'
'Haven't you? I thought--'
The Colonel tries to speak casually, but there is a trembling eagerness
in his voice. 'Is everything just as usual, Dering?'
'Yes, sir. There never were a place less changed than this.'
'That's true.' The Colonel is appeased. 'Thank you, Dering, for saying
that.' But next moment he has lowered his voice again. 'Dering, there is
nothing wrong, is there? Is anything happening that I am not being told
about?'
'Not that I know of, sir.'
'That is what they all say, but--I don't know.' He stares at his old
sword which is hanging on the wall. 'Dering, I feel as if I was needed
somewhere. I don't know where it is. No one will tell me. Where is every
one?'
'They're all about, sir. There's a cricket match on at the village
green.'
'Is there?'
'If the wind had a bit of south in it you could hear their voices. You
were a bit of a nailer at cricket yourself, sir.'
The Colonel sees himself standing up to fast ones. He is gleeful over
his reminiscences.
'Ninety-nine against Mallowfield, and then bowled off my pads. Biggest
score I ever made.
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