He was so obliging as to go at once and fetch her. She looked a little thin and touched by care, but the added gravity became her. She greeted me with gratifying warmth. We had stepped a little to one side, and after the greetings, I said, indicating Chudleigh:
“I have brought him back as sound and whole as he was the day he started on this campaign.”
“That must be very pleasant to Captain Chudleigh,” she said with a faint smile.
“I saved him from a possible death too,” I said.
“Captain Chudleigh’s debt of gratitude to you is large,” she replied.
“I have taken great trouble with him,” I said, “but I was willing to do it all on your account. I have brought him back, and I make him a present to you.”
She looked me squarely in the eyes for a moment, and said, as she turned away:
“Dick, you are a fool!”
Which I call abrupt, impolite, ungrateful, and, I hope, untrue.