This also is one of the glories of war.
XII
MATUTINAL CONFIDENCES
Eight o'clock on the morning Dr. Sinclair left Tamsui for the front found the consul in the breakfast room. Clean-shaven, dressed in spotless white, he looked as cool and fresh, and was as prompt to the minute, as if he had enjoyed a perfect night's rest. A moment or two later Mrs. Beauchamp entered.
"Good-morning, Harry. I am afraid that I have disgraced myself by being late," she said with a little mock anxiety.
"Not at all, my dear. My wife is never late. I think my watch is a few seconds fast."
"Thank you, Harry. You always find an excuse for me."
"Oh, no! it is not that," replied her husband, as if ashamed that he should allow any partiality to cause him to swerve from his rigid rule of punctuality. "Really, I am a little ahead of time. I'm deuced hungry this morning. I could hardly wait for Ah Soon to get breakfast ready."
"What time did you come to bed last night? I believe that I did not hear you at all."
"You certainly did not. You were sleeping so soundly that the French might have bombarded Tamsui and come ashore and carried you off without you waking."