"'So far as inquiry lifts the curtain over the closing scene, it was marked by a similar calm forgetfulness of self in the higher interests of his Sovereign, his Country, the British Race. If enemies he had, he forgave them. Attending only to his country's call for volunteers to defend her shores, he followed it in the least conspicuous manner, and fell; leaving at once an example and a reproach to those who, living at home in ease, enjoyed the protection of spirits better conscious of the destinies and duties of Englishmen.'" "Gad, and so he did!" Sir Felix exclaimed. "I remember thinking something of the sort at the time and doubling my subscription." He yawned. "Shall we go, ladies?" he asked. "I assure you there is no time to be lost if you wish to see the menagerie." But when the ladies were in the passage, the Major half-closed the door, shutting Sir Felix off. "May I have just one word with you, sir? I will not detain you more than a moment." "Eh?" said Sir Felix, and pulled out a shilling. "Is that what you're after? Well, I'm glad you had the delicacy to let the ladies pass out first. They think us an unsophisticated folk." The Major waved the coin aside. He planted himself on his wooden leg, with his back to the door, and faced the baronet. "I just want to tell you," he said quietly, "that the whole of what I read was a lie." "Naturally, my good fellow. One allows for that in those memoirs." "The man, except in parable, was never bitten by a gander in his life," persisted the Major. "Nor did he enlist and fall--if he fell--through any magnanimous motive. He just left Troy on finding himself betrayed by a neighbour--a dirty, little, mean-spirited, pompous gander of a neighbour--and whatever example he may have unwittingly--yes, and unwillingly--set, the lesson does not appear to have been learnt--at least, until this moment. But," concluded the Major, throwing wide the door, "we keep the ladies waiting, Sir Felix." Sir Felix, ordinarily the most irascible of men, gasped once and passed out, cowed, beaten, utterly and hopelessly bewildered. The Major stood by the door with chest inflated as it had not been inflated for ten years and more. Perhaps this inflation of the chest, reviving old recollections, prompted him to do what next he did. Otherwise I confess I cannot account for it. He stepped back from the door and looked around the room, emitting a long breath. Outside the window the dusk was already descending on the street. Within a glass-fronted cupboard in the corner, hung his old uniform, sword, epaulettes and cocked hat; above the mantelpiece a looking-glass. He stepped to the cupboard, opened it, and took down the time-rotten regimentals. Slowly, very slowly, he divested himself of his clothes, and, piece by piece, indued himself in the old finery.