Time for Silence

“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?”