“I should keep away from it if I were you,” said my father. “I don’t like the sound of that dog.”
“We’re certain to hear when it’s sold,” added my mother. “You can’t keep things like that secret here.”
Then the talk switched back to the coalition and the possibility of Mr. Asquith’s handing over the premiership to Mr. Lloyd George.
Very soon after that Robert Denver came to see us. He looked really handsome in his uniform. He was still too thin and looked taller than ever, but less “disjointed,” as Annabelinda had once described her brother’s physique.
I was delighted to see him. I studied him with awe.
“Oh, Robert,” I cried. “You’re through. You’ve got your commission!”
“I’m pleased,” he admitted. “I feel like a man again.”
“Free of those bullying sergeant majors. Poor Robert. I could imagine how you felt about it.”
“Necessary, I suppose. But hard to take at times.”
“So it is good-bye, Salisbury Plain.” My face fell. “And now…the battlefield.”
“The battlefield is to be postponed…probably for a month or more. What do you think? I’m going on a course.”
“A course? I thought you’d just come through your training.”
“So I have. But this is different. Do you know, Lucinda, I was by no means a model soldier? It’s a bit of luck that I got my commission. But I discovered a method of memorizing the Morse code. The others couldn’t understand how I did it. To tell the truth, I couldn’t myself. Well, since I could work the thing more quickly than the others, I was selected to go on this course.”
“That means you’ll be sending messages…on the battlefield.”
“Something like that, I imagine. I’ll have my mechanic with me. He’ll fix the phones….That sort of thing would be beyond me. I’ll take the messages and send others…or something like that, I suppose.”
“Oh, Robert, I’m proud of you.”
“I’ve done nothing to be proud of.”
“You have, and you will do more.”
“Oh, I’m not made in the heroic mold. That’s for people like Major Merrivale. By the way, have you seen him lately?”
“No. He’s in Gallipoli.”
Robert looked grim.
“So is Uncle Gerald,” I went on. “We’re quite anxious.”
Robert nodded in understanding.
My mother greeted him warmly. So did Aunt Celeste, who was often at Marchlands and enjoyed helping in the hospital.
There was a good deal of talk, and Miss Carruthers and Andrée joined us. Then my mother, Andrée and I took Robert along to see Edward.
“He’s growing fast,” commented Robert.
Andrée looked at Edward with pride. “He’s going to be a big boy, aren’t you, Edward?”
Edward muttered something and smiled benignly.
We had lunch, and afterward my mother said, “Why don’t you and Robert go for a little ride, Lucinda? You used to love to ride round these lanes.”
“I like the idea,” Robert said. “Don’t you, Lucinda?”
“I do,” I said.
Soon we were out, riding through the familiar countryside, as we used to before I went away to school and there was a war.
We kept recalling incidents from the past.
“Do you remember when we found the baby blackbird lying in the road?” Robert said.
“Oh, yes. He’d fallen out of the nest. And you climbed a tree because we guessed the nest would be up there…and we put him back….And the next day we came to see if he was all right.”
“Do you remember when your horse tripped over a log in the forest and you landed in a heap of leaves?”
We laughed at the memory. There was so much to remember.
“It seems so long ago,” I said, “because everything has changed.”
“It will come back to normal.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do. I shall be back with the estate and in time it will seem as though this never happened.”
“I think that when this sort of thing comes it changes people and they can never be the same again.”
“You’re not changing, are you, Lucinda?”
“I feel different. I notice it…riding with you like this, and talking about what happened in the old days. Little things like the baby bird and the tumble in the forest. It takes me back, and for a moment I am as I was then…and then I can see that there is a lot of difference between that person and what I am today.”
“I suppose we are all touched by experience, but what I mean is, are you the same Lucinda, my special friend?”
“I hope I shall always be that, Robert.”
“You must always be, no matter what happens.”
“It’s a comfort to hear that. I’ve always been able to rely on you.”
“The old predictable, as my sister calls me. She says it’s why I’m so dull. She always knows what I am going to do.”
“Well, Annabelinda always believes she is right. She’s predictable enough in that.”
“It’s true that I am predictable in most things, and I suppose that can be called unexciting.”
“Well, I was very excited when I saw you this morning in uniform.”
“You were the first one I wanted to show it off to.”
“Are you going to your parents?”
“Yes, this evening.”
“And shall I see you before you go on your course?”
“I plan to stay at home for two days. Then have one more day at Marchlands, if that is agreeable to you.”
“I suppose you have to go home?”
“I must. My father will have so much to tell me about the estate.”
“You love the land, don’t you, Robert?”
“I’ve been brought up to know that it will be mine one day…in the far distant future, I hope. I feel the same about it as my father does. As you know, he and I have always been the best of friends.”
“My mother often says you are just like him.”
“That’s the general opinion. My mother and sister are quite different.”
“It’s odd to have such contrasts in one family. People say I am like my mother, but my mother says I have a lot of my father in me. I don’t know who Charles takes after. I suppose he’ll go into politics. At the moment, he is the only person I know who is praying for the war to go on until he is old enough to join the army.”
“A good patriotic spirit!”
“I think he is more concerned with the glory of Charles Greenham! He sees himself dashing into battle and winning the war in a week.”
“He’ll grow up.”
“I’m glad you are going on this course, Robert…because it will delay your going…out there.”
“I’ll be all right, Lucinda. The old predictable. You’ll see me just obeying orders from my superior commanders. I’m the sort who muddles through.”
“Don’t change, will you?”
“I couldn’t if I tried. May I make the same request of you?”
“Oh, look!” I said. “There’s the old Priory.”
“What a difference! What have they done to it?”
“There are new people there.”
“Have they bought it?”
“I think they must have. The old owners were so careless about it. Now there is a caretaker with a fierce dog to keep people out. Mind you, people did wander in and out. There were some broken windows and people used to get into the house. I suppose there’s a good reason for a caretaker.”
“They’ve cleaned it up, haven’t they?”
“Yes. I expect the new people will be moving in soon.”
“Let’s hope they’ll be agreeable and add something to the social life of Marchlands.”
“My parents are hoping they are good Liberals.”
“Well, the Liberals haven’t got the monopoly now, have they? With this coalition, a Conservative has as good a chance of getting into the Cabinet.”