INTENSIVE TRAINING Barry's return to the battalion was like a coming home.

In the mess there was no demonstration of sympathy with him in his loss, but the officers took occasion to drop in casually with an interesting bit of news, seeking to express, more or less awkwardly, by their presence what they found it impossible to express in actual words.
It was to Barry an experience as new as it was delightful.

Hitherto, as far as any real fellowship was concerned he had lived a life of comparative isolation among his fellow officers, and while they were careful to preserve the conventions and courtesies imposed by their mutual relations, he had ever been made to feel that in that circle he was an outsider.
Among the officers who came to call upon him, none surprised him more than did Major Bayne.

While that officer had always been careful to maintain an attitude toward him, at once correct and civil, there had never been any approach to friendliness.

As a matter of fact, Major Bayne was too entirely occupied with his own interests to have either the leisure or the inclination for anything but a casual concern for the chaplain and his affairs.