\"It’sacomfort，\"saidtheMajor，inhissarcasticway，\"tohaveafellow—soldiertotalktoinsteadofaquill—driver，whoasyetisnotevenapenny—a—liner。Eh，Derrick？Don’tyoufeelinclinedtoregretyourfool’schoicenow？YoumighthavebeenstartingoffforthewarwithLawrencenextweek，ifyouhadn’tchosenwhatyou’repleasedtocallaliterarylife。Literarylife，indeed!Ilittlethoughtasonofminewouldeverhavebeensowantinginspiritastopreferdabblingininktoalifeofaction——tobethescribblerofmerewords，ratherthananofficerofdragoons。\"
ThentomyastonishmentDerricksprangtohisfeetinhotindignation。Ineversawhimlooksohandsome，beforeorsince；forhisangerwasnotthedistorting，devilishangerthattheMajorgavewayto，butrealdownrightwrath。
\"Youspeakcontemptuouslyofmerenovels，\"hesaidinalowvoice，yetmoreclearlythanusual，andasifthewordswerewrungoutofhim。\"Whatrighthaveyoutolookdownononeofthegreatestweaponsoftheday？andwhyisawritertosubmittoscoffsandinsultsandtamelytohearhisprofessionreviled？Ihavechosentowritethemessagethathasbeengivenme，andIdon’tregretthechoice。ShouldIhaveshowngreaterspiritifIhadsoldmyfreedomandrightofjudgmenttobeoneofthenationalkillingmachines？\"
Withthathethrewdownhiscardsandstrodeoutoftheroominawhiteheatofanger。Itwasapityhemadethatlastremark，foritputhiminthewrongandneedlesslyannoyedLawrenceandtheMajor。
Butanangrymanhasnotimetoweighhiswords，and，asIsaid，pooroldDerrickwasveryhuman，andwhenwoundedtoointolerablycouldonoccasionretaliate。