Twenty-three and a Half Hours' Leave

by Mary Roberts Rinehart

An excerpt from CHAPTER I: THE Headquarters Troop were preparing to leave camp and move towards the East, where at an Atlantic port they would take ship and the third step toward saving democracy. Now the Headquarters Troop are a cavalry organisation, their particular function being, so far as the lay mind can grasp it, to form a circle round the general and keep shells from falling on him. Not that this close affiliation gives them any right to friendly relations with that aloof and powerful personage. "It just gives him a few more to yell at that can't yell back," grumbled the stable sergeant. He had been made stable sergeant because he had been a motorcycle racer. By the same process of careful selection the chief mechanic had once kept a livery stable. The barracks hummed day and night. By day boxes were packed, containing the military equipment of horses and men in wartime. By night tired noncoms pored over pay rolls and lists, and wrote, between naps on the table, such thrilling literature as this: "Sergeant Gray: fr. D. to Awol. 10 A. M., 6–1–'18. "Sergeant Gray: fr. Awol. to arrest, pp. 2. Memo. Hdq. Camp 6–1–'18 to 6–2–'18." Which means, interpreted, that Sergeant Gray was absent without leave from duty at ten A. M. on the first of June, 1918, and that on his return he was placed under arrest, said arrest lasting from the first to the second of June. On the last night in camp, at a pine table in a tiny office cut off from the lower squad room, Sergeant Gray made the above record against his own fair name, and sitting back surveyed it grimly. It was two A. M. Across from him the second mess sergeant was dealing in cans and pounds and swearing about a missing cleaver. "Did you ever think," reflected Sergeant Gray, leaning back in his chair and tastefully drawing a girl's face on his left thumb-nail, "that the time would come when you'd be planning bran muffins for the Old Man's breakfast? What's a bran muffin, anyhow?" "Horse feed." "Ever eat one?" "No. Stop talking, won't you?" Sergeant Gray leaned back and stretched his long arms high above his head. "I've got to talk," he observed. "if I don't I'll go to sleep. Lay you two dollars to one I'm asleep before you are." "Go to the devil," said the second mess sergeant peevishly. "Never had breakfast with the Old Man, did you?" inquired Sergeant Gray, beginning on his forefinger with another girl's face. There was no reply to his question. The second mess sergeant was completely immersed in beans.

Genres: Short Stories

86 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1918

About the author

Mysteries of the well-known American writer Mary Roberts Rinehart include The Circular Staircase (1908) and The Door (1930).

People often called this prolific author the American version of Agatha Christie. She is considered the source of the phrase "The butler did it," though the exact phrase doesn't appear in her works, and she invented the "Had-I-But-Known" school of mystery writing.

Rinehart wrote hundreds of short stories, poems, travelogues, and special articles. Many of her books and plays were adapted for movies, such as The Bat (1926), The Bat Whispers (1930), and The Bat (1959). Critics most appreciated her murder mysteries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Ro...

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comedic story about a young man who gets his entire company into a scrape right before going to the front (1918) and then gets consequences even beyond his wildest imagination. Pretty hilarious!

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but a lovely novella.

4* The Circular Staircase
4* The Amazing Interlude
4* The Door
4* The Wall
4* The Yellow Room
3* The Red Lamp
4* Twenty-three and a Half Hours' Leave
TR The Man in Lower Ten
TR Through Glacier Park in 1915
TR The Bat
TR The Case of Jennie Brice
TR When a Man Marries
TR The Breaking POint

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a surprise! This is a rather sweet short story about a World War I era soldier who makes a bet with his fellow soldiers and somehow he not only wins the bet but finds his love. Twenty-Three and a Half Hours' Leave is by Mary Roberts Rinehart, a woman writer that I normally associate with mysteries, and this is definitely not a mystery.

Its funny and charming and dare I say it, sweet. If I have any criticism — and this did bug me a bit — the introduction into the story really does 'set the stage.' I fumbled a bit with it and then tried to learn more about the tale, and came up rather dry — book listings gave no description beyond sometimes a very brief excerpt from the first chapter — until I found a listing for a movie produced nearly 20 years after the book was originally written.

So I've described the basic premise that, if you read this, should set you up for what follows, which makes a vey good afternoon light reading.

[Dorcas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly amusing comedy. Not really my cup of tea.

[Elisabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully charming short story, set in WWI (first published in 1918, I think) about a young sergeant who has a penchant for getting into scrapes and drawing the ire of his general. The tale of what happens when he makes a rash bet and then gets his whole troop into a comical scrape on the eave of their last leave before embarkation, it's filled with sparkling wit that had me laughing out loud several times (and quite a bit of interesting detail on the camp life and equipment of WWI troops on the move). I've only read one of Mary Roberts Rinehart's famous mysteries so far, but her non-mystery works are getting to be real favorites!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know why I decided to read this particular book; I don't usually choose war stories. As an introduction to Rinehart's writing, it's encouraging. I'll try another.