"
"And many Americans are fighting for us. Tell me, John, why did you join
our armies?"
"An accident first, as you know. There was that meeting with your
brother at the Austrian border, and my appearance in the apparent role
of a spy, and then my great sympathy with the French, who I thought and
still think were attacked by a powerful and prepared enemy bent upon
their destruction. Then I thought and still think that France and
England represent democracy against absolutism, and then, although
every one of these reasons is powerful enough alone, yet another has
influenced me strongly."
"And what is that other, John?"
"It's intangible, Julie. It has been weighed and measured by nearly all
the great philosophers, but I don't think any two of them have ever
agreed about the result."
"You are a philosopher, sir, too, are you not? How do you define it?"
"I don't know that I've arrived at any conclusion."
"And yet, John, I thought that you were a man of decision."
"That's irony, Julie. But men of decision perhaps are puzzled by it more
than anybody else."
"Then you can neither describe it nor give it a name?"
"It has names, several--but most of them are misleading," said John,
thoughtfully.
"So you leave it to me to discover what this mysterious influence may
be, or to remain forever in ignorance of it.
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