fellow would
have put you in possession of facts."

"He said something," admitted the other, "the first time I saw him. And,
by the by, I did find him in the garden. The thump on the back of his
head had made him a little incoherent then. Afterwards he was rather
reticent than otherwise."

"Didn't think he would have the grace to be ashamed!" mumbled D'Hubert,
resuming his pacing while the doctor murmured, "It's very amusing.
Ashamed! Shame was not exactly his frame of mind. However, you may look
at the matter otherwise."

"What are you talking about? What matter?" asked D'Hubert, with a
sidelong look at the heavy-faced, grey-haired figure seated on a wooden
chair.

"Whatever it is," said the surgeon a little impatiently, "I don't want
to pronounce any opinion on your conduct--"

"By heavens, you had better not!" burst out D'Hubert.

"There!--there! Don't be so quick in flourishing the sword. It doesn't
pay in the long run. Understand once for all that I would not carve any
of you youngsters except with the tools of my trade. But my advice
is good. If you go on like this you will make for yourself an ugly
reputation."

"Go on like what?" demanded Lieut. D'Hubert, stopping short, quite
startled. "I!--I!--make for myself a reputation. . . . What do you
imagine?"

"I told you I don't wish to judge of the rights and wrongs of this
incident. It's not my business. Nevertheless--"

"What on earth has he been telling you?" interrupted Lieut. D'Hubert, in
a sort of awed scare.

"I told you already, that at first, when I picked him up in the garden,
he was incoherent. Afterwards he was naturally reticent. But I gather at
least that he could not help himself."

"He couldn't?" shouted Lieut. D'Hubert in a great voice. Then, lowering
his tone impressively, "And what about me? Could I help myself?"

The surgeon stood up. His thoughts were running upon the flute, his
constant companion with a consoling voice. In the vicinity of field
ambulances, after twenty-four hours' hard work, he had been known to
trouble with its sweet sounds the horrible stillness of battlefields,
given over to silence and the dead. The solacing hour of his daily life
was approaching, and in peace time he held on to the minutes as a miser
to his hoard.

"Of course!--of course!" he said, perfunctorily. "You would think so.
It's amusing. However, being perfectly neutral and friendly to you both,
I have consented to deliver his message to you. Say