The ex-sergeant-major, the tears in his eyes too, said:
"Well, there is men you 'as to give the C.B. to. . . . C.B. means confined to barracks. . . . "
"Oh, there are!" she exclaimed. "There are! . . . And women, too. . . . Surely there are women, too? . . . "
The sergeant-major said:
"Wacks, per'aps. . . . I don't know. . . . They say women's discipline is like ours. . . . Founded on hours!"
She said:
"Do you know what they used to say of the captain? . . . " She said to herself: "I pray to God the stiff, fatuous beast likes sitting here listening to this stuff. . . . Blessed Virgin, mother of God, make him take me. . . . Before midnight. Before eleven. . . . As soon as we get rid of this . . . No, he's a decent little man. . . . Blessed Virgin!" . . . Do you know what they used to say of the captain? . . . I heard the warmest banker in England say it of him. . . . "
The sergeant-major, his eyes enormously opened, said:
"Did you know the warmest banker in England? . . . But there, we always knew the captain was well connected. . . . " She went on:
"They said of him. . . . He was always helping people." . . . Holy Mary, mother of God! . . . He's my husband. . . . It's not a sin. . . . Before midnight. . . . Oh, give me a sign. . . . Or before . . . the termination of hostilities. . . . If you give me a sign I could wait." . . . "He helped virtuous Scotch students, and broken-down gentry. . . . And women taken in adultery. . . . All of them. . . .
