Yes, I said 'home,' didn't I?
Well, that shows you just how I am torn in two.

But I can't help going." Hermann's hand remained on his shoulder gently patting it.

To Michael the world, life, the whole spirit of things had suddenly grown sinister, of the quality of nightmare.

It was true that all the ground of this ominous depression which had darkened round him, was conjectural and speculative, that diplomacy, backed by the horror of war which surely all civilised nations and responsible govermnents must share, had, so far from saying its last, not yet said its first word; that the wits of all the Cabinets of Europe were at this moment only just beginning to stir themselves so as to secure a peaceful solution; but, in spite of this, the darkness and the nightmare grew in intensity.

But as to Hermann's determination to go to Germany, which made this so terribly real, since it was beginning to enter into practical everyday life, he had neither means nor indeed desire to combat it.