.

.
As he entered London he saw the newsboards all placarded with one fact: England had declared war on Germany.
He went, not to his own flat, but straight to Maidstone Crescent.

With those few minutes in which his mother had known him, the stupor that had beset his emotions all day passed off, and he felt himself longing, as he had never longed before, for Sylvia's presence.

Long ago he had given her all that he knew of as himself; now there was a fresh gift.

He had to give her all that those moments had taught him.