D'Hubert, "I had not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel."
"Yes. But still I don't see why, to one's colonel. . . . A colonel is a
father--que diable!"
Lieut. D'Hubert ought not to have been allowed out as yet. He was
becoming aware of his physical insufficiency with humiliation and
despair. But the morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at
the same time he felt with dismay his eyes filling with water. This
trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear fell down the thin, pale cheek
of Lieut. D'Hubert.
The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin
drop. "This is some silly woman story--is it not?"
Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the truth, which is
not a beautiful shape living in a well, but a shy bird best caught by
stratagem. This was the last move of the colonel's diplomacy. He saw the
truth shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D'Hubert raising his
weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme protest.
"Not a woman affair--eh?" growled the colonel, staring hard.
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