human
Poor old chap! said Rodd softly.
gpt
I say, how was that done?
human
Grape-shot,
gpt
Did it hurt much?
human
Yes, said Morny rather contemptuously.
gpt
My father was wounded too, so that he had to be carried below, or else we should never have struck, but he would have gone down as a brave captain should with colours flying, fighting for the Emperor to the very last.
human
Then I am precious glad that the Count was taken below,
gpt
Why?
human
Because of course you would have sunk with him, for you couldn't have swum for your life with a wounded arm.
gpt
No; but shouldn't I have had my name written in history?
human
Perhaps. But you and I would never have met and become such good friends; for you know we are precious good friends when we can agree.
gpt
Yes, he said pleasantly,
human
Let's see, said Rodd;
gpt
Dartmoor--all amongst the streams and tors, as they call them?
human
Yes; a great granite desert.
gpt
Oh, but it was very jolly there,
human
I don't know what you mean by jolly,
gpt
Why, they didn't keep you shut up. They let you roam about as you liked, didn't they, as long as you didn't try to escape?
human
Well--yes; but it was a long time before I went out at all, replied Morny sadly.
gpt
For months I never left my father's side, and for a long time I never expected that he'd recover; and as I used to sit there by his bedside, watching, I began to get to hate the English more and more, and long to get away so as to begin righting for my country again. But of course I couldn't leave my wounded father's side.
human
No, said Rodd slowly and in a low voice, as if repeating the words to himself.
gpt
Of course you couldn't leave your father's side.
human
No, repeated Morny softly,
gpt
I couldn't leave my father's side. But after a time he made me go. He said my wound would never heal--for the surgeon had told him so--if he kept me shut up day after day, and that I must go out with the other prisoners and roam about on the moor; but I said I wouldn't leave him, and I didn't till he told me one day that I was growing white and thin and weak, and that he could see how I was suffering from the pain in my wound.
human
Ah, yes, said Rodd, in a low tone full of earnestness.
gpt
It must have given you terrible pain.
human
And at last he said, continued Morny,
gpt
And then of course you went?
human
Yes, I went then, replied Morny,
gpt
Wild thyme?
human
Ah, yes; wild thyme. And there for a long time I sat nursing my left arm, fighting against what seemed to be a feeling of happiness, and trying to think of all the evil that the English had done us, and what I would do as soon as I got free. But it was too much for me. I couldn't do it, and what I had looked upon from the prison windows from between the bars would not seem to be the same wild stony desert, but beautiful and full of hope and joy.
gpt
Ah! cried Rodd.
human
That's because you were getting better. I know what you felt. I was like that once after a bad fever, and when I was taken out one fine morning for the first time, though I was weak as a rat I felt as if I must run and jump and shout all about nothing; but it was because everything looked so beautiful, and I knew that I must be getting well.
gpt
Yes, he said quietly,
human
I suppose it was a beautiful healthy place, and it began to make me feel like that; and as I looked round--for I had climbed very high--I could see right down into parts of a valley that was all full of sunshine and flashing light, for there was a little dancing stream running swiftly along, and as I looked down into it and saw how it widened here and narrowed there as it flashed amongst the great rocks of granite, it set me thinking about home, and instead of going on planning how I would revenge myself upon the English, I began to wonder whether there would be trout there too, and soon afterwards I began to creep slowly down so as to see. And then I remember that I burst out laughing at myself, for it seemed so droll. My legs would keep on bending under me, and I had to sit down and rest every now and then.
gpt
You were so weak,
human
Yes, that was it, cried Morny;
gpt
Well, said Rodd,
human
I know how it would make an English boy feel-- myself, for instance.
gpt
How?
human
As if he'd like to have my namesake with only one _d_ in his hand, and begin whipping the stream.
gpt
Yes, that's how I felt,
human
I know about those trout on Dartmoor, cried Rodd,
gpt
Yes,