And you know there's something big about it.

I'm not warlike, you know, but I could not fail to be a soldier under these new conditions, any more than I could continue being a soldier when all it meant was to be ornamental.

Hermann in bursts of pride and patriotism used to call us toy-soldiers.

But he's wrong now; we're not going to be toy-soldiers any more." She did not answer him, but he felt her hand press close in the palm of his.
"I can't tell you how I dreaded we shouldn't go to war," he said.

"That has been a nightmare, if you like.