"Naturally--womanly curiosity is my excuse. Would you like to know what conclusion I came to?"
"From your eyes it may not prove altogether flattering."
"Oh, my eyes are not to be trusted. I warn you frankly of that at the very start. All I shall say is you appear better than I had expected--only, really, you need a shave."
"Better how? In what way?"
"Well, younger for one thing; somehow your statement that you were a lieutenant made me suspect your age--or possibly it was your voice."
"I am twenty-four."
"And look to be scarcely twenty. How did you ever gain a commission? Were you in battle?"
The question decidedly hurt my pride, yet I managed to control my tongue.
"I have met colonels in both armies no older than I," I returned swiftly. "Of course I have been in battle, wounded for the matter of that, and three months a prisoner."
"Oh, I did not mean to question your right to the shoulder straps. War makes men fast; I know that for my home has been in the track of both armies."