“Do you know any Latin?” asked M. Rochambeau; and when the answer was no, he quoted a verse of the poet Ovid, beginning: “Let others make war.” The old gentleman suggested that these words might serve one of the great munitions families on its coat of arms. “Bella gerant alii!” He was too polite to name the Budd family, but Lanny got the point, and reflected that if his father had heard this conversation, he might have put M. Rochambeau on the prohibited list along with Uncle Jesse!
VII
Rosemary was back in England, and wrote now and then, letters cool and casual as herself. “I enjoyed our meeting so much,” she said — just like that! You could hear Miss Noggyns or some other of those feminist ladies telling her: “Don't take it too seriously. That's the way women are made to suffer. Let the men do the suffering!”
So Lanny learned his own lessons. Don't wear your heart on your sleeve; don't make yourself too cheap. Among the fashionable young people at Juan was an American girl who gave evidence of being willing to console him; she was pretty, and svelte, as they all kept themselves, and her silks and satins and lawns and what not were cut to the latest pattern; she cast seductive glances at a handsome playmate, just emerged into manhood and conscious of it, blushing easily, and with strange messages flashing along his nerves. The world was at war, and nothing was certain, and young and old were learning to take their pleasures as they found them.
But Lanny had dreams of shining and wonderful things in love. He thought it over, and told his mother about this too willing miss, and Beauty asked: “Is she interested in what you are thinking? Does she say anything that appeals to you especially?” When the boy admitted that she hadn't so far, Beauty said: “Then what will you talk about? How will you keep from being bored?”
So he would go off and lose himself in his piano practice. He could find highly exciting things in music and poetry. His anthology contained a poem by Bobby Burns, who spoke with authority concerning sexual prodigality: “But, och! it hardens a' within, An' petrifies the feelin'.” Lanny resolved to wait awhile, and maybe Rosemary would find that she missed him more than she had expected.
She wrote about Rick, who had finished his training and left for France. He had had two days' leave and had come home, looking splendid in his khaki uniform. He had been so happy at getting what he wanted. Not a word about sadness in going away, and Lanny understood that there hadn't been many words — that was the English way. “Cheerio! Business as usual!”
A few days later a card came from Rick himself. No address on it, except the number of his unit in the Royal Flying Corps. “Fine setup here. Wish I could write you all about it. Jolly lot of fellows. Hope I can keep up with them. Write me the news. How's old Sophocles? And when are the Americans coming in? Rick.”
Lanny could picture these jolly fellows in their camp a few miles behind the lines. It would be about the same as the one he had visited on the rolling Salisbury Plain. Eager young chaps with cheeks of bright red; smooth-shaven, except for now and then a dapper little mustache; no “side,” provided you belonged in the right class; taking whatever came with a laugh; willing to die a hundred deaths but not to shed one tear. The English magazines were full of pictures of them, some smiling, some grave, all handsome; each with a string of old English names: “Lieutenant Granville Fortescue Somers, R.F.C. Killed in action, Vimy. Oct. 17, 1916.” So it went.