ested great courage; in others
they expressed gentleness and kindness.

'Then you have no idea what you are going to do, now you have landed at
Plymouth?'

'I'm afraid I haven't. Perhaps I ought not to have got off here at
all. But again I acted on impulse. You see, when I first saw the
harbour, I had a feeling that I had been here before, so seeing the
others landing, I followed them. My reason for speaking to you was, I
think, this,'--and he touched my tunic. 'Besides, there was something
in your eyes which made me trust you.'

'Are you a soldier, then?' I asked.

'I don't know. You see, I don't know anything. But I rather think I
must have been interested in the Army, because I am instinctively drawn
to any one wearing a soldier's uniform. You are a captain, I see.'

'Yes,' I replied. 'I'm afraid my position in the Army is somewhat
anomalous, but there it is. When the war broke out, I was asked by the
War Office to do some recruiting, and thinking that I should have more
influence as a soldier, a commission was given me. I don't know much
about soldiering, although I have taken a great deal of interest in the
Army all my life.'

He looked at me in a puzzled sort of way. 'War broke out?' he queried.
'Is England at war?'

'Didn't you know?'

He shook his head pathetically. 'I know nothing. All the way home I
talked to no one. I didn't feel as though I could. You see, people
looked upon me as a kind of curiosity, and I resented it somewhat.
But, England at war! By Jove, that's interesting!'

His eyes flashed with a new light, and another tone came into his
voice. 'Who are we at war with?' he added.

'Principally with Germany,' I replied, 'but it'll take a lot of
explaining, if you've heard nothing about it. Roughly speaking,
England, France, and Russia are at war with Germany, Austria and
Turkey.'

'I always said it would come--always. The Germans have meant it for
years.'

'The fellow is contradicting himself; he begins to have a memory in a
remarkable manner,' I thought. 'When did you think it would come?' I
asked.

He looked at me in a puzzled way as if he were trying to co-ordinate
his thoughts, and then, with a sigh, gave it up as if in despair. 'It
is always that way,' he said with a sigh, 'sometimes flashes of the
past come to me, but they never remain. But what is England at war
about?'

'I am afraid it would take too long to tell you. I say,' and I turned
to him sudd