Читать книгу Unconditional Surrender онлайн

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"I went to the Abbey before I came here--to see the sword."

"Yes, I suppose like everyone else you are coming to appreciate the Soviet achievement. You usen't to have much share in my 'red' sympathies. We nearly had a tiff once, remember? About Spain."

"There were Spaniards in the Middle East--proper bastards." Ludovic stopped short, remembering what he resolutely strove to forget. "It wasn't anything to do with politics. That sword is the subject of this week's literary competition in Time & Tide--a sonnet. I thought if I went to see it, I might get some ideas."

"Oh dear, don't tell Everard Spruce about that. I'm afraid he would look down his nose at literary competitions in Time & Tide."

"I just like writing," said Ludovic. "In different ways about different things. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose?"

"No indeed. The literary instinct. But don't tell Everard. Did you get any ideas?"

"Not what I could use in a sonnet. But it set me thinking--about swords."

"That wasn't quite their idea; not, as they say now, the object of the exercise. You were meant to think about tanks and bombers and the Peoples' Army driving out the Nazis."