Cavendish turned off the picture and came back to Johnson's side. "They court-martialed you, didn't they?"
"You know they did," he said, dully.
"You were unlucky, that's all. Many a soldier spooks his first time under fire. A lot of them run away."
"How many of them run right into the arms of their Commanding General?"
"Unlucky," said Cavendish.
"They kicked me out," said Johnson, bitterly. "A dishonorable discharge—'cowardice in the face of enemy action'. Said I was lucky I didn't face the firing squad."
"Officers are human, too," said Cavendish. "In times of stress, they tend to panic."
"They were 'making an example of me'," said Johnson. He laughed, a humorless sound that grated on the ears. "Some example. It took me twenty years to live it down."
"But people do forget, eventually."
"Not all of them."