At any rate, he had had his D.S.O. and was made a brevet-major.
Leonora, however, was not in the least keen on his soldiering. She
hated also his deeds of heroism. One of their bitterest quarrels
came after he had, for the second time, in the Red Sea, jumped
overboard from the troopship and rescued a private soldier. She
stood it the first time and even complimented him. But the Red
Sea was awful, that trip, and the private soldiers seemed to
develop a suicidal craze. It got on Leonora's nerves; she figured
Edward, for the rest of that trip, jumping overboard every ten
minutes. And the mere cry of "Man overboard" is a disagreeable,
alarming and disturbing thing. The ship gets stopped and there are
all sorts of shouts. And Edward would not promise not to do it
again, though, fortunately, they struck a streak of cooler weather
when they were in the Persian Gulf. Leonora had got it into her
head that Edward was trying to commit suicide, so I guess it was
pretty awful for her when he would not give the promise. Leonora
ought never to have been on that troopship; but she got there
somehow, as an economy.
Major Basil discovered his wife's relation with Edward just before
he was sent to his other station.
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