Читать книгу Unconditional Surrender онлайн

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"I don't think I'm much interested in victory now," said Guy.

"Then you've no business to be a soldier."

"Oh, I want to stay in the war. I should like to do some fighting. But it doesn't seem to matter now who wins. When we declared war on Finland..."

He left the sentence unfinished and his father said: "That sort of question isn't for soldiers."

As they came into sight of the hotel, he added: "I suppose I'm getting like a schoolmaster. Forgive me. We mustn't quarrel. I used often to get angry with poor Ivo; and with Angela. She was rather a tiresome girl the year she came out. But I don't think I've ever been angry with you."

Matchet had changed in the last two years. The army unit for whom Monte Rosa had been cleared had gone as quickly as they came, leaving the boarding-house empty. Its blank windows and carpetless floors stood as a symbol of the little town's brief popularity. Refugees from bombing returned to their former homes. Mrs. Tickeridge moved to be near a school for Jennifer. The days when the Cuthberts could "let every room twice over" were ended and they reluctantly found themselves obliged to be agreeable. It was not literally true, as Miss Vavasour claimed, that they "went down on their knees" to keep their residents, but they did offer Mr. Crouchback his former sitting-room at its former price.