The man had been guarding a tunnel, and he had been knocked down by one train when crossing the line behind another.  So it was that the bomb of Sarajevo killed its first victim in Essex.  Captain Carmine had found the body.  He had found the body in a cloudy moonlight; he had almost fallen over it; and his sensations and emotions had been eminently disagreeable.  He had had to drag the body—­it was very dreadfully mangled—­off the permanent way, the damaged, almost severed head had twisted about very horribly in the uncertain light, and afterwards he had found his sleeves saturated with blood.  He had not noted this at the time, and when he had discovered it he had been sick.  He had thought the whole thing more horrible and hateful than any nightmare, but he had succeeded in behaving with a sufficient practicality to set an example to his men.  Since this had happened he had not had an hour of dreamless sleep.

“One doesn’t expect to be called upon like that,” said Captain Carmine, “suddenly here in England....  When one is smoking after supper....”

Mr. Britling listened to this experience with distressed brows.  All his talking and thinking became to him like the open page of a monthly magazine.  Across it this bloody smear, this thing of red and black, was dragged....

Section 5

The smear was still bright red in Mr. Britling’s thoughts when Teddy came to him.

“I must go,” said Teddy, “I can’t stop here any longer.”

“Go where?”

“Into khaki.  I’ve been thinking of it ever since the war began.  Do you remember what you said when we were bullying off at hockey on Bank Holiday—­the day before war was declared?”

Mr. Britling had forgotten completely; he made an effort.  “What did I say?”

“You said, ’What the devil are we doing at this hockey?  We ought to be drilling or shooting against those confounded Germans!’ ...  I’ve never forgotten it....  I ought to have done it before.  I’ve been a scout-master.  In a little while they will want officers.  In London, I’m told, there are a lot of officers’ training corps putting men through the work as quickly as possible....  If I could go....”

“What does Letty think?” said Mr. Britling after a pause.  This was right, of course—­the only right thing—­and yet he was surprised.

“She says if you’d let her try to do my work for a time....”

“She wants you to go?”

“Of course she does,” said Teddy.  “She wouldn’t like me to be a shirker....  But I can’t unless you help.”

“I’m quite ready to do that,” said Mr. Britling.  “But somehow I didn’t think it of you.  I hadn’t somehow thought of you—­”

“What did you think of me?” asked Teddy.

“It’s bringing the war home to us....  Of course you ought to go—­if you want to go.”

He reflected.  It was odd to find Teddy in this mood, strung up and serious and businesslike.  He felt that in the past he had done Teddy injustice; this young man wasn’t as trivial as he had thought him....