‘Now, gentlemen, I have shown you the tremendous importance of psychology, in the work of platoons, regiments, armies, and embassies. You must study the subject. You don’t need to go to Oxford. You can do it in your own hut. Look at your neighbour! Study his face, his eyes, his talk, his facial expressions and physical actions. Watch him at work. See whether he slacks or pulls, fights or funks, tells the truth or dodges the truth. You will feel at sea for a long time, but in the end your eye and brain will enable you to see the hero and the fool, and instinctively to sense the coming thought or action of an opponent. Psychology gives you the wisdom of the old, the touch of the blind, the sense of the tried, and a general strength which is irresistible. This gift will enable you to create an uncomfortable apprehension in the mind of the enemy—a sense of something tragic; a feeling that there are bombs under the earth and above the earth; that something which destroys the nerves of the German nation and the German High Command.
‘That’s all, gentlemen,’ he concluded.
We gave him a mighty cheer.
‘Oh, by the way, any questions?’ he ejaculated.
No one got up. All seemed satisfied; but just as he was turning away, Ginger Thomson jumped to his feet.
‘Sir.’
‘Yes?’
‘I want to tell you something. Before we came in here we were arguing the point about rotten lectures and rotten lecturers. But I feel we owe you much. You have helped us a lot. We all hope you will come again, sir.’
‘Delighted! Oh, by the way, I missed a most important point. You can never apply this science—to a woman.’
‘What about a girl, sir?’ we all asked.