All the men had pricked up their ears to hear Bourne being told off for the second time that day. Bloody shame, wasn’t it? Once the buggers get their knives into you, you can’t go right. No pleasin’ ’em. Well, you’ve got to tell the truth, haven’t you? But the sergeant-major’s inadvertent reference to the prospect of a move effectively routed these desultory sympathies with a stronger interest, and as soon as they went for their tea they heard it was in orders: breakfast at eight, all huts to be cleaned up and ready for inspection by company officers at nine, and the battalion to be on parade, ready to move off, at nine-thirty. Bourne drank his tea alone, but Martlow invaded his solitude.

‘Look ’ere, Bourne, you’re comin’ out wi’ me, tonight, an’ I’m goin’ to pay, see? I’ve got plenty money; an’ I’m not always goin’ out with you, an’ let you stan’ treat. So you come along with Shem an’ me, an’ we’ll ’ave a little bit of a beano on our own. An’ you don’t want to mind what any bloody off’cer says to you, see? You want to take it the right way. It don’t do no ’arm.’

It was the solemnity of Martlow’s expression which overcame Bourne’s already diminishing reserve. The notion that he couldn’t take an ordinary telling-off made him inclined to laugh, but he restrained himself.

‘All right, kid,’ he said gratefully. ‘We shall go out and have a beano together.’

‘An’ I stan’ treat,’ said Martlow, immensely pleased; but then a sudden doubt clouded the youthful brow.

‘I won’t ’ave enough money to get real champagne,’ he said facing the difficulty frankly: ‘but the other stuff’s just as good, only it don’t make you so drunk; an’ after all we don’t want to get pissed-up with a long day’s march in front of us tomorrow, do we?’

‘Oh, I only like champagne occasionally,’ said Bourne in a casual way; ‘as a rule I like beer or vin blanc better.’

‘Beer here’s bloody,’ said Martlow. ‘All right, I’ll go an’ tell Shem, ’e’s lyin’ down outside.’

Bourne wasn’t alone for long in the hut; he was putting away his mess-tin and knife, when Sergeant Tozer came in, and noted the symptoms of recovery.

‘Comin’ down the village with me tonight?’ he inquired briefly.

‘Martlow has just asked me to go out with him, Sergeant. Otherwise I should. I think he wants to return the compliment, you know; but thanks all the same.’

‘’e’s a decent kid,’ said the sergeant. ‘I was goin’ to ask ’im an’ Shem to come too. But I’ll leave it to some other night. It might look as though I were buttin’ in. ’ave you told ’em anything about what Cap’n Malet said to you?’

‘No, I’m not going to say anything about it, until it’s more or less settled.’

‘Quite right. They think Cap’n Malet gave you a tellin’-off.’

‘Well? How would you describe it?’

‘’e’s a good officer, is Cap’n Malet; an’ ’e’s a nice gentleman too, but ’e may be wrong in a lot o’ things. I thought there was a lot in what ’e said to you, because I’ve often thought like that about you myself. You’ve got a pull over us in some ways. …’