‘I can hardly say,’ he laughed. ‘I’ve been up a good many times, but I was never in this place before.’
‘You’re not an artist, then?’ she said, in a tone that placed him an outsider.
‘No,’ he replied.
‘He’s a soldier, and an explorer, and a Napoleon of industry,’ said Birkin, giving Gerald his credentials for Bohemia.
‘Are you a soldier?’ asked the girl, with a cold yet lively curiosity.
‘No, I resigned my commission,’ said Gerald, ‘some years ago.’
‘He was in the last war,’ said Birkin.
‘Were you really?’