Galliard, who also carried a rifle, remarked on his
looks as theyfollowed the sledges.
Id be an extra-special crock in ahospital for the
sick and aged.
Its a blight that comes on em every nowand then,
like the rabbit sickness.
What wasthe situation in Europe in the summer?
Thebig morning fire made only a narrow circle of heat.
You and I have dropped pretty completelyout of the
world, Sir Edward.
He was clinging to Leithen through fear, clinging
like a drowningman to a log. Aguarded flame, a semi-invalid, with nothing to do but
to make hissoul.
Leithen felt himself preposterously cheered by
Galliards words. Theres a lot of tea and coffee leftcached in the priests cellar.
The roofs of some of themwere sagging with the weight of snow, and one or two had
collapsed.
And yet, he went on, I dont know, but I somehow
cant keep onbein angry with the creatures. He had had his share in moulding a
statesdecrees and shaping the whisper of a throne.
Ive seen it happen before,happen to tougher stocks
than the Hares. They did not talkabout it, for they thought I would not live to see
it. But this year thewhite fish and pike was short in the lakes and the
rivers.
Leithen felt that if he had been a woman he would
have kissed it.
The world was at war again and somewhere in Europe
men weregrappling with death.
He looked first at Galliard and then at Leithen,
and his eyesremained on the latter.
Now that promise seemed to have faded away. He
remembered, too, what Galliard had said about the summons towar. Here was a man who
hadnothing to suggest, one who was himself puzzled. Drowsinesshad fled from him, and
his brain was racing like a flywheel. Always lean, he was now emaciated, and his
pallorhad become almost cadaverous. He felt a boyish keenness which amazed and
amused him.
He prays for em and he argues with em, but he might
as well argueand pray with a skunk.
You and I have dropped pretty completelyout of the
world, Sir Edward. Johnny had a clouded face; he had seenthe Hares suffering and
could not forget it. Had he been a mere subaltern in the party he would have
acceptedthis programme as inevitable.
The cold pinches the old bear in his den and
giveshim bad dreams. Galliards square, weather-beaten face was puckered like an
oldwomans. Galliard looked at him steadily and in his face there was somethinglike
hope.
You and I have dropped pretty completelyout of the
world, Sir Edward.
But againmy impression is that they were looking
for the worst.
There was no job to which he could not turn his
hand. I tellyou that whatever my legs do my heart crawls along on sufferance. I look
at those hills and I am terrified at what may lie behindthem.
They said that you knew it was coming by the smell
ofcorruption in the air.