Men come out from England like emissaries from an unknown land. I cannot picture what it means to be at peace. I do not know how people there can lead a life.

The only things that sometimes jolt us back from this trance are memories of men. In the set of the eyes of some conscripted boy I see a look of Douglas or

[name illeg. Reeve?] I find myself rigid with imagining. I can see that man’s skull opening as he bent down to his friend that summer morning-Yesterday a signaller came up to talk and his gestures reminded me of W. I had a clear picture of him, not sprawling in the mud as I last saw him, but emerging from his burrow in the ground, wild-eyed. The image lasted only for an instant, then time collapsed and drifted past me once again.

I have been summoned to see Gray tomorrow. Perhaps he will feel the same. We are not contemptuous of gunfire, but we have lost the power to be afraid. Shells will fall on the reserve lines and we will not stop talking. There is still blood, though no one sees. A boy lay without legs where the men took their tea from the cooker. They stepped over him.

I have tried to resist the slide into this unreal world, but I lack the strength. I am tired. Now I am tired in my soul.

Many times I have lain down and I have longed for death. I feel unworthy. I feel guilty because I have survived. Death will not come and I am cast adrift in a perpetual present.

I do not know what I have done to live in this existence. I do not know what any of us did to tilt the world into this unnatural orbit. We came here only for a few months.

No child or future generation will ever know what this was like. They will never understand.

When it is over we will go quietly among the living and we will not tell them. We will talk and sleep and go about our business like human beings. We will seal what we have seen in the silence of our hearts and no words will reach us._

FRANCE 1918–PART SIX

Stephen put away his pen and notebook. It was nighttime. There was moonlight on the hills above the village. He lit another cigarette and turned the pages of a magazine. There was a pile by the chair of others he had already skimmed. His eyes scanned each page but barely read.

He went outside into the yard behind the little house. Chickens scattered in front of his footsteps.

He went into the lane and began to walk. The road was only partially completed. He felt the puddles and the loose stones beneath his feet. He went as far as the main road and looked around him. The guns were soft and distant; they rumbled like a train going through an embankment.

He stood and breathed deeply. He could hear an owl’s call. He went slowly up and down the lane. The owl reminded him of childhood; it was a noise boys would make with their hands. His own seemed so long ago that it felt as though someone else had lived it for him.

Back in the billet he found Mountford sitting at the table, playing cards with a lieutenant called Tylecote. He declined their offer of a game, but sat in a daze and watched them move the greasy pictures over the wooden surface.

In the morning he went to see Colonel Gray in battalion headquarters two miles away.

Gray sprang up when Stephen went into the room. “Wraysford! How good to see you again. Civil of you staff men to pay us a call.”

Gray had changed little in appearance. He gave the impression of an enquiring terrier with its head on one side. His moustache and hair showed patches of white, but his movements were still swift and certain.

He pulled back a chair and gestured to Stephen, who sat down.

“Do smoke,” he said. “Now then. Are you enjoying yourself with your wee maps and lists?”

Stephen breathed in deeply. “We… exist.”

“Exist? Good heavens, that’s not the sort of talk I’m used to from a frontline man like yourself.”

“I suppose not. If you remember, sir, I didn’t ask to be transferred.”

“I remember very well. In my view you were battle-weary. Mind you, most people were never allowed to reach that stage. A bullet saw to that.”

“Yes. I’ve been lucky.” Stephen coughed as the cigarette smoke went down into his lungs.

Gray looked out of the window and swung his feet up on to the desk. “Our lot have done pretty well, you know. Terrible casualties on the Somme, but who didn’t? Otherwise not too bad. Both battalions are pretty much back to full strength.”

“Yes I know,” said Stephen. He smiled. “I know quite a lot about troop strengths in this area. More than when I was fighting.”

Gray nodded his head quickly up and down and tapped his teeth with a pen.

“Tell me,” he said, “when the war is over and the regiment puts up a memorial, what words will we inscribe on it?”

“I don’t know. I presumed there would be a divisional memorial. The regiment would list the actions it was in, I suppose.”

“Yes,” said Gray. “It’s a proud list, isn’t it?” Stephen did not answer. He felt no pride in the unspeakable names.

Gray said, “Well, I’ve good news for you. Your staff attachment is finished. You’re coming back.” He paused. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“I… yes, I suppose it is.”

“You don’t look very pleased.”

“I can’t be pleased by anything that carries on this war. But I’m not displeased. I’m indifferent.”

“Now listen to me. Quite soon we are going to attack. On a long front we are going to move rapidly forward into Germany. Parts of the line have already started to advance, as you know. If you want to lead your old company, you can. The temporary OC will become your second-in-command.”