THE GREY HOUSE AGAIN
So they carried him home for the second time--back to the Land of
Sanity: to the place where the noise of the water sounded ceaselessly
over the rounded stones. And resting one afternoon on a sofa in the
drawing-room Jim dozed.
The door burst open, and Sybil came in. "Boy, do you see, they've given
you a D.S.O. 'For conspicuous gallantry in holding up an almost isolated
position for several hours against vastly superior numbers of the enemy.
He was badly wounded just before relief came.'"
Her eyes were shining. "Oh! my dear--I'm so proud of you! Do you
remember saying it was a glorious madness?"
Into his mind there flashed the picture of a German officer's
face--distorted with terror--cringing: just as a pick came down....
"Yes, girl, I remember," he answered softly. "I remember. But, thank
God! I'm sane again now."
* * * * *
And now I will ring down the curtain. For Jim Denver the black and white
have gone; even the grey of the Land of Topsy Turvy is hazy and
indistinct. The guns are silent: the men and the women are--sane.
The shepherd is out of sight amongst the trees; the purple is changing
to grey, the grey to black; there is no sound saving only the tireless
murmur of the river....
THE END
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes
Herman Cyril McNeile was an officer in the Royal Engineers who
published under the pseudonym "Sapper".
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Hyphen added: "bed[-]rock" (p. 303).
Hyphen removed: "ward[-]room" (p. 167), "sand[-]bags" (p. 188),
"stock[-]broker" (p. 265).
The following words are inconsistently hyphenated but have not been
changed: "dug[-]out", "half[-]way", "sand[-]bags", "sign[-]post",
"super[-]human", "table[-]cloth".
Page 291: "Panting Lizze" changed to "Panting Lizzie".