"How is it that you have not
answered my question? Why are you wearing staff-officer's uniform instead
of your own?"
"Have you not heard, Colonel," Terence said, "that I no longer belong to
the regiment?"
There was a chorus of expressions of regret round the table.
"And how has that happened, Terence?" the colonel asked. "That is bad news
for us all, anyway."
"I was gazetted lieutenant a month ago, Colonel. I suppose you had sailed
from England before the _Gazette__ came out."
"I suppose so, lad. Well, you richly deserved your promotion, if it was
only for that affair on board the _Sea-horse__, and you ought to have had
it long ago."
"I am awfully sorry to leave the regiment. It has been my home as long as
I can remember, and wherever I may be, I shall always regard it in that
light."
"And so you remain on the staff at present, O'Connor?"
"Well, sir, I am on the staff still, but for the present I am on detached
duty."
"What sort of duty, Terence?"
"I have the honour to command two Portuguese regiments that marched in an
hour ago."
A shout of laughter followed the announcement.
"Bedad, Terence," O'Grady said, "that crack on your head hasn't changed
your nature, thanks to your thick skull. I suppose it is poking fun at us
that you are. But you won't take us in this time.
Pages:
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469