Captain Peters was not a man comfortable with sentimentality. Therefore, when Fotherby awoke the next morning and walked in a sleepy daze to the hospital tent, it was to find that Captain Peters had already left and all his equipment had been removed from the desk and, perhaps most unsettling of all, the cards had also gone. Fotherby stared at the campaign desk with a greater sorrow than he would have believed possible for a man who had so often ridiculed and belittled him, but for whom he had a great respect. There was no sign of Kitson, either, which was more surprising for, as Fotherby picked up his red coat that already had a captain’s third star on the epaulets, he tried to anticipate the man’s vile mood.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” a cheerful voice announced. “Captain...

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