“What is there written in wartime?”

“There is Le Feu by a Frenchman, Barbusse. There is Mr. Britling Sees Through It .”

“No, he doesn’t.”

“What?”

“He doesn’t see through it. Those books were at the hospital.”

“Then you have been reading?”

“Yes, but nothing any good.”

“I thought Mr. Britling a very good study of the English middle-class soul.”