“Yes.”
“Have you your convalescence papers with you?”
“Of course.”
“You must excuse me; but, would you mind showing them?”
“Certainly, with pleasure.”
After scanning them, one said to the other, “They look all right.” No answer. “They look all right, don’t they, Phil?” No answer. The junior officer, a Lieutenant, conducted the examination. Of the other two older men, one turned his head away, looking down the street, the other gazed at the Lieutenant with a peculiar, almost disgusted expression.
I then asked, “By the way, is it the business of the English in France to demand the credentials of French soldiers? What right has that man to interfere with me?”
“You must show your papers to the military authorities.”
“Is that man a ‘military authority’?”
The Lieutenant looked round and not seeing the disturber, turned to Phil, “Where is he?”