“I’ve had it before,” he said on one occasion, “but never with such—er—medicinal qualities. You don’t put anything in it but blackberries, do you?”
“Only a little alcohol to preserve it,” I told him with some pride. I generally make it myself.
“I will say this for it: It’s extremely well preserved,” he said, and filled up the tooth mug again. It was after that that he told us that Hilda had refused to marry him, and was flirting outrageously with Captain Weber.
“I only say this,” he added gloomily: “He’s right when he says he belongs in the infantry. He’s got the photographs of five youngsters in his cabin; or he did have. He’s probably hidden them now.”
“Why don’t you tell her?” Tish demanded.
“Why should I? Let her make a fool of herself if she wants to,” he said despondently. “What chance have I against a shipload of ’em, anyhow? If it wasn’t this one it would be another. She’s got her eye on a tank now, and she’s only waiting for that aviator to forget his stomach to sit at his feet and worship. God only knows what would happen if we had a Croix de Guerre on board.”
He sat for some time, sipping the blackberry cordial and looking into space.
“I’ve got it figured out this way,” he said at last. “I’ve got to pull off something over there. That’s all. Got to get in the papers and get a medal and a wooden leg. She’d stand for a wooden leg better than a milk one,” he added viciously.
Both Aggie and I noticed that Tish regarded him with a contemplative eye, and from that time on she spent at least a part of every day with him. He paid no attention at all to Hilda from that time on, and one morning while Tish and Mr. Burton were walking by her chair she dropped a book. But he did not seem to see it, and that evening the captain moved over to her table, and Mr. Burton was very gay, but ate hardly any dinner.
We all went in the same train to Paris, and he had a sort of revenge then. For the captain could not speak French, and she had to ask Mr. Burton to order her dinner for her. But he ordered only one, and the captain was furious, naturally.