good chief, a man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was human
in other ways, too, and this became apparent because he was not capable
of artifice.

"The very devil, Lieutenant," he blurted out, in the innocence of his
heart, "is that I have declared my intention to get to the bottom of
this affair. And when a colonel says something . . . you see . . ."

Lieut. D'Hubert broke in earnestly: "Let me entreat you, Colonel, to be
satisfied with taking my word of honour that I was put into a damnable
position where I had no option; I had no choice whatever, consistent
with my dignity as a man and an officer. . . . After all, Colonel, this
fact is the very bottom of this affair. Here you've got it. The rest is
mere detail. . . ."

The colonel stopped short. The reputation of Lieut. D'Hubert for good
sense and good temper weighed in the balance. A cool head, a warm heart,
open as the day. Always correct in his behaviour. One had to trust him.
The colonel repressed manfully an immense curiosity. "H'm! You affirm
that as a man and an officer. . . . No option? Eh?"

"As an officer--an officer of the 4th Hussars, too," insisted Lieut.
D'Hubert, "I had not. And that is the bottom of the affair, Colonel."

"Yes. But still I don't see why, to one's colonel. . . . A colonel is a
father--que diable!"

Lieut. D'Hubert ought not to have been allowed out as yet. He was
becoming aware of his physical insufficiency with humiliation and
despair. But the morbid obstinacy of an invalid possessed him, and at
the same time he felt with dismay his eyes filling with water. This
trouble seemed too big to handle. A tear fell down the thin, pale cheek
of Lieut. D'Hubert.

The colonel turned his back on him hastily. You could have heard a pin
drop. "This is some silly woman story--is it not?"

Saying these words the chief spun round to seize the truth, which is
not a beautiful shape living in a well, but a shy bird best caught by
stratagem. This was the last move of the colonel's diplomacy. He saw the
truth shining unmistakably in the gesture of Lieut. D'Hubert raising his
weak arms and his eyes to heaven in supreme protest.

"Not a woman affair--eh?" growled the colonel, staring hard. "I don't
ask you who or where. All I want to know is whether there is a woman in
it?"

Lieut. D'Hubert's arms dropped, and his weak voice was pathetically
broken.

"Nothing of the kind, mon Colonel."

"On your honour?" insisted the old warrior.

"On my