Young off.  Well, you hardly know them at their best, do you?  You should see them in the trenches.  By George!  They’re simply splendid—­officers and men, every blessed soul.  There’s never been anything like it—­just one long bit of jolly fine self-sacrifice; it’s perfectly amazing.

Girl. [Turning her blue-grey eyes on him] I expect you are not the last at that.  You see in them what you haf in yourself, I think.

Young off.  Oh, not a bit; you’re quite out!  I assure you when we made the attack where I got wounded there wasn’t a single man in my regiment who wasn’t an absolute hero.  The way they went in—­never thinking of themselves—­it was simply ripping.

Girl. [In a queer voice] It is the same too, perhaps, with—­the enemy.

Young off.  Oh, yes!  I know that.

Girl.  Ah!  You are not a mean man.  How I hate mean men!

Young off.  Oh! they’re not mean really—­they simply don’t understand.

Girl.  Oh!  You are a babee—­a good babee aren’t you?

     [The Young Officer doesn’t like this, and frowns.  The girl
     looks a little scared.]

Girl. [Clingingly] But I li-ke you for it.  It is so good to find a ni-ice man.

Young off. [Abruptly] About being lonely?  Haven’t you any Russian friends?

Girl. [Blankly] Rooshian?  No. [Quickly] The town is so beeg.  Were you at the concert before you spoke to me?

Young off.  Yes.

Girl.  I too.  I lofe music.

Young off.  I suppose all Russians do.

Girl. [With another quick look tat him] I go there always when I haf the money.

Young off.  What!  Are you as badly on the rocks as that?

Girl.  Well, I haf just one shilling now!

     [She laughs bitterly.  The laugh upsets him; he sits on the
     window-sill, and leans forward towards her.]

Young off.  I say, what’s your name?

Girl.  May.  Well, I call myself that.  It is no good asking yours.

Young off. [With a laugh] You’re a distrustful little soul; aren’t you?

Girl.  I haf reason to be, don’t you think?

Young off.  Yes.  I suppose you’re bound to think us all brutes.

Girl. [Sitting on a chair close to the window where the moonlight falls on one powdered cheek] Well, I haf a lot of reasons to be afraid all my time.  I am dreadfully nervous now; I am not trusding anybody.  I suppose you haf been killing lots of Germans?

Young off.  We never know, unless it happens to be hand to hand; I haven’t come in for that yet.

Girl.  But you would be very glad if you had killed some.