"Almost a wash-out," announced Cumberleigh. "Only one letter between the four of us, and that's for Pyecroft. Marked Air Ministry, too. Pyecroft, if that's your captaincy, it's fizz all round at dinner to-night."
The ex-lieutenant took the proffered envelope eagerly, and tore the seal with feverish haste.
"Bilkers!" he ejaculated savagely. "Listen to this: 'With reference to Air Ministry orders, your pay should have been issued at B rates instead of at the old Technical rates. It is therefore necessary to recover the pay which has been over-issued to you, and upon your gratuity being issuable the balance, i.e. £47 11s., will be deducted from your gratuity.' What do you think of that?"
"That," replied Cumberleigh, "is Economy, spelt with a big E. Retrenchment must begin somewhere, so they start on you, just to remind you that the War is over and you're a back number, old son. But, cheer up, you might have been under the daisies."
"True," admitted Pyecroft. "Yes, we've seen life, and it's no use grousing; but what did we fight for?"
"This," said Meredith, giving a comprehensive sweep of his arm across the wide valley three hundred feet below. "I don't want to pile it on and spout and all that sort of thing, but just look. Those cottages might have been in ruins like the homesteads of France and Belgium. But they're not. Our country has been spared from the foot of the victorious Hun. That's the main thing. Other considerations are simply side-issues, 'if England to herself be true.'"
THE END
PRINTED BY PURNELL AND SONS
PAULTON (SOMERSET) AND LONDON
Transcriber's Notes:
This book contains a number of misprints.
The following misprints have been corrected:
[Karl von Pruessen stood stiffly] —>
[Karl von Preussen stood stiffly]
[in geniune concern] —> [in genuine concern]
[Cumberleigh——for that was the name] —>
[Cumberleigh—for that was the name]
[Cumbereigh shrugged] —> [Cumberleigh shrugged]
[so much as winkin'. hopin'] —> [so much as winkin'. Hopin']
[imparting descipline with] —> [imparting discipline with]
[you aan be reckless] —> [you can be reckless]
[Some of the follows] —> [Some of the fellows]
[unless its potting] —> [unless it's potting]
A few cases of punctuation errors were corrected, but are not
mentioned here.