Read Online Other Paths to Glory by Anthony Price - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Anthony Price
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open air?’
Butler glowered briefly at Mitchell, then switched his attention back to Audley.
‘I assumed you’d tell me in your own good time.’
‘And so I will. Or perhaps I’d better let Captain Lefevre tell you. Go on, Paul.’
Mitchell cleared his throat nervously. Yesterday, at their first meeting, he liked Butler better than Audley. His feelings about the big civilian were still equivocal, but he felt too far committed to the action plan to withdraw now. In any case, Audley was obviously the top man, and by the contents of this morning’s fancy dress boxes, a man who could get things done quickly.
He pointed down the hill.
‘That’s Elthingham, Colonel.’
Butler’s gaze followed the finger towards the huddle of houses in the valley, set in its chequer-board of fields and woodland. In the clear stillness of the morning the smoke from a dozen chimneys rose peacefully above the roofs: Elthingham was like a picture postcard of an English village.
‘Yes?’ Butler growled.
Mitchell forced himself to look directly into the hostile face. It wasn’t his health and well-being that Butler was worried about, he sensed, but his ability to look after himself. He was being tested.
‘I saw Charles Emerson twice last week, once on Tuesday, the day after he came back from France, and then yesterday. On Wednesday he went to see someone in Elthingham.’
‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. Colonel. And I don’t know why, either. But what I do remember is that he was excited about it.’
‘How - excited?’
Butler sounded as though he somewhat disapproved of excitement in a sober scholar whose enthusiasm ought to be tempered by gravity.
‘I don’t mean he was dancing up and down. But he said it was a pity he’d had to come back from France on Monday - he had a lecture to give at the Staff College on Tuesday evening - because he’d stumbled on a very interesting thing which he was following up.’
‘Something in France?’
‘Yes. But he said it did at least give him a chance to check it up at this end before he went back.’
‘He planned to go back to France again?’
Mitchell nodded.
‘Because of what he’d just learnt?’
‘Yes, I gathered that was why.’
‘But you didn’t ask him?’ Butler made this lack of curiosity sound a mortal sin.
‘Well - the whole thing only came up incidentally to what we were talking about –
‘ ‘Which was the Hindenburg Line, I take it,’ said Butler drily, ‘and not the Somme. Go on, Mitchell.’
Mitchell swallowed. Butler had put it bluntly but accurately. And yet somehow unfairly all the same.
‘Professor Emerson was advising me … he was getting me some American maps - their 27th and 30th Divisions were attached to our Fourth Army in 1918 - and we were going to study them together on Wednesday. That’s what we’d arranged to do, anyway. But he asked me if we could put that off because he wanted to go and see a man in Elthingham in connection with this thing he’d found out - ‘
‘The very interesting thing?’
‘Yes.’
It dawned belatedly on Mitchell that he was being interrogated rather than allowed to tell his own story. Where Audley’s tactics over the same ground the night before had been to let him run on, encouraging him to speak his thoughts aloud, Butler evidently favoured continuous harassment.
‘I didn’t ask him about it because I was more concerned with my own work - and because if he’d been ready to tell me he would have done so without my asking. We agreed to meet yesterday morning instead.’
Butler pounced.
‘And he evidently wasn’t ready to tell you about it then either. So maybe it wasn’t very interesting any more?’
‘You can make that assumption if you like, Colonel,’ said Mitchell tartly. ‘I think it would be the wrong one, but you’re welcome to make it.’
‘What would the right one be, then?’
‘Charles Emerson never went off at half-cock. If he said something was interesting - or very
Butler glowered briefly at Mitchell, then switched his attention back to Audley.
‘I assumed you’d tell me in your own good time.’
‘And so I will. Or perhaps I’d better let Captain Lefevre tell you. Go on, Paul.’
Mitchell cleared his throat nervously. Yesterday, at their first meeting, he liked Butler better than Audley. His feelings about the big civilian were still equivocal, but he felt too far committed to the action plan to withdraw now. In any case, Audley was obviously the top man, and by the contents of this morning’s fancy dress boxes, a man who could get things done quickly.
He pointed down the hill.
‘That’s Elthingham, Colonel.’
Butler’s gaze followed the finger towards the huddle of houses in the valley, set in its chequer-board of fields and woodland. In the clear stillness of the morning the smoke from a dozen chimneys rose peacefully above the roofs: Elthingham was like a picture postcard of an English village.
‘Yes?’ Butler growled.
Mitchell forced himself to look directly into the hostile face. It wasn’t his health and well-being that Butler was worried about, he sensed, but his ability to look after himself. He was being tested.
‘I saw Charles Emerson twice last week, once on Tuesday, the day after he came back from France, and then yesterday. On Wednesday he went to see someone in Elthingham.’
‘Who?’
‘I don’t know. Colonel. And I don’t know why, either. But what I do remember is that he was excited about it.’
‘How - excited?’
Butler sounded as though he somewhat disapproved of excitement in a sober scholar whose enthusiasm ought to be tempered by gravity.
‘I don’t mean he was dancing up and down. But he said it was a pity he’d had to come back from France on Monday - he had a lecture to give at the Staff College on Tuesday evening - because he’d stumbled on a very interesting thing which he was following up.’
‘Something in France?’
‘Yes. But he said it did at least give him a chance to check it up at this end before he went back.’
‘He planned to go back to France again?’
Mitchell nodded.
‘Because of what he’d just learnt?’
‘Yes, I gathered that was why.’
‘But you didn’t ask him?’ Butler made this lack of curiosity sound a mortal sin.
‘Well - the whole thing only came up incidentally to what we were talking about –
‘ ‘Which was the Hindenburg Line, I take it,’ said Butler drily, ‘and not the Somme. Go on, Mitchell.’
Mitchell swallowed. Butler had put it bluntly but accurately. And yet somehow unfairly all the same.
‘Professor Emerson was advising me … he was getting me some American maps - their 27th and 30th Divisions were attached to our Fourth Army in 1918 - and we were going to study them together on Wednesday. That’s what we’d arranged to do, anyway. But he asked me if we could put that off because he wanted to go and see a man in Elthingham in connection with this thing he’d found out - ‘
‘The very interesting thing?’
‘Yes.’
It dawned belatedly on Mitchell that he was being interrogated rather than allowed to tell his own story. Where Audley’s tactics over the same ground the night before had been to let him run on, encouraging him to speak his thoughts aloud, Butler evidently favoured continuous harassment.
‘I didn’t ask him about it because I was more concerned with my own work - and because if he’d been ready to tell me he would have done so without my asking. We agreed to meet yesterday morning instead.’
Butler pounced.
‘And he evidently wasn’t ready to tell you about it then either. So maybe it wasn’t very interesting any more?’
‘You can make that assumption if you like, Colonel,’ said Mitchell tartly. ‘I think it would be the wrong one, but you’re welcome to make it.’
‘What would the right one be, then?’
‘Charles Emerson never went off at half-cock. If he said something was interesting - or very
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