _is_ cold toward sunset in this Scotland of yours. I must have my jacket."
"Oh, well, where is it?" he demanded, with a touch of his absent-minded impatience.
She looked at him. "_I_ don't know. In the coat-room, perhaps. You'll find it somewhere."
"Do you think I shall?" he questioned dubiously. "What's it like?"
"Well, of all things!" She sat up very straight. "You mean to say you never noticed? It isn't the _very least_ like anybody else's."
"Oh, I dare say I'll remember it all right when I see it." Julian retired meekly to the coat-room.
Nan brought her eyes down from the florid, gilt molding above the window to the level of Napier's face.
"Just about the war--nothing particular?"
Yes, there was one thing in particular. "One thing I can't honestly say I'm happy about." His speech slowed under the quick shifting of light and shadow in her eyes. What did she think he had been going to say when he began that brought that darkening as he ended, "I can't honestly say I am happy about Julian."
"Yes. He tells me you and he aren't engaged, and he doesn't know why."
"Doesn't it seem to you enough to justify any friend--"