"The general," Levin said, "has not seen Mrs. Tietjens. He could not trust himself. He knew she would twist him round her little finger."
Tietjens said:
"He's beginning to learn. He was sixty last July, but he's beginning."
"So that," Levin said, "what we do know we learnt in the way I have told you. And from O'Hara of course. The general would not let Pe . . ., the other fellow, speak a word, while he was shaving. He just said: 'I won't hear you. I won't hear you. You can take your choice of going up the line as soon as there are trains running or being broke on my personal application to the King in Council."
"I didn't know," Tietjens said, "that he could talk as straight as that."
"He's dreadfully hard hit," Levin answered; "if you and Mrs. Tietjens separate—and still more if there's anything real against either of you—it's going to shatter all his illusions. And . . ." He paused: "Do you know Major Thurston? A gunner? Attached to our anti-aircraft crowd? . . . The general is very thick with him. . . ."
Tietjens said:
"He's one of the Thurstons of Lobden Moorside. . . . I don't know him personally. . . ."
Levin said:
"He's upset the general a good deal. . . . With something he told him. . . ."