Think of England

Think of England (2014) KJ Charles

Set in England in 1904

A foreigner and a dandy, because while his shirt was impeccable and the tailcoat and tapering trousers cut to perfection, he was wearing a huge green glass ring and, Curtis saw with dawning horror, a bright green flower in his buttonhole.

“The supply lines in the war were dreadful,” said Lambdon, with all the authority of a man who’d read newspapers.

“This country is heading for a crash, mark my words. There are other nations rising, ones with stronger, purer ideals and men who are prepared to work, to aspire. If we don’t set ourselves to join them now, it won’t be long before we face them on the battlefield. And we’ll be better off doing either without parasites sapping our strength from within.”

Curtis had heard this kind of talk a few times, and never from men who had actually put on a uniform. Normally a patient man, he had found armchair warriors almost intolerable since Jacobsdal, and there was a snap in his voice as he replied, “Yes, jolly good. So, when that conflict comes, will you be joining the army? Or, why not now, if you’re so keen?”

“I did my master’s thesis on Old Norse.”

“You’ve an MA?” said Curtis, with the instinctive alarm of one who had got a place at Oxford on the strength of his boxing.

“You make it very plain—”

“I may do, but that’s not illegal. One has to be caught in the act, as it were, they don’t arrest one for being campish quite yet.”

Characters: Archibald (Archie) Curtis, Daniel da Silva, Sir Hubert Armstrong, Lady Armstrong, Mr. Keston Grayling, Mrs. Grayling, John Lambdon, Mrs. Lambdon, James Armstrong, Mr. Peter Holt, Fenella Carruth, Patricia Merton, Wesley, Sir Maurice Vaizey, Sir Henry Curtis, Captain Good, Lieutenant Fisher, Lafayette

Rating: 9/10

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