couldact
,
resent
,
resist
;
that
,
ceasing
to
suffer
as
the
slave
suffers
,
he
could
give
back
blow
for
blow
.
There
was
enough
of
the
old
leaven
in
him
to
bring
him
up
suddenly
,
and
with
something
like
a
round
turn
,
as
he
realized
that
the
act
of
striking
blow
for
blow
against
the
German
would
involve
the
further
act
of
enlistment
and
the
wearing
of
the
King
's
uniform
.
His
first
mental
vision
of
his
warrior
crowd
had
been
vague
as
well
as
Homeric
;
he
had
only
seen
faces
uplifted
by
courage
,
not
the
khaki
and
buttons
below
them
—
seeing
himself
rather
as
an
avenger
of
Griselda
than
as
a
soldier
of
the
British
Empire
.
But
it
was
only
for
a
moment
that
he
shied
Like
a
nervous
horse
at
the
bogey
of
the
"
hired
assassin
.
"
The
prophets
from
whom
he
had
learned
his
one-time
contempt
for
the
soldier
were
no
longer
prophets
to
him
,
and
his
conversion
was
the
more
thorough
from
his
ingrained
and
extremist
conviction
that
the
opposite
of
wrong
must
be
right
.
Conversion
,
in
the
sense
in
which
the
word
is
employed
by
the
religious
,
describes
most
clearly
the
process
through
which
he
had
passed
:
conviction
of
ignorance
,
the
burden
of
Christian
;
a
sense
of
blind
longing
and
humiliated
confusion
—
and
now
,
at
the
end
,
light
flashed
on
him
suddenly
,
salvation
figured
by
the
sword
...
.
It
was
,
so
to
speak
,
but
a
partial
salvation
.
He
had
lost
his
capacity
for
absolute
faith
,
for
the
rapture
that
comes
of
infallibility
;
but
he
was
of
all
men
the
last
who
could
live
without
guidance
,
and
his
new
creed
had
at
least
this
merit
—
it
was
supported
by
his
own
experience
.
Its
articles
,
had
he
formulated
them
,
would
have
been
negative
rather
than
assertive
—
I
have
ceased
to
believe
in
the
old
,
rather
than
I
believe
in
the
new
;
but
it
gave
him
that
working
hypothesis
without
which
Life
to
him
was
impossible
.
When
he
took
his
seat
,
next
morning
,
in
the
train
bound
for
Dieppe
,
his
mind
was
made
up
—
made
up
fiercely
and
definitely
—
on
his
future
course
of
action
;
and
as
a
result
something
that
was
by
comparison
peace
had
succeeded
to
the
chaos
and
dazed
rebellion
of
his
first
few
hours
of
loss
.
His
companion
noticed
the
change
in
his
manner
and
bearing
;
it
was
not
that
he
seemed
more
resigned
,
but
that
he
had
ceased
to
drift
—
his
eyes
were
as
haggard
as
yesterday
,
but
not
so
vague
and
purposeless
.
So
far
during
their
brief
but
close
acquaintance
she
had
treated
him
perforce
as
she
would
have
treated
a
child
—
providing
for
his
bodily
and
mental
needs
and
giving
him
kindly
orders
;
now
,
ignorant
and
obedient
as
he
still
was
in
the
matter
of
foreign
travel
,
he
was
once
more
a
reasonable
being
.
He
was
still
for
the
most
part
sunk
in
his
own
thoughts
,
but
not
helplessly
and
endlessly
so
;
he
was
capable
of
being
roused
and
at
intervals
he
roused
himself
.
Once
when
they
halted
she
was
struck
by
the
intentness
with
which
he
gazed
at
a
trainload
of
soldiers
in
khaki
—
new
come
from
England
and
moving
up
from
Havre
to
the
front
.
They
crossed
at
a
wayside
station
,
and
the
two
trains
stood
side
by
side
for
some
minutes
while
William
craned
out
of
the
window
to
stare
at
the
brown
young
faces
that
were
thrust
from
the
opposite
carriages
.
The
sight
moved
him
,
if
not
in
the
same
fashion
as
it
moved
his
companion
;
he
felt
no
tightening
of
the
throat
and
no
pride
in
the
men
themselves
.
What
kept
his
head
at
the
window
till
the
train
moved
off
was
chiefly
the
thought
that
soon
he
would
be
even
as
these
sunbrowned
men
of
war
,
the
personal
desire
to
know
what
manner
of
men
they
were
,
how
they
lived
and
moved
and
had
their
daily
military
being
.
Hitherto
a
soldier
of
the
home-grown
variety
had
been
to
him
nothing
more
definite
than
an
impression
of
uniform
,
khaki
and
occasionally
red
;
now
,
with
the
eyes
of
his
newborn
interest
,
he
became
aware
of
detail
that
had
formerly
escaped
him
,
and
compared
him
in
figure
,
in
face
and
garment
,
with
Heinz
and
Heinz
's
companions
.
These
hot-faced
lads
smoking
pipes
and
calling
jests
would
be
his
own
comrades
in
days
to
come
;
thus
he
studied
their
features
,
their
dress
,
their
manner
,
as
a
small
boy
scans
and
studies
the
bearing
of
his
future
schoolfellows
.
If
he
did
not
thrill
at
the
sight
of
young
men
about
to
die
,
he
sent
with
them
(
remembering
Griselda
)
his
strong
desire
for
their
great
and
terrible
victory
.
Those
were
the
days
just
before
Mons
was
fought
,
when
France
(
and
others
with
her
)
was
hopeful
of
a
war
that
would
end
at
her
frontier
and
beyond
it
;
when
,
whatever
her
wiser
soldiers
may
have
known
,
her
people
in
general
had
no
premonition
of
the
coming
retreat
of
the
Allied
Armies
and
the
coming
peril
of
the
capital
.
There
were
still
some
ignorant
and
optimistic
days
to
live
before
France
as
a
whole
would
be
stunned
by
the
curt
official
admission
that
the
enemy
was
well
within
her
borders
—
since
his
battle-line
stretched
across
the
country
from
the
Vosges
mountains
to
the
Somme
.
As
for
railway
communication
on
the
western
lines
,
the
rush
of
returning
tourists
that
had
followed
on
the
outbreak
of
war
was
over
,
and
the
rush
from
Paris
that
began
with
the
new
threat
of
Kluck
's
advance
was
as
yet
a
thing
of
the
future
.
Thus
William
and
his
companion
,
though
they
travelled
slowly
and
with
lengthy
halts
,
travelled
in
comparative
comfort
—
finding
in
unpunctuality
and
a
measure
of
overcrowding
but
little
to
grumble
at
after
their
journey
by
cattle-truck
to
Paris
.
Rouen
kept
them
waiting
an
hour
or
two
,
and
there
was
another
long
,
purposeless
halt
on
the
boat
in
Dieppe
Harbour
;
so
that
it
was
nigh
upon
sundown
when
they
slipped
into
the
Channel
and
headed
north-westward
for
Folkestone
.
The
day
,
very
calm
with
the
stillness
of
perfect
summer
,
was
even
as
that
day
but
a
month
ago
when
William
and
his
little
bride
had
steamed
away
from
Dover
,
sitting
deck-chair
to
deck-chair
,
touching
hands
when
they
thought
no
one
saw
them
.
And
remembering
the
fading
of
those
other
white
cliffs
,
William
's
heart
cried
out
against
God
.
It
was
well
past
midnight
when
they
slid
into
Folkestone
Harbour
where
again
there
were
long
delays
;
so
long
that
morning
was
red
over
France
when
the
train
drew
away
from
the
pier
.
It
was
during
the
two-hour
journey
to
Charing
Cross
that
William
first
spoke
to
his
friend
of
his
purpose
of
becoming
a
soldier
;
they
were
not
by
themselves
in
the
carriage
,
but
the
other
occupants
nodded
off
to
sleep
soon
after
the
train
had
left
Folkestone
,
and
for
all
practical
purposes
he
and
Edith
Haynes
were
alone
.
She
was
surprised
by
the
announcement
,
more
surprised
perhaps
than
she
should
have
been
—
less
on
account
of
his
previous
record
than
because
his
appearance
and
manner
were
so
utterly
unmilitary
.
The
British
soldier
of
pre-war
days
was
a
type
,
a
man
of
a
class
apart
;
it
was
a
type
and
class
to
which
William
Tully
was
far
from
approximating
,
and
she
found
it
impossible
to
picture
his
essentially
civilian
countenance
between
a
khaki
collar
and
cap.
Her
surprise
must
have
shown
in
her
manner
,
for
he
began
to
explain
in
jerks
.
"
It
seems
the
only
thing
to
do
,
"
he
said
.
"
You
ca
n't
sit
down
and
let
it
go
on
;
when
you
've
seen
what
I
've
seen
,
you
've
got
to
do
what
you
can
.
And
they
want
men
—
they
're
asking
for
them
.
The
papers
say
they
want
all
the
men
they
can
get
...
it
's
got
to
be
stopped
—
that
devilry
—
somehow
or
another
...
and
there
does
n't
seem
any
other
way
...
"
His
voice
tailed
off
and
he
turned
his
eyes
away
—
to
the
flying
fields
where
the
dew
was
still
wet
and
the
shadows
still
long
upon
the
grass
.
When
,
a
few
minutes
later
,
he
told
her
suddenly
,
"
It
was
just
as
pretty
as
this
—
where
it
happened
,
"
she
knew
that
he
was
mentally
transforming
the
peace
and
greenery
of
a
Kentish
landscape
into
the
background
of
such
an
imitation
of
hell
as
he
had
lived
through
in
the
Forest
of
Arden
.
It
was
not
till
they
were
well
on
the
London
side
of
Tonbridge
that
he
turned
again
to
his
companion
.
Something
that
she
had
said
in
appreciation
of
his
decision
—
a
kindly
meant
phrase
that
commended
his
courage
—
had
seemingly
been
held
in
his
mind
.
"
I
do
n't
want
you
to
think
it
's
courage
,
and
I
do
n't
want
you
to
think
I
'm
making
any
sacrifice
—
I
'm
not
.
I
'm
enlisting
because
I
want
to
enlist
—
and
there
is
n't
anything
else
for
me
to
do
.
Everything
's
gone
now
—
I
have
n't
anything
to
go
back
to
.
No
duties
or
...
I
do
n't
see
how
you
can
call
it
a
sacrifice
.
"
He
swallowed
and
halted
again
and
she
could
only
nod
in
silence
.
She
knew
enough
of
him
by
this
time
to
know
that
what
he
said
was
truth
,
having
learned
in
the
course
of
their
days
of
acquaintanceship
that
he
had
lost
even
more
than
his
newly
made
wife
,
his
hopes
of
a
home
and
children
.
In
very
deed
he
had
nothing
to
go
back
to
,
neither
home
nor
daily
occupation
;
in
losing
his
cocksure
,
infallible
creed
he
had
lost
the
interests
wherewith
his
days
had
been
filled
.
His
meetings
,
his
busy
committees
,
the
whole
paraphernalia
of
his
agitator
's
life
,
were
with
yesterday
's
seven
thousand
years
.
Even
if
Griselda
had
not
died
he
,
knowing
what
he
knew
,
would
have
had
to
begin
life
again
.
Near
Chislehurst
,
reminded
of
the
nearness
of
London
,
he
put
an
apologetic
question
.
"
You
'll
think
me
very
ignorant
,
"
he
said
,
"
but
you
see
I
've
never
had
anything
to
do
with
soldiers
.
Have
you
any
idea
how
you
set
about
joining
the
Army
?
"
She
explained
that
he
had
only
to
offer
himself
,
and
turned
up
an
English
newspaper
bought
the
day
before
at
Dieppe
to
point
out
a
paragraph
giving
the
situation
of
the
various
London
recruiting
stations
.
He
studied
it
with
interest
and
showed
her
that
the
nearest
to
Charing
Cross
was
a
station
on
the
Horse
Guards
Parade
.
She
had
not
understood
that
his
intention
was
to
enlist
at
the
moment
of
arrival
in
London
,
and
suggested
a
delay
of
a
day
or
two
for
rest
if
not
for
reflection
:
the
life
before
him
was
a
hard
one
physically
,
and
he
had
been
passing
through
a
week
of
exhaustion
both
physical
and
mental
.
To
her
arguments
he
shook
his
head
,
stubbornly
impatient
;
he
was
so
urgent
to
translate
his
new
convictions
into
immediate
action
that
it
was
with
difficulty
she
prevailed
on
him
to
delay
at
Charing
Cross
for
breakfast
,
and
only
manoeuvred
him
into
the
hotel
by
assuring
him
—
whether
rightly
or
wrongly
she
knew
not
—
that
it
was
as
yet
far
too
early
in
the
day
for
any
recruiting
official
to
be
at
his
post
.
On
that
assurance
he
yielded
,
and
they
took
their
last
meal
together
.
She
had
contracted
an
odd
species
of
affection
for
the
little
bereft
and
destitute
man
whom
chance
had
thrown
on
her
hands
in
his
hour
of
need
;
it
was
difficult
for
her
to
rid
herself
of
a
sense
of
responsibility
for
him
and
his
doings
:
and
as
they
disposed
of
their
eggs
and
bacon
she
found
herself
wondering
,
with
tears
in
her
throat
,
how
he
could
come
through
the
discipline
and
hardship
for
which
his
soft
life
had
done
so
little
to
prepare
him
.
It
was
pathetic
and
even
ridiculous
to
think
of
him
as
a
soldier
,
this
wisp
of
a
town-bred
talker
;
to
think
of
him
marching
and
bearing
arms
in
defence
of
such
as
herself
—
who
topped
him
by
a
good
two
inches
and
had
treated
him
almost
as
a
child
.
She
coaxed
him
to
eat
a
good
breakfast
,
dawdling
over
her
own
that
he
should
sit
and
rest
the
longer
;
and
when
he
suddenly
remembered
to
ask
her
how
much
he
owed
her
for
the
expenses
of
the
last
few
days
,
she
gave
him
,
with
the
hastily
invented
amount
,
her
address
in
Somerset
and
made
him
promise
to
write
and
keep
her
informed
of
his
doings
.
He
,
on
his
part
,
shrinking
instinctively
from
those
who
had
shared
his
errors
in
the
old
life
,
clung
to
her
as
the
one
person
who
understood
the
new
world
into
which
he
had
so
lately
entered
—
understood
it
because
she
was
part
of
it
;
thus
neither
was
unmoved
when
they
shook
hands
as
friends
and
parted
at
the
door
of
the
hotel
.
She
entered
a
taxi
for
Paddington
and
he
turned
his
face
to
Whitehall
and
the
tent
on
the
Horse
Guards
Parade
.
As
he
walked
down
Whitehall
his
heart
thudded
loudly
on
his
ribs
.
He
remembered
,
with
a
sudden
tremor
of
rage
,
how
Heinz
had
boasted
of
his
Kaiser
at
Westminster
and
a
German
entry
into
London
.
The
very
thought
made
London
dearer
and
finer
to
him
,
and
he
had
a
vision
of
himself
driving
Heinz
before
him
—
Heinz
and
that
other
,
the
round-faced
young
man
with
black
eyebrows
who
had
worked
his
will
on
Griselda
.
He
saw
himself
striking
and
stabbing
at
the
round-faced
young
man
—
beating
him
down
while
he
prayed
in
terror
for
a
mercy
that
was
not
granted
.
His
lips
were
a
hard
white
line
and
his
fingers
clenched
and
unclenched
.
London
!
by
God
,
it
should
be
not
London
but
Berlin
!
He
had
never
dreamed
of
rejection
;
he
knew
vaguely
that
recruits
were
required
to
pass
some
sort
of
medical
examination
,
but
the
idea
that
his
proffered
services
might
be
refused
had
never
entered
his
head
.
Edith
Haynes
,
like
himself
,
had
seen
few
English
newspapers
for
weeks
;
thus
he
did
not
know
till
he
came
to
enlist
that
the
standard
of
measurement
for
recruits
had
been
raised
since
the
outbreak
of
war
,
and
that
he
,
standing
under
five
foot
five
,
was
not
up
to
the
Army
's
requirements
in
the
matter
of
breadth
and
inches
.
The
knowledge
took
him
like
a
blow
between
the
eyes
,
and
he
stood
with
dropped
jaw
,
incredulous
—
it
was
inhuman
,
it
was
monstrous
that
they
should
take
from
him
his
right
to
strike
back
.
For
a
moment
he
had
no
words
;
he
dressed
mechanically
,
stupid
with
the
shock
—
while
the
round-faced
man
grinned
damnably
over
Griselda
dead
by
the
roadside
...
.
And
when
,
in
the
end
,
his
speech
came
back
and
he
tried
to
stammer
an
appeal
,
some
one
patted
him
good-naturedly
on
the
shoulder
,
put
his
hat
into
his
hand
,
and
turned
him
loose
into
a
world
that
had
no
meaning
for
him
.
CHAPTER
XV
There
were
many
parallels
to
the
case
and
conversion
of
William
Tully
in
the
first
few
weeks
of
the
war
.
There
is
,
and
always
will
be
,
the
self-centred
temperament
that
can
shut
its
eyes
to
the
fact
and
tread
the
pathways
of
the
paradise
of
fools
,
even
if
it
treads
them
alone
;
but
on
the
whole
humanity
is
reasonable
and
,
given
a
fact
,
however
surprising
and
savagely
unpleasant
,
accepts
it
because
it
must
.
Those
who
struggled
hardest
against
the
acceptance
of
the
War-Fact
of
1914
were
,
naturally
enough
,
those
who
had
fiery
little
battles
of
their
own
to
fight
,
and
whose
own
warfare
was
suddenly
rendered
null
and
incompetent
by
a
sudden
diversion
of
energy
and
interest
in
the
face
of
the
national
danger
.
The
war
was
the
successful
rival
of
their
own
,
their
sectional
strife
,
overshadowing
its
importance
and
sucking
the
life
from
its
veins
.
Hence
instinctively
they
sneered
at
it
and
strove
to
ignore
its
existence
;
hating
it
as
a
minor
and
incompetent
artist
may
hate
the
greater
professional
rival
who
sings
or
acts
him
off
the
stage
.
Only
by
some
such
reasoning
can
one
account
for
the
fact
that
the
aggressive
and
essentially
militarist
type
of
political
enthusiast
so
often
runs
to
pacifism
where
the
quarrels
of
others
are
concerned
.
But
for
the
bitter
mischance
of
a
honeymoon
spent
in
the
Forest
of
Arden
and
the
consequences
thereby
brought
about
,
such
would
,
very
certainly
,
have
been
the
mental
attitude
of
William
Tully
in
the
August
of
1914.
His
own
battles
would
have
absorbed
his
aggressive
instincts
,
and
,
never
having
seen
a
shot
fired
in
anger
,
he
would
have
continued
,
for
quite
a
long
time
,
to
think
of
other
battles
as
enlarged
street
riots
which
were
thoroughly
enjoyed
by
the
bloodthirsty
soldiery
who
provoked
them
.
He
would
have
pooh-poohed
the
possibility
of
a
war
until
the
war
actually
broke
out
;
and
then
,
insisting
that
it
was
avoidable
and
should
not
have
been
,
have
clung
angrily
to
his
customary
interests
and
done
his
small
energetic
best
to
keep
his
comrades
from
straying
into
that
wider
and
bloodier
field
where
they
and
their
services
would
be
lost
to
the
sectional
conflict
.
Such
,
very
certainly
,
would
have
been
his
course
of
action
had
he
made
his
wedding
journey
to
Torquay
.
Fate
and
not
temperament
had
willed
it
that
he
should
be
driven
to
enlist
under
the
rival
banner
of
nationality
;
but
there
were
others
of
his
kidney
whom
fate
had
not
driven
so
brutally
,
and
who
,
unable
to
effect
,
as
William
had
done
,
a
rapid
transfer
of
allegiance
and
antagonisms
,
struggled
desperately
to
uphold
,
in
despite
of
war
,
their
partially
deserted
standard
.
Of
such
was
Faraday
,
dogged
and
fiercely
indefatigable
;
though
the
man
had
soul
and
brain
enough
to
feel
the
ground
rock
beneath
him
.
His
ignorance
of
European
politics
was
a
thought
less
profound
than
William
's
,
but
sufficiently
profound
to
have
bred
in
him
a
complete
disbelief
in
the
possibility
of
European
war
;
hence
his
surprise
at
the
international
earthquake
was
almost
as
great
as
that
of
his
former
disciple
.
When
the
unbelievable
happened
he
,
as
was
but
natural
,
was
angry
—
all
men
are
angry
when
the
habit
of
years
is
interfered
with
;
and
in
the
first
flush
of
his
annoyance
ascribed
the
falsification
of
his
every
prediction
not
to
his
own
blundering
,
but
to
the
sins
of
those
who
did
not
think
as
he
did
.
Those
who
prophesied
war
—
so
he
argued
—
had
prophesied
what
they
desired
...
.
All
the
same
,
he
was
not
,
like
William
,
devoid
of
the
imaginative
faculty
;
but
the
war
was
as
yet
a
great
way
off
and
his
hatred
of
the
Government
of
his
own
country
was
real
.
With
time
he
,
too
,
came
to
understand
that
a
people
may
have
other
foes
than
those
of
its
own
household
and
be
threatened
with
death
from
without
;
when
he
was
called
up
under
the
Conscription
Act
he
went
without
protest
,
made
an
excellent
soldier
and
died
fighting
in
a
night
raid
near
Hulluch
;
but
in
the
beginning
the
habit
and
association
of
years
was
too
strong
for
him
and
his
bitter
dislike
of
his
neighbour
overpowered
his
fear
of
the
German
.
During
the
first
few
weeks
of
the
war
he
held
peace
meetings
at
considerable
personal
risk
,
which
,
as
became
a
good
fighter
,
he
took
,
even
with
enjoyment
;
distributed
printed
appeals
to
pacifist
and
anti-British
sentiment
and
wrote
passionately
,
if
with
less
than
his
usual
clarity
,
in
The
Torch
.
He
could
not
in
honesty
bring
himself
to
defend
every
action
of
his
country
's
enemies
and
was
conscious
of
occasional
difficulty
and
a
sense
of
thin
ice
underneath
him
;
at
the
same
time
it
was
against
his
tradition
and
principles
to
admit
that
the
statesmanship
of
the
land
he
was
born
in
could
ever
have
right
on
its
side
.
Tradition
and
principles
might
have
won
hands
down
,
making
him
ardently
and
happily
pro-German
,
had
it
not
been
for
the
complication
introduced
by
the
attitude
of
other
nations
which
,
foreign
even
as
Germany
was
foreign
,
had
chosen
to
range
themselves
with
England
.
Hence
a
difficulty
in
indiscriminate
condemnation
and
a
momentary
confusion
of
thought
and
outlook
of
which
Faraday
himself
was
quite
clear-brained
enough
to
be
conscious
;
it
irritated
him
and
he
was
sensible
of
failure
and
uncertainty
.
On
the
day
that
William
arrived
in
London
and
was
refused
for
the
British
Army
,
Faraday
held
a
small
meeting
in
a
hall
in
a
Bloomsbury
side
street
.
The
object
of
the
meeting
was
to
consider
suitable
methods
of
influencing
for
the
better
the
existing
and
lamentable
condition
of
popular
opinion
;
the
gathering
was
not
open
to
the
general
public
,
only
the
initiated
being
present
.
Some
thirty
to
forty
of
the
initiated
,
chiefly
secretaries
,
chairmen
and
other
branch
officials
of
the
advanced
socialist
group
of
which
Faraday
was
leading
light
and
president
—
for
the
most
part
men
,
but
with
a
sprinkling
of
women
among
them
.
They
had
been
summoned
together
by
letter
and
word
of
mouth
;
the
meeting
was
private
and
consultative
,
described
as
for
sympathizers
only
,
and
held
at
the
headquarters
of
the
Central
London
Branch
—
a
large
room
,
sparsely
furnished
with
chairs
and
a
platform
,
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Tottenham
Court
Road
.
One
of
the
more
muscular
members
of
the
branch
kept
watch
and
ward
in
the
passage
outside
the
hall
,
scrutinizing
the
comrades
as
they
neared
the
door
,
lest
any
uninitiated
person
or
disturber
of
peace
should
attempt
to
gain
entry
with
the
faithful
;
he
was
thrilled
with
a
vague
and
grandiose
conviction
that
the
meeting
was
of
perilous
importance
,
passed
in
his
familiars
—
they
were
all
his
familiars
—
with
a
mysterious
nod
and
compared
himself
to
a
sentinel
on
duty
in
a
post
of
extreme
danger
.
He
was
a
young
man
domiciled
in
the
Hampstead
Garden
Suburb
,
with
uncut
hair
,
a
flowing
tie
and
a
latent
,
if
hitherto
undeveloped
sense
of
humour
;
and
a
year
or
two
later
,
when
the
Army
had
claimed
him
,
and
he
stood
in
the
Ypres
salient
,
in
a
post
of
extreme
danger
,
he
grinned
unhappily
between
the
shell-bursts
as
the
night
of
the
meeting
came
back
to
him
.
Among
his
thirty
or
forty
familiars
he
passed
in
William
Tully
—
who
had
come
to
the
hall
mechanically
,
scarce
knowing
where
his
steps
were
guiding
him
.
No
wind
of
the
meeting
had
come
to
him
,
but
the
place
was
one
of
his
haunts
—
the
Central
London
Branch
,
of
which
he
was
chairman
,
assembled
there
on
business
once
a
week
.
Further
,
it
was
used
as
the
address
of
the
Branch
,
and
he
was
accustomed
to
call
there
almost
daily
for
his
official
letters
or
the
transaction
of
small
official
business
.
Thus
it
happened
,
at
the
close
of
a
bewildered
day
,
that
he
turned
to
it
almost
by
instinct
.
Perhaps
it
was
a
sense
of
homelessness
that
drove
him
to
its
open
doors
—
for
it
was
not
until
well
towards
evening
that
he
had
summoned
up
courage
to
enter
his
own
dwelling
,
the
little
flat
he
had
not
yet
lived
in
,
made
ready
for
himself
and
Griselda
.
If
there
had
been
anywhere
else
to
go
perhaps
he
never
would
have
entered
it
;
but
his
bachelor
lodging
,
he
knew
,
was
let
to
a
new
tenant
,
and
he
had
not
money
enough
in
his
pocket
to
pay
for
a
lodging
elsewhere
.
His
day
had
been
spent
on
foot
;
after
his
refusal
at
the
recruiting
station
he
had
walked
he
knew
not
whither
—
here
,
there
,
through
street
after
street
,
that
he
might
not
stop
and
think
;
and
when
,
in
the
late
afternoon
,
he
found
himself
sitting
on
the
turf
of
Primrose
Hill
,
he
could
not
,
for
the
life
of
him
,
remember
the
route
by
which
he
had
reached
it
.
Sheer
weariness
of
body
drove
him
to
shelter
,
and
half
an
hour
later
he
was
dragging
his
feet
up
the
stairs
that
led
to
the
flat
.
The
woman
who
was
to
"
do
"
for
himself
and
Griselda
had
been
installed
on
the
premises
for
some
days
past
;
since
the
outbreak
of
war
she
had
been
in
hourly
expectation
of
the
arrival
of
her
master
and
mistress
and
in
some
perturbation
at
the
continued
lack
of
news
from
them
.
As
William
was
about
to
walk
past
the
door
she
had
opened
to
him
she
stayed
him
with
an
inquisitive
question
—
he
could
not
remember
the
form
it
took
but
knew
that
it
must
have
referred
to
Griselda
's
absence
,
for
he
told
her
abruptly
that
his
wife
had
died
in
France
.
She
threw
up
her
hands
with
a
screaming
exclamation
as
he
hurried
past
her
to
shut
himself
into
the
bedroom
.
There
,
afraid
of
her
curious
sympathy
and
questions
,
he
shut
and
locked
himself
in
;
with
the
poignant
loneliness
of
the
brand-new
furniture
that
he
and
Griselda
had
chosen
and
lovingly
admired
;
with
the
poignant
company
of
Griselda
's
photograph
,
smiling
self-consciously
from
the
centre
of
the
mantelpiece
and
set
in
an
ornate
silver
frame
that
was
one
of
her
wedding
presents
.
He
held
it
in
his
hands
till
the
tears
blinded
him
,
kissed
it
sobbing
and
laid
it
face
downwards
.
The
"
general
,
"
burning
with
inquisitive
sympathy
,
induced
him
,
after
one
or
two
unsuccessful
attempts
,
to
open
the
door
to
her
knocking
;
pressed
on
him
,
in
spite
of
denials
,
a
scratch
meal
of
tea
and
poached
eggs
,
and
hovered
round
while
he
ate
it
.
As
befitted
the
occasion
she
held
her
apron
to
her
eyes
while
she
extracted
as
much
as
she
could
in
the
way
of
information
.
Later
,
as
she
washed
up
in
the
kitchen
,
she
heard
him
moving
from
one
tiny
room
to
another
—
consumed
with
a
restless
misery
and
a
restless
wonder
as
to
what
he
should
do
with
his
life
.
Still
later
she
heard
him
go
out
again
;
though
he
had
hidden
away
the
self-conscious
photograph
,
thrusting
it
out
of
sight
into
a
drawer
,
the
brand-new
furniture
was
always
there
and
always
waiting
for
Griselda
.
The
moment
came
when
he
could
no
longer
suffer
its
company
and
went
out
into
the
street
to
avoid
it
.
Other
purpose
in
walking
he
had
none
—
and
thus
it
happened
that
,
mechanically
and
without
intent
,
he
drifted
into
the
Bloomsbury
side-street
where
Faraday
held
his
meeting
.
The
important
doorkeeper
would
have
greeted
him
with
more
than
a
nod
—
would
gladly
,
in
fact
,
have
detained
him
after
his
four
weeks
'
absence
to
exchange
comments
and
views
on
the
European
situation
;
but
William
,
in
entering
,
made
no
response
to
his
"
Hallo
,
back
again
!
"
which
it
may
be
he
did
not
even
hear
.
He
walked
straight
past
the
sentinel
and
into
the
bare
familiar
room
—
where
everything
,
from
the
seats
to
their
occupants
,
was
just
as
it
had
been
and
where
every
face
was
known
to
him
.
Time
,
for
a
moment
,
turned
back
in
its
traces
and
yesterday
unrolled
before
his
eyes
.
He
gazed
at
it
and
sat
down
slowly
—
by
himself
in
the
last
row
of
chairs
...
.
Edwardes
,
the
Central
London
secretary
,
was
hugging
his
ankle
as
he
always
hugged
it
,
and
Mrs.
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
the
formidable
treasurer
of
the
Golder
's
Green
branch
,
frowned
through
her
pince-nez
at
the
speaker
with
her
chin
uplifted
as
of
old
,
wore
the
same
capacious
sandals
—
her
crossed
knees
showed
them
—
and
the
same
cold-gravy-coloured
robe
.
And
her
son
,
young
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
as
his
habit
was
,
sprawled
sideways
on
one
chair
and
curled
his
long
limbs
round
another
.
It
was
all
as
it
had
been
;
and
Faraday
,
on
the
platform
,
was
speaking
with
the
accents
of
yesterday
.
The
important
doorkeeper
was
not
the
only
comrade
who
had
noticed
William
's
return
:
one
or
two
heads
were
turned
as
he
came
in
,
but
for
the
most
part
the
audience
was
intent
on
the
words
of
the
speaker
.
The
heads
that
turned
made
some
sign
of
pleased
recognition
to
which
William
responded
automatically
,
unknowing
that
he
did
so
.
From
his
seat
near
the
door
his
eyes
wandered
slowly
over
the
platform
,
the
hall
and
its
occupants
—
slowly
and
with
a
dull
and
detached
curiosity
.
What
he
saw
there
and
heard
was
unreal
,
like
a
scene
in
an
unconvincing
play
;
he
had
a
sense
of
looking
at
these
people
from
a
great
way
off
,
of
hearing
their
voices
from
a
distance
.
Something
separated
and
held
him
removed
from
them
...
.
He
had
great
difficulty
in
giving
his
attention
to
what
the
speaker
was
saying
;
yet
in
the
old
days
Faraday
had
always
stirred
him
and
to-night
he
was
speaking
well
.
From
thirty
to
forty
convinced
adherents
assembled
at
a
private
conference
are
not
the
material
upon
which
a
public
orator
usually
throws
away
his
best
endeavours
;
but
Faraday
that
night
was
speaking
not
so
much
to
his
audience
as
to
himself
.
Unadmitted
,
even
to
his
secret
soul
,
he
had
great
and
fierce
need
of
conviction
;
it
was
with
his
own
doubts
that
he
wrestled
,
at
his
own
head
that
he
flung
both
his
jeers
and
his
arguments
.
He
was
of
a
finer
because
more
intelligent
mould
than
the
Edwardeses
and
Jay-Blenkinsops
who
heard
him
and
who
were
still
thinking
of
the
European
tragedy
as
a
red
herring
drawn
by
the
cunning
politician
across
the
path
of
progress
.
Not
for
him
was
their
happy
imperviousness
to
the
new
idea
,
and
,
looking
down
from
his
platform
on
their
assembled
faces
,
it
may
have
struck
him
,
not
pleasantly
,
that
these
people
were
in
part
of
his
making
;
they
were
,
at
any
rate
,
the
product
of
a
system
of
which
he
,
in
common
with
politicians
of
every
creed
,
had
not
scrupled
to
make
full
use
.
Be
that
as
it
may
,
he
spoke
feelingly
and
well
that
night
;
far
better
and
more
feelingly
than
was
needed
by
the
numbers
,
the
attitude
and
calibre
of
his
audience
,
which
was
comfortably
and
stubbornly
determined
to
agree
with
him
before
he
opened
his
mouth
.
He
had
not
come
to
the
meeting
with
intent
to
be
so
lengthy
and
urgent
;
he
had
planned
to
be
nothing
more
than
brief
and
business-like
,
to
give
and
invite
suggestions
for
a
vigorous
prosecution
of
the
anti-war
campaign
;
but
when
he
rose
to
open
the
discussion
he
was
carried
away
by
his
own
doubts
and
emotions
;
and
the
"
few
remarks
"
he
had
thought
to
make
flared
out
into
a
veritable
speech
.
He
fought
with
and
poured
scorn
on
himself
in
the
name
of
others
,
rallying
his
feebleness
with
argument
and
sneering
at
his
own
hesitations
.
Thus
he
spoke
eloquently
and
deserved
the
applause
which
greeted
him
when
he
sat
down
.
Edwardes
followed
him
,
in
response
to
the
invitation
for
suggestions
:
a
little
be-spectacled
Labour
man
whose
ideal
was
a
world
of
committees
.
There
had
been
something
alive
about
Faraday
's
outpouring
;
it
was
the
speech
of
a
man
who
,
however
resentfully
,
understood
that
the
world
had
moved
.
But
as
Edwardes
quacked
earnestly
about
branch
propaganda
as
an
antidote
to
militarism
and
a
means
of
diffusing
the
international
idea
,
the
sense
of
unreality
descended
again
upon
William
.
Branch
propaganda
—
little
leaflets
and
meetings
—
when
guns
made
a
pulp
of
flesh
and
blood
,
and
men
were
being
shot
against
walls
!
Resolutions
in
minute-books
against
wrongs
like
Griselda
's
and
his
own
!
For
the
first
time
for
many
days
he
felt
a
desire
to
laugh
,
and
,
if
it
had
not
been
for
his
sense
of
the
distant
unreality
of
the
proceedings
,
perhaps
he
would
have
been
moved
to
actual
expression
of
perverted
and
unmirthful
mirth
.
It
was
young
Jay-Blenkinsop
who
made
the
proceedings
real
to
him
;
and
,
but
for
his
intervention
at
the
end
of
the
discussion
,
it
is
probable
that
William
himself
would
have
taken
no
part
in
it
.
He
would
have
listened
for
a
little
,
perhaps
to
the
end
,
and
then
crept
out
to
his
loneliness
;
but
Jay-Blenkinsop
roused
him
and
swept
him
out
of
himself
...
Edwardes
quacked
earnestly
for
ten
minutes
or
so
:
the
aggrieved
outpourings
of
a
soul
to
which
the
really
serious
fact
of
the
war
was
that
it
had
caused
a
certain
amount
of
backsliding
and
even
desertion
amongst
the
weaker
brethren
of
his
branch
;
and
when
he
sat
down
,
after
a
moment
of
silence
,
Jay-Blenkinsop
rose
to
his
feet
.
(
In
the
dark
ages
that
had
ended
a
week
ago
William
thought
highly
of
Edgar
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
esteeming
him
a
youth
of
great
promise
.
)
With
his
hands
in
his
pockets
,
his
broad
shoulders
lolled
against
the
wall
and
his
hair
,
as
usual
,
drooped
over
an
eyebrow
,
he
drawled
out
fine
scorn
upon
the
leaders
of
the
Labour
Party
for
their
treachery
to
the
cause
of
the
People
and
their
lack
of
the
sense
of
Brotherhood
.
There
was
no
particular
purport
in
his
vaguely
scathing
remarks
,
which
(
the
meeting
being
nominally
for
business
purposes
)
might
well
have
been
ruled
out
of
order
;
but
he
was
enjoying
the
sound
of
his
own
full
voice
and
his
mother
gazed
up
at
him
admiringly
.
It
was
more
himself
than
his
vague
remarks
that
made
William
flare
and
see
red
—
his
six
feet
of
conceited
boyhood
propped
sprawlingly
against
the
wall
.
As
he
listened
he
was
gripped
with
a
sudden
hatred
of
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
a
hatred
that
had
its
roots
in
envy
of
his
physical
perfections
;
it
was
for
lack
of
that
broad
deep
chest
and
those
long
strong
limbs
that
the
recruiting
officer
would
have
none
of
him
...
and
a
muscular
boy
,
a
potential
soldier
,
lolled
hands
in
pockets
and
cracked
ignorant
jests
at
men
who
knew
better
than
he
did
,
at
the
agony
of
such
as
himself
.
As
the
young
man
drawled
onward
William
breathed
fast
and
thickly
and
clutched
at
the
chair
in
front
of
him
:
till
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
having
sufficiently
scarified
the
official
representatives
of
Labour
,
went
on
to
some
smartly
turned
gibes
at
the
recruiting
campaign
and
the
gulls
who
were
caught
by
its
appeals
.
One
of
his
sarcasms
brought
him
the
ready
laugh
he
had
counted
on
—
and
something
on
which
he
had
not
counted
;
at
the
tail
of
the
laugh
came
,
imperative
and
raucous
,
the
order
,
"
Sit
down
,
you
young
fool
!
"
Every
head
in
the
room
went
round
with
indignation
to
William
—
whom
most
of
the
gathering
,
Faraday
included
,
now
noticed
for
the
first
time
.
He
was
on
his
feet
,
stiffened
and
pallid
with
passion
;
but
after
the
cry
that
had
cut
short
Jay-Blenkinsop
he
stood
silent
,
with
his
lips
apart
and
his
hands
clutching
at
a
chair-back
.
His
fingers
knotted
and
worked
as
they
clutched
and
his
mouth
was
twisted
and
quivering
;
he
stood
like
an
animal
backed
into
a
corner
,
defying
the
astounded
eyes
and
the
open
incredulous
mouths
of
those
who
had
once
been
his
comrades
...
Most
incredulous
of
all
was
the
mouth
of
Mrs.
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
who
gaped
in
amazement
at
the
unprovoked
attack
on
her
son
.
"
May
I
ask
—
—
?
"
began
Edgar
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
less
slowly
and
languidly
than
usual
—
whereat
William
,
hearing
the
silence
broken
,
also
found
words
to
his
tongue
.
"
You
may
ask
,
"
he
interrupted
,
"
oh
yes
,
you
may
ask
!
Anything
you
like
.
But
for
God
's
sake
do
n't
lay
down
the
law
and
make
ignorant
assertions
—
for
God
's
sake
do
n't
do
that
.
You
must
n't
lay
down
the
law
until
you
know
something
,
until
you
've
really
tried
to
find
out
.
Then
,
perhaps
,
you
'll
have
a
right
to
speak
;
now
when
I
hear
you
,
I
—
I
—
—
"
From
sheer
sense
of
the
inadequacy
of
words
his
voice
tailed
huskily
away
;
then
,
with
an
odd
little
snarl
at
his
auditors
,
he
burst
out
savagely
afresh
:
"
You
child
,
you
great
impudent
jackanapes
!
You
stand
there
and
dare
to
make
jokes
about
the
hell
that
other
men
have
burned
in
.
The
flames
and
the
blood
and
the
guns
and
people
dying
in
the
road
.
You
talk
blank
foolery
and
laugh
about
it
—
you
laugh
and
turn
up
your
nose
.
You
think
you
're
clever
—
and
enlightened
—
and
it
sickens
me
,
sickens
me
to
hear
you
!
"
He
finished
on
a
note
that
was
almost
a
scream
,
and
they
looked
at
him
aghast
and
dumfoundered
.
It
was
his
face
that
held
them
even
more
than
his
disconcerting
words
—
all
but
Edgar
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
who
,
pricked
in
his
vanity
,
would
have
accepted
the
challenge
and
started
again
had
not
Faraday
silenced
him
with
a
turn
of
the
head
and
a
gesture
.
Still
more
pricked
in
his
vanity
he
slid
to
a
chair
,
muttering
sulkily
and
red
to
the
neck
.
"
Tully
—
—
"
began
Faraday
with
reproof
in
his
voice
—
but
Tully
defied
even
his
mentor
.
Not
savagely
and
with
contempt
,
as
he
had
defied
and
decried
Jay-Blenkinsop
,
but
as
one
who
had
a
right
to
be
heard
.
"
He
must
n't
talk
like
that
till
he
knows
something
.
It
's
child
's
talk
—
ridiculous
babble
.
I
know
what
I
'm
saying
—
I
've
come
from
it
—
and
I
've
a
right
to
tell
him
what
I
know
.
Not
one
of
you
here
has
seen
what
I
have
—
you
're
just
guessing
.
When
a
shell
bursts
...
I
've
seen
a
man
with
his
legs
like
red
jelly
and
a
horse
...
"
he
choked
at
the
memory
.
"
That
's
being
a
soldier
—
let
him
fight
and
he
'll
find
it
out
.
Now
he
thinks
it
's
what
he
said
just
now
—
a
sort
of
game
that
they
like
.
Everything
he
said
was
mean
little
nonsense
—
how
dare
you
listen
to
it
and
laugh
at
his
silly
little
jokes
?
What
's
the
good
of
saying
that
it
should
n't
happen
?
Of
course
it
should
n't
happen
—
we
all
know
that
—
of
course
it
should
n't
happen
,
but
it
does
.
And
you
ca
n't
stop
it
with
sneers
about
soldiers
and
Kitchener
...
.
It
's
hell
and
the
mouth
of
hell
—
I
've
seen
it
.
He
says
he
would
n't
lift
a
finger
to
keep
them
out
.
Do
you
know
why
he
says
that
?
It
's
because
he
ca
n't
imagine
what
it
means
.
I
would
.
I
'd
die
to
keep
them
out
,
because
I
've
seen
...
I
've
seen
a
man
shot
—
not
a
soldier
,
just
an
ordinary
man
—
put
against
a
wall
and
shot
while
his
wife
howled
like
a
dog
.
Two
men
—
and
their
wives
standing
by
.
They
might
do
that
to
him
if
they
came
—
has
he
ever
thought
of
that
?
—
while
his
mother
howled
like
a
dog
.
"
He
shot
out
a
quivering
finger
at
the
open-mouthed
Mrs.
Jay-Blenkinsop
.
"
And
his
women
—
would
he
let
them
do
as
they
liked
with
his
women
?
They
would
if
they
came
here
—
he
can
take
my
word
for
it
they
would
.
Would
he
ask
them
in
politely
and
shake
hands
and
give
them
drinks
and
let
them
?
...
If
they
came
,
people
would
run
from
them
,
leaving
everything
they
had
—
beggars
.
Would
he
like
to
be
driven
and
beaten
and
made
to
work
like
a
slave
?
I
've
had
that
—
I
've
been
driven
and
beaten
and
made
to
work
.
And
I
've
run
from
them
and
starved
and
hidden
because
I
was
afraid
.
And
my
wife
died
—
they
killed
her
—
—
"
There
was
a
gasp
,
a
rustle
of
movement
and
a
sudden
straightening
of
backs
.
Every
one
in
the
room
knew
Griselda
Tully
,
many
quite
intimately
,
and
not
a
few
had
been
at
her
wedding
;
amazement
and
wrath
against
the
disturber
of
the
peace
gave
way
to
a
real
consternation
,
and
in
the
silence
that
followed
the
momentary
rustle
William
heard
Faraday
's
"
Good
God
!
"
...
They
stared
at
him
in
dumb
consternation
,
dimly
conscious
,
perhaps
,
that
they
were
in
the
presence
of
an
eternal
fact
,
and
that
the
little
man
who
stabbed
at
them
with
a
trembling
forefinger
was
the
embodiment
of
that
sense
of
injustice
and
agony
which
makes
men
cry
to
Heaven
for
vengeance
and
,
Heaven
failing
them
,
take
the
sword
and
smite
for
themselves
.
Dolly
Murgatroyd
,
Griselda
's
bridesmaid
,
who
had
twice
accompanied
Griselda
to
Holloway
,
saw
and
shrank
from
the
reality
of
that
tortured
revolt
which
for
years
she
had
striven
to
simulate
under
the
lash
of
her
leaders
'
bombast
...
.
In
face
of
the
fact
that
was
William
their
theories
wilted
and
failed
them
,
and
the
new
black
suit
of
their
comrade
Tully
was
to
them
as
the
writing
on
the
wall
at
the
feast
of
Belshazzar
—
and
came
,
like
that
other
writing
on
the
wall
,
at
the
moment
when
the
evil
from
which
they
had
hidden
their
faces
was
an
evil
actually
accomplished
.
In
each
man
's
heart
was
a
faint
reflection
of
the
amaze
that
had
fallen
on
William
and
Griselda
when
their
world
first
crumbled
about
them
.
The
sudden
movement
,
the
chairman
's
exclamation
and
the
abashed
silence
that
followed
it
checked
William
and
brought
him
to
a
standstill
;
speech
failed
him
and
he
stood
with
his
mouth
half
open
while
the
meeting
stared
at
him
motionless
.
There
was
a
blank
period
of
tension
,
of
awkward
stillness
hi
the
presence
of
emotion
,
and
then
Faraday
coughed
uncertainly
and
moved
.
Probably
he
intended
to
say
something
,
perhaps
to
adjourn
the
meeting
;
but
his
movement
and
the
breaking
of
silence
with
his
cough
gave
William
back
his
voice
and
he
spoke
before
Faraday
began
.
"
And
they
wo
n't
take
me
in
the
Army
.
Although
my
wife
has
been
killed
they
wo
n't
take
me
in
the
Army
.
I
'm
not
tall
enough
;
I
'm
only
five
foot
five
,
and
they
wo
n't
take
me
.
I
've
seen
my
wife
die
—
she
died
in
the
road
—
and
they
refused
me
when
I
tried
to
enlist
.
If
I
were
only
two
inches
taller
—
God
in
Heaven
,
if
I
were
two
inches
taller
!
"
The
high
,
tight
voice
broke
suddenly
and
he
wept
with
his
face
in
his
hands
.
For
the
space
of
a
painful
moment
there
was
no
sound
in
the
room
but
his
sobs
—
no
man
knowing
what
to
do
or
where
to
turn
his
eyes
until
Faraday
came
down
from
the
platform
.
The
tread
of
his
feet
on
the
gangway
broke
the
spell
of
embarrassed
silence
—
and
chairs
were
moved
softly
and
the
occupants
looked
away
from
William
as
Faraday
took
him
very
gently
by
the
arm
and
led
him
out
into
the
street
.
CHAPTER
XVI
There
was
to
be
a
gulf
henceforth
between
William
and
Faraday
,
and
the
twain
who
had
once
lived
so
near
together
were
to
see
but
little
of
each
other
;
yet
it
was
Faraday
who
gave
him
the
first
word
of
comfort
as
he
walked
by
the
side
of
his
former
disciple
on
the
road
to
William
's
flat
.
"
If
,
"
he
said
suddenly
and
awkwardly
—
they
were
nearing
their
destination
and
it
was
the
first
time
he
had
opened
his
lips
since
he
led
William
out
of
the
hall
—
"
if
it
's
this
recruiting
business
,
this
refusal
,
that
's
adding
to
your
trouble
,
I
do
n't
think
you
need
be
too
much
discouraged
.
Honestly
—
you
see
it
is
n't
necessarily
final
.
I
know
for
a
fact
they
're
refusing
men
now
,
because
they
ca
n't
equip
them
as
fast
as
they
come
in
.
They
have
n't
the
uniforms
,
the
accommodation
,
or
the
arms
,
and
that
's
why
they
sent
up
the
standard
for
recruits
with
a
rush
.
But
if
the
thing
's
as
big
as
they
say
—
the
common
talk
is
that
Kitchener
has
prophesied
three
years
of
it
,
and
it
's
very
likely
true
—
they
'll
be
wanting
every
man
who
'll
come
in
before
they
've
done
with
it
.
Not
only
the
big
chaps
—
every
one
.
It
will
merely
be
a
question
of
a
few
months
—
at
the
outside
only
a
few
months
.
So
I
should
n't
take
this
refusal
to
heart
.
"
His
message
of
comfort
cost
Faraday
something
to
deliver
;
it
was
the
sheer
wretchedness
of
the
broken
little
man
beside
him
that
moved
him
to
deny
his
principles
,
by
implication
if
not
in
so
many
words
.
The
only
audible
reply
that
he
received
was
a
sniff
,
but
even
in
the
darkness
he
knew
that
his
inconsistency
had
not
been
wasted
,
and
that
William
had
gained
from
it
some
measure
of
help
and
consolation
.
He
said
no
more
,
and
they
parted
with
constraint
on
the
pavement
outside
the
flat
—
to
tread
through
the
future
ahead
of
them
their
separate
and
several
ways
.
Faraday
did
not
go
back
to
his
meeting
;
he
left
it
to
break
up
or
pursue
as
it
would
,
while
he
walked
the
streets
restlessly
alone
.
Between
the
uttering
and
fulfilment
of
Faraday
's
prophecy
William
's
way
,
for
the
next
few
weeks
,
was
the
way
of
drift
and
uncertainty
;
it
was
also
the
way
of
great
loneliness
,
an
experience
entirely
new
to
him
.
Loneliness
not
only
by
reason
of
the
loss
of
his
wife
,
but
because
of
the
gap
that
the
war
had
made
between
himself
and
his
former
associates
.
With
the
ending
of
his
platform
and
committee
career
he
was
cut
off
,
automatically
and
completely
,
from
the
fellowship
of
those
who
had
been
his
co-workers
in
the
various
causes
and
enthusiasms
he
had
once
espoused
and
advocated
.
It
was
not
that
all
of
his
former
co-workers
would
have
disagreed
with
his
altered
point
of
view
;
his
was
not
the
only
perversion
to
militarism
the
stalwarts
had
to
deplore
;
it
was
merely
that
he
ceased
to
meet
them
.
All
the
same
the
new
isolation
in
which
he
lived
was
largely
due
to
his
own
initiative
or
lack
of
it
,
since
many
,
even
among
the
stalwarts
would
have
given
him
kindly
welcome
and
done
their
best
to
be
of
help
to
him
personally
;
but
after
the
meeting
in
Bloomsbury
he
felt
small
desire
to
seek
them
out
.
On
the
contrary
,
he
shrank
into
himself
and
avoided
,
as
far
as
possible
,
any
contact
with
those
whose
very
presence
would
remind
him
of
the
busy
,
self-satisfied
life
he
had
passed
in
their
company
,
of
the
vanished
,
theoretical
world
where
he
had
met
Griselda
and
loved
her
.
It
was
a
real
misfortune
that
his
small
private
income
,
though
to
a
certain
extent
affected
by
the
war
,
was
yet
sufficient
to
keep
a
roof
over
his
head
and
supply
him
with
decent
necessaries
of
food
and
clothing
.
Thus
,
he
was
not
driven
to
the
daily
work
of
hand
or
brain
that
might
have
acted
as
a
tonic
to
the
lethargic
hopelessness
of
his
mood
.
Nature
had
not
made
him
versatile
and
he
had
lived
in
a
groove
for
years
;
and
,
his
occupation
as
a
public
speaker
gone
,
he
was
left
without
interest
as
well
as
without
employment
.
More
than
once
,
goaded
into
spasmodic
activity
by
some
newspaper
paragraph
,
he
offered
himself
vaguely
for
war-work
—
only
to
be
discouraged
afresh
by
the
offer
of
an
entirely
unsuitable
job
or
by
delays
and
evasions
which
might
have
discouraged
men
more
competent
and
energetic
than
himself
.
In
one
respect
fortune
was
kind
to
him
;
he
was
able
,
within
a
week
or
two
of
his
return
to
London
,
to
get
rid
of
the
lease
of
the
haunted
little
flat
in
Bloomsbury
.
The
place
was
dreadful
to
him
,
with
its
empty
demand
for
Griselda
,
and
he
left
it
thankfully
for
a
lodging
in
Camden
Town
.
There
for
some
weeks
he
lived
drearily
in
two
small
rooms
,
with
no
occupation
to
fill
up
the
void
in
his
life
,
passing
hermit
days
in
the
company
of
newspapers
and
poring
over
cheap
war
literature
;
he
bought
many
newspapers
and
much
war
literature
and
aroused
the
sympathy
of
his
elderly
landlady
by
his
helplessness
and
continual
loneliness
.
What
kept
him
alive
mentally
was
his
thirsty
interest
in
the
war
;
anything
and
everything
that
dealt
with
it
was
grist
to
his
mill
,
and
he
acquired
necessarily
in
the
course
of
his
eager
reading
some
smattering
of
European
history
and
the
outlines
of
European
geography
.
The
pamphlet
and
journal
soon
ceased
to
satisfy
,
and
he
felt
the
need
of
supplementing
their
superficial
comments
and
sketchy
allusions
by
reading
that
was
not
up-to-date
.
A
newspaper
denunciation
of
the
Silesian
policy
of
Frederick
the
Great
led
him
to
Macaulay
and
others
on
the
Kaiser
's
ancestor
,
and
references
to
the
Franco-German
War
resulted
in
the
borrowing
from
the
nearest
Free
Library
of
a
volume
of
modern
French
history
.
One
volume
led
on
to
others
and
the
local
librarian
came
to
know
him
as
a
regular
client
.
His
reading
was
haphazard
,
but
perhaps
,
for
that
reason
,
all
the
more
informative
and
illuminating
.
So
far
he
had
acquired
such
small
learning
as
he
possessed
on
a
definite
and
narrow
plan
,
assimilating
only
such
facts
as
squared
with
his
theories
and
rejecting
all
the
others
;
where
his
new
studies
were
concerned
the
very
blankness
of
his
ignorance
was
a
guarantee
of
freedom
from
prejudice
.
He
stumbled
amongst
facts
and
opinions
,
making
little
of
them
and
yet
making
much
—
since
for
the
first
time
in
his
life
there
was
no
glib
mentor
to
guide
him
and
he
was
thrown
on
his
own
resources
.
With
his
theories
demolished
and
his
mind
blank
as
a
child
's
,
he
became
aware
of
phases
of
human
idea
and
striving
of
which
he
had
known
nothing
in
the
past
,
and
the
resulting
comprehension
of
the
existence
of
spheres
outside
his
own
increased
his
sense
of
the
impossibility
of
his
previous
classification
of
mankind
into
the
well-intentioned
and
the
evil
.
His
own
experience
had
shown
him
that
there
might
be
at
least
a
third
class
—
the
ignorant
,
the
mistaken
,
to
which
he
,
William
Tully
,
belonged
—
and
his
reading
,
by
its
very
vagueness
,
confirmed
that
personal
experience
.
As
he
floundered
through
histories
,
bewildered
and
at
random
,
he
realized
dizzily
,
but
none
the
less
surely
,
something
of
the
vast
and
terrifying
complexity
of
these
human
problems
upon
which
he
had
once
pronounced
himself
with
the
certainty
of
absolute
ignorance
.
The
Free
Library
,
though
he
knew
it
not
,
was
a
salve
to
his
wounded
heart
;
all
unconsciously
he
had
done
the
best
for
himself
in
applying
his
mind
to
matters
of
which
his
little
wife
had
known
nothing
.
Bismarckian
policy
and
the
Napoleonic
Wars
were
topics
he
had
not
discussed
and
interests
he
had
not
shared
with
her
;
hence
they
tended
to
come
between
him
and
her
memory
and
distract
him
from
lonely
brooding
.
Without
his
new
studies
he
might
have
drifted
into
sheer
melancholia
and
helplessness
;
as
it
was
,
he
burned
midnight
gas
over
his
books
and
kept
his
brain
alive
.
In
a
measure
his
interest
in
his
new
studies
was
personal
;
the
craving
to
strike
back
was
always
with
him
and
his
reading
fed
and
fanned
it
;
beginning
without
system
he
was
naturally
enough
attracted
by
the
drama
and
movement
of
the
French
Revolutionary
and
Napoleonic
epoch
,
read
avidly
all
that
the
librarian
could
give
him
on
the
subject
and
moulded
his
ideas
of
a
soldier
's
life
and
military
science
on
the
doings
of
men
of
those
days
.
The
seed
of
hope
that
Faraday
had
implanted
did
not
die
,
and
he
thought
of
himself
as
a
soldier
to
be
,
while
queer
little
ambitions
flamed
up
in
his
barren
heart
.
He
read
of
Ney
and
Murat
,
who
had
carried
marshals
'
batons
in
their
knapsacks
—
until
,
the
fervour
of
his
obsession
growing
,
he
dreamed
of
himself
as
an
avenging
leader
,
and
,
with
a
half-confessed
idea
of
fitting
himself
for
the
office
,
applied
hours
to
the
study
of
the
art
of
war
through
the
medium
of
an
obsolete
volume
on
military
lore
picked
up
from
a
second-hand
bookstall
in
the
Charing
Cross
Road
.
By
its
aid
—
it
had
been
published
in
the
early
'
fifties
—
he
attempted
to
work
out
the
strategy
of
Kluck
and
Joffre
,
and
spent
long
evenings
poring
over
diagrams
explanatory
of
the
tactics
of
Napoleon
at
Montereau
or
the
Archduke
Charles
at
Essling
.
For
a
time
his
only
real
human
intercourse
,
and
that
by
letter
,
was
with
Edith
Haynes
;
he
had
written
to
her
telling
of
his
rejection
for
the
Army
and
she
wrote
to
him
more
than
occasionally
.
She
was
fixed
busily
in
her
Somersetshire
home
,
looking
after
the
property
of
a
brother
fighting
in
Flanders
,
acting
as
bailiff
and
herself
taking
a
hand
in
farm-work
.
For
the
first
few
weeks
after
Griselda
's
death
she
remained
William
's
only
friend
in
the
new
world
of
war
,
and
it
was
not
until
he
had
been
settled
for
nearly
two
months
in
his
Camden
Town
lodging
that
he
discovered
that
some
at
least
of
his
former
associates
had
seen
fit
,
like
himself
,
to
reconsider
their
views
and
take
up
arms
for
their
country
.
He
ran
against
one
of
them
—
Watson
,
in
the
old
days
a
fiery
committee-member
of
his
branch
—
in
the
garb
of
the
London
Scottish
;
and
he
did
not
know
how
lonely
he
had
been
until
he
spent
an
evening
in
the
convert
's
company
,
talking
his
heart
out
,
talking
of
the
war
and
himself
.
With
the
first
announcement
of
the
reduction
in
the
standard
of
height
for
recruits
he
tried
to
enlist
again
and
was
again
refused
—
this
time
by
the
doctor
who
seemingly
had
doubts
about
his
heart
.
On
the
way
home
a
fool
woman
,
arrogating
to
herself
the
right
to
make
men
die
for
her
,
offered
him
a
white
feather
as
he
stood
waiting
for
his
'
bus
—
whereupon
he
turned
and
swore
at
her
using
filthy
words
that
were
strange
to
his
lips
till
her
vapid
little
face
grew
scarlet
.
That
day
,
for
the
first
time
,
his
books
were
no
comfort
to
his
soul
and
he
thrust
them
away
and
sat
brooding
—
understanding
perhaps
how
personal
and
revengeful
had
been
his
interest
in
the
lore
of
the
past
,
understanding
how
strong
had
been
the
dreams
and
ambitions
he
had
cherished
in
his
empty
heart
.
Watson
,
dropping
in
for
a
final
chat
before
starting
on
foreign
service
,
found
him
sullen
and
inert
before
his
fire
,
and
,
casting
about
for
a
method
of
comfort
,
suggested
application
to
another
recruiting
station
;
he
knew
,
he
said
,
of
more
than
one
man
who
,
refused
at
a
first
medical
examination
,
had
been
passed
without
trouble
at
a
second
.
Hope
was
beaten
out
of
William
and
he
shook
his
head
...
all
the
same
,
next
morning
he
tubed
to
the
other
end
of
London
,
there
