"
The direct simplicity of this argument came home to the colonel's
understanding. He looked at his subordinate fixedly.
"Sit down, lieutenant," he said gruffly. "This is the very devil of a...
sit down."
"_Mon colonel_" D'Hubert began again. "I am not afraid of evil tongues.
There's a way of silencing them. But there's my peace of mind too. I
wouldn't be able to shake off the notion that I've ruined a brother
officer. Whatever action you take it is bound to go further. The
inquiry has been dropped--let it rest now. It would have been the end of
Feraud."
"Hey? What? Did he behave so badly?"
"Yes, it was pretty bad," muttered Lieutenant D'Hubert. Being still very
weak, he felt a disposition to cry.
As the other man did not belong to his own regiment the colonel had no
difficulty in believing this. He began to pace up and down the room.
He was a good chief and a man capable of discreet sympathy. But he was
human in other ways, too, and they were 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..."
Lieutenant 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.
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