For Seat And Table There Was A Heathery Bank
Still Full Of The Warmth And Savour Of The Last Daylight, For
Companions These Great Inimical Influences Of The Night Which I Had
Met And Dreaded, And For Occasion Or Excuse There Was Hunger.
Of the
Many that debate what shall be done with travellers, it was the best
and kindest Spirit that prompted me to this salutary act.
For as I
drank the wine and dealt with the ham and bread, I felt more and more
that I had a right to the road; the stars became familiar and the
woods a plaything. It is quite clear that the body must be recognized
and the soul kept in its place, since a little refreshing food and
drink can do so much to make a man.
On this repast I jumped up merrily, lit a pipe, and began singing, and
heard, to my inexpressible joy, some way down the road, the sound of
other voices. They were singing that old song of the French infantry
which dates from Louis XIV, and is called 'Aupres de ma blonde'. I
answered their chorus, so that, by the time we met under the wood, we
were already acquainted. They told me they had had a forty-eight
hours' leave into Nancy, the four of them, and had to be in by
roll-call at a place called Villey the Dry. I remembered it after all
those years.
It is a village perched on the brow of one of these high hills above
the river, and it found itself one day surrounded by earthworks, and a
great fort raised just above the church.
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