Henry's fears of being exposed as a coward have
disappeared thanks to the injury that he received while on the run. It is believed to be
a battle wound by the other members of his company, so his secret--that he ran away when
the action got too hot--is safe. But Henry seems to have also convinced himself that his
skedaddling never actually happened. He sneers at the way other members of the regiment
ran away in terror; he tells himself that he had merely retreated, not actually run
away.
He
remembered how some of the men had run from the battle. As he recalled their
terror-struck faces he felt a scorn for them. They had surely been more fleet and more
wild than was absolutely necessary. They were weak mortals. As for himself, he had fled
with discretion and
dignity.
His previous
uncertainties had changed to extreme overconfidence and vanity, and he now judged
himself an experienced veteran.
He had license to be pompous and
veteranlike...
And, furthermore, how could they kill him who was the
chosen of gods and doomed to
greatness?
Great things were
ahead of him, Henry told himself, and when he returned home a hero, his mother and his
relatives would "gape"
... as they drank his recitals. Their vague
feminine formula for beloved ones doing brave deeds on the field of battle without risk
of life would be destroyed.
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