ABSTRACT
THERE was the opportunity now of a fresh start in life, alone in a new and unknown world. It was the time for a self-critical stock-taking, and the voyage served well for the purpose. The ups and downs of the past few years had left deep impressions on me. Many illusions, as well as hopes, lay shattered. Life was not such an easy affair as I had once thought. One had less power to mould and determine it than had seemed. More depended on the chance of circumstance, and on relations with other people, than I had liked to think. It would be wiser to expect less and be glad of anything good that came. I had by now got into the habit of taking other people far more into account, and had revived a capacity for tact which in school-days had softened roughness, but which had subsequently lain dormant. This went on developing, and many years later Freud was to say laughingly that my diplomatic abilities might lead to my being taken over by the League of Nations.
