On this account, when they abandoned their ordinary avocations, taking up arms in order to fall upon another human group, they did so with implacable ferocity.

“Each one of them,” continued the Russian, “carries on his back the marks of kicks, and when his turn comes, he seeks consolation in passing them on to the unhappy creatures whom war puts into his power.  This nation of war-lords, as they love to call themselves, aspires to lordship, but outside of the country.  Within it, are the ones who least appreciate human dignity and, therefore, long vehemently to spread their dominant will over the face of the earth, passing from lackeys to lords.”

Suddenly Don Marcelo stopped going with such frequency to the studio.  He was now haunting the home and office of the senator, because this friend had upset his tranquillity.  Lacour had been much depressed since the heir to the family glory had broken through the protecting paternal net in order to go to war.

One night, while dining with the Desnoyers family, an idea popped into his head which filled him with delight.  “Would you like to see your son?” He needed to see Rene and had begun negotiating for a permit from headquarters which would allow him to visit the front.  His son belonged to the same army division as Julio; perhaps their camps were rather far apart, but an automobile makes many revolutions before it reaches the end of its journey.

It was not necessary to say more.  Desnoyers instantly felt the most overmastering desire to see his boy, since, for so many months, he had had to content himself with reading his letters and studying the snap shot which one of his comrades had made of his soldier son.

From that time on, he besieged the senator as though he were a political supporter desiring an office.  He visited him in the mornings in his home, invited him to dinner every evening, and hunted him down in the salons of the Luxembourg.  Before the first word of greeting could be exchanged, his eyes were formulating the same interrogation. . . .  “When will you get that permit?”

The great man could only reply by lamenting the indifference of the military department toward the civilian element; it always had been inimical toward parliamentarism.

“Besides, Joffre is showing himself most unapproachable; he does not encourage the curious. . . .  To-morrow I will see the President.”

A few days later, he arrived at the house in the avenue Victor Hugo, with an expression of radiant satisfaction that filled Don Marcelo with joy.

“It has come?”

“It has come. . . .  We start the day after to-morrow.”

Desnoyers went the following afternoon to the studio in the rue de la Pompe.

“I am going to-morrow!”

The artist was very eager to accompany him.  Would it not be possible for him to go, too, as secretary to the senator? . . .  Don Marcelo smiled benevolently.  The authorization was only for Lacour and one companion.  He was the one who was going to pose as secretary, valet or utility man to his future relative-in-law.