Herman Cyril McNeile

“ What about that, sir?"
"I wish to Heaven I could tell you, John," said Vane. "Bob Blake isn't the only one, you know."
"Them as is sound, sir," went on the old man, "won't be affected by it. They won't have their heads turned by having mixed with the gentry as their equals--like. And the real gentry won't think no more nor no less of them when they goes back to their proper station. . . . But there'll be some as will want to stop on in a place where they don't rightly belong. And it'll make a world of unhappiness, sir, for all concerned. ”

“ After all, it is possible to push altruism too far, and for Margaret, at her age and with her attractions, to go fooling around with medicine, with the mistaken idea that she was benefiting humanity, was nothing more or leas than damned twaddle. ”

“ Derek, dear, I've been moved as you see from No. 13. I'm with the men now, and though I hated going at first--yet, now, I think I almost prefer it. With the officers there must always be a little constraint -at least, I have never been able to get rid of the feeling. Perhaps with more experience it would vanish je ne sais pas . . . but with the men it's never there. They're just children, Derek, just dear helpless kiddies; and so wonderfully grateful for any little thing one does. ”

“ The old man lit his pipe with his gnarled, trembling fingers. "It's coming, sir--perhaps not in my time--but it's coming. Big trouble. . . . All those youngsters with their smattering of edication, and their airs and their conceits and their 'I'm as good as you.'" He fell silent and stared across the road with a troubled look in his eyes. "Yes, sir," he repeated, "there be bad days coming for England--terrible bad--unless folks pull themselves together. . . ."
"Perhaps the Army may help 'em when it comes back," said Vane.
"May be, sir, may be." Old John shook his head doubtfully. "Perhaps so. ”

“ Which is doubtless utterly wrong, but such is the Law and the Prophets.
"I reckons there are troublous times ahead of us, sir," went on the old man. "More troublous than any we are going through now--though them's bad enough, in all conscience. Why, only the other evening, I was down at the Fiddlers' Arms, for a glass of what they do call beer--'tis dreadful stuff, sir, that there Government beer. . . ." Old John sighed mournfully at the thought of what had been. ”

“ Unconsciously the old man's eyes strayed in the direction of Rumfold Hall, and he sighed.
"You can't alter the ways of the Lord, sir," continued old John. "We read in the Book that He made them richer and poorer, and some of one class, and some of another. As long as everybody remembers which class he's in, he'll get what happiness he deserves. . . ."
Vane did not feel inclined to dispute this from the point of view of Holy Writ. ”

“ And then there's another bit. . . . 'Men like him can't be replaced.' Eh! my boy. . . . Can't be replaced. You couldn't say that, sir, about yon pimply ferret I was telling you about."
"You could not, old John," said Vane. "You could not." He stood up and gave the letter back. "It's a fine letter; a letter any parent might be proud to get about his son."
"Aye," said the old man, "he was a good boy was Bob. None o' this new fangled nonsense about him." He put the letter carefully in his pocket. "Mother and me, sir, we often just looks at it of an evening. It sort of comforts her. . . . ”

“ Old John spat reflectively. "Well, sir, I stopped him then. In my presence no man may sneer at his Lordship--certainly not a callow pup like him. His Lordship is a fine man and a good man, and I was his servant." The old man spoke with a simple dignity that impressed Vane. ”

“ Derek--it's worth trying, old man--surely it's worth trying. We've just got to do something that's worth while, before we come to the end--if only to balance a little of the hideous mass of worthlessness that's being piled up to-day. ”

“ The question of money does not come in luckily, and the work attracts me immensely. Somehow I feel that I might be helping to repair a tiny bit of the hideous destruction and mutilation which we're suffering from now. ”

“ One needn't always go to Switzerland either in the winter; Cairo is very pleasant, and so is Nice. . . . It was an alluring prospect, no less now than formerly; but it meant that Margaret's patients would have to hop around some. . . . And they'd probably leave her if he stood at the door in a pink coat and a hunting topper collecting postage stamps. They are rather particular over appearances, are the ragged trousered and shredded skirt brigade. . . .
The thing was grotesque; it was out of the question, Vane told himself irritably. ”

“ The trouble is that it takes a stronger and more level head than is possessed by every boy of twenty to understand that a khaki uniform unlocks doors on which a suit of evening clothes bought off the peg and a made up tie fail to produce any impression. If only he realises that those doors are not worth the trouble of trying to unlock, all will be well for him; if he doesn't, he will be the sufferer. ”

“ When you--with your face all covered with pimples, and your skin all muddy and sallow -start talking as you've been talking, there's only one thing should be done. Your mother should take your trousers down and smack you with a hair brush ”