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the Channel. I walked away from the road. Suddenly I found myself at the edge of the world, with this stupendous view stretching out in front of me.”
    â€œIt is wonderful—now that my heart is out of my throat and back where it belongs!”
    Halifax laughed. “Part of the magic of the place is that there is a little danger associated with it,” he said. “But do you know why else I enjoy it here?”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause I consider it a significant spot—perhaps one of the most significant places in all England.”
    â€œSignificant?” repeated Amanda. “I’m not sure I understand you.”
    â€œLook there,” said Ramsay, pointing with his arm out across the Channel in a southeasterly direction.
    â€œI see nothing but water.”
    â€œSquint—way off there in the distance . . . can you see it?”
    â€œAll I can . . . oh yes—I do see land. I thought those were clouds on the horizon.”
    â€œIt takes a clear day, one like this. But that is the coastline of France you’re looking at, from Cap Gris Nez to Calais.”
    â€œHow far is it across?”
    â€œTwenty-two miles from Dover, probably twenty-three or twenty-four from here.”
    â€œIt’s not that far really, is it?”
    â€œFar enough to have kept England and the European continent separated since 1066. Twenty-two miles of water is better than a thousand miles of open terrain. No European general or dictator in nine centuries has been able to conquer that twenty-two miles.”
    â€œSo why do you call this a significant place?” asked Amanda.
    â€œBecause at this exact spot, like no other I know of, you can see just how narrow the Channel really is. Now that the modern age has come, that distance will shrink all the more.”
    â€œShrink—what do you mean?”
    â€œLike the motorcar,” Ramsay replied, nodding his head back toward where his Rolls was parked. “Look at us—today we’ve gone from London to Hastings, here to Folkestone, and we’ll both besleeping in our own beds back in London again tonight. We’ve toured nearly all southeastern England in a day! We could never have done such a thing thirty years ago. Industry and transportation, progress and invention—they’re changing everything, Amanda. The motorcar is just the beginning—aeroplanes will fill the sky before we know it. You shall no doubt ride in one someday.”
    â€œNow you’re sounding too much like my father,” said Amanda, with disinterested feminine scorn. “He always used to talk about such things.”
    â€œMy stepfather spoke well of your father once or twice in my hearing.”
    â€œYour . . . stepfather?” said Amanda.
    â€œLord Halifax—he died two years ago.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œHe was old—a genial enough man. But he and I were not especially close.”
    â€œBut you—”
    â€œMy mother married him when I was a boy. She wanted me to take his name. But all that’s in the past. I’m more excited about the future,” Ramsay went on enthusiastically. “I tell you, Amanda, aeroplanes will fly over this Channel within a very short time, back and forth from England to the Continent, as if this narrow stretch of sea doesn’t even exist. Mark my words, the time is coming when England will no longer remain separate from the Continent as it has for centuries. More and more will our fortunes and our future be bound up with those of France and Germany and Austria-Hungary, and even Russia.”
    The sound of the word “Russia” sent a chill up Amanda’s spine. Even though its royal families were intricately related, and their two nations had generally been friendly enough, the huge colossus at the eastern edge of Europe remained full of dark mystery in her ears. It was difficult to imagine modern and progressive