"No, indeed. But you said——"
"Of course! How stupid of me!"
"Why should you know that I am a soldier?"
She blushed vividly. "You don't look like a civilian."
"At all events I hope I don't look like the keeper of an insane asylum."
"No, indeed. But you said——"
"Oh, as to being an expert. Was that it? I must plead guilty to having attempted a feeble joke, though as a matter of fact, it so happened that I do know something about lunatics."
"Aren't you dreadfully afraid of them?"
"On general principles, of course, I am afraid of nothing, but I fancy a full-grown lunatic, with a carving knife and a hankering for my blood, would have a different tale to tell."
"Oh, don't speak of them!" She covered her eyes with her hands.