The non-commissioned officers were dismissed. During his speech George had studied their faces carefully--a great many of them had turned alternately crimson and pale, some tried to appear as if the whole thing did not concern them and as if they were entirely free from all blame, but George felt that there were very few who had an absolutely clear conscience. George went with the sergeant-major into the reading-room of the company to draw up a report of the case and present it to the battalion. It would then be sent to the regiment, and then, owing to the gravity of the case, to the superior courts. He sent off the lance-corporal, who usually acted as clerk, and turned to the sergeant-major. He was horrified at what he had heard and seen, and spoke quite freely about it. "Tell me, sergeant, how is such a thing possible? How is it conceivable that such a thing should have gone on for weeks without anyone knowing anything about it? Did you know anything about it? You live with the men in the same corridor; you must often, both by day and by night, have gone through the rooms--did you not notice anything suspicious?" Instead of an answer the sergeant-major merely shrugged his shoulders. "What does that mean?" demanded George; "you don't mean to tell me that the whole thing was an absolute and complete surprise to you?" "No, not exactly that," answered the sergeant-major after a slight pause, "but when the time comes for speaking I shall feel quite at my ease; I am aware that I shall be called as a witness at the investigation and must say on oath all that I know about it." "And what do you know?" "Really very little, sir, and I can swear with a good conscience that I have never seen or heard anything, and I can equally truthfully swear that no man has ever come to me and made a complaint. I should have made myself liable to punishment if anyone had made an official complaint to me and I had not conveyed it to the proper authorities." "Quite true, and you say your conscience is quite free from blame." "I really think so, sir, and I am sure that they cannot bring up anything against me at the inquiry, and that is the important thing for an old soldier who in a few months will have served his twelve years and earned his gratuity and pension." "Outwardly that is so, certainly," agreed George, "but your words would seem to indicate that you do not really feel absolutely free from all blame."