"I could never sing in tune."
Nevertheless, the song is learnt, more or less, and when the General comes to visit the hospital, Auger says to him:
"Mon General, I can sing you a fine song."
And he would, the rascal, if the head doctor did not look reprovingly at him.
It is very dismal, after this, to attend to Gregoire, and to hear him groaning:
"Ah! don't pull like that. You're dragging out my heart."
I point out that if he won't let us attend to him, he will become much worse. Then he begins to cry.
"What do I care, since I shall die anyhow?"
He has depressed the orderlies, the stretcher-bearers, everybody. He does not discourage me; but he gives me a great deal of trouble.
All you gentlemen who meet together to discuss the causes of the war, the end of the war, the using-up of effectives and the future bases of society, excuse me if I do not give you my opinion on these grave questions. I am really too much taken up with the wound of our unhappy Gregoire.