fore, all who are so blest as to live within these isles take
comfort and courage from this--that despite raging tempest and
desperate battle, we, trusting in the justice of our cause, in these
iron men and mighty ships, may rest secure, since truly worthy are
these, both ships and men, of the glorious traditions of the world's
most glorious navy.

But, as they do their duty by Britain and the Empire, let it be our
inestimable privilege as fellow Britons to do our duty as nobly both
to the Empire and--to them.

VII

A HOSPITAL

The departure platform of a great station (for such as have eyes to
see) is always a sad place, but nowadays it is a place of tragedy.

He was tall and thin--a boyish figure--and his khaki-clad arm was
close about her slender form. The hour was early and their corner
bleak and deserted, thus few were by to heed his stiff-lipped,
agonised smile and the passionate clasp of her hands, or to hear her
heartbreaking sobs and his brave words of comfort; and I, shivering
in the early morning wind, hasted on, awed by a grief that made the
grey world greyer.

Very soon London was behind us, and we were whirling through a
countryside wreathed in mist wherein I seemed to see a girl's
tear-wet cheeks and a boy's lips that smiled so valiantly for all
their pitiful quiver; thus I answered my companion somewhat at random
and the waiter's proffer of breakfast was an insult. And, as I stared
out at misty trees and hedgerow I began as it were to sense a
grimness in the very air--the million-sided tragedy of war; behind me
the weeping girl, before me and looming nearer with every mile, the
Somme battle-front.

At a table hard by a group of clear-eyed subalterns were chatting and
laughing over breakfast, and in their merriment I, too, rejoiced. Yet
the grimness was with me still as we rocked and swayed through the
wreathing mist.

But trains, even on a foggy morning, have a way of getting there at
last, so, in due season, were docks and more docks, with the funnels
of ships, and beyond these misty shapes upon a misty sea, the gaunt
outlines of destroyers that were to convoy us Francewards. Hereupon
my companion, K., a hardened traveller, inured to customs, passports
and the like noxious things, led me through a jostling throng, his
long legs striding rapidly when they found occasion, past rank upon
rank of soldiers returning to duty, very neat and orderly, and
looking, I thought, a little grim.