His good-humour was imperturbable, and he was
immensely popular both among men and officers.
"O'Driscol!" he repeated, in mild astonishment. "Do you mean to say that
O'Driscol will keep him in better order than meself? If there is one man
in this regiment more than another who would get on well with the lad it
is meself, barring none."
"You would get on well enough with him, O'Grady, I have no doubt, but it
would be by letting him have his own way, and in encouraging him in
mischief of all kinds."
O'Grady's eyebrows were elevated, and his eyes expressed hopeless
bewilderment.
"You are wrong entirely, Cleary; nature intended me for a schoolmaster,
and it is just an accident that I have taken to soldiering. I flatter
meself that no one looks after his subalterns more sharply than I do. My
only fear is that I am too severe with them. I may be mild in my manners,
but they know me well enough to tremble if I speak sternly to them."
"The trembling would be with amusement," the adjutant grumbled. "Well, the
colonel has settled the matter, and Terence will be in Orders to-morrow as
appointed to O'Driscol's company, and the other to yours."
"Thank you for nothing, Cleary," O'Grady said, with dignity. "You would
have seen that under my tuition the lad would have turned out one of the
smartest officers in the regiment.
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