"Thou first, last, and in the meantime soldier! Why, what wilt thou do when thou gettest to heaven?
Make it too hot to hold thee?
Or take out letters of marque against the Enemy ?" "I am not there yet," I said dryly.

"In the meantime I would like a commission against--your relatives." He laughed, then sighed, and, sinking his chin into his hand and softly tapping his foot against the ground, fell into a reverie.
"I would your princess were alive," I said presently.
"So do I," he answered softly.

"So do I." Locking his hands behind his head, he raised his quiet face to the evening star.

"Brave and wise and gentle," he mused.

"If I did not think to meet her again, beyond that star, I could not smile and speak calmly, Ralph, as I do now." "'T is a strange thing," I said, as I refilled my pipe.