And when the boy's mood and look were calmer, Arthur bent over him
and gave him, with a voice that must shake, the news of his Military
Cross--for 'brilliant leadership and conspicuous courage' in the
bit of 'observation work' that had cost him his life.
Desmond listened with utter incredulity and astonishment.
'It's not me!'--he protested faintly--'it's a mistake!'
Chicksands produced the General's letter--the Cross itself. Desmond
looked at it with unwilling eyes.
'I call it silly--perfectly silly! Why, there were fellows that
deserved it ten times more than I did!'
And he asked that it should be put away, and did not speak of it
again.
In all his talk with him that night, the elder officer was
tragically struck by the boy's growth in intelligence. Just as death
was claiming it, the young mind had broadened and deepened--had
become the mind of a man. And in the vigil which he kept during part
of that night with Martin, the able young surgeon who had brought
Desmond home, and was spending his own hard-earned leave in easing
the boy's death, Chicksands found that Martin's impression was the
same as his own.
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