"What were his crimes?" "Oh, the usual things--dirty on C.O.'s inspection, equipment missing, late for parades, and generally slovenly. If he hadn't had such a poor sheet, he would have been decorated." "In other words, his crimes are rest-billet ones. Is that correct?" "Well--yes, sir." "But in the line he earned a decoration?" "Yes--at Vimy, he----" "Have you known him to lie?" "Well, you know what these French-Canadians are like." "You understand what I mean. Have you ever known him to lie when put on his honor?" "Er--no." "When he told you that he had to see this girl, did you find out if he was speaking the truth?" "No, sir, I----" "Did you look for him at this girl's place when you were coming away?" "I sent a picket through the village." The blue in Campbell's eyes became unpleasantly light. "I had Des Rosiers in my company at Ypres when the Hun sent over his first gas--you were addressing meetings in Canada at the time--and I know him for a brave chap, as faithful as a dog. It's men like you with a sense of vision no better than a mud-puddle that are making the French-Canadian question another Irish one. They are like children, easily swayed and true as steel to those they trust; but as long as you and your kind make a political cat's-paw out of them, alternately yelling 'Kamerad' and 'Traitor,' according to the political exigencies of the moment, so long will Canada be without the sympathy and the enriching of a wonderfully virile race." The junior officer's face flushed. "I acted according to the evidence," he persisted hotly. "Damn the evidence!" said Campbell furiously. "Play the man, not the charge-sheet. Does Des Rosiers strike you as a chap who would deliberately insult a staff-officer? When he is caught he will be shot. It can't be helped--discipline must be maintained; but I tell you, when, every few days I read in the adjutant-general's orders that Private So-and-So, charged with desertion in the presence of the enemy, was apprehended in a certain village, tried by court-martial, and sentenced to be shot, sentence duly carried out at 4:15 A.M. on such and such a date--you know the ghastly rhythm of the thing as well as I do--I never read one of these announcements without having a bad ten minutes afterwards. I don't question the decision of the court--a deserter must pay the penalty--but, mark my words, behind every one of these offences there is the unseen part played by some officer or N.C.O. who punished at the wrong time or failed to punish at the right. There are far too many machine-made routine-fed chaps in the army, with stars on their cuffs, who don't know that there are times when the grip of a hand on a Tommy's shoulder, and a few words as man to man, free of any cursed condescension, are worth all the conduct-sheets in existence." "You are making a mountain out of a mole-hill, sir. I consider you are very unfair to me."