This book is to be published while the great issues that now divide the world remain undecided. As yet, and for some time to come, the world must be one of doubt. It must as yet be suspended equally between hope and fear.
It is likely that I shall die before the issue is decided - I do not know whether my last words should be:
The bright day is done
And we are for the dark.
or, as I sometimes allow myself to hope,
The world's great age begins anew,
The golden years return....
Heaven smiles, and faiths and empires gleam,
Like wrecks of a dissolving dream.
I have done what I could to add my small weight in an attempt to tip the balance on the side of hope, but it has been a puny effort against vast forces.
May others succeed where my generation failed.
During the year 1944, it became gradually clear that the war was ending, and was ending in German defeat. This made it possible for us to return to England and to bring our children with us without serious risk except for John, who was liable for conscription whether he went home or stayed in America. Fortunately, the end of the war came soon enough to spare him the awkward choice which this would have entailed.
My life in England, as before, was a mixture of public and private events, but the private part became increasingly important. I have found that it is not possible to relate in the same manner private and public events or happenings long since finished and those that are still continuing and in the midst of which I live. Some readers may be surprised by the changes of manner which this entails. I can only hope that the reader will realise the inevitability of diversification and appreciate the unavoidable reticences necessitated by the law of libel.