In Our Time Read Online Free PDF Page B

said. “We weren’t.”
    â€œWeren’t you going to get married?” Bill asked.
    â€œYes. But we weren’t engaged,” Nick said.
    â€œWhat’s the difference?” Bill asked judicially.
    â€œI don’t know. There’s a difference.”
    â€œI don’t see it,” said Bill.
    â€œAll right,” said Nick. “Let’s get drunk.”
    â€œAll right,” Bill said. “Let’s get really drunk.”
    â€œLet’s get drunk and then go swimming,” Nick said.
    He drank off his glass.
    â€œI’m sorry as hell about her but what could I do?” he said.
    â€œYou know what her mother was like!”
    â€œShe was terrible,” Bill said.
    â€œAll of a sudden it was over,” Nick said. “I oughtn’t to talk about it.”
    â€œYou aren’t,” Bill said. “I talked about it and now I’m through. We won’t ever speak about it again. You don’t want to think about it. You might get back into it again.”
    Nick had not thought about that. It had seemed so absolute. That was a thought. That made him feel better.
    â€œSure,” he said. “There’s always that danger.”
    He felt happy now. There was not anything that was irrevocable. He might go into town Saturday night. Today was Thursday.
    â€œThere’s always a chance,” he said.
    â€œYou’ll have to watch yourself,” Bill said.
    â€œI’ll watch myself,” he said.
    He felt happy. Nothing was finished. Nothing was ever lost. He would go into town on Saturday. He felt lighter, as he had felt before Bill started to talk about it. There was always a way out.
    â€œLet’s take the guns and go down to the point and look for your dad,” Nick said.
    â€œAll right.”
    Bill took down the two shotguns from the rack on the wall. He opened a box of shells. Nick put on his Mackinaw coat and his shoes. His shoes were stiff from the drying. He was still quite drunk but his head was clear.
    â€œHow do you feel?” Nick asked.
    â€œSwell. I’ve just got a good edge on.” Bill was buttoning up his sweater.
    â€œThere’s no use getting drunk.”
    â€œNo. We ought to get outdoors.”
    They stepped out the door. The wind was blowing a gale.
    â€œThe birds will lie right down in the grass with this,” Nick said.
    They struck down toward the orchard.
    â€œI saw a woodcock this morning,” Bill said.
    â€œMaybe we’ll jump him,” Nick said.
    â€œYou can’t shoot in this wind,” Bill said.
    Outside now the Marge business was no longer so tragic. It was not even very important. The wind blew everything like that away.
    â€œIt’s coming right off the big lake,” Nick said.
    Against the wind they heard the thud of a shotgun.
    â€œThat’s dad,” Bill said. “He’s down in the swamp.”
    â€œLet’s cut down that way,” Nick said.
    â€œLet’s cut across the lower meadow and see if we jump anything,” Bill said.
    â€œAll right,” Nick said.
    None of it was important now. The wind blew it out of his head. Still he could always go into town Saturday night. It was a good thing to have in reserve.

Chapter V
    They shot the six cabinet ministers at half-past six in the morning against the wall of a hospital. There were pools of water in the courtyard. There were wet dead leaves on the paving of the courtyard. It rained hard. All the shutters of the hospital were nailed shut. One of the ministers was sick with typhoid. Two soldiers carried him downstairs and out into the rain. They tried to hold him up against the wall but he sat down in a puddle of water. The other five stood very quietly against the wall. Finally the officer told the soldiers it was no good trying to make him stand up. When they fired the first volley he was sitting down in the water with his head on his knees.

The Battler
    Nick stood up. He was all