Rivers smiled. ‘There are worse places, believe me.’
‘I’m sure there are,’ Sassoon said politely.
‘They were going to certify you, in fact?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Did anybody on the Board say anything to you about this?’
‘No, because it was —’
‘All fixed beforehand. Yes, I see.’
Sassoon said, ‘May I ask you a question?’
‘Go ahead’
‘Do you think I’m mad?’
‘No, of course you’re not mad. Did you think you were going mad?’
‘It crossed my mind. You know when you’re brought face to face with the fact that, yes, you did see corpses on the pavement…’
‘Hallucinations in the half-waking state are surprisingly common, you know. They’re not the same thing as psychotic hallucinations. Children have them quite frequently.’
Sassoon had started pulling at a loose thread on the breast of his tunic. Rivers watched him for a while. ‘You must’ve been in agony when you did that.’
Sassoon lowered his hand. ‘No-o. Agony’s lying in a shell-hole with your legs shot off. I was upset.’ For a moment he looked almost hostile, then he relaxed. ‘It was a futile gesture. I’m not particularly proud of it.’
‘You threw it in the Mersey, didn’t you?’
‘Yes. It wasn’t heavy enough to sink, so it just’ — a glint of amusement — ‘bobbed around. There was a ship sailing past, quite a long way out, in the estuary, and I looked at this little scrap of ribbon floating and I looked at the ship, and I thought that me trying to stop the war was a bit like trying to stop the ship would have been. You know, all they’d’ve seen from the deck was this little figure jumping up and down, waving its arms, and they wouldn’t’ve known what on earth it was getting so excited about.’
‘So you realized then that it was futile?’
Sassoon lifted his head. ‘It still had to be done. You can’t just acquiesce.’
Rivers hesitated. ‘Look, I think we’ve… we’ve got about as far as we can get today. You must be very tired.’ He stood up. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow morning at ten. Oh, and could you ask Captain Graves to see me as soon as he arrives?’
Sassoon stood up. ‘You said a bit back you didn’t think I was mad.’
‘I’m quite sure you’re not. As a matter of fact I don’t even think you’ve got a war neurosis.’
Sassoon digested this. ‘What have I got, then?’
‘You seem to have a very powerful anti-war neurosis.’
They looked at each other and laughed. Rivers said, ‘You realize, don’t you, that it’s my duty to… to try to change that? I can’t pretend to be neutral.’
Sassoon’s glance took in both their uniforms. ‘No, of course not.’
∗
Rivers made a point of sitting next to Bryce at dinner.
‘Well,’ Bryce said, ‘what did you make of him?’
‘I can’t find anything wrong. He doesn’t show any sign of depression, he’s not excited—’
‘Physically?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Perhaps he just doesn’t want to be killed.’
‘Oh, I think he’d be most insulted if you suggested that. To be fair, he did have a job lined up in Cambridge, training cadets — so it isn’t a question of avoiding being sent back. He could’ve taken that if he’d wanted to save his skin.’
‘Any trace of… er… religious enthusiasm?’
‘No, I’m afraid not. I was hoping for that too.’
They looked at each other, amused. ‘You know, the curious thing is I don’t think he’s even a pacifist? It seems to be entirely a matter of of horror at the extent of the slaughter, combined with a feeling of anger that the government won’t state its war aims and impose some kind of limitation on the whole thing. That, and an absolutely corrosive hatred of civilians. And non-combatants in uniform.’
‘What an uncomfortable time you must’ve had.’
‘No-o, I rather gather I was seen as an exception.’
Bryce looked amused. ‘Did you like him?’
‘Yes, very much. And I found him… much more impressive than I expected.’
Sassoon, at his table under the window, sat in silence. The men on either side of him stammered so badly that conversation would have been impossible, even if he had wished for it, but he was content to withdraw into his own thoughts.
He remembered the day before Arras, staggering from the outpost trench to the main trench and back again, carrying boxes of trench mortar bombs, passing the same corpses time after time, until their twisted and blackened shapes began to seem like old friends. At one point he’d had to pass two hands sticking up out of a heap of pocked and pitted chalk, like the roots of an overturned tree. No way of telling if they were British or German hands. No way of persuading himself it mattered.
‘Do you play golf?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I asked if you played golf.’
Small blue eyes, nibbled gingery moustache, an RAMC badge. He held out his hand. ‘Ralph Anderson.’
Sassoon shook hands and introduced himself. ‘Yes, I do.’
‘What’s your handicap?’
Sassoon told him. After all, why not? It seemed an entirely suitable topic for Bedlam.
‘Ah, then we might have a game.’
‘I’m afraid I haven’t brought my clubs.’
‘Send for them. Some of the best courses in the country round here.’
Sassoon had opened his mouth to reply when a commotion started near the door. As far as he could tell, somebody seemed to have been sick. At any rate, a thin, yellow-skinned man was on his feet, choking and gagging. A couple of VADs ran across to him, clucking, fussing, flapping ineffectually at his tunic with a napkin, until eventually they had the sense to get him out of the room. The swing doors closed behind them. A moment’s silence, and then, as if nothing had happened, the buzz of conversation rose again.
Rivers stood up and pushed his plate away. ‘I think I’d better go.’
‘Why not wait till you’ve finished?’ Bryce said. ‘You eat little enough as it is.’
Rivers patted his midriff. ‘Oh, I shan’t fade away just yet.’
Whenever Rivers wanted to get to the top floor without being stopped half a dozen times on the way, he used the back staircase. Pipes lined the walls, twisting with the turning of the stair, gurgling from time to time like lengths of human intestine. It was dark, the air stuffy, and sweat began to prickle in the roots of his hair. It was a relief to push the swing door open and come out on to the top corridor, where the air was cool at least, though he never failed to be depressed by the long narrow passage with its double row of brown doors and the absence of natural light. ‘Like a trench without the sky’ had been one patient’s description, and he was afraid it was only too accurate.
Burns was sitting on his bed, while two VADs helped him off with his tunic and shirt. His collar bones and ribs were clearly visible beneath the yellowish skin. The waistband of his breeches gaped.
One of the VADs tugged at it. ‘There’s room for two in there,’ she said, smiling, coaxing. ‘Have I to get in with you?’ The other VAD’s frozen expression warned her of Rivers’s presence. ‘I’ll get this sponged down for you, Captain.’
They hurried past Rivers, bursting into nervous giggles as they reached the end of the corridor.
Burns’s arms were goose-pimpled, though the room was not cold. The smell of vomit lingered on his breath. Rivers sat down beside him. He didn’t know what to say, and thought it better to say nothing. After a while he felt the bed begin to shake and put his arm round Burns’s shoulders. ‘It doesn’t get any better, does it?’ he said.