The two of
them want to show me that they have power----"
Brian broke in with a laugh. "My child, you see things through a
magnifying glass! Is your blind brother a prize worth squabbling over? I
can be of use to the Becketts, it's true, when we travel without a
military escort, or with one young officer who knows more about
seventy-fives than about the romance of history. I can tell them what
I've read and what I've seen. But at Verdun you'll be in the society of
generals; and at Rheims of as many dignitaries as haven't been bombarded
out of town. The Becketts don't need me. Perhaps Miss O'Farrell does."
"Perhaps!" I repeated.
Brian can see twice as much as those who have eyes, but he would not see
my sarcasm. Just then, however, Mrs. Beckett joined us in the hall of
the hotel, where we stood ready to start--all having breakfasted in our
own rooms. She guessed from my face that I was not pleased with Brian's
plan.
"My dear, I'd go myself with poor little Dierdre O'Farrell instead of
Brian!" she said. "Verdun isn't one of Jim's towns. Rheims is--but I'd
have sacrificed it. There can't be much left there to see. Only--_two
whole days_! Father and I haven't been parted so long in our lives since
we were married. I thought yesterday, when you were away in those
trenches, what a coward I'd been not to insist on going, and what if I
never saw Father again! I hope you don't think I'm too selfish!"
Poor darling, _selfish_ to travel in her own car with her own husband! I
just gave her a look to show what I felt; but after that I could no
longer object to parting with Brian.
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