I had had you in my battalion a year ago,' I said.

'No, you don't. I'd only have been a nuisance. I've been a Fabian since
Oxford, but you're a better socialist than me. I'm a rancid
individualist.'

'But you must be feeling better about the war?' I asked.

'Not a bit of it. I'm still lusting for the heads of the politicians
that made it and continue it. But I want to help my country. Honestly,
Hannay, I love the old place. More, I think, than I love myself, and
that's saying a devilish lot. Short of fighting--which would be the sin
against the Holy Spirit for me--I'll do my damnedest. But you'll
remember I'm not used to team work. If I'm a jealous player, beat me
over the head.'

His voice was almost wistful, and I liked him enormously.

'Blenkiron will see to that,' I said. 'We're going to break you to
harness, Wake, and then you'll be a happy man. You keep your mind on
the game and forget about yourself. That's the cure for jibbers.'

As I journeyed to St Anton I thought a lot about that talk. He was
quite right about Mary, who would never have married him. A man with
such an angular soul couldn't fit into another's. And then I thought
that the chief thing about Mary was just her serene certainty. Her eyes
had that settled happy look that I remembered to have seen only in one
other human face, and that was Peter's ... But I wondered if Peter's
eyes were still the same.

I found the cottage, a little wooden thing which had been left perched
on its knoll when the big hotels grew around it. It had a fence in
front, but behind it was open to the hillside. At the gate stood a bent
old woman with a face like a pippin. My make-up must have been good,
for she accepted me before I introduced myself.

'God be thanked you are come,' she cried. 'The poor lieutenant needed a
man to keep him company. He sleeps now, as he does always in the
afternoon, for his leg wearies him in the night ... But he is brave,
like a soldier ... Come, I will show you the house, for you two will be
alone now.'

Stepping softly she led me indoors, pointing with a warning finger to
the little bedroom where Peter slept. I found a kitchen with a big
stove and a rough floor of planking, on which lay some badly cured
skins. Off it was a sort of pantry with a bed for me. She showed me the
pots and pans for cooking and the stores she had laid in, and where to
find water and fuel. 'I will do the marketing daily,' she said, 'and if
you need me, my d