"'"Ah!" she said, "when I came in just now, and you were standing so still and so thoughtfully, looking at that picture of a battle, it must have been recalling some painful memory to your mind."
"'A red-hot dart seemed to go through my heart at this. I suppose I must have turned as red as blood.
"'"What I was thinking of," I said, "was probably the happiest moment of my life, though at that moment I received a mortal wound."
"'"But you've quite got over it, have you not?" she asked with much anxious sympathy. "I suppose some bullet struck you at the moment of victory?"
"'I felt a good deal of an ass; but I suppressed this feeling to the best of my power, and without looking up, but fixing my eyes on the ground like some naughty schoolboy who has just been having a blowing up, I said in a feeble voice:
"'"I have had the pleasure of seeing you before."
"'Then the conversation went on in most edifying fashion, Pauline saying:
"'"Oh, really, I didn't know!"
"'"Yes," I went on; "it was such magnificent spring weather, and I was enjoying it with two friends of mine, whom I hadn't seen for several years."
"'"Ah! that must have been very nice," she said.