Desmond hoped that
"Buzzer" Barling would see the advertisement, and half asleep,
formed a mental resolve to cut out the notice and send it to the
gunner who, he felt glad to think, was still alive. The rather
curiously worded reference to difficulties with the military must
mean, Desmond thought, that leave could be obtained for Martin
Barling to come home and collect his legacy.
At this point the Daily Telegraph fell to the ground and Desmond
went off to sleep. When he awoke, the afternoon hush had fallen
upon the bath. He seemed to be the only occupant of the cubicles.
His clothes which had arrived from the shop during his slumbers,
were very neatly laid out on a couch opposite him.
He dressed himself leisurely. The barber was quite right. The
bath had made a new man of him. Save for a large bump on the back
of his head he was none the worse for Strangwise's savage blow.
The attendant having packed Bellward's apparel in the suit-case
in which Desmond's clothes had come from the club, Desmond left
the suit-case in the man's charge and strolled out into the soft
air of a perfect afternoon. He had discarded his bandage and in
his well fitting blue suit and brown boots he was not
recognizable as the scrubby wretch who had entered the bath six
hours before.
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