'Eh bien,' he says, 'I resigned
myself. After all, I shall be of greater value in putting my
intellect to the service of the country than in carrying a
knapsack.' And him that was alongside said, 'Oui,' with his
headpiece feathered on top. He'd jolly well consented to go to
Bordeaux at the time when the Boches were getting near Paris, and
then Bordeaux became the stylish place; but afterwards he returned
firmly to the front--to Paris--and said something like this, 'My
ability is of value to France; it is absolutely necessary that I
guard it for France.'
"They talked about other people that weren't there--of the
commandant who was getting an impossible temper, and they explained
that the more imbecile he got the harsher he got; and the General
that made unexpected inspections with the idea of kicking all the
soft-jobbers out, but who'd been laid up for eight days, very
ill--'he's certainly going to die; his condition no longer gives
rise to any uneasiness,' they said, smoking the cigarettes that
Society swells send to the depots for the soldiers at the front.
'D'you know,' they said, 'little Frazy, who is such a nice boy, the
cherub, he's at last found an excuse for staying behind. They wanted
some cattle slaughterers for the abattoir, and he's enlisted himself
in there for protection, although he's got a University degree and
in spite of being an attorney's clerk. As for Flandrin's son, he's
succeeded in getting himself attached to the
roadmenders.
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