Dundas.
Yes, reprisals, reprisals, reprisals!
Carfax.
Frightful! If war comes now it will be the most
awful tragedy the world has ever witnessed.
Dundas.
Twenty millions of dead—that's the least we can
look for.
Hallam.
More—far more! Think of the development of
physical force during the years of peace.
Carfax.
Yes, nobody can say what the consequences of
war will be now. All past records are useless.
Dundas.
Utterly useless! Whole continents may be wiped
out in a year, a month, nay, a week for all we know.
Hallam.
Yes, yes! Man has made his Frankenstein, and
now God knows if it will not destroy him.
Sir Robert.
[Who has been listening in silence.] Gentlemen, let
us not lose our strength in sentimentality. War is
always terrible, and it may be even more terrible in
the future than it has ever been in the past. But
are we to buy the temporary ease and safety of our
bodies at the lasting peril of our souls? In this age
