The Dark of Summer by Eric Linklater

Author:Eric Linklater
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2012-02-26T16:00:00+00:00

When all the wells are parched away,

O plain as plain can be

There’s nothing but our own red blood

Can make a right Rose Tree!

He quoted the lines in a sombre, ritualistic voice; then asked me, abruptly, ‘What was your father?’

‘A soldier.’

‘Alive or dead?’

‘Dead.’

‘A soldier, and the son of a soldier. Then we needn’t argue about politics, and I’ll put up with you for a night, though I don’t like your uniform. Wait a minute, and I’ll bring you a drink.’

He finished, at a gulp, his brandy and soda, set down his glass, and walked heavily from the room. I pushed The Wishart Inheritance under the pillow, and waited, a trifle uneasily. That my reluctant host had a reputation for eccentricity I could now well believe; and the half-promise of friendliness was not firm enough to expel completely my anxiety.

Presently I heard his ponderous tread—he had left the door open—and the clink of glass. He came in carrying a bottle of brandy, a siphon of soda-water, and another tumbler. He filled both glasses with a tropical generosity.

He drank again, and with a chant in his voice—as if he were going to church with poetry—he declaimed:

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