ter which has been
grossly neglected and which the General Staff must see to.

When Lord Kitchener was going to be away from town for two or three
days in the summer of 1915, he sometimes instructed me to be at Mr.
Asquith's beck and call during his absence in case some important
question should suddenly arise, and once or twice I was summoned to 10
Downing Street of a morning in consequence, and was ushered into the
precincts. On these occasions the Prime Minister was to be found in a
big room upstairs; and he was always walking up and down, like
Aristotle only that he had his hands in his pockets. His demeanour
would be a blend of boredom with the benign. "Whatch-think of this?"
he would demand, snatching up some paper from his desk, cramming it
into my hand, and continuing his promenade. Such observations on my
part in response to the invitation as seemed to meet the case would be
acknowledged with a grunt--dissent, concurrence, incredulity, or a
desire for further information being communicated by modulations in
the grunt. Once, when the document under survey elaborated one of Mr.
Churchill's virgin plans of revolutionizing the conduct of the war as
a whole, the Right Honourable Gentleman in an access of exuberance
became garrulous to the extent of muttering, "'Tslike a hen laying
eggs."

But, all the same, when instructions came to be given at the end of
such an interview, they invariably were lucid, concise, and very much
to the point. You knew exactly where you were. For condensing what was
needed in a case like this into a convincing form of words, for
epitomizing in a single sentence the conclusions arrived at (supposing
conclusions by any chance to have been arrived at) after prolonged
discussions by a War Council, or at a gathering of the Dardanelles
Committee, I have never come across anybody in the same street with
Mr. Asquith.

CHAPTER VII

FURTHER EXPERIENCES IN THE WAR OFFICE

Varied nature of my responsibilities -- Inconvenience caused by a
Heath-Caldwell being a brother-Director on the General Staff --
An interview with Lord Methuen -- The Man of Business -- His
methods when in charge of a Government Department -- War Office
branches under Men of Business -- The art of advertisement --
This not understood by War Office officials -- The paltry staff
and accommodation at the disposal of the Director of Supplies and
Transport, and what was accomplished