hey were _proud_ of them; they
were doing their bit. They nearly made me cry, Bobby. Yes, we are all
in it now; and those of us who come out of it are going to find this
old island of ours a wonderfully changed place to live in."

"How? Why?" enquired Bobby. Possibly he was interested in Wagstaffe's
unusual expansiveness: possibly he hoped to steer the conversation
away from the topic of V.A.D.'s--possibly towards it. You never know.

"Well," said Wagstaffe, "we are all going to understand one another a
great deal better after this war."

"Who? Labour and Capital, and so on?"

"'Labour and Capital' is a meaningless and misleading expression,
Bobby. For instance, our men regard people like you and me as
Capitalists; the ordinary Brigade Major regards us as Labourers, and
pretty common Labourers at that. It is all a question of degree. But
what I mean is this. You can't call your employer a tyrant and an
extortioner after he has shared his rations with you and never
spared himself over your welfare and comfort through weary months of
trench-warfare; neither, when you have experienced a working-man's
courage and cheerfulness and reliability in the day of battle, can you
turn round and call him a loafer and an agitator in time of peace--can
you? That is just what the _Bandar-log_ overlook, when they jabber
about the dreadful industrial upheaval that is coming with peace. Most
of all have they overlooked the fact that with the coming of peace
this country will be invaded by several million of the wisest men that
she has ever produced--the New British Army. That Army will consist
of men who have spent three years in getting rid of mutual
misapprehensions and assimilating one another's point of view--men
who went out to the war ignorant and intolerant and insular, and are
coming back wise to all the things that really matter. They will flood
this old country, and they will make short work of the agitator, and
the alarmist, and the profiteer, and all the nasty creatures that
merely make a noise instead of _doing_ something, and who crab the
work of the Army and Navy--more especially the Navy--because there
isn't a circus victory of some kind in the paper every morning. Yes,
Bobby, when our boys get back, and begin to ask the _Bandar-log_ what
they _did_ in the Great War--well, it's going to be a rotten season
for _Bandar-log_ generally!"

There was silence again. Presently Bobby spoke:--

"When our boys get back! Some of