Pickwick. He is very
amusing. I feel sure that if he had tried to catch the bull-trout he
would have fallen in. Just as Barbara did this morning.'
'Barbara?'
'She is down at the alder pool. Billy is there with that nice German
boy. The noise they make, shouting and laughing!'
She gets from its shelf the best book for war-time. 'Which bit shall I
read?'
'About Mr. Pickwick going into the lady's bedroom by mistake.'
'Yes, dear, though you almost know it by heart. You see, you have begun
to laugh already.'
'You are laughing too, Ellen. I can't help it!'
She begins to read; they are both chuckling.
A WELL-REMEMBERED VOICE
Out of the darkness comes the voice of a woman speaking to her dead son.
'But that was against your wish, was it not? Was that against your wish?
Would you prefer me not to ask that question?'
The room is so dark that we cannot see her. All we know is that she is
one of four shapes gathered round a small table. Beyond the darkness is
a great ingle-nook, in which is seated on a settle a man of fifty. Him
we can discern fitfully by the light of the fire.
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