She said:
"He spent three hours in . . . You say, foot and kit inspection. . . ."
Second-Lieutenant Cowley said:
"Of course he had other officers to help him with the kit . . . but he looked at every foot himself. . . ."
She said:
"That took him from two till five. . . . Then he had tea, I suppose. . . . And went to . . . What is it? . . . The papers of the draft. . . ."
Second-Lieutenant Cowley said, muffledly through his moustache:
"If the captain is a little remiss in writing letters . . . I have heard. . . . You might, madam . . . I'm a married man myself . . . with a daughter. . . . And the army is not very good at writing letters. . . . You might say, in that respect, that thank God we have got a navy, ma'am. . . ."
She let him stagger on for a sentence or two, imagining that, in his confusion, she might come upon traces of Miss Wannop in Rouen. Then she said handsomely:
"Of course you have explained everything, Mr. Cowley, and I am very much obliged. . . . Of course my husband would not have time to write very full letters. . . . He is not like the giddy young subalterns who run after . . ."