heeking a non-commissioned officer never pays."

"Thank you, sergeant," Edgar said quietly; "I am much obliged to you for
your advice."

"An uncommonly good style of young fellow," Sergeant Netherton, who was
the son of a colonel in the army, and had been educated at Harrow, said
to his companion. "Comes from a good school, I should say. Must have got
into some baddish scrape, or he never would be here at his age."

"It does not quite follow," the other replied. "His father may have died
or burst up somehow, and seeing nothing before him but a place at a
clerk's desk or enlisting he may have taken this alternative; and not a
bad choice either. For, putting aside altogether the chance of getting a
commission, which is a pretty slight one, there is no pleasanter life
for a steady, well-conducted young fellow who has had a fair education
than the army. He is sure of getting his stripes in a couple of years
after enlisting. A non-commissioned officer has enough pay to live
comfortably; he has no care or anxiety of any sort; he has more time to
himself than a man in any other sort of business. There are no end of
staff appointments open to him if he writes a good hand, and does not
mind clerk work. If he goes in for long service he has every chance of
being regimental sergeant-major before he has done, and can leave the
service with a pension sufficient to keep him in a quiet way."

"Yes, that is all very well, Summers, but he cannot marry. That is to
say, if he has, as we are supposing, been born and educated as a
gentleman, he cannot marry the sort of woman he would like as a wife."

"No, there is that drawback," the other laughed. "But then, you see, if
he had been obliged to take a small clerkship leading to nothing, he
could hardly invite a young countess to share it with him."

As Edgar walked back to barracks he thought over the advice that had
been given him, and recognized its value. He knew that the chances of
his ever obtaining a commission were exceedingly small, and that even
young men whose fathers were officers of high standing and considerable
influence seldom obtain a commission under six or seven years' service,
and that the majority of commissions from the ranks are given to old
non-commissioned officers who were made quarter-masters or pay-masters.
He had not entered the service, as had the two non-commissioned officers
with whom he had been speaking, for the express purpose of gaining a
commission,