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a day that he had to celebrate⁠ ⁠… But he dare not have done it where Sergeant-Major Ledoux is along with a lot of their old mates⁠ ⁠… “I dare not⁠ ⁠… I dussn’t!” he finished⁠ ⁠… “So I might have been sitting, now, at this very moment, up in the cold camp⁠ ⁠… But for you and the captain⁠ ⁠… Up in the cold camp⁠ ⁠… You’ll excuse me, ma’am⁠ ⁠…”

Sylvia felt that her lids were suddenly wavering:

“I might have been myself,” she said, “in a cold camp, too⁠ ⁠… if I hadn’t thrown myself on the captain’s mercy!⁠ ⁠… At Birkenhead, you know⁠ ⁠… I happened to be there till three weeks ago⁠ ⁠… It’s strange that you mentioned it⁠ ⁠… There are things like signs⁠ ⁠… but you’re not a Catholic! They could hardly be coincidences⁠ ⁠…”

She was trembling⁠ ⁠… She looked, fumblingly opening it, into the little mirror of her powder-box⁠—of chased, very thin gold with a small blue stone, like a forget-me-not in the centre of the concentric engravings⁠ ⁠… Drake⁠—the possible father of Michael⁠—had given it to her⁠ ⁠… The first thing he had ever given her. She had brought it down tonight out of defiance. She imagined that Tietjens disliked it⁠ ⁠… She said breathlessly to herself: “perhaps the damn thing is an ill omen⁠ ⁠…” Drake had been the first man who had ever⁠ ⁠… A hot-breathed brute!⁠ ⁠… In the little glass her features were chalk-white⁠ ⁠… She looked like⁠ ⁠… she looked like⁠ ⁠… She had a dress of golden tissue⁠ ⁠… The breath was short between her white set teeth⁠ ⁠… Her face was as white as her teeth⁠ ⁠… And⁠ ⁠… Yes! Nearly! Her lips⁠ ⁠… What was her face like?⁠ ⁠… In the chapel of the convent of Birkenhead there was a tomb all of alabaster⁠ ⁠… She said to herself:

“He was near fainting⁠ ⁠… I’m near fainting⁠ ⁠… What’s this beastly thing that’s between us?⁠ ⁠… If I let myself faint⁠ ⁠… But it would not make that beast’s face any less wooden!⁠ ⁠…”

She leaned across the table and patted the ex-sergeantmajor’s black-haired hand:

“I’m sure,” she said, “you’re a very good man⁠ ⁠…” She did not try to keep the tears out of her eyes, remembering his words: “Up in the cold camp.”⁠ ⁠… “I’m glad the captain, as you call him, did not leave you in the cold camp⁠ ⁠… You’re devoted to him, aren’t you?⁠ ⁠… There are others he does leave⁠ ⁠… up in⁠ ⁠… the cold camp⁠ ⁠… For punishment, you know⁠ ⁠…”

The ex-sergeant-major, the tears in his eyes too, said:

“Well, there is men you ’as to give the C.B. to⁠ ⁠… C.B. means confined to barracks⁠ ⁠…”

“Oh, there are!” she exclaimed. “There are!⁠ ⁠… And women, too⁠ ⁠… Surely there are women, too?⁠ ⁠…”

The sergeant-major said:

“Wacks, per’aps⁠ ⁠… I don’t know⁠ ⁠… They say women’s discipline is like ours⁠ ⁠… Founded on hours!”

She said:

“Do you know what they used to say of the captain?⁠ ⁠…” She said to herself: “I pray to God the stiff, fatuous beast likes sitting here listening to this stuff⁠ ⁠… Blessed Virgin, mother of God, make him take me⁠ ⁠… Before midnight. Before eleven⁠ ⁠… As soon as we get rid of this⁠ ⁠… No, he’s a decent little man⁠ ⁠… Blessed Virgin!”⁠ ⁠… “Do you know what they used to say of the captain?⁠ ⁠… I heard the warmest banker in England say it of him⁠ ⁠…”

The sergeant-major, his eyes enormously opened, said:

“Did you know the warmest banker in England?⁠ ⁠… But there, we always knew the captain was well connected⁠ ⁠…” She went on:

“They said of him⁠ ⁠… He was always helping people.”⁠ ⁠… “Holy Mary, mother of God!⁠ ⁠… He’s my husband⁠ ⁠… It’s not a sin⁠ ⁠… Before midnight⁠ ⁠… Oh, give me a sign⁠ ⁠… Or before⁠ ⁠… the termination of hostilities⁠ ⁠… If you give me a sign I could wait.”⁠ ⁠… “He helped virtuous Scotch students, and broken-down gentry⁠ ⁠… And women taken in adultery⁠ ⁠… All of them⁠ ⁠… Like⁠ ⁠… You know Who⁠ ⁠… That is his model⁠ ⁠…” She said to herself: “Curse him!⁠ ⁠… I hope he likes it⁠ ⁠… You’d think the only thing he thinks about is the beastly duck he’s wolfing down.”⁠ ⁠… And then aloud: “They used to say: ‘He saved others; himself he could not save⁠ ⁠…’ ”

The ex-sergeant-major looked at her gravely:

“Ma’am,” he said, “we couldn’t say exactly that of the captain⁠ ⁠… For I fancy it was said of our Redeemer⁠ ⁠… But we ’ave said that if ever there was a poor bloke the captain could ’elp, ’elp ’im ’e would⁠ ⁠… Yet the unit was always getting ’ellish strafe from headquarters⁠ ⁠…”

Suddenly Sylvia began to laugh⁠ ⁠… As she began to laugh she had remembered⁠ ⁠… The alabaster image in the nun’s chapel at Birkenhead the vision of which had just presented itself to her, had been the recumbent tomb of an honourable Mrs. Tremayne-Warlock⁠ ⁠… She was said to have sinned in her youth⁠ ⁠… And her husband had never forgiven her⁠ ⁠… That was what the nuns said⁠ ⁠… She said aloud:

“A sign⁠ ⁠…” Then to herself: “Blessed Mary!⁠ ⁠… You’ve given it me in the neck⁠ ⁠… Yet you could not name a father for your child, and I can name two⁠ ⁠… I’m going mad⁠ ⁠… Both I and he are going to go mad⁠ ⁠…”

She thought of dashing an enormous patch of red upon either cheek. Then she thought it would be rather melodramatic⁠ ⁠…

She made in the smoking-room, whilst she was waiting for both Tietjens and Cowley to come back from the telephone, another pact⁠ ⁠… This time with Father Consett in heaven! She was fairly sure that Father Consett⁠—and quite possibly other of the heavenly powers⁠—wanted Christopher not to be worried, so that he could get on with the war⁠—or because he was a good sort of dullish man such as the heavenly authorities are apt to like⁠ ⁠… Something like that⁠ ⁠…

She was by that time fairly calm again. You cannot keep up fits of emotion by the hour: at any rate, with her, the fits of emotion were periodical and unexpected, though her colder passion remained always the same⁠ ⁠… Thus, when Christopher had come into Lady Sachse’s that afternoon, she had been perfectly calm. He had mooned through a number of officers, both French and English, in a great octagonal, bluish salon where Lady Sachse gave her teas, and had come to her side with just a nod⁠—the merest inflection of

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