‘It seemed so cold-blooded. To go out and just disappear. No trace, nothing. Blown to pieces on a mine probably. He could picture the scene. The men quietly reading and talking and then suddenly a blinding crash and nothing more. If some one could only have seen them. But the two destroyers that went in search had only found a patch of oil. Just went out and disappeared. And Molly....’
A knock sounded at the door.
‘Come in,’ he called, hastily stowing the photograph away.
Raymond entered with an air of studied indifference.
‘Hope you’re not busy, old man,’ he said with forced gaiety.
‘No, no. I’m not doing anything. Come in.’
‘Good. I wanted to know if you would lend me your T.I. to-morrow. Mine’s gone sick and I’ve got a job of work on hand I want finished.’
‘Yes, of course, you can. Take him and bless you. I’ll send a chit to my “Sub” about it.’
Raymond hovered with the door-knob in his hand, opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, and left quietly.
Out in the flat, he faced his friend’s cabin, and raising his fists in the air, called Heaven to witness.