You
will not mind, I hope, Captain Holland?"
"I shall mind, of course, Colonel; but, as O'Driscol's company has now
really only one officer, of course it cannot be helped, and as Menzies is
the senior lieutenant, I have no doubt that he can manage very well with
Parsons, who is very well up in his work."
"Thank you, Captain Holland; it is the first compliment that you ever paid
me; it is abuse that I am most accustomed to."
"It is thanks to that that you are a decent officer, Parsons," Captain
Holland laughed. "You were the awkwardest young beggar I ever saw when you
first joined, and you have given me no end of trouble in licking you into
shape. How do you think you will like your work, Terence?"
"I think I shall like it very much," the lad replied. "The other
aide-de-camp, Trevor, is a very nice fellow, and every one likes Fane; as
to Major Dowdeswell and Major Errington, I haven't exchanged a word with
either of them, and you know as much about them as I do."
"Errington is a very good fellow, but the other man is very unpopular. He
is always talking about the regulations, as if anyone cared a hang about
the regulations when one is on service."
"I expect that if Fane were not such a good fellow Dowdeswell would make
himself a baste of a nuisance, and be bothering us about pipe-clay and
buttons, and all sorts of rigmarole," O'Grady said; "as if a man would
fight any the better for having his belt white as snow!"
"He would not fight any the better, O'Grady, but the regiment would do
so," the colonel put in.
Pages:
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175