“You’re not fit for any more of this! When did you hear last from home? So long? And you actually didn’t know that Roy was in Spain? Smart young officer, too. He came in more than once for particular notice.” Jack found himself verging on another allusion to the name which filled their thoughts, and he turned to a fresh subject. “This Commandant of yours at Verdun—Wirion—must be a queer chap, judging from reports of him in the English papers.”
“He—was.”
“Not here now?”
“Courcelles is the present Commandant. Wirion went too far. There were some scandalous cases—young Englishmen fleeced to the tune of five thousand pounds.”
“What a vile shame!”
“Some of us made a stir, and facts were carried to headquarters. Wirion was suspended, and he received a hint that he might as well put himself out of the way. He acted upon the hint.”
“You mean that he——?”
“Shot himself.”
“Present man any improvement?”
“Oppressions are a degree more carefully veiled.”