And that, after all this palaver, is what I've just made up my mind to talk to you about." "You mean your death ?" "Just that," said he.

"A man pot-hunting for Victoria Crosses takes a thousand to one chance." He paused abruptly and shot an eager and curiously wavering glance at me.

"Am I boring you with all this ?" "Good Heavens, no." And then as the insistence of his great figure towering over me had begun to fret my nerves--"Sit down, man," said I, with an impatient gesture, "and put that sickening toy away and come to the point." He tossed the cane on the window-seat and sat near me on a straight-backed chair.
"All right," he said.

"I'll come to the point.

I shan't see you again.
I'm going out in command.