"You've got," Tietjens said, "an admirable chance of India. . . . The point is: which way? If they give you the sixteenth section. . . ."
"I hate," the general said, "to think of waiting for poor Puffles' shoes. I was at Sandhurst with him. . . ."
"It's a question, sir," Tietjens said, "of which is the best way. For the country and yourself. I suppose if one were a general one would like to have commanded an army on the Western front. . . ."
The general said:
"I don't know. . . . It's the logical end of a career. . . . But I don't feel that my career is ending. . . . I'm as sound as a roach. And in ten years' time what difference will it make?"
"One would like," Tietjens said, "to see you doing it. . . ."
The general said:
"No one will know whether I commanded a fighting army or this damned Whiteley's outfitting store. . . ."
Tietjens said:
"I know that, sir. . . . But the sixteenth section will desperately need a good man if General Perry is sent home. And particularly a general who has the confidence of all ranks. . . . It will be a wonderful position. You will have every man that's now on the Western front at your back after the war. It's a certain peerage. . . . It's certainly a sounder proposition than that of a free-lance—which is what you'd be—in the House of Commons."