Chapters (15)
But she had. And she'd proved it, too. She'd brought him back to health herself. And then she'd married him. She smiled. She'd earned her happiness.
But George was talking now.
'"I heard them say it, you know, Dad," he said to me once. "I heard the officer, young Captain Totton come by. A good officer he was. Lost a leg. He came hobbling by asking after me. And the nurse - I never knew what she looked like, of course, but she sounded pretty, if you know what I mean - she said to him: 'I'm afraid he's going.' And he said: 'Why's that?' And she said: 'I don't think he wants to live.' And then she whispered something and he said: 'Oh.'
'"And then there was a bit of a pause, and I heard him come up, tick-tock with his crutch and say quite loud to me: 'Come on, now, we can't have that. I know it's hard, but you've got to fight. Don't give up.' I didn't make any sign, Dad. I mean, I knew he was doing his best. 'Think of England,' he says. But though I tried, it didn't seem to do much good. If I thought of England I just thought of driving my train, and of course I knew I wasn't going to be doing that any more. So I just lay there and I thought, well, that's it then. I may as well go really, and no harm done.
'"And then, about an hour later, I hear this sort of rustling sound by the bed. And even with all my dressings and all the disinfectant I could smell something, mud and sweat, I suppose, that wasn't altogether unpleasant. And then I hear this voice. 'Your name Jack Pride?' it says. 'Well if it isn't you can die and it's all right. I just got here and my name's Alfie Seagull. But if you happen to be the Jack Pride I'm thinking of, I watched you nearly get buried under a gravel slide in a railway cutting. Is that you, then?'
'"So I tried to make some sort of sign that it was. 'So it is you then,' he says. 'You can't die here,' he says. 'Blimey! Have you forgotten who you are? You're a Pride of the Forest.' And it's funny, but then I remembered our cottage, and the woods, and how we used to ride out together in the early morning; and when I thought of that, somehow it did give me strength, Dad, and so here I am."
'And I suppose it's foolish,' said George, 'but I was always so pleased he told me that.'