When there is sunlight , then also there are shadows .sx Students of humour know that the past-masters have dealt in pathos fruitfully .sx Hood , Jerome , Barry Pain they can dissolve the reader in tears as readily as in smiles .sx Let them lay aside their shaft of ridicule , and the bowstring which launched it becomes the harp in season .sx A strong sense of the ridiculous never need harden hearts ; and Pettifer , caught in a serious mood , is not to be forgotten .sx The old man's honest feeling shines through such conversations as the two which follow quietly .sx ` After we were comin' out from Hooge about the twelfth of May 1915 , comin' along they 'appened to be shelling the town with a large gun , just seventeen minutes between each explosion .sx An' we were comin' out and found a little girl on the roadway .sx She'd been buried and blown out again buried quick I should say , in 'er clothes , about six years old .sx ` It was a bit of a cemetery just there , an' I took this youngster an' rolled 'er in my overcoat an' buried 'er .sx ` An' I think it would be some time in '16 I told Tubby about this an' we thought we'd look for 'er .sx We looked about , but we never could find it again .sx The place was blown to bits .sx ' Now hear him in an incident concerning some lost washing .sx Remember that the narrative , for all the strict economy of words , is told by one who stood year in year out as the best British friend to all and sundry among the civil populace .sx During the bombardments , he visited the bedridden , took them illicit scraps of Army rations , filled them with wildly optimistic legends of the course of the War , and came out to discover his usual troop of children waiting for his protection .sx ` One day they were shellin' Pop an' I run down to the old lady the old lady who done 'is washing out of the back gate of the garden an' down the lane an' the 'ouses just facin' .sx ` I went down to see if the washin' was finished , an' the old lady sed it would be about another half-hour if I'd call back for it , an' I said I would .sx There was a long report , quarter of an hour after I .sx came away , an' I went out of the back gate , an' it 'ad been a .sx shell ; it 'ad gone clean in the ole girl's 'ouse and 'er an' 'er daughter were blown to pieces .sx So we never got no washin' .sx ' The reader still awake will have observed that Pettifer's conversations have dealt so far with minor incidents , in gaiety and pathos .sx The final stencil is cut more soberly .sx It tells of an eve which threatened to part us finally .sx Had this been so , Toc H would scarcely have survived to be reborn .sx To understand what follows , the student must stomach the reminder that Pettifer and I had become glued together by an act of generosity on the part of the Buffs Adjutant in 1915 .sx In April 1916 , the Buffs went south , leaving us both behind them .sx Divisions came and went .sx Corps moved majestically .sx Even the Armies shifted .sx But Pettifer and I remained in Poperinghe together .sx Neither of us had any secure status .sx We were attached in turn to neighbouring units , and drew official breath as best we could .sx Like Romulus and Remus , we chose our she-wolf cautiously exercising tact towards her proper progeny , for fear they might dispute our 'mucking in .sx ' Some sleepy she-wolves nurtured benignly , some with an air of boredom or resentment .sx Some wanted to see papers .sx For these last , we kept a stock of earlier affiliation orders , blazing with rubber stamps and signatures of alphabetic eminence within the tribe of ` Q.' ` Padre and batman ' - that was plain enough .sx ` Rations and discipline ' - yes , both were good for men .sx But who and what was Private Pettifer with six good-conduct stripes ?sx Was he a Buff in perpetuity , like the Editor of the Eatanswill Independent ?sx Or was he pledged to those who paid and clothed and fed him ?sx He could not be officially a gadget , a general member of the British Army .sx No post like this existed .sx Again , was he unfit ?sx And , if so , was it permanent ?sx was he now too old to stand the racket ?sx Had the Buffs any right thus to deposit him , a Regimental heirloom ?sx Adjutants swooned at this ; Staff Majors ordered whiskey and wet towels .sx For whole years I trembled , but I triumphed .sx Then Fortune's malice fell .sx In the autumn of '17 , there was a fierce re-combing of men behind the line .sx At home , great drafts of fresh men were kept back ; while thousands such as Pettifer were summoned to Base , their wounds pooh-poohed , despite the doctors' evidence , their return to the line made instant .sx They did not even get back to their old battalions , but went ( more often than not ) to die among strange faces .sx This was the cross they bore .sx So Pettifer went from me .sx He had been oh !sx so careful and brief in his farewell .sx When he had heard that he must go , he fell to work at once on his equipment , and came to say good-bye , fully accoutred .sx A handshake , a salute , and he was gone .sx I can still see his figure fading towards the Square .sx No one could pass him fit .sx That was my sole sheet-anchor ; and , for some weeks of loneliness , I went on importuning the highly-placed magicians to conjure him back to me .sx But those I knew were neighbours , powerful only in Flanders ; Pettifer had now passed out of the Army area down to the Base , where friendship was a fable .sx I was , however , told that should he reappear in any local unit , he should be mine once more , if certified unfit .sx Pettifer did not write .sx Apart from sundry letters to my mother , composed and re-composed for weeks on end , I scarcely know his hand .sx One night I crawled to bed , and woke to find him standing like a spirit , grave and outworn , at the bed's foot .sx He said he had just called in to see me !sx He was up the line again , digging as best he could with a lot who called themselves Camerons , but were a Labour Company .sx The Base , he'd had enough of it .sx Starving and shivering in St. Martin's Camp , suspected of faint-heartedness , his unread papers seized he said his say right out to me that night .sx I learnt how men grow bitter .sx Mistrust soon makes them so .sx So he had joined ` The Camerons,' keeping his cap-badge and his self-respect .sx He had asked to be sent back to the Buffs , wherever they might be ; but his medical report was prohibitory .sx A 'P .sx B.' man had no right in a Labour Company working far up the line .sx Where had he come from now ?sx What were they doing ?sx He told me briefly , and made shift to go .sx I fastened on him firmly , trusting my private promise from the good magician .sx His story tells the sequel .sx ` I was taken away , that was September 17 , 1917 , from Tubby and sent to the Base to be re-classified with a letter from 'im to 'and in , to have me sent back to 'im again .sx I 'anded the letter in to one of the sergeant-majors there , but whether the letter got 'anded in or not , I wasn't sent back to Tubby .sx So I was marked P.B. ( permanent base ) and put to a labour company in the Camerons , and got sent up to Dickebusch , an' I knew that if I could get down to Tubby I should be orl right .sx ` So after some bit of trouble I managed to get a pass to go into .sx Pop and o' course made my way straight to Tubby .sx So 'e ses to me , " Now I've got you I'm goin' to keep you .sx " So I said to 'im , " You can't do that , I'm only on a few hours leave and I've got to go up the line workin' " ( we were makin' a road called the Warrington Road just off our corner) .sx ` Tubby ses to me , " You come with me and we'll go and see this doctor .sx " 'E took me to see a doctor in the " roo dee Furnes , " and 'e went in first and saw this doctor , and 'e ses I'm unfit to travel .sx An' next day they sent a dispatch rider to Tubby to say " send Pte .sx Pettifer back " Tubby sent a message back to say " the doctor's orders are , he's unfit to travel , " and then my transfer from the 2nd Army to the 5th came through an' was sent to the company :sx and the nex' message was " Send Private Pettifer up to bring kit away !sx " An' I went up and got my kit , and the Captain 'ad gone on leave that mornin' , or I dessay I'd 'ave got a tickin' orf .sx I guess 'e knew it was a wangle .sx ' This was the last of Pettifer's war stories ; but I am moved to add two incidents in my own defence .sx My deliberate infractions of Army Law were very rare indeed .sx One day , however , Talbot House received a stray lance-corporal , discovered scanning most excitedly the Rendez-vous lists , of which the headlines still remain painted in the hall opposite the kitchen door .sx These lists were a device whereby men could acquaint their friends in other units with their prospective presence , and thus hope to achieve a meeting .sx Lance-Corporal Quin found to his tense amazement that his own brother had been in the House the previous day .sx He had not known till now .sx They had not met since 1914 .sx Could he now be found and summoned ?sx I took fire at this , and went to the Town Major .sx There I learnt that the brother's battalion had just moved to Abeele , on their way south .sx I took a Signal form and ( with an element of connivance ) drafted a most official wire to the Adjutant of the brother's battalion , demanding that Pte .sx Quin should be sent back immediately to the Town Major's Office .sx No reason was vouchsafed .sx I wonder what the Adjutant conjectured .sx But sure enough , it worked ; and the two brothers met in Talbot House that very afternoon .sx It was well they did , for one was killed soon afterwards .sx This was the sole occasion when I deliberately deceived the British Army , making no bones about it .sx The second reminiscence is perplexing .sx It all began with the small billiard-table , which came from Messrs .sx Gamage .sx Billiards are .sx made for men , not men for billiards ; and I had cause to regret that most seductive table before long .sx There was the furore of its first arrival , when to judge from the talk of the unpacking party Inman had been the pupil of them all .sx Then , for a week or so , the room in which it stood was inaccessible , a solid throng of hopefuls :sx the butt-end of the cues plying a doubtful passage .sx Imagine every beast owned by the Zoo given freedom to congregate , and in turn to drink out of a six-foot tank during a water famine , and you are not far from picturing the proceedings in that billiard-room .sx News spread , and callers multiplied .sx We did not feel at home with them , for they had come with one intention only .sx By now , the precious table was moved up for more space to the floor below the Chapel .sx I was not quite happy about this , since sound ( like gas ) will rise , and that of cannons is peculiarly penetrating .sx Billiards , like other games , ceased by the strict traditions of the House during family prayers ; but I found that at other times the Chapel stillness suffered .sx What did we do on Sundays about billiards ?sx The answer to that question must appear unbelievable to an age which is parting with every inhibition against Sunday pleasure .sx The solemn fact , however , is that I put this issue ( like all others ) to the men most affected .sx They weighed the pro and con of Sunday billiards , and voted clean against it .sx I was amazed at this , but carried out their self-denying ordinance .sx A few Sundays later two infantrymen turned up with passes from the other side of Ypres .sx This was their one day off , after a very rough turn of duty .sx