"Oh, you're a sergeant," she said. "I thought—I thought by your 'wings' you were an officer. I didn't know that sergeants—"
Tam smiled at her confusion and when he smiled there was an infinite sweetness in the action.
"Ye're right, Mistress. A'm a sairgeant, an' A' thocht a' the time ye were mistakin' me for an officer, an' A'd no' the heart to stop ye, for it's a verra lang time since A' spoke wi' a lady, an' it was verra, verra fine."
He rose slowly and walked to his cycle—she ran after him and laid her hand on his arm.
"I've been a low snob," she said frankly. "I beg your pardon—and you're not to go, because I wanted to ask you about a sergeant of your corps—you know the man that everybody is talking about. He bombed the Kaiser's staff the other day. You've heard about it, haven't you?"
Tam kept his eyes on the distant horizon.
"Oh, he's no sae much o' a fellow—a wee chap wi' an' awfu' conceit o' himsel'."
"Nonsense!" she scoffed, "why, Captain Blackie told me—"
Suddenly, she stepped back and gazed at him wide-eyed. "Why! You're Tam!"
Tam went red.