"You want to get a rise out of me!"
"I?"
"You'll fight as well as the best of them!"
"Well, what will that prove?"
He did not answer me. There was no need. I was at a loss for words. I was pinked.
Recall to reality. The time was past for weighing the reasons for and against. The philosophic juggling. The superior sphere of action, offered itself, nay imposed itself upon us.... Fortin, Guillaumin, I myself; we were all in uniform, we were going to fight.... Then there was only one thing to be done, to strain our muscles and our soul, to stake our fate on hope and on faith in our cause. What folly to be both judge and suitor. What grandeur in belief, even when absurd!
If only I had been sure that I should fight as well as he said I should!