“I am sorry, Harry, but there have to be rules. He was absent without leave for ten days. If Francis isn’t punished for that, what’s to stop everyone from taking a fortnight’s holiday? What’s to stop us all from just going home?”

“But he came back, didn’t he?”

“That’s not the point,” said Rose, “as you well know.”

“Did he tell you why he didn’t come back on time? Did he tell you where he went?”

“He hardly spoke when they questioned him. They might have been more lenient if he’d been more forthcoming. It wound Frean up, his silence. He took it for insolence.”

Harry looked down at Rose’s desk. Among the paperwork he could see a tin of sprats and a jar of Gentleman’s Relish. Rose’s fingers worked discarded toffee papers into twists. “It’s only a couple of months ago that Frean was putting him up for promotion. You instigated that.”

“And with no regret. He deserved it. I regard Francis as a friend. I respect him. I think he’s a good soldier. You can hardly imagine that I’m happy about this, can you, Harry?”

“We volunteered for this. He came back voluntarily.”

“I do know that.” Rose pushed away papers and stood up. Harry thought he could smell whiskey on his breath. “If you want to know the truth, we’re expecting to move out of here within days. I shouldn’t tell you this, and it must stay within these walls, but we’re going up towards the front next week. He won’t really have to do thirty-five days. This will just get forgotten.”

“But he won’t forget it. I won’t forget it.”

“We all must make an effort,” said the captain.

THEY HAD TIED him to the post, his hands bound behind his back and his legs tethered by the ankles. The camp was thronging with people, but it was as if Francis were issuing some unfriendly energy, creating a circle of green space around him. Harry stepped into the space.

Francis had shouted at first. Harry had heard him. They had stood and watched from the windows of the hut as Francis was brought out. All of the anger had gone out of him now, though. His head hung down. His eyes were almost closed. He looked as penitent, as humiliated, as disgraced as a man could be.

Harry felt Francis flinch as he put a hand to his shoulder. He kept his face turned away.

“It’s for another twenty minutes,” Harry said and looked at his wristwatch. “Rose reckons that it’ll stop next week anyway because we’re on the move.”

Francis barely seemed to register his presence. There were dark shadows under his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept or washed for days.

“It will all get forgotten, Frannie, so long as you don’t take it to heart.”