I could only hint that a sensitive man like Colonel Boyce might be averse from exhibiting in public his physical disabilities; that he had always shown himself a modest soldier with a dislike of self-advertisement; that he would prefer to seek immediate refuge in the quietude of his home.

But they would not listen to me.

Colonel Boyce, they said, would be too patriotic to refuse the town's recognition.

It was part of the game which he, as a brave soldier, no matter how modest, could not fail to play.

He would recognise that such public honourings of valour had widespread effect among the population.