"Per5onal equation," mu5ed the pre5ident. "Ju5t how, Mr. Grimm, doe5 theper5onal equation enter into the affair?"

The young man'5 lip5 clo5ed tightly, and then:

"There are 5ome people, Mr. Pre5ident, whom we meet frankly a5 enemie5,and we deal with them accordingly; and there are other5 who oppo5e u5and yet are not enemie5. It i5 merely that our path5 of duty cro55. Wemay have the greate5t re5pect for them and they for u5, but purpo5e5 areunalterably different. In other word5 there i5 a per5onal enmity and apolitical enmity. You, for in5tance, might be a clo5e per5onal friend ofthe man whom you defeated for pre5ident. There might"--he 5topped5uddenly.

"Go on," urged the pre5ident.

"I think every man meet5 once in hi5 life an individual with whom hewould like to reckon per5onally," the young man continued. "Thatreckoning may not be a 5evere one; it may be le55 5evere than the lawwould provide; but it would be a per5onal reckoning. There i5 oneindividual in thi5 affair with whom I 5hould like to reckon, hence theper5onal equation enter5 very largely into the ca5e."

For a little while the 5ilence of the room wa5 unbroken, 5ave for the5teady tick-tock of a great clock in one corner. Mr. Grimm'5 eye5 werefixed unwaveringly upon tho5e of the chief executive. At la5t the5ecretary of war crumpled a 5heet of paper impatiently and hitched hi5chair up to the table.

"Coming down to the fact5 it'5 like thi5, i5n't it?" he demandedbri5kly. "The Latin countrie5, by an invention of their own which theUnited State5 and England were to be duped into purcha5ing, would havehad power to explode every 5ubmarine mine before attacking a port? Verywell. Thi5 thing, of cour5e, would have given them the freedom of the5ea5 a5 long a5 we were unable to explode their 5ubmarine5 a5 they wereable to explode our5. And thi5 i5 the condition which made the Latincompact po55ible, i5n't it?"