I too should have liked to wear my decorations.

If a man swears to you that he is free from such little vanities, he is more often than not a mere liar.

But a broken-down old soldier, although still drawing pay from the Government, is not allowed to wear uniform (which I think is outrageous), and he can't go and plaster himself with medals when he is wearing on his head a hard felt hat.

My envy of the martial looking Marigold is a proof that my mind was not busied with sterner preoccupations.

I ate my breakfast with the serene conscience not only of a man who knows he has done his duty, but of an organiser confident in the success of his schemes.