True Stories of the Great War, Volume 4 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
History
True Stories of the Great War, Volume 4 (of 6): Tales of Adventure--Heroic Deeds--Exploits Told by the Soldiers, Officers, Nurses, Diplomats, Eye Witnesses
World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives
Trevelyan, in his well-fitting khaki uniform, seemed from the same
mold as hundreds of clean-built Englishmen; lean face, blond hair. His
accent was faultlessly upper class. The letter "g" did not occur as a
terminating consonant in his conversation. The adjectives "rippin'" or
"rotten" conveyed his sentiments one way or the other. His hand clasp
was firm, his eye direct and blue. He was a chap you liked.
At our midday meal, which was served apart for the American contingent,
the First Orderly asked the corps what they thought of Trevelyan. "I've
lived three years in England," said the chauffeur of the second bus,
"and this fellow seems to have far less 'side' than most of his class."
The First Orderly explained that this was because Trevelyan had become
cosmopolitan--traveled a lot, spoke French and Spanish and understood
Italian, whereas most Englishmen scorned to learn any "foreign" tongue.
"Why isn't he in a regiment--he's so superior!" wondered the chauffeur
of the second bus. The First Orderly maintained stoutly that there was
some good reason, perhaps family trouble, why his new friend was just
a common orderly--like himself.
The entire column was then ordered out. They hauled wounded from the
field hospital to the evacuation camp until nightfall. After dusk they
made several trips almost to the trenches. But there were fewer wounded
than usual. The cold had lessened the infantry attacks, though the
artillery constantly thundered, especially at nightfall.
New orders came in. They were:--Everything ready always for a possible
quick advance into L----, which was then an advance post. An important
redistribution of General French's "contemptible little army" was hoped
for. At coffee next morning our squad commander, after his customary
talk with the fat major, admonished us to have little to say concerning
our affairs--that talk was a useless adjunct to war.
III--WHO IS THIS MYSTERIOUS GLOBE TROTTER
That day again the First Orderly's dinner conversation was of
Trevelyan. Their conversation of that morning had gotten away from
armies and surgeons and embraced art people, which were the First
Orderly's forte. People were his hobby but he knew a lot about art.
This knowledge had developed in the form of landscape gardening at the
country places of his millionaire friends. It appeared that he and
Trevelyan had known the same families in different parts of the world.
"He knows the G's," he proclaimed, naming a prominent New York family.
"He's been to their villa at Lennox. He spoke of the way the grounds
are laid out, before he knew I had been there. Talked about the box
perspective for the Venus fountain, that I suggested myself."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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