__
Then he added another line and signed his name.
"As a member of a learned profession, Colonel," he said, gravely, "I would
scorn to tell a lie even for the son of Captain O'Connor;" and he passed
the paper across to him.
The colonel looked grave, and Captain O'Connor disappointed. He was
reassured, however, when his commanding officer broke into a laugh.
"That will do well, O'Flaherty," he said; "I thought that you would find
some way of getting us out of the difficulty."
"I have told the strict truth, Colonel," the doctor said, gravely. "I have
certified that Terence O'Connor is going on for seventeen; I defy any man
to say that he is not. He will get there one of these days, if a French
bullet does not stop him on the way, a contingency that it is needless for
me to mention."
"I suppose that it is not strictly regular to omit the date of his birth,"
the colonel said; "but just at present I expect they are not very
particular. I suppose that that will do, Mr. Cleary?"
"I think that you can countersign that, Colonel," the adjutant said, with
a laugh. "The Horse Guards do not move very rapidly, and by the time that
letter gets to London we may be on board ship, and they would hardly
bother to send a letter for further particulars to us in Spain, but will
no doubt gazette him at once.
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