“Our fathers understood not thy wonders....”—Psalm cvi.
“Our fathers have trespassed ... our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.”—2 Chron. xxix.
“We have sinned with our fathers....”—Psalm cvi.
Under the hot sun of an early August day in 1914 John walked from Parliament Square towards Whitehall. More than a fortnight earlier he had gone to the Admiralty and offered his services for the war. His name had been added to a long list of applicants for whom employment could not immediately be found. The same morning he had offered himself as an infantryman to a corps which was awaiting permission to form new battalions, and his name had been taken again. Now an official telegram had brought him to London.
In the forecourt of the Admiralty he met Tintern, who had entered at the corner nearer to Trafalgar Square.
“You, Lynwood—I thought you were at Oxford.”
“Not yet. I’ve done the exams. I was waiting for the term to begin in October.”
“What are you doing now? Volunteering?”
“Yes.”