The old general, lying in his chair, turned his face aside to say:
"I wouldn't, madam, not if I were you, talk about the blue uniform with silver buttons here. . . . We, of course, understand. . . ."
She said: "You see . . . even that extinct volcano . . . He's undressing me with his eyes full of blood veins. . . . Then why can't he? . . ."
She said aloud:
"Oh, but even you, general, said you were sick of your companions!"
She said to herself:
"Hang it! . . . I will have the courage of my convictions. . . . No man shall say I am a coward. . . ."
She said:
"Isn't it saying the same thing as you, general, to say that I'd rather be made love to by a well-set-up man in blue and silver—or anything else!—than by most of the people one sees here! . . ."
The general said: