He had quarrelled, thwarted, criticised, but he had never failed him in a crisis.

He had held up his hands as Aaron and Hur held up the hands of Moses...
The Secretary for War was not in the habit of underrating his own talents and achievements.

But in that moment they seemed less than nothing.

Humility shook him like a passion.

Till his dying day his one boast must be that he had served that figure on the camp-bed.