“What is wanted?” I asked him.
“The generals need you.”
“Tell them to excuse me; my head aches terribly and you see that I am lying down.”
“Are you not coming to sign?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, rolling myself up in the bed.
“Why?”
“Because I do not wish to dishonor myself, even more in the eyes of my fellow-patriots than in those of the enemy.”
“Then you believe we have done badly in signing it?”
“Yes, sir; very badly.”
“Then you will not sign it?”