"Headquarters' orders," said the Colonel curtly. "Now, boys, all serene?"
The band blazed out "Tipperary."
V
Fortunately a climax is like a raid or a storm—it has a definite duration.
In the days before the curtain went up on life, I used to think how ripping it would be to live through great situations and climax and tragic happenings, like the heroines in the novels I used to devour. Now I know you do not know they are happening to you at the time; sometimes it's months before you say to yourself with sudden understanding, "That was a terrible day!" or, "It was a great moment!" or, "It was the happiest day of my life!"
Undoubtedly the biggest moment in my whole life was when Colonel Walters told Cheneston he was not to go to the front with his battery—and yet I didn't know it at the time.
Mrs. Gilpin said, "Oh! isn't that splendid! Aren't you glad, Pam?" and I said, "I'm awfully glad!"
Grace Gilpin was white as death.
I think Cheneston was even whiter.
"I'm to stay behind and take Markham's place, and train a lot of fool boys to form fours and dig trenches! It's infamous!"