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What had happened to A and C Companies after the Grand Ravine? The A Company commander survived, but I did not meet him till chance threw me into his company at Oxford, and by then he could not remember, or remembered something which made me feel we were talking of different people.
“Do you remember what happened to Green?”
“Green; oh yes. I remember him very well. That fat fellow with rather piggy eyes?”
“I always thought him one of the wittiest and most cheerful people I ever met.”
“Yes”, rather vaguely. “Yes, wasn't he! I remember him very well.”
“Do you remember what happened to him?”
“Yes, very well. He got killed. It was at Cambrai, or it may have been just before; Vlamertinghe perhaps. No, it was Cambrai, because I remember there was some question of his kit. He was a chartered accountant.”
“No, barrister.”
“Something like that – one of the learned professions; awfully good chap I thought.”
What had happened to them? Stokes? Yes, I know, killed at Cambrai, but – is that all? He had gone to South Africa as a farmer and was nearly ruined, lost all his capital through five years of drought in a row. Then the rain came and all was saved – more than all. “It's all a matter of luck; if you have five years drought straight off you're for it. Still, I mustn't grumble. It taught me to be jolly careful when my luck turned. I saved something; then this business! So back I came.” He was always cheerful in a sober way; always modest and unassuming.