No more Parades by Ford Madox Ford — Read

General Lord Edward Campion, G. C. B., K. C. M. G. (military), D. S. O., etc., sat, radiating glory and composing a confidential memorandum to the Secretary of State for War, on a bully-beef case, leaning forward over a military blanket that covered a deal table. He was for the moment in high good humour on the surface, though his subordinate minds were puzzled and depressed. At the end of each sentence that he wrote -- and he wrote with increasing satisfaction! -- a mind that he was not using said: "What the devil am I going to do with that fellow? " Or: "How the devil is that girl's name to be kept out of this mess?"

Having been asked to write a confidential memorandum for the information of the home authorities as to what, in his opinion, was the cause of the French railway strike, he had hit on the ingenious device of reporting what was the opinion of the greater part of the forces under his command. This was a dangerous line to take, for he might well come into conflict with the home Government. But he was pretty certain that any inquiries that the home Government could cause to be made amongst the local civilian population would confirm what he was writing -- which he was careful to state was not to be taken as a communication of his own opinion. In addition, he did not care what the Government did to him.