Shute, Nevil by What Happened to the Corbetts Page B

half had some work to do. But they’ll have to get along without me, from now on. I’m taking the wife to Romsey.’
    When he got back to his house, Littlejohn was there, his car drawn up outside his door. He was bareheaded but for the white bandage that Joan had put on; his clothes were dirty and there were streaks of blood on his grey face.
    He said: ‘There’s no cordon on the roads now, Mr. Corbett. You can get through to Hamble.’ He hesitated, and then said: ‘You want to get there quick, while the going’s good.’
    Corbett asked: ‘When did they take the cordon off?’
    ‘Last night. When I said I heard that shooting.’
    ‘Was that there?’
    The builder nodded. ‘I said they’d have trouble at them barriers, didn’t I? Never heard of such a daft thing to do.’
    Corbett was appalled. ‘You mean, the troops fired on the crowd?’
    The builder shook his head. ‘From what I could make out, the crowd fired on the troops. Then they gave way, and let them through.’
    They stood in silence for a minute. ‘It’s just another thing,’ said the builder. ‘You don’t want to think too much of it.’
    He glanced up at the house. ‘I took a run out there this morning, just to see,’ he said. ‘I got something I been meaning to give you, but I didn’t want to in front of Mrs. Corbett.’ He fumbled in the pocket of his raincoat and pulled out a very large, black automatic pistol, with four clips of cartridges. ‘There.’
    Corbett took it from him and examined it diffidently. ‘It’s awfully kind of you. Don’t you want it for yourself?’ The builder shook his head. ‘I shan’t want nothing of that. But when I saw it I thought-well, you never know. Times is different now to what they was a week ago, and you’ve got your family to think of. I brought it home for you.’
    ‘Where did you get it?’
    The builder said evasively: ‘I found it. I’ve been looking around for a bit of stuff to give it a pull through -you can see, the barrel’s dirty.’ He took it from Corbett, pulled the block, and squinted down it. ‘See? It was fired last night. But you don’t want to worry about that. Just get a bit of stuff and give it a pull through.’ He gave it back to the solicitor.
    Corbett persuaded him to come in and have breakfast before Joan came down with the children. They cooked a meal of bacon and fried bread and coffee over the Primus stove. The builder said very little till the meal was over.
    Then he said: ‘You want to hurry up and get away, Mr. Corbett.’
    The solicitor nodded. ‘I’m going this morning.’ He paused, and then asked gently: ‘What will you do?’
    ‘I got to . . , make arrangements for her.’ There was a short pause. ‘And after that I’m going back into the Army. I’m not that old, and I was a company sergeant-major in the Machine-Gun Corps last time. They got new guns now, I hear, but I could soon learn them.’ He paused. ‘I figured it out when I was sitting up there with her last night, and the bombs going and all. And I thought she’d want me to go back into the Army, like I was before we met.’ He was silent for a moment.
    ‘So I’ll be all fixed up, Mr. Corbett. But you want to think of your family, and get them away out of this.’
    Joan appeared then, with the children. Littlejohn went away and Corbett, cooking a second breakfast for his family, discussed the position with Joan. ‘I’ll take the silver and your jewel-box down to the bank first of all,’ he said, ‘and get them to store that for us. Then I’ll come back with the car, and we’ll get off to Hamble as soon as we can. You’d better get your packing done while I’m away.’
    She nodded. ‘But we must have some more milk to take with us, I’ve only got two tins left. See if you can get any in the town. And we’ll want some meat.’
    He laughed. ‘What about a bottle of fizzy lemonade?
    She laid the dish down, and laughed with him. ‘I can’t believe it. Like a sort of picnic!’