two men can defy the world

... an england where it was still possible to get lost... the last moment of the greenwood... our greenwood ended catastrophically and inevitably. two great wars demanded and bequeathed regimentation which the public services adopted and extended, science lent her aid, and the wildness of our island, never extensive, was stamped upon and built over and patrolled in no time. there is no forest or fell to escape to today, no cave in which to curl up, no deserted valley for those who wish neither to reform nor corrupt society but to be left alone. people do still escape, one can see them any night at it in the films. bu they are gangsters not outlaws, they can dodge civilisation because they are part of it.


... and clive on the bench will continue to sentence alec in the dock. maurice may get off.