Anthony Powell - The Military Philosophers

‘You remind me of the man who used to introduce his wife as ancienne maîtresse de Lord Byron .’’

‘This is classier than a lord — besides Pam and I aren’t married yet.’

‘You don’t have to spell the name out.’

I was not impressed by Stevens’s regard for ‘security,’ always a risk in the hands of the vain. All the same, not much damage would be done by my knowing that at last some sort of assistance was to be given to the Resistance in Prince Theodoric’s country; and that Stevens and Szymanski were involved. That was certainly interesting.

‘I’ll be playing for the village boys,’ he said. ‘Rather than the team the squire is fielding.’

‘A tricky situation, I should imagine.’

‘You bet.’

‘I saw Sunny Farebrother yesterday, who took the rap in the Szymanski business.’

‘Cunning old bugger. They pushed him off to a training centre for a bit, but I bet he’s back on something good.’

‘He thinks so. Was Szymanski a boy-friend of Pamela’s?’

I thought I had a right to ask that question after the way Stevens had talked. For once he seemed a shade put out.

‘Who can tell?’ he said. ‘Even if there’s still a Szymanski. They may have infiltrated him already and he may have been picked up. I hope not. The great thing is he knows the country like the back of his hand. What are you doing yourself, old boy?’

The change of mood, sudden fear for Szymanski — and by implication for himself — was characteristic. I told him about my job, also explaining how I knew Pamela.

‘Won’t she be cross if we leave her much longer?’

‘She’s cross all the time. Bloody cross. Chronic state, thrives on it. Her chief charm. Makes her wonderful in bed. That is, if you like temper.’

Emphasis expressed as to the high degree of sexual pleasure to be derived from a given person is, for one reason or another, always to be accepted with a certain amount of suspicion, so far as the speaker is concerned, especially if referring to a current situation. Stevens sounded as if he might be bolstering himself up in making the last statement.

‘She’s the hell of a girl,’ he said.

I wondered whether he had run across Pamela with Szymanski in the first instance. In any case, people like that gravitate towards each other at all times, almost more in war than in peace, since war — though perhaps in a more limited sense than might be supposed — offers obvious opportunities for certain sorts of adventure. Stevens, whose self- satisfaction had if anything increased, seemed to have no illusions about Pamela’s temperament. He accepted that she was a woman whose sexual disposition was vested in rage and perversity. In fact, if he were to be believed, those were the very qualities he had set out to find. We returned to where she was sitting.

‘Where the hell have you two been?’

She spoke through her teeth. There was still a lot of noise going on outside. We all three sat on the bench together. Clanwaert strolled past. He glanced in our direction, slightly inclining his head towards Pamela, who took no perceptible notice of him. He had evidently decided to return to bed and said goodnight to me.

‘That was the Belgian officer who gave me your message about Szymanski.’

‘Ask him if he’s got a cigarette.’

I called after Clanwaert. He turned back and came towards us. I enquired if he had a cigarette for Pamela, saying I believed they had met. He took a case from his dressing-gown pocket and handed it round. Pamela took one, looking away as she did so. Clanwaert showed himself perfectly at ease under this chilly treatment.

‘We could have met at the Belgian Institute,’ he said. ‘Was it with one of our artillery officers — Wauthier or perhaps Ruys?’

‘Perhaps it was,’ she said. ‘Thanks for the smoke.’

Clanwaert smiled and retired.

‘One of your braves Belges ?’ asked Stevens. ‘Since you’ve lived here some time, you’ve probably come across the old girl standing by the door. She’s called Mrs Erdleigh. The other evening, I saw her burning something on the roof. I thought she was sending up smoke signals to the enemy — it wasn’t yet dark — but it turned out to be just incense, which seems to play some part in her daily life, as she’s a witch. We got on rather well. In the end she told my fortune and said I was going to have all sorts of adventures and get a lot of nice presents from women.’

‘Not me,’ said Pamela. ‘You’ll have to go elsewhere if you want to be kept.’

Mrs Erdleigh was, indeed, looking out into the street through the glass doors at the other end of the hall. Her age as indeterminate as ever from her outward appearance, she was smiling slightly to herself. This was the first time I had seen her since living in the flats. A helmet was set very squarely on her head and she wore a long coat or robe, a pushteen or similar garment, woolly inside, skin without, the exterior ornamented with scrolls and patterns of Oriental design in bright colours. She was carrying a small black box under one arm. Now she set this on the ground and removed the helmet, revealing a coiffure of grey-blue curls that had been pressed down by the weight of the tin hat. These she ruffled with her fingers. Then she took the helmet between her hands, and, as if in deep thought, raised it like a basin or sacrificial vessel, a piece of temple equipment for sacred rites. Her quiet smile suggested she was rather enjoying the raid than otherwise. Nothing much seemed to be happening outside, though the row continued unabated.

‘She was mixed up with an uncle of mine — in fact he left her his money, such as it was.’

The bequest had caused great annoyance in the family, almost as much on account of Uncle Giles turning out to own a few thousands, as because of the alienation of the capital sum.

‘Must have made it quite lately as the result of some very risky speculation,’ my father had said at the time. ‘Never thought Giles had a penny to bless himself with.’

‘Let’s go over and talk to her,’ said Stevens. ‘She’s good value.’

He had that taste, peculiar to certain egotists, to collect together close round him everyone he might happen to know in any given area.

‘Oh, God,’ said Pamela. ‘Need we? I suppose she flattered you.’

‘Go on, Nicholas,’ he said. ‘Ask Mrs Erdleigh to join us, if you know her as well.’

I agreed to do this, more from liking the idea of meeting Mrs Erdleigh again than to please Stevens. As I approached, she herself turned towards me.

‘I wondered when you would speak,’ she said gently.

‘You’d already seen me in the hall?’

‘Often in this building. But we must not anticipate our destinies. The meeting had to wait until tonight.’

From the way she spoke, it was to be assumed that she was so far above material contacts that the impetus of our reunion must necessarily come from myself. The magical course of events would no doubt have been damaged had she taken the initiative and addressed me first.

‘What a night.’

‘I could not sleep,’ she said, as if that were a matter for surprise. ‘The omens have not been good for some days past, though in general better than for many months. I can see at once from your face that you are well situated. The Centaur is friend to strangers and exiles. His arrow defends them.’

‘Come and talk to us. There’s a young man called Odo Stevens, who has done rather well as a soldier — been very brave, I mean — and a girl called Pamela Flitton. He says he knows you already.’

‘I met your young army friend on the roof when I was engaged in certain required exsufflations. He is under Aries, like your poor uncle, but this young man has the Ram in far, far better aspect, the powerful rays of Mars favouring him rather than the reverse, as they might some — your uncle, for example.’