“I have something for you,” he said.
“What is it?”
“A pistol! I think you should be armed. Do you know how to fire one?”
“Yes, I do,” Theola replied. “I used to fire an old duelling pistol, that my father inherited from his grandfather, at a target in the garden.”
“I hope you will never have to use this,” the General said, “but just in case things go wrong it is wise to have one with you.”
He held it out to Theola as he spoke and she took it from him.
As she did so she thought quite calmly and unemotionally that if things did ‘go wrong’, as he put it, she might have to use the pistol on herself.
“It is loaded,” the General warned.
“I will be very careful,” Theola said.
She put it down on the blanket.
“I suggest, Theola, that you try to sleep,” the General said. “That is what I in
