Page:Lieutenant and Others (1915) by Sapper.djvu/70

 over by two charming French girls, seemed good enough for me, and, sure enough, the luncheon was on a par with the girls, which is saying “some” in the vernacular. As I left with a consignment of the most excellent white wine, for thirsty officers elsewhere, two soldiers passed me.

“Say, Bill,” said one, “this ’ere Wipers is a bit of orl right. They can leave me here as long as they likes.” And as I crossed the railway at the western end of the town, one shell passed sullenly overhead, the first I had heard that day—the only discordant note, the only sound of war. That was a month ago.

A fortnight ago duty took me past the same little shop and through the square. This time I did not linger—there were no souvenir hunters; there was no market-day. Again I was in a motor-car, but this time I rushed through—hoping for the best. Instead of one shell they came in their hundreds. A drunken, swaying noise through the air, like a tramway-car going homewards on its last journey down an empty road, a crash and the roar of the explosion, mixed