"I don't see why not," Wandel drawled.
"Do you love them, everyone?"
"Can't say that I do, but then my heart is only a small organ."
"I do," Lambert said, warmly. "And you'll find George does. You can't help it when you see them pulling through this thing. They're real men, aren't they, George?"
George yawned.
"Are they any more so," he asked, dryly, "than they were when they lived in the same little town with you? I mean, if all you say about them is true why did you have to wait for war to introduce you to unveil their admirable qualities?"
Lambert straightened.
"It's wrong," he said, defiantly, "that I should have waited. It's wrong that I couldn't help myself."
"And you once tried to take a horse whip to me," George whispered in his ear.
It was Lambert's absurd earnestness that worried him. Did Lambert, too, have a touch of shell shock? Wandel was trying to smooth out his doubts.