Herman Cyril McNeile

“ Vane thoughtfully stirred the pale straw-coloured concoction reputed to be tea on the table in front of him. The remark Margaret had made to him on the beach was running through his mind--"The new Heaven and the new Earth." Yes, but on what foundations? And would they be allowed to anyway? Reconstruction is work for the politician--not for the soldier. . . . Most certainly not. . . . The soldier's ignorance on every subject in the world except fighting is complete. And even over that he's not all he might be: he requires quite a lot of help from lawyers, doctors, and successful grocers. ”

“ But it's the tiredness that comes with doing--not drifting. . . . It's we who have got to make the new Heaven and the new Earth, Derek . . ."
Again Vane laughed. "Still as idealistic as ever, I see. Six months after peace we shall be scrambling and fighting and snarling again--after jobs and money and work."
Margaret Trent was silent, tracing a pattern in the sand with her finger. "The worry of scrambling after a job is not likely to hit you very hard," she said at length.
"Which is perhaps as well," he returned lightly; "for I'm certainly too weary to take the trouble. ”

“ I tell you we're all dazed, Margaret--just living in a dream. Some of us take it worse than others, that's all. You want the constitution of an elephant combined with the intelligence of a cow to fight these days. ”

“ In fact, the only thing he is allowed to do quite on his own is to die . . .
Vane smiled a little bitterly, and Margaret leaned across the table towards him. "You'll get it back soon, Derek--believe me, old boy."
"That's very possible. But will the people at home? I'm jangled, Margaret, I know it--just for the time. . . . However, don't let's talk about me. Tell me about yourself. ”

“ There is real sand--lots of it; the sort that gets hot and comforting in the sun, and invites people who have eaten too much luncheon to sleep. And during the war, though the bands and other delights have departed, the sand has remained a source of pleasure to hundreds of people in need of a temporary rest cure. They have come from the big hospitals at Etaples; they have come from the officers' rest-house. Some have even come in motor cars from the trenches just for the day, and one and all they have lain on the beach and slept and then departed the better for it. ”

“ There's a war on up the road. You want about ten drops of that liquid saccharine." In the sunny street outside, soldiers in various stages of convalescence, strolled aimlessly about. An occasional motor car, containing officers--on duty, of course--slowed down at the corner opposite and disgorged its load. A closer inspection of one of them might have revealed a few suspicious looking gashes in the upholstery and holes in the mud-guards. Of course--shrapnel--but, then shrapnel did not occur by the sea. And on what duty could officers from the shrapnel area be engaged on at Paris Plage? ”

“ They write books about it, and discover new Gods, and pass new Acts of Parliament--but the thing takes no notice. It just goes on--inexorably. Man has been dabbling with stakes that are too big for him, Margaret. And the trouble is that the cards up in the trenches are getting mighty tattered."
She looked at him curiously. "I'd never have thought it would have taken you like that, Derek . ”

“ Unfortunately, the speaker died in the middle, thereby proving his contention."
"Oh! but you're little," she cried, striking her hands together. "Don't you see that you've got to look beyond the individual--that you've got to think Big?" ”