His grim voice came from behind the newspaper,
which did not move:
"We've no adequate means of judging."
"True," said Sir Francis. "Now, another thing I'm told is that the War
Office was perfectly ready for the war on the scale agreed upon for
ourselves with France and Russia. I don't appreciate that either. No
War Office can be said to be perfectly ready for any war until it has
organised its relations with the public which it serves. My belief
is that the War Office had never thought for one moment about the
military importance of public opinion and the Press. At any rate, it
has most carefully left nothing undone to alienate both the public and
the Press. My son-in-law has the misfortune to own seven newspapers,
and the tales he tells about the antics of the Press Bureau--" Sir
Francis smiled the rest of the sentence. "Let me see, they offered the
Press Bureau to you, didn't they, Bob?"
_The Times_ fell, disclosing Bob, whose long upper lip grew longer.
"They did," he said. "I made a few inquiries, and found it was nothing
but a shuttlecock of the departments. I should have had no real
power, but unlimited quantities of responsibility. So I respectfully
refused."
Sir Francis remarked:
"Your hearing's much better, Bob.
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