By this time he had the two wines in jugs of their own and was pouring the Chateau Talbot into the Tunisian bottle. A jet aircraft came into earshot.
'There were men in my battalion who'd gawn six months without sleep and the average life of a subaltern in the front line was thirty seconds. Absolute gospel. Literally. Then one day in the shithouse at Division I ran into old Bugger Cockface who I'd known at Eton and Sandhurst and in the Crimea and at Spion Kop.' The jet was almost overhead. 'And I said to him, I said, 'Are we done for, Bugger?' and he said, 'By George not yet, Smudger,' and I thought, damn fine soldier, damn fine Englishman, damn fine feller, what? What? 'What?''
'I said what on earth are you doing? You've been simply ages.'
Brenda had spoken. Alcestis was at her side. The two must have stolen up on him under the noise of the aircraft, which had begun to recede. Jake hoped he hadn't turned round too abruptly. There stood near him the two bottles each filled with what had been in the other and the jugs not noticeable. He said,
'Just..... It took me a while to find the—'
'Two bottles,' said Alcestis. 'I say, are we having a piss-up?'
'That one's for dinner-time. These cheap plonks, if you take the cork out a couple of hours before you —'
'Tunisian Full-Bodied..... This is good enough for me.'
'No really, it won't have—'
'Suit me down to the ground. I'm not a connoisseur chappie like you.'
'No, the other one's much—'
'No, you have that with your dinner. Able to appreciate it, mm?'
'I'd far rather—'
It was no good: she had noticed, again unconsciously, that he now wanted her to have what a minute earlier he hadn't wanted her to have, and maintained the appropriate reaction. (She must have grasped too that something was going on in the kitchen because he hadn't been out there that long.) Back in the sitting room she took a sip and raised her unabundant eyebrows.
'I think this is awfully good, Jake. What did you pay for it if you don't mind my asking?'
He took a gulp. Although he much preferred drink with food he was fucked if he was going to, etc. 'I don't know,' he said a little wildly. 'One twenty-five .... ten....'
'Where? No don't tell me, no point, memory like a sieve. Of course, I suppose with your experience and your palate, easy. Brenda love, aren't you drinking?'
'No, I'm cutting down,' said Brenda. She went to the tea-tray, poured herself a cup and added milk and three lumps of sugar.
'But you're ...' said Jake and stopped.
'I'm what?'
'You're .... entitled to break the rules once in a way.' He was acting on the principle that every drop of claret outside
Alcestis was a drop saved. 'Let me get you a glass.'
'No thank you.' She spoke sharply. 'What have you been up to today, Jake?'.
Distracted by Brenda's tone, which had led him to start reviewing his words and actions in the short time since he'd entered the house, he answered Alcestis without thinking. 'Seeing the doctor.'
'Oh.' She drew him down to sit beside her on the padded bamboo settee. 'Anything .... troublesome?'
'Not really,' said Jake, who had recovered his wits enough to try to spread a little embarrassment. 'What you might call a man's thing.'
'I see.'
'I don't expect to die of it exactly.'
'Good,' she said, laying her hand on his shoulder for a moment. 'Do you care for Curnow terribly?'
'No, but I trust his judgement.'
'Neither do I, but Geoffrey swears by him.' She referred to her husband. 'He's Cornish, Curnow, you know. Like Michael Foot.'
'Is he?'
'Oh yes my dear, in fact his name's Cornish for Cornish. Worse than the Welsh. Oh yes.'
'Ah.'
'Can I finish my story now, Brenda love?'
'Oh yes Allie, do.' This time Brenda's tone was warm but the warmth was firmly vectored on her friend.
'I was just getting into it when you turned up, Jake.'
'Sorry.'
'Well, just to put you in the picture very briefly, Brenda's probably told you about the trouble we had with our drains last year. Well, the plumber was simply charming. Young fellow, very good-looking, extremely intelligent,
