Twas no sweet dose to take.

"Afther that I sickened a while an' tuk thought to my reg'mental work,
conceiting mesilf I wud study an' be a sargint, an' a major-gineral
twinty minutes afther that. But on top o' my ambitiousness there was
an empty place in my sowl, an' me own opinion av mesilf cud not fill
ut.' Sez I to mesilf: 'Terence, you're a great man an' the best set up
in the reg'ment. Go on an' get promotion.' Sez mesilf to me, 'What
for?' Sez I to mesilf, 'For the glory av ut.' Sez mesilf to me, 'Will
that fill these two strong arrums av yours, Terence?' 'Go to the
devil,' sez I to mesilf. 'Go to the married lines,' sez mesilf to me.
''Tis the same thing,' sez I to mesilf. 'Av you're the same man, ut
is,' said mesilf to me. An' wid that I considhered on ut a long while.
Did you iver feel that way, sorr?"

I snored gently, knowing that if Mulvaney were uninterrupted he would
go on. The clamor from the bivouac fires beat up to the stars as the
rival singers of the companies were pitted against each other.

"So I felt that way, an' a bad time ut was. Wanst, bein' a fool, I
went into the married lines, more for the sake av speakin' to our ould
color-sergint Shadd than for any thruck wid wimmen-folk. I was a
corp'ril then--rejuced aftherwards; but a corp'ril then. I've got a
photograft av mesilf to prove ut. 'You'll take a cup av tay wid us?'
sez he. 'I will that,' I sez; 'tho' tay is not my diversion.' ''Twud
be better for you if ut were,' sez ould Mother Shadd. An' she had
ought to know, for Shadd, in the ind av his service, dhrank bung-full
each night.

"Wid that I tuk off my gloves--there was pipe-clay in thim so that they
stud alone--an' pulled up my chair, lookin' round at the china
ornamints an' bits av things in the Shadds' quarters. They were things
that belonged to a woman, an' no camp kit, here to-day an' dishipated
next. 'You're comfortable in this place, sergint,' sez I. ''Tis the
wife that did ut, boy,' sez he, pointin' the stem av his pipe to ould
Mother Shadd, an' she smacked the top av his bald head upon the
compliment. 'That manes you want money,' sez she.

"An' thin--an' thin whin the kittle was to be filled, Dinah came in--my
Dinah--her sleeves rowled up to the elbow, an' her hair in a gowlden
glory over her forehead, the big blue eyes beneath twinklin' like stars
on a frosty night, an' the tread of her two feet lighter than waste
paper from the colonel's basket in ord'ly