A/N: The version of the chapter title song by Judy Collins is recommended.

Tomorrow Is A Long Time

Wednesday, December 10, 1913

"No"

Isobel glared at Bert. She and Mary were sitting in the law office of Matthew's friend, Bert Hastings. He was not proving to be helpful.

"Are you saying 'no' to me, Bert Hastings? I've known you since you were a snot nosed brat. I practically raised you. You know you're not too big to paddle."

Bert did not say 'I think I am'; he remembered how Matthew's mother dealt with smart remarks in the past and she still looked like she could twist an ear or two. If she started coming around his desk he was heading the other way even if he had to run over Matthew's wife to get away. He held up his hands in placation. "I really would like to assist you ladies but Matthew is my client. If I were to tell you where he is when he has specifically enjoined me not to he could have my ticket pulled."

"What if I was on my deathbed?" Isobel demanded.

"I would send him a telegram, he is no more than a two hour train ride away. Are you...is there some urgency? I understood that you would be seeing him at Christmas here in Manchester."

"Yes but ..."

"I won't be" Mary interrupted. "I need to speak to Matthew"

This was the first time Mary had spoken. Bert hesitated "Ah... if it has to do with the annulment your solicitor should speak to me ..."

"No...no it has to do with more than that..."

"Look I would be happy to ask Matthew to meet with you." Bert offered.

"No... thank you anyway" Mary's tone was wistful as she finished "I'm sure I'll see him sometime, someday."

Bert thought that would be the end of their meeting but then Mary asked:

"Could you act as my solicitor on another matter?"

"Certainly as long as it doesn't conflict with my retainer from Matthew. But don't you have a family solicitor?"

"I do not want my family to know my business. Would you tell Matthew about it?"

"I do not discuss any of my client's business with any of my other clients."

"Good. I am thinking of buying a farm and I would like you to handle the purchase for me in due course. In the meantime I have some questions about the legalities involved."

"Excuse me" said Isobel "I will wait for you in the waiting room."

Bert escorted Isobel out of his office and instructed his receptionist to get her some tea and the special chocolate biscuits.

-0-

Afterwards Isobel escorted Mary around Manchester's business district as Mary dealt with her various investments. This took less time than anticipated and they had an hour to kill before they had to catch their train. Isobel suggested a nice tea room where they could dawdle. Mary had another suggestion.

"Is your husband's grave a long way away?"

"No, it's maybe a ten minute walk. Would you like to see it?" Had Isobel been on her own she would have made the pilgrimage but on this lightening day trip with Mary she had not thought there would be a chance.

"Yes, I would like to thank him"

"For?"

"For taking care of Matthew John"

"Well come this way then. Now keep a look out for a confectionery. Reginald wasn't much for flowers but he did love his sherbert lemons so I always scatter a few on his grave." She could see Mary smiling at her. "I know it's silly of me, I suppose the squirrels get them."

Mary took her arm. "It's not silly at all, I think I'll get some peanuts to scatter, I'm sure Matthew John would be amused watching the squirrels."

Friday, December 19, 1913

By the middle of December Matthew was a hard man, the only test left for him was actual contact with the enemy.

The graduation banquet was a boisterous affair. After the meal was concluded Major Flashman called out "Mr. Vice!"

Matthew, as the most junior officer present, was responsible for the Loyal Toast. He stood up and held up his glass. "Gentlemen...The King!"

Major Flashman then addressed the gathering:

"You have been trained like Spartans. That is deliberate. Leonidas and three hundred Spartans held the narrow pass of Thermopylae, only a few yards wide, against a Persian army a thousand times larger than them long enough for the rest of the Greeks to organize a defence and save what became Western Civilization. You are Britain's Spartans. In the next year or so three million Germans are going to attack the West. We can initially only put three hundred thousand men into the field against them. You will be part of that number. Belgium is your Thermopylae, only this one is a few hundred miles wide. You will have to hold the Germans until the West can mount a defence. The future of our civilization may depend on it."

The major held up his glass "I do not know if the Spartans had a toast they used when Leonidas and his men set off. A Spartan woman would give her son heading off to battle his shield and tell him to come back 'with it or on it' so any toast the Spartans did have was probably along the lines of 'May your death be quick and clean, not slow and obscene.' That is perhaps a little too morbid, so instead let us remember the bard's words in Henry V:

'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.'

We leave this place today and will meet again within the year upon our own modern field of Agincourt. Until then I salute you my band of brothers" and the Major downed his drink.

Everyone leapt to their feet. A general clamour ensued. "Hear, hear!"

Matthew was now a second lieutenant in the Second Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. He had to report for duty on Monday, January 5, 1914. Which meant he had two weeks to think about Mary.