nce for
the obstinacy of man or taken into account the resisting power of human
society. As if man, having built up this mighty structure of
civilisation, would let it be flung down in a moment without trying to
save some of it! As if man, having in pain and bloody sweat discovered
his soul, would let it get lost without struggling to hold and preserve
it!...

Gilbert and Henry came into the drawing-room, where the women were
whispering to each other. Inexplicably, almost unconsciously, their
voices had fallen to whispers ... as if they were in church or a corpse
were above in a bedroom.... Four of the women were playing Bridge, but
none of them wished to play Bridge; and as Gilbert and Henry entered the
room, they put down their cards and looked round at them.

"Is there any more news?" one of them said, and Gilbert told them of the
rumours that had been heard in Holyhead.

"They say the Black Watch have been cut to pieces," he said.

The whispering stopped.... They could hear the clock's regular
tick-tick....

"Oh, the poor men ... the poor men!" an old woman said, and her fingers
began to twitch....

Almost mechanically, the Bridge players picked up their cards. "It's
your lead, partner!" one of them said, and then she threw down her
cards, and rising from her chair, went swiftly from the room.

"Oh, the poor men ... the poor men!" the old woman moaned.

7

They sat on the rocks after tea and while they sat there, they saw a
great ship sailing up the sea, beautiful and proud and swift; and they
jumped up and climbed to the highest point of the cliff to watch her go
by. They knew her, for there had been anxiety about her for two days,
and as they watched her sailing past, they cheered and waved their hands
although no one on the great vessel could see them. A girl came running
to them....

"What is it?" she said.

"It's the _Lusitania_," they answered. "She's dodged them, damn them!"

"Oh, hurrah!" the girl shouted. "Hurrah! Hurrah!"

8

And then the strain lifted. The _Lusitania_ had won home to safety. The
Germans, greedy for this great prize, had failed to find her.
Civilisation still held good ... if the world were to go down in the
fight, it would go down proudly, hitting hard, hitting until the
last....

THE FIFTH CHAPTER

1

It was odd, that journey from Holyhead to London, odd and silent; for
all the way from Wales to Euston they passed but one train. They drove
through the