Read Online A Future Arrived by Phillip Rock - Free Book Online Page A

womanhood! She’s a confused mixture of Janet Gaynor and Joan of Arc.”
    â€œJust a phase.”
    â€œOh, Lord, I suppose so.”
    â€œWhere’s his nibs?”
    â€œIn bed. I must say you look terribly alert.”
    â€œSpent most of the night asleep in the back of a staff car. Saw all I needed … watery moonlight and total confusion.”
    â€œCare to stay over and dine with us?”
    â€œI’d like nothing better, but I must get back to London for a board meeting.” He stood up and held out his hands to her. “Come on, walk with me to my car.”
    They strolled slowly side by side through a large, overgrown garden toward the garages.
    â€œTowerside suggested that your loving husband retire … take a job with Vickers, perhaps.”
    â€œWhat nonsense.”
    â€œThe cavalry generals would love to be rid of him, you know. Prophets are without honor in this country, especially in the army. Fenton is viewed with some alarm. Too unorthodox … too much the zealot. He considered Towerside’s suggestion for a moment. Felt it would make you happy. Would it?”
    She paused and looked at him. “No. I pray the day will come when soldiers no longer exist, but in the meantime, I happen to love one. Can you even conceive of Fenton not being in the army?”
    â€œDifficult to imagine.”
    â€œAnd if he were nudged out I think he’d disintegrate into a brooding, bitter man. I couldn’t bear to witness it.” There was a wood bench under a grape arbor and she sat down. “I don’t mind living in rented houses, trailing around like a camp follower … Egypt, India … tutors for the girls, training new servants every couple of years … don’t mind any of that as long as he’s reasonably content in his job. And soldiering is his job. I made my peace with that fact years ago. I wish he had left the service after the war, but he didn’t.”
    â€œStubborn pride … not wanting to live off your money while he looked about for another career.”
    â€œIt goes deeper than that, Jacob. Heavens, we live off my money now. A brigadier’s wages don’t stretch far these days. No. He’s obsessed with the idea of remodeling the British army to his own specific vision. It’s not a vision that many share, so naturally he’s resented … even feared. The army is like the civil service, everyone jealously protecting their own little place in it. They look on Fenton as a threat.”
    â€œYes, and not without reason. At least in this country.” He sat on the bench beside her. “Would you find a few years in India too abhorrent?”
    She watched swallows dart in slender blurs over the wild, unpruned garden. “Why do you ask?”
    â€œI’ll come to that.”
    â€œIt’s not Hampshire, but I’ve always liked the country … Simla especially. Even Quetta during the cooler months.”
    â€œDon’t for God’s sake say anything, but some of my gray lads have come up with something.”
    â€œYour what lads?”
    â€œGray lads. A host of petty clerks … Whitehall drones … faceless, meek little creatures who pass on information to me for a quid or two. I have a network of them. Even have a gray lad at Buckingham Palace.”
    She laughed and squeezed his arm. “Oh, Jacob, it’s a good thing they no longer hang, draw, and quarter people on Tower Hill!”
    â€œI can think of some people in Britain who would relish a revival of the practice—for the exclusive chastisement of labor leaders and Jewish newspaper owners. Anyway, one of my inquisitive little spies informs me that a move is afoot in Delhi to start modernizing the Indian army. The plan is for a completely mechanized brigade—including the dehorsing of two cavalry regiments and placing the bewildered chaps in armored cars. Fenton’s gospel to the letter. Our lad would be