“Of course it’s the man!” Jay-Jay broke in impatiently. “I ought to know. It won’t do any good to equivocate, Captain! You know as well as I what the situation is, and I’m going to see the end of it.” “Just what is the situation that so needs to be put to an end?” inquired the Captain. “That is, I’d like to know, if you think you can tell me without indulging in any more unpleasant insinuations.... You know, Lieutenant, there’s no court-martial for hitting a man who insults you.” He smiled meaningly at the Lieutenant. “Now, the situation is what?” “Don’t talk to me about insults and courts-martial, Captain.... You know as well as I—better, no doubt!—that Sergeant Canwick, your very dear friend, is a girl!” The Captain seemed surprised as he turned his attention to the sergeant and asked, very seriously, “Sergeant, have you been deceiving me all these years?” “Enough of this!” stammered Jay-Jay. “I didn’t come here to fool around like this. The sergeant is under arrest.” “What for?” inquired the Captain. “For being a girl?” “For enough!” retorted Jay-Jay, apparently at a loss to know just what the sergeant could be accused of. “Anyway, he’s under arrest. Take him along, Corporal. I’ll be responsible.” The M.P. stepped hesitatingly into the center then, but before he could touch Canwick, the Captain spoke up again, and this time his voice had none of that mellow sarcasm that had marked it before. “We’ve had enough of this!” he stated incisively. “What kind of damned fool nonsense is this?... You burst into my room and try to tell me that a boy I knew in America and have known intimately over here is not a boy at all, but a girl. What kind of damned nonsense is that?” The M.P. stopped. Jay-Jay was momentarily taken back by the obvious sincerity in the Captain’s words, but he quickly recovered his pose of domination. “I suppose you want me to believe that you are not aware of the sergeant’s sex, Captain?” “I don’t give two damns in hell what you believe, Lieutenant!” replied the Captain. “What you think or conceive in your stumbling stupidity doesn’t concern me in the least. But you have seen fit to crash into my rooms without any invitation from me, and I demand an explanation at once ... and a sensible one.” “Don’t you believe that that is Leona Canwick sitting there?” Jay-Jay’s voice was almost screaming. The Captain laughed. “Is this a joke, Lieutenant?” “Dammit all, Captain, that is Leona Canwick!” “I’m afraid you have been sleeping in a distillery, Lieutenant.... Of course that isn’t Leona ... why, I had a letter from Leona just this morning, mailed in New York two weeks ago, and this chap has been over here for seven or eight months at least.” “Let’s see the letter, Captain.” “I have half a mind to pitch you through the window for your impertinence, Lieutenant.... You are an insufferable pup!... Nevertheless, to show you how foolish, how utterly foolish your suggestions are, I will let you see that letter.”