Roland didn’t express surprise at this revision of the past or challenge his mother with the old account. He wanted her to keep telling her history. During her stay in Clapham she spoke less of Robert than of Jack. Before the war it was always the village policeman who brought him back after he had vanished for weeks or months. While Jack was away Rosalind would be destitute and ‘on the parish’ – living off meagre state assistance. It was obvious that Jack did not go off to sleep under hedges, or not alone. Despite that, he now appeared to flourish in Rosalind’s memory as a romantic figure,
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