The three soldiers had turned what was visible of their faces towards Mr. Lavender, and, seeing that he had riveted their attention, he proceeded:  “The apathy which hospital produces, together with the present scarcity of labour, is largely responsible for the dangerous position in which the disabled man now finds himself.  Only we who have not to face his future can appreciate what that future is likely to be if he does not make the most strenuous efforts to overcome it.  Boys,” he added earnestly, remembering suddenly that this was the word which those who had the personal touch ever employed, “are you making those efforts?  Are you equipping your minds?  Are you taking advantage of your enforced leisure to place yourselves upon some path of life in which you can largely hold your own against all comers?”

He paused for a reply.

The soldiers, silent for a moment, in what seemed to Mr. Lavender to be sheer astonishment, began to fidget; then the one next him turned to his neighbour, and said: 

“Are we, Alf?  Are we doin’ what the gentleman says?”

“I can answer that for you,” returned Mr. Lavender brightly; “for I can tell by your hospitalized faces that you are living in the present; a habit which, according to our best writers, is peculiar to the British.  I assure you,” he went on with a winning look, “there is no future in that.  If you do not at once begin to carve fresh niches for yourselves in the temple of industrialism you will be engulfed by the returning flood, and left high and dry upon the beach of fortune.”

During these last few words the half of an irritated look on the faces of the soldiers changed to fragments of an indulgent and protective expression.

“Right you are, guv’nor,” said the one in the middle.  Don’t you worry, we’ll see you home all right.

“It is you,” said Mr. Lavender, “that I must see home.  For that is largely the duty of us who have not had the great privilege of fighting for our country.”

These words, which completed the soldiers’ conviction that Mr. Lavender was not quite all there, caused them to rise.

“Come on, then,” said one; we’ll see each other home.  We’ve got to be in by five.  You don’t have a string to your dog, I see.”

“Oh no!” said Mr. Lavender puzzled “I am not blind.”

“Balmy,” said the soldier soothingly.  “Come on, sir, an’ we can talk abaht it on the way.”

Mr. Lavender, delighted at the impression he had made, rose and walked beside them, taking insensibly the direction for home.

“What do you advise us to do, then, guv’nor?” said one of the soldiers.