Strange Meeting by Susan Hill

Author:Susan Hill [Hill, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Long Barn Books
Published: 2013-08-25T22:00:00+00:00

But it was after all, an easy beginning. For two weeks, they stayed mainly in the support trenches, and fell into some sort of routine, they were getting used to things, it was quiet enough: there was time to play the gramophone.

‘Boring,’ Barton said once.

Hilliard raised his eyes from the pile of ration returns. ‘I’d rather that. So would you if you’ve got any sense.’

‘Come on, John! Where’s your yearning for excitement? The sound of battle “where ignorant armies clash by night”. Doesn’t that stir your blood?’

‘No. And that isn’t especially funny either …’

‘You know, you haven’t much sense of humour, have you?’

Hilliard considered for a moment. A man went past the flap of the dugout, whistling. No, he thought, no, I have not, and David has, it is one of the things I most envy in him. Once, he himself had simply been called ‘a bloody prig’. He had a glimpse of himself down all the years of the past, stiff and reserved, anxious to please – but humourless. Barton burst out laughing. ‘All right, all right – don’t look so stricken!’

Hilliard smiled, went back to the ration returns. And felt, as he was writing, a sudden, warm pleasure, a sensation of being comfortable here, at home and in comparative peace, doing dull, easy jobs in Barton’s company. He was happy. Barton was still reading Sir Thomas Browne.

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