“That’s enough talking, you kids,” he said. “If there’s another word, you’ll hear of it.”
They lay then like images.
II
We all know how adventures, aspirations, longings that seem quite reasonable and attainable in the evening light are absurdly impossible in the morning cold. Jeremy next morning, as he ran round the football ground, felt that he could not have heard Stokesley aright. It was the kind of story that the dormitory tale-teller retailed before people dropped off to sleep. Stokesley was just inventing; he could not have meant a word of it. Nevertheless, later in the day, Raikes took him into a corner of the playground and whispered dramatically:
“We’re going to do it. It’s all settled.”
“Oh!” gasped Jeremy.
“It’s to be next Sunday. You’re right about not coming. You’re too young.” Raikes sounded very old indeed as he said this. “You swear you won’t tell a living soul?”
“Of course I won’t.”
“You’ll swear by God Almighty?”
“I swear by God Almighty.”