I

reality, to release the indignant emotions which his editorial utterances had unwittingly brought to the surface of my consciousness. It was a case of direct inspiration; I had, so to speak, received the call, and the editor of the Unconservative Weekly seemed the most likely man to put me on the shortest road to martyrdom. It really felt very fine, and as long as I was alone my feelings carried me along on a torrent of prophetic phrases. But when I was inside Markington’s office (he sitting with fingers pressed together and regarding me with alertly mournful curiosity) my internal eloquence dried up and I began abruptly. “I say, I’ve been thinking it all over, and I’ve made up my mind that I ought to do something about it.” He pushed his spectacles up on to his forehead and leant back in his chair. “You want to do something?” “About the War, I mean. I can’t just sit still and do nothing. You said the other day that you couldn’t print anything really outspoken, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t make some sort of statement⁠—about how we ought to publish our War Aims, and all that, and the troops not knowing what they’re fighting about. It might do quite a lot of good, mightn’t it?” He got up and went to the window. A secretarial typewriter tick-tacked in the next room. While he stood with his back to me I could see the tiny traffic creeping to and fro on Charing Cross Bridge and a barge going down the river in the sunshine. My heart was beating violently. I knew that I couldn’t turn back now. Those few moments seemed to last a long time; I was conscious of the stream of life going on its way, happy and untroubled, while I had just blurted out something which alienated me from its acceptance of a fine day in the third June of the Great War. Returning to his chair, he said, “I suppose you’ve realized what the results of such an action would be, as regards yourself?” I replied that I didn’t care two damns what they did to me as long as I got the thing off my chest. He laughed, looking at me with a gleam of his essential kindness. “As far as I am aware, you’d be the first soldier to take such a step, which would, of course, be welcomed by the extreme pacifists. Your service at the front would differentiate you from the Conscientious Objectors. But you