"I was a soldier."
"In the Civil War?"
"Yes."
"On which side?"
"That's a leading question," he answered, with some hesitation.
"Oh, come now, the war is over!"
"I was on the Southern side. I am Jeff. W. Thompson. I was a brigadier-general."
"Where were you killed?"
"I was invalided home to Jefferson City, and passed out there."
"How do you happen to be 'guide' to this little woman?"