# Ten-Thirty explained — Soldiers’ Pay

> Chapter companion for Soldiers’ Pay by William Faulkner.

## What happens

George Farr, in a moment of quiet desperation, steals across a deserted lawn to drink from a water tap beneath a magnolia tree, disturbing a mockingbird and finding brief relief in the night's stillness.

## Character check-ins

### George Farr

George Farr is the focal point of the chapter, moving stealthily to drink water and then returning to his post, embodying a sense of restless vigilance.

## Key lines

> George Farr stole across a deserted lawn to a magnolia tree. Beneath it, fumbling in a darkness so inky that the rest of the world seemed quite visible in comparison, he found a water tap.

George Farr crept over an empty lawn to a magnolia tree, where he groped in such deep darkness that everything else appeared bright by contrast, and discovered a water faucet.

_Highlights George's furtive, almost desperate action and the intense darkness of his immediate surroundings._

> Water gushed, filling his incautious shoe, and a mockingbird flew darkly and suddenly out. He drank, wetting his dry hot mouth, and returned to his post.

Water rushed out, soaking his unwary shoe, and a mockingbird burst unexpectedly from the darkness. He drank, moistening his parched mouth, then went back to where he had been stationed.

_Captures the sensory details of the moment—the unexpected wetness, the startled bird, and George's physical relief._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/soldiers_pay_se/chapters/ten-thirty
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/soldiers_pay_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/soldiers_pay_se/chapters