1917 Eagles Fall Read Online Free PDF Page A

and try to wear your hat at a jaunty angle.  You are a hero! Look the part!”
    Alice kissed us all goodbye as she hurried off to her lodgings.  Mary laughed as she kissed Gordy. “She is a peach, Bill!”
    Charlie seemed in a dream world as we walked back to the hotel. Ted chuckled.  “Your Mary is right, Gordy.  She’s like a breath of fresh air.  I’d forgotten what it was like to laugh.”
    They went ahead while I lit my pipe. Charlie asked, “Do you know if your sister has a young man, Bill?”
    I stopped, “I don’t think so why?”
    “She’s lovely.”
    “You have only just met her.”
    He replied, earnestly, “Oh I know.  I am just saying she ought to have a young man.  Any boy would be honoured to walk out with her.  I know I felt ten feet tall when she linked me.”
    I didn’t know what to say. Our Alice just liked fun.  Perhaps she had only been pleasant with my two friends because they were my friends.  I know Ted hadn’t taken any of it seriously but then he was much older than Charlie. I could not do much about it. I would seek the advice of Beatrice; she would know what to say. As we entered the hotel I wondered about Mary’s use of ‘ Beattie ’. Did she want me to call her by a shortened form of her name?  I had only ever used Beatrice and she had never corrected me. I tapped my pipe out in an ashtray. I was just like Charlie- I was out of my depth.
    Bates was sitting in the lounge drinking a cup of tea and reading a paper when I returned.  He folded his paper and stood.  “A good day, sir?”
    “Excellent and tonight we dine at the Ritz.”
    He nodded as we went up the stairs to our room. “And they will want you in your uniform I daresay.”
    “How did you know that?”
    He smiled, “Ladies like to be on the arm of a smart and handsome officer.  That is you, sir. I will clean you uniform.  You really need a decent spare sir.”
    “I’ll go tomorrow and order one then.”
    “That’s the ticket!” We entered my room.  “Now I shall draw you a bath and I will have the worst of the marks off this by the time you are finished.”
    I didn’t know how I had managed before Bates.  He shaved you so closely, your face felt like a lady’s hand. He had also persuaded me, some time ago, to grow a moustache. He had trimmed it when I returned to the squadron and he did so again.
    He stood back to admire me like a painting he had just finished. “There you are sir. I hope your young lady approves.”
    “You can ask her yourself at the wedding.”
    He seemed shocked, “I am invited?”
    “Of course, you are a member of the squadron are you not?”
    He seemed genuinely touched, “Thank you sir. I am honoured.”
    We reached the Ritz before the ladies and stood outside smoking and admiring all the well dressed bright people who went in. We noticed that, while the women were all young, many of the men were almost old men.
    Ted said, “Well I am an ugly old bugger but some of these chaps look positively ancient.”
    Gordy laughed at him, “You are too stuck in your ways and you are a miserable old man.  You’ll end your days as a bachelor.”
    He brightened, “Then I will keep most of my money then?”
    When the three ladies arrived, they came by car. Beatrice and Mary got out first and Alice leaned back in to kiss the driver on the cheek.  I saw Charlie and his face fell. I think his heart broke in that instant. And then I forgot about Charlie completely for Beatrice was in my arms. “Oh you look so handsome!” She kissed me full on the lips. She reached up and whispered in my ear. “I have a week’s leave starting tomorrow afternoon.”
    “That is wonderful news.” We walked through the entrance past the liveried doorman.  Alice had linked Ted and Charlie again. “What about going up to Lancashire for a visit to see my home?”
    She gave me a mischievous look.  “Why, what is up there that I might want to see?”
    I was crestfallen, “Well my family live there