Harold flicked off the ash of his cigarette. "So, so, padre," he said.
"But the devil"s loose. It"s all so easy; I"ve never met a girl yet who was not out for a spree. Of course, we don"t see anything of the real French ladies, though, and this isn"t the line. By G.o.d! when I think of the boys up there, I feel a beast sometimes. But I can"t help it; they won"t pa.s.s me to go up, and it"s no use growling down here because of it."
"I suppose not," said Peter, and leaned back reflecting for the rest of the way. He felt as if he had known these men all his days, and as if his London life had been lived on another planet.
After lunch he was given a cubicle, and spent an hour or two getting unpacked. That done, just as he was about to sit down to a letter, there came a knock at the door, and Mackay looked in.
"You there, padre?" he asked. "There"s a lorry going up to town that has just brought a batch of men in: would you care to come? I"ve got to do some shopping, and we could dine at the club and come back afterwards."
Peter jumped up. "Topping," he said. "I want to get one or two things, and I"d love it."
"Come on, then," said the other. "I"ll meet you at the gate in five minutes."
Peter got on his Sam Browne and went out, and after a bit Mackay joined him. They jolted up to town, and went first to the Officers" Store at the E.F.C. Mackay bought some cigarettes, and Peter some flannel collars and a tie. Together the pair of them strolled round town, and put their heads in at the cathedral at Peter"s request. He had a vision of old grey stone and coloured gla.s.s and wide soaring s.p.a.ces, but his impatient companion hauled him out. "Of course, you"ll want to see round, padre," he said, "but you can do it some other time and with somebody else. I"ve seen it once, and that"s enough for me. Let"s get on to the club and book a table; there"s usually a fearful crowd."
Peter was immensely impressed with the crowd of men, the easy greetings of acquaintances, and the way in which one was ignored by the rest. He was introduced to several people, who were all very cheerful, and in the long dining-room they eventually sat down to table with two more officers whom the Scotsman knew. Peter was rather taken with a tall man, slightly bald, of the rank of Captain, who was attached to a Labour Corps. He had travelled a great deal, and been badly knocked about in Gallipoli. In a way, he was more serious than the rest, and he told Peter a good deal about the sights of the town--the old houses and churches, and where was the best gla.s.s, and so on. Mackay and the fourth made merry, and Mackay, who called the W.A.A.C. waitress by her Christian name, was plainly getting over-excited. Peter"s friend was obviously a little scornful.
"You"ll meet a lot of fools here, padre," he said, "old and young. The other day I was having tea here when two old buffers came in--dug-outs, shoved into some job or another--and they sat down at the table next mine. I couldn"t help hearing what they said. The older and fatter, a Colonel, looked out of window, and remarked ponderously:
""By the way, wasn"t Joan of Arc born about here?"
""No," said the second; "down in Alsace-Lorraine, I believe. She was burnt here, and they threw her ashes into the Grand Pont.""
Peter laughed silently, and the other smiled at him. "Fact," he said.
"That"s one type of a.s.s, and the second is (dropping his voice) your friend here and his like, if you don"t mind my saying so. Look at him with that girl now. Somebody"ll spot it, and they"ll keep an eye on him.
Next time he meets her on the sly he"ll be caught out, and be up for it.
d.a.m.ned silly fool, I think! The bally girl"s only a waitress from Lyons."
Peter glanced at Mackay. He was leaning back holding the menu, which she, with covert glances at the cashier"s desk, was trying to take away from him. "Isobel," he said, "I say, come here--no, I really want to see it--tell me, when do you get out next?"
"We don"t get no leave worth talking of, you know," she said. "Besides, you don"t mean it. You can"t talk to me outside. Oh, shut up! I must go.
They"ll see us," and she darted away.
"d.a.m.ned pretty girl, eh?" said Mackay contentedly. "Don"t mind me, padre.
It"s only a bit of a joke. Come on, let"s clear out."
The four went down the stairs together and stood in a little group at the entrance-door. "Where you for now, Mac?" asked the second officer, a subaltern of the West Hampshires.
"Don"t know, old sport. I"m with the padre. What you for, padre?"
"I should think we had better be getting back," said Peter, glancing at the watch on his wrist. "We"ve a long way to go."
"Oh, hang it all, not yet! It"s a topping evenin". Let"s stroll up the street."
Peter glanced at the Labour Corps Captain, who nodded, and they two turned off together. "There"s not much to do," he said. "One gets sick of cinemas, and the music-hall is worse, except when one is really warmed up for a razzle-dazzle. I don"t wonder these chaps go after wine and women more than they ought. After all, most of them are just loose from home.
You must make allowances, padre. It"s human nature, you know."
Peter nodded abstractedly. It was the second time he had heard that.
"It"s all so jolly different from what I expected," he said meditatively.
"I know," said the other. "Not much danger or poverty or suffering here, seemingly. But you never can tell. Look at those girls: I bet you would probably sum them up altogether wrongly if you tried."
Peter glanced at a couple of French women who were pa.s.sing. The pair were looking at them, and in the light of a brilliantly lit cinema they showed up clearly. The paint was laid on shamelessly; their costumes, made in one piece, were edged with fur and very gay. Each carried a handbag and one a ta.s.selled stick. "Good-night, cherie," said one, as they pa.s.sed.
Peter gave a little shudder. "How ghastly!" he said. "How can anyone speak to them? Are there many like that about?" He glanced back again: "Why, good heavens," he cried, "one"s Marie!"
"Hullo, padre," said his friend, the ghost of a smile beginning about his lips. "Where have you been? Marie! By Jove! I shall have to report you to the A.C.G."
Peter blushed furiously. "It was at an inn," he said, "this morning, as we were coming back from the forest. But she seemed so much better then, Mackay knew her; why, I heard him say...."
He glanced back at the sudden recollection. The two girls were speaking to the two others, twenty paces or so behind. "Oh," he exclaimed, "look here!..."
The tall Labour man slipped his arm in his and interrupted. "Come on, padre," he said; "you can"t do anything. Mackay"s had a bit too much as it is, and the other chap is looking for a night out. We"ll stroll past the cathedral, and I"ll see you a bit of the way home."
"But how d.a.m.nable, how beastly!" exclaimed Peter. "It makes one sick!..." He broke off, and the two walked on in silence.
"Is there much of that?" Peter demanded suddenly.
The other glanced at him. "You"ll find out without my telling you," he said; "but don"t be too vehement till you"ve got your eyes open. There are worse things."
"There can"t be," broke in Peter. "Women like that, and men who will go with them, aren"t fit to be called men and women. There"s no excuse. It"s b.e.s.t.i.a.l, that"s what it is."
"You wouldn"t speak to one?" queried the other.
"Good heavens, no! Do you forget what I am?"
"No, I don"t, padre, but look here, I"m not a Christian, and I take a common-sense view of these things, but I"m bound to say I think you"re on the wrong tack, too. Didn"t Christ have compa.s.sion on people like that?
Didn"t He eat and drink with publicans and sinners?"
"Yes, to convert them. You can"t name the two things in the same breath.
He had compa.s.sion on the mult.i.tude of hungry women and children and misguided men, but He hated sin. You can"t deny that." Peter recalled his sermon; he was rather indignant, unreasonably, that the suggestion should have been made.
"So?" said the other laconically. "Well, you know more about it than I do, I suppose. Come on; we go down here."
They parted at the corner by the river again, and Peter set out for his long walk home alone. It was a lovely evening of stars, cool, but not too cold, and at first the streets were full of people. He kept to the curb or walked in the road till he was out of the town, taking salutes automatically, his thoughts far away. The little _cafes debits_ were crowded, largely by Tommies. He was not accosted again, for he walked fast, but he saw enough as he went.
More than an hour later he swung into camp, and went to his room, lit a candle, and shut the door. Tunic off, he sat on the edge of the camp-bed and stared at the light. He seemed to have lived a year in a day, and he felt unclean. He thought of Hilda, and then actually smiled, for Hilda and this life seemed so incredibly far apart. He could not conceive of her even knowing of its existence. Yet, he supposed, she knew, as he had done, that such things were. He had even preached about them.... It suddenly struck him that he had talked rot in the pulpit, talked of things of which he knew nothing. Yet, of course, his att.i.tude had been right.
He wondered if he should speak to Mackay, and, so wondering, fell forward on his knees.
CHAPTER IV
Hilda"s religion was, like the religion of a great many Englishwomen of her cla.s.s, of a very curious sort. She never, of course, a.n.a.lysed it herself, and conceivably she would object very strongly to the description set down here, but in practical fact there is no doubt about the a.n.a.lysis. To begin with, this conventional and charming young lady of Park Lane had in common with Napoleon Bonaparte that Christianity meant more to them both as the secret of social order than as the mystery of the Incarnation. Hilda was convinced that a decent and orderly life rested on certain agreements and conclusions in respect to marriage and cla.s.s and conduct, and that these agreements and conclusions were admirably stated in the Book of Common Prayer, and most ably and decorously advocated from the pulpit of St. John"s. She would have said that she believed the agreements and conclusions because of the Prayer Book, but in fact she had primarily given in her allegiance to a social system, and supported the Prayer Book because of its support of that.
Once a month she repeated the Nicene Creed, but only because, in the nature of things, the Nicene Creed was given her once a month to repeat, and she never really conceived that people might worry strenuously about it, any more than she did. Being an intelligent girl, she knew, of course, that people did, and occasionally preachers occupied the pulpit of St. John"s who were apparently quite anxious that she and the rest of the congregation should understand that it meant this and not that, or that and not this, according to the particular enthusiasm of the clergyman of the moment. Sentence by sentence she more or less understood what these gentlemen keenly urged upon her; as a whole she understood nothing. She was far too much the child of her environment and age not to perceive that Mr. Lloyd George"s experiments in cla.s.s legislation were vastly more important.
Peter, therefore, had always been a bit of an enigma to her. As a rule he fitted in with the scheme of things perfectly well, for he was a gentleman, he liked nice things, and he was splendidly keen on charity organisation and the reform of abuses on right lines. But now and again he said and did things which perturbed her. It was as if she had gradually become complete mistress of a house, and then had suddenly discovered a new room into which she peeped for a minute before it was lost to her again and the door shut. It was no Bluebeard"s chamber into which she looked; it was much more that she had a suspicion that the room contained a live mistress who might come out one day and dispute her own t.i.tle. She could tell how Peter would act nine times out of ten; she knew by instinct, a great deal better than he did, the conceptions that ruled his life; but now and again he would hesitate perplexedly as if at the thought of something that she did not understand, or act suddenly in response to an overwhelming flood of impulse whose spring was beyond her control or even her surmise. Women mother all their men because men are on the whole such big babies, but from a generation of babies is born occasionally the master. Women get so used to the rule that they forget the exception. When he comes, then, they are troubled.