“It did, thank goodness. Awfully decent of you to take it as you did. I hated letting you down.”
“Don’t mention it. I saw how you were placed.”
“The Colonel very much appreciated the way you spoke. I hope you had no trouble with your chaps?”
“They were all right. I pitched them a yarn. They didn’t believe it, of course. Some of them were at the—er——”
“The bloomin’ Parliament. Don’t mind saying it. It’s a dreadful shock to a regular like our old man.”
“Naturally.”
“He spoke the plain unvarnished truth when he said he was unused to all this demobbing.”
“Well, well, you can comfort him, I suppose, by pointing out that it isn’t likely to occur again.”
“He’s a good old tough ’un. Splendid man in action, that’s what makes one so sorry about it. Otherwise, of course, one knows what the men mean. It’s only natural.”
“Perfectly.”