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Bernie paid a lot of attention to government finance, which was odd in a man who had never had more than a few shillings. Ethel saw an opportunity to bring him out of his mood, and said: "What do you mean?"
"Before the war, our government used to spend about half a million pounds a day on everything-the army, courts and prisons, education, pensions, running the colonies, everything. "
"So much!" She smiled at him affectionately. "That's the kind of statistic my father always knew. "
He drank his cocoa, then said: "Guess how much we spend now. "
"Double that? A million a day? It sounds impossible. "
"You're nowhere near. The war costs five million pounds a day. That's ten times the normal cost of running the country. "
Ethel was shocked. "Where does the money come from?"
"That's the problem. We borrow it. "
"But the war has been going on for more than two years. We must have borrowed. . . nearly four thousand million pounds!"
"Something like that. Twenty-five years' normal expenditure. "
"How will we ever pay it back?"
"We can never pay it back. A government that tried to bring in taxes sufficient to repay the loan would cause a revolution. "
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"So what will happen?"
"If we lose the war, our creditors-mainly Americans-will go bankrupt. And if we win, we'll make the Germans pay. 'Reparations' is the word they use. "
"How will they manage it?"
"They will starve. But nobody cares what happens to the losers. Anyway, the Germans did the same to the French in 1871. " He stood up and put his cup in the kitchen sink. "So you see why we can't make peace with Germany. Who then would pay the bill?"
Ethel was aghast. "And so we have to keep sending boys to die in the trenches. Because we can't pay the bill. Poor Billy. What a wicked world we live in. "
"But we're going to change it. "
I hope so, Ethel thought. Bernie believed it would take a revolution. She had read about the French Revolution and knew that such things did not always turn out the way people intended. All the same, she was determined that Lloyd would have a better life.
They sat in silence for a while, then Bernie stood up. He went to the door, as if to leave, then changed his mind. "That speaker last night was interesting. "
"Aye," she said.
"Clever, too. "
"Yes, he was clever. "
Bernie sat down again. "Ethel. . . two years ago you told me you wanted friendship, not romance. "
"I was very sorry to hurt your feelings. "
"Don't be sorry. Our friendship is the best thing that ever happened to me. "
"I like it too. "
"You said I'd soon forget all that lovey-dovey stuff, and we would just be pals. But you were wrong. " He leaned forward in his chair. "As I've got to know you better, I've just come to love you more than ever. "
Ethel could see the yearning in his eyes, and she felt desperately sorry that she could not return his feelings. "I'm very fond of you, too," she said. "But not in that way. "
