‘I’m glad you see it that way. I just could not stand to see you being beaten.’ She turned aside, leaving the hamper on the stile for a moment. ‘The truth is that I’m feeling rather overwhelmed, John. To have a sweetheart again. It’s been a long time. I think I have forgotten some of the words.’

‘Then close your eyes.’ He went to her, and put a hand on each of her shoulders.

‘And listen.’ He did likewise.

They stayed like that for a while, listening to the sounds of the birds and the distant calling of animals, and feeling the sun on their faces. Joan held his hand on her shoulder.

‘Do you remember now?’ he finally asked. ‘They’re singing this for you.’

‘Is this our song, then? The call of birds?’

‘Why have only one song?’ Smith whispered. ‘We can have them all. Do you remember how to be kissed?’

‘Yes,’ she said, and turned, pulling Smith to her, delighting in the feel of his hand in the small of her back and the complete contact of their bodies and strengths. Their mouths met and played with each other for a long time.

Finally, she let go, laughing. ‘I think I’ve picked up several verses now, as well as the chorus!’

‘You’re blushing.’

‘Am I?’ Joan went back to the hamper and gamely picked it up, smiling all over her face. ‘Jolly good.’

Bernice woke up refreshed and quickly got dressed, ready for the morning’s expedition. She wandered out into the little kitchen of the apartment area, wondering if Alexander was awake yet, and was surprised to see him at the kitchen table, snoring loudly over it. It looked as if he hadn’t gone to bed. An empty whisky bottle sat on the table, beside the portable history unit.

‘Been there, done that…’ Benny murmured, plucking the unit up from the table.

She froze when she saw what was on the screen.

The Somme: Casualty Lists, Located and Missing.

One name was blinking away on the list beside a map reference, a regiment and an identification number.

Richard Hadleman, Cptn Dd, psn gas.

‘Oh my God, Alexander… What have you done?’ Benny sat down and deactivated the unit. She reached across to Alexander and gently shook him, waking him up.

He grunted, and then stared at her for a moment, bleary-eyed. ‘How dare you?’ he asked, gently and rhetorically. ‘How dare you allow me to know?’

‘I didn’t even think about it. I’m so sorry.’

‘This war. Can’t you do something to stop it?’

‘I’m marooned, Alex. I’m virtually helpless. If the Doctor was himself…’ Benny stopped, stood up and went to the window. She looked for a moment at all the ordinary things outside, and remembered a dream she’d had that night about mud and armed men. ‘No. No, I don’t think he’d do anything either.’