"Excuse me," says I. "I was only foolin'. Honest, Major, I ain't yearnin'."
"Telegram for you," breaks in Barnes, the secretary.
"Oh!" says I, a bit gaspy, as I rips open the envelop.
It's the one I'd been espectin'. All it says is: "Come at once. Vee ." But I knew what that meant.
"Sorry, Major," says I, "but I'll have to pass up the rest of the show. I—I'm called back."
"Ah! To headquarters?" says he.
"No," says I. "Home."
He shakes his head and frowns. "That is a word which no officer is supposed to have in his vocabulary," says he.
"It's in mine, all right," says I. "But then, I'm not much of an army officer, anyway. I'm mostly a camouflaged private sec. Besides, this ain't any ordinary call. It's a domestic S. O. S. that I've been sort of lookin' for."
"I understand," says he. "The—the first?"