ROO: [stirred into blustering defence] Oh, s’help me—give a man a break, willya? Reckon me, I could arrange that? In the middle of a war? When I was nothin’ but a keep-my-mouth-shut private? Only chance I had to speak up for myself was saying no to a commission—army offers me a choice between promotion and me mate, okay yes, I’ll choose me mate. But maybe standin’ by your mate is not enough, and what you learn as a ganger on the canefields ain’t exactly what the army’s lookin’ for to win a war. Big brass have their own rules and regulations, and there’s a final battle order they got that stands well up there above the rest—an officer must count the victory, not the cost.

OLIVE: You’re saying this to make me feel—

ROO: I’m saying it because a bloke who joins the army thinkin’ he can strut his own stuff’s gunna come a cropper half a dozen ways. Apart from Barney, I can’t tell you why I turned down chances of promotion—could be a whole mess of things. Maybe I just got a gutful of the slaughter early on, and didn’t want to help them organise the butchery any more than what I had to. I was brought up on the Bible, don’t forget. I got loads of stuff like: ‘Scatter thou the people that delight in war, O God’—rolling around inside my stupid—

Dangerous emotional ground, and he takes himself in hand.

Point is that it’s over. Whole thing’s over and it doesn’t matter anymore. I made a bonfire of that rubbish, and I put a match to it the other night.

Aware that he must still convince her, even at the cost of a half lie:

As for talk of you bein’ mollycoddled—anythin’ I did in uniform to make it seem like lay-off here as usual, was done because I wanted it as much as you.

She looks at him, desperately wanting to believe this, and he completes the avowal with full sincerity.

Our time down here together was the only thing in all the war made any bloody sense to me.

She is convinced and goes to his arms, and they embrace with a passionate intensity. They are together as NANCY descends the stairs, dressed for the evening out and carrying a cloak. She pauses to register the pair and ROO releases OLIVE with a breathless command.

Okay—that’s it. Right. Now you go up and change, and then the four of us are gunna hit the town.

OLIVE rushes for the stairs, unbuttoning her dress as she goes. She encounters NANCY on the way and hugs her for a breathless second of reconciliation before continuing on her way.

NANCY: [watching after her] She know about the cape?

ROO shakes his head and NANCY drops her handbag and cloak aside.