I had been ill at ease concerning him for months, but I had proposed to regain his confidence in a tactful, fatherly way.

Instead of which I found myself regarding him with my beastly defaulter glare.

The blood sometimes flies to one's head.
He condescended to explain.
"There are millions of what the Germans call 'cannon fodder' about.

But there are few intellects--few men, shall I say ?--of genius, scarcely a poet.

And men like myself who can express--that's the whole vital point--who can EXPRESS the higher philosophy of the Empire, and can point the way to its realisation are surely more valuable than the yokel or factory hand, who, as the sum-total of his capabilities, can be trained merely into a sort of shooting machine.