136
The Chancellor’s Last Cigar.
bending over him he struck match after match in the strong wind that was then blowing before he succeeded in lighting the cigar. With a long-drawn-out sigh of satisfaction, the wounded man inhaled a draft of the soothing smoke, and then closed his eyes in quiet contentment to await the arrival of the surgeons and the ambulance.
“He struck match after match before he succeeded in lighting the cigar.”
Thus it came about that a few minutes later one of the king’s aides-de-camp found the Prime Minister walking slowly away from the wounded soldier, every now and then looking back with a mingled expression of sorrow for his wounds and sympathy with his enjoyment of the only cigar that could be found on that battle-field.
