"I dropped the flag," he said, smiling at me, but not knowing me.
"It is all right. We picked it up; it is here," and I placed it near him. His hand closed lovingly round the silken folds, and his eyes were filled with deep contentment.
Leaving the room quietly, I called to Jacques, saying, "He is awake, but he does not recognize me."
"Give him time, monsieur; his brain is not yet clear, but he will come round. Sit by him a while, so that he can see you; he will remember by degrees."
Acting on this suggestion, I returned to the bedside and sat down, but without speaking. Felix lay fingering the flag, but presently his eyes sought mine, wonderingly at first, but afterwards with a gleam of recognition in them.
I had sat thus for perhaps half an hour, when he called me by name, and I bent over him with a throb of joy.
"Edmond," he said, "where are we? Is the battle over?"
"Yes, and Cossé has been badly beaten. You were hurt in the last charge."
"Yes," he said slowly, "I remember. Ah, you found the flag!"
"It was lying beside you; your horse was killed."