Memory Hold-The-Door by John Buchan — Read

The years from 1903 to 1914, a truce for Britain between two campaigns, are for the historian the germinal period of the Great War, but to some of those who lived through them they seemed rather an empty patch -- _confusae sonus urbis et illaetabile murmur_.

I had looked forward in South Africa to spending the next decade in foreign service. When I returned to England late in 1903 it was in the expectation of going soon to Egypt, where Lord Cromer had selected me for an important financial post; but the home authorities declined to ratify his choice, no doubt rightly, on the ground of my youth and inexperience. So I was compelled to go back to the Bar, where, with much restlessness and distaste, I continued for the next three years. Though I hoped daily for an appointment abroad, I realised that I must behave as if the Law were to be my life's profession. I went back to Rowlatt's chambers, had an occasional brief of my own, and "noted" cases for the Attorney-General, my old friend Sir Robert Finlay.