would have been reparable if he had apologised to that our
colonel, which he had insulted."

Then followed another growl which the colonel tried to beat down.
The mess was in no mood just then to weigh insults to Russian
colonels.

"He does not remember, but I think that there was an accident, and
so he was not exchanged among the prisoners, but he was sent to
another place - how do you say? - the country. So, he says, he
came here. He does not know how he came. Eh? He was at Chepany," -
the man caught the word, nodded, and shivered, - "at Zhigansk and
Irkutsk. I cannot understand how he escaped. He says, too, that he
was in the forests for many years, but how many years he has
forgotten - that with many things. It was an accident; done
because he did not apologise to that our colonel. Ah!"

Instead of echoing Dirkovitch's sigh of regret, it is sad to
record that the White Hussars livelily exhibited un-Christian
delight and other emotions, hardly restrained by their sense of
hospitality. Holmer flung the frayed and yellow regimental rolls
on the table, and the men flung themselves at these.

"Steady! Fifty-six - fifty-five - fifty-four," said Holmer. "Here
we are. 'Lieutenant Austin Limmason. Missing.' That was before
Sebastopol. What an infernal shame! Insulted one of their
colonels, and was quietly shipped off. Thirty years of his life
wiped out."

"But he never apologised. Said he'd see him damned first,"