"I—I can't very well—I wish I could. I thought, if you knew the answer to the riddle, you might know the person who asked it. It's very hard to get to know people by yourself, isn't it?"
I lured him into the open. "How did you come to hear it?"
He pondered in silence for a moment with his frank eyes bent upon his plate.
"I don't mind telling you, but I shouldn't like everyone to know; they might think me a bit of a fool."
I promised discretion.
"Well, the other morning I was up on the common kicking a football about with some of the men—it's good for them and keeps them from getting too much beer, and I like it myself—football, I mean, not beer—and some people came and sat down to watch on the roller, and there was a Yellow Jersey among them."
"But what a curious place for a cow—on a roller."
The wee lieutenant twinkled. "And she was rather nice, you know."
I nodded, thinking to myself that this young man would never make "an Eye-Witness with Headquarters," whatever else the fortunes of war might bring him.
"Well, that evening we were out scouting, trying to find out where a party of cavalry had got to that had been reported coming out from King's Langley to take us by surprise, and when I got to a cottage with its blinds down and a light inside I peeped in, and there were two or three people, and she was there, and, of course, I had to knock to ask if any cavalry had gone by."