He shaves, dresses, and walks through the town on his way to Desolé, where he can bathe in the bath house. An old woman brings him tea and a jug of water. He lies on the bed and begins caressing himself before masturbating and falling asleep. His beard and his sunken face make him look like an old man. He undresses and stares at himself in the mirror. He has been sleeping in the same shirt and underwear for days. He sleeps irregularly and wakes at odd hours, hungry and unkempt. When he finally arrives at Bailleul he is exhausted and suffering a headache. “There cannot be a war," he thinks to himself. On the road Robert passes a farm with a cow in the yard. His belongings will come by wagon but if he waits it will be after midnight before he arrives and all the hotel beds may be taken. He inquires with the station officer and is told that he should walk the remainder of the way if he wants to arrive in Bailleul before nightfall. He is still twelve miles from his destination at Bailleul. Robert arrives at a town called Magdalene Wood by train. When he thinks of his mother, he stops, saddened. He imagines what each of them would be doing.
Robert thinks about his family, imagining them at Jackson’s Point occupying the screened porch they would frequent in the spring. The way back to the front is circuitous and long, fraught with delays. He feels naked without these items, particularly the pistol. He discovers that his kit bag, containing his socks, shirt, underwear, binoculars, and his Webley pistol, has not made the trip with him. Robert arrives at Waterloo Station on his way back to the front.
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