It was unsoldierly; but it was angelic.

RAINA [coldly] Thank you. And now I will do a soldierly thing. You cannot stay here after what you have just said about my future husband; but I will go out on the balcony and see whether it is safe for you to climb down into the street. [She turns to the window].

THE MAN [changing countenance] Down that waterpipe! Stop! Wait! I cant! I darent! The very thought of it makes me giddy. I came up it fast enough with death behind me. But to face it now in cold blood –! [He sinks on the ottoman]. It’s no use: I give up: I’m beaten. Give the alarm. [He drops his head on his hands in the deepest dejection].

RAINA [disarmed by pity] Come: dont be disheartened. [She stoops over him almost maternally: he shakes his head]. Oh, you are a very poor soldier: a chocolate cream soldier! Come, cheer up! it takes less courage to climb down than to face capture: remember that.

THE MAN [dreamily, lulled by her voice] No: capture only means death; and death is sleep: oh, sleep, sleep, sleep, undisturbed sleep! Climbing down the pipe means doing something – exerting myself – thinking! Death ten times over first.

RAINA [softly and wonderingly, catching the rhythm of his weariness] Are you as sleepy as that ?

THE MAN. Ive not had two hours undisturbed sleep since I joined. I havnt closed my eyes for forty-eight hours.

RAINA [at her wit’s end] But what am I to do with you ?

THE MAN [staggering up, roused by her desperation] Of course. I must do something. [He shakes himself; pulls himself together; and speaks with rallied vigor and courage]. You see, sleep or no sleep, hunger or no hunger, tired or not tired, you can always do a thing when you know it must be done. Well, that pipe must be got down: [he hits himself on the chest] do you hear that, you chocolate cream soldier ? [He turns to the window].

RAINA [anxiously] But if you fall ?

THE MAN. I shall sleep as if the stones were a feather bed. Goodbye. [He makes boldly for the window; and his hand is on the shutter when there is a terrible burst of firing in the street beneath].

RAINA [rushing to him] Stop! [She seizes him recklessly, and pulls him quite round]. Theyll kill you.

THE MAN [coolly, but attentively] Never mind: this sort of thing is all in my day’s work. I’m bound to take my chance. [Decisively] Now do what I tell you. Put out the candle; so that they shant see the light when I open the shutters. And keep away from the window, whatever you do. If they see me theyre sure to have a shot at me.

RAINA [clinging to him] Theyre sure to see you: it’s bright moonlight. I’ll save you. Oh, how can you be so indifferent! You want me to save you, dont you ?

THE MAN. I really dont want to be troublesome. [She shakes him in her impatience], I am not indifferent, dear young lady, I assure you. But how is it to be done ?

RAINA. Come away from the window.