Finally we had a system for using the code without speaking at all, which we employed with success at a private séance in “Posh Castle,” but which is too intricate to describe here. An amusing result of our use of this alternative system was to bewilder completely those in the company who thought the message was conveyed by the form of Hill’s question to me. They argued (quite fallaciously), that because we could do it without speaking, therefore what Hill said to me when he did speak had nothing to do with my answers.
I ought, perhaps, to add that perfection in the use of the code involves a good deal of memory work and constant practice. Nothing but the blankness of our days in Yozgad and the necessity of keeping our minds from rusting could have excused the waste of time entailed by preparation for a thought-reading exhibition. It is hardly a fitting occupation for free men.
THE SILENCE OF
COLONEL BRAMBLE
By ANDRÉ MAUROIS. Second Edition. 5s. net.
“The Silence of Colonel Bramble is the best composite character sketch I have seen to show France what the English Gentleman at war is like ... much delightful humour.... It Is full of good stories.... The translator appears to have done his work wonderfully well.”—Westminster Gazette.
“This book has enjoyed a great success in France, and it will be an extraordinary thing if it is not equally successful here.... Those who do not already know the book in French, will lose nothing of its charm in English form. The humours of the mess room are inimitable.... The whole thing is real, alive, sympathetic; there is not a false touch in all its delicate glancing wit.... One need not be a Frenchman to appreciate its wisdom and its penetrating truth.”—Daily Telegraph.
“An excellent translation ... a gay and daring translation ... I laughed over its audacious humour.”—Star.
“This admirable French picture of English officers.”—Times.