"Sit here!" Evelyn motioned him, peremptorily, to a chair beside her. "No, on this side. A soldier's first duty should be to obey."
"Ah, well, my arms are ever at your service, even in times of peace." Scarlet leaned back, luxuriously, as she rolled up his sleeve.
"Of course, you understand I should do this for anybody," observed Evelyn, sponging his wrist with the warm water Sarah had provided.
"Of course, ye understand I should fight in defence of anybody's property," he matched her. "'Tis for that I draw my pay."
"Is it tender?" inquired Evelyn, pillowing his hand upon her lap and dabbing it softly with a towel.
"Tender's not half the word for it." The patient turned his face aside. "It's the limit of tenderness, and has to be treated on the homeopathic principle."
"Miss, he makes light of it!" cried Sarah, who, under a harsh exterior, was, by nature, kind. "But his poor brow is simply wrung with anguish." She mopped the beads of perspiration that stifled mirth had brought upon the Sergeant's comely forehead.
"Let us talk of other things to distract him," ordained Evelyn. "Come, Sergeant, tell us all about yourself. Begin at the very beginning."
"Faith, like most babies," he complied, "I began by being the child of my parents."
"Poor but honest folk, no doubt. Go on!"