«Neither delighteth He in any man’s legs,» eh? Nous avons change tout cela.
George had lost a leg. There would be no more of that Olympian speed and strength and beauty. Jacobsen conjured up before his memory a vision of the boy running with his great fawn-coloured dog across green expanses of grass. How glorious he had looked, his fine brown hair blowing like fire in the wind of his own speed, his cheeks flushed, his eyes very bright. And how easily he ran, with long, bounding strides, looking down at the dog that jumped and barked at his side!
He had had a perfection, and now it was spoilt. Instead of a leg he had a stump. Moignon, the French called it; there was the right repulsive sound about moignon which was lacking in «stump.» Soignons le moignon enl’oignantd’oignons.
Often, at night before he went to sleep, he couldn’t help thinking of George and the war and all the millions of moignons there must be in the world. He had a dream one night of slimy red knobbles, large polyp-like things, growing as he looked at them, swelling between his hands— moignons, in fact.
George was well enough in the late autumn to come home. He had learnt to hop along on his crutches very skilfully, and his preposterous donkey-drawn bath-chair soon became a familiar object in the lanes of the neighbourhood. It was a grand sight to behold when George rattled past at the trot, leaning forward like a young Phoebus in his chariot and urging his unwilling beast with voice and crutch. He drove over to Blaybury almost every day; Marjorie and he had endless talks about life and love and Guy and other absorbing topics. With Jacobsen he played piquet and discussed a thousand subjects. He was always gay and happy—that was what especially lacerated Jacobsen’s heart with pity.
IV
THE Christmas holidays had begun, and the Reverend Roger was back again at Blaybury. He was sitting at the writing-table in the drawing-room, engaged, at the moment, in biting the end of his pen and scratching his head. His face wore an expression of perplexity; one would have said that he was in the throes of literary composition. Which indeed he was: «Beloved ward of Alfred Petherton …» he said aloud. «Beloved ward . . .» He shook his head doubtfully.
The door opened and Jacobsen came into the room. Roger turned round at once.
«Have you heard the grievous news?’ he said.
«No. What?»
«Poor Guy is dead. We got the telegram half an hour ago.»
«Good God!» said Jacobsen in an agonized voice which seemed to show that he had been startled out of the calm belonging to one who leads the life of reason. He had been conscious ever since George’s mutilation that his defences were growing weaker; external circumstance was steadily encroaching upon him. Now it had broken in and, for the moment, he was at its mercy. Guy dead. . . . He pulled himself together sufficiently to say, after a pause, «Well, I suppose it was only to be expected sooner or later. Poor boy.»
«Yes, it’s terrible, isn’t it?» said Roger, shaking his head. «I am just writing out an announcement to send to the limes. One can hardly say c the beloved ward of Alfred Petherton,’ can one? It doesn’t sound quite right; and yet one would like somehow to give public expression to the deep affection Alfred felt for him. c Beloved ward ‘— no, decidedly it won’t do.»
«You’ll have to get round it somehow,» said Jacobsen. Roger’s presence somehow made a return to the life of reason easier.
«Poor Alfred,» the other went on. «You’ve no idea how hardly he takes it. He feels as though he had given a son.»
«What a waste it is!» Jacobsen exclaimed. He was altogether too deeply moved.
«I have done my best to console Alfred. One must always bear in mind for what Cause he died.»
«All those potentialities destroyed. He was an able fellow, was Guy.» Jacobsen was speaking more to himself than to his companion, but Roger took up the suggestion.
«Yes, he certainly was that. Alfred thought he was very promising. It is for his sake I am particularly sorry. I never got on very well with the boy myself. He was too eccentric for my taste. There’s such a thing as being too clever, isn’t there? It’s rather inhuman. He used to do most remarkable Greek iambics for me when he was a boy. I dare say he was a very good fellow under all that cleverness and queerness. It’s all very distressing, very grievous.»
«How was he killed?»
«Died of wounds yesterday morning. Do you think it would be a good thing to put in some quotation at the end of the announcement in the paper? Something like, ‘ Dulce et Decorum,’ or ‘ Sed Miles, sed Pro Patria,’ or ‘ Per Ardua ad Astra ‘?»
«It hardly seems essential,» said Jacobsen.
«Perhaps not.» Roger’s lips moved silently; he was counting. «Forty-two words. I suppose that counts as eight lines. Poor Marjorie! I hope she won’t feel it too bitterly. Alfred told me they were unofficially engaged.»
«So I gathered.»
«I am afraid I shall have to break the news to her. Alfred is too much upset to be able to do anything himself. It will be a most painful task. Poor girl! I suppose as a matter of fact they would not have been able to marry for some time, as Guy had next to no money. These early marriages are very rash. Let me see: eight times three shillings is one pound four, isn’t it? I suppose they take cheques all right? «
«How old was he?» asked Jacobsen.
«Twenty-four and a few months.»
Jacobsen was walking restlessly up and down the room. «Just reaching maturity! One is thankful these days to have one’s own work and thoughts to take the mind off these horrors.»
«It’s terrible, isn’t it?—terrible. So many of my pupils have been killed now that I can hardly keep count of the number.»
There was a tapping at the French window; it was Marjorie asking to be let in. She had been cutting holly and ivy for the Christmas decorations, and carried a basket full of dark, shining leaves.
Jacobsen unbolted the big window and Marjorie came in, flushed with the cold and smiling. Jacobsen had never seen her looking so handsome: she was superb, radiant, like Iphigenia coming in her wedding garments to the sacrifice.
«The holly is very poor this year,» she remarked. «I am afraid we shan’t make much of a show with our Christmas decorations.»
Jacobsen took the opportunity of slipping out through the French window. Although it was unpleasantly cold, he walked up and down the flagged paths of the Dutch garden, hatless and overcoatless, for quite a long time.
Marjorie moved about the drawing-room fixing sprigs of holly round the picture frames. Her uncle watched her, hesitating to speak; he was feeling enormously uncomfortable.
«I am afraid,» he said at last, «that your father’s very upset this morning.» His voice was husky; he made an explosive noise to clear his throat.
«Is it his palpitations?» Marjorie asked coolly; her father’s infirmities did not cause her much anxiety.
«No, no.» Roger realized that his opening gambit had been a mistake. «No. It is—er—a more mental affliction, and one which, I fear, will touch you closely too. Marjorie, you must be strong and courageous; we have just heard that Guy is dead.»
«Guy dead?» She couldn’t believe it; she had hardly envisaged the possibility; besides, he was on the Staff. «Oh, Uncle Roger, it isn’t true.»
«I am afraid there is no doubt. The War Office telegram came just after you had gone out for the holly.»
Marjorie sat down on the sofa and hid her face in her hands. Guy dead; she would never see him again, never see him again, never; she began to cry.
Roger approached and stood, with his hand on her shoulder, in the attitude of a thought-reader. To those overwhelmed by sorrow the touch of a friendly hand is often comforting. They have fallen into an abyss, and the touching hand serves to remind them that life and God and human sympathy still exist, however bottomless the gulf of grief may seem. On Marjorie’s shoulder her uncle’s hand rested with a damp, heavy warmth that was peculiarly unpleasant.
«Dear child, it is very grievous, I know; but you must try and be strong and bear it bravely. We all have our cross to bear. We shall be celebrating the Birth of Christ in two days’ time; remember with what patience He received the cup of agony. And then remember for what Cause Guy has given his life. He has died a hero’s death, a martyr’s death, witnessing to Heaven against the powers of evil.» Roger was unconsciously slipping into the words of his last sermon in the school chapel.» You should feel pride in his death as well as sorrow. There, there, poor child.» He patted her shoulder two or three times.» Perhaps it would be kinder to leave you now.»
For some time after her uncle’s departure Marjorie sat motionless in the same position, her body bent forward, her face in her hands. She kept on repeating the words, «Never again,» and the sound of them filled her with despair and made her cry. They seemed to open up such a dreary grey infinite vista— «never again.» They were as a spell evoking tears.
She got up at last and began walking aimlessly about the room. She paused in front of
