tself. The roads were
winding and lonely and the air was full of the pleasant odours of the
spring fields. It was getting very late and I despaired of finding a
roof under which to spend the night. I determined to walk back to the
nearest village. As I had marched with the men that day all the way
from Estaires, a distance of about twenty miles, I was quite
reasonably tired and anxious to get a bed. I got back to the main road
which leads to St. Sylvestre. On approaching the little village I was
halted by a British sentry who was mounting guard over a line of Army
Service Corps lorries. I went on and encountered more sentries till I
stood in the town itself and made my difficulty known to a soldier who
was passing. I asked him if he knew where I could get a lodging (p. 051)
for the night. He told me that some officers had their headquarters in
the Cure's house, and that if I were to knock at the door, very
probably I could find a room in which to stay. I went to the house
which was pointed out to me and knocked. There was a light in a window
upstairs so I knew that my knocking would be heard. Presently a voice
called out from the hollow passage and asked me to open the door and
come in. I did so, and in the dim light saw at the end of the hall a
white figure which was barely distinguishable and which I took to be
the individual who had spoken to me. Consequently I addressed my
conversation to it. The shadowy form asked me what I wanted and I
explained that I had lost my way and asked where the headquarters of
my battalion were. The being replied that it did not know but invited
me to come in and spend the night. At that moment somebody from the
upstairs region came with an electric torch, and the light lit up the
empty hall. To my surprise I found that I had been addressing my
conversation to the life-sized statue of some saint which was standing
on a pedestal at the foot of the stairs. I rather mystified my host by
saying that I had been talking to the image in the hall. However, in
spite of this, he asked me to come upstairs where he would give me a
bed. By this time several of the British officers who occupied the
upper flat had become interested in the arrival of the midnight
visitor, and were looking over the bannisters. I can remember feeling
that my only chance of receiving hospitality depended on my presenting
a respectable appearance. I was on my best behaviour. It was greatly
to my confusion, therefore, as I