had brought a hundred people to his net, 'that the regiment has
its marching orders, and I can quite believe that you've got something
better to do than to listen to anything I have to say.'

'I'm pressed for time, sir,' said the Colonel. 'The regiment marches in
an hour.'

'Here's a lad of mine, sir,' said Jervase, 'has enlisted. And here is a
letter from Kirby & Sons, the well-known Army agents, telling me they've
got my cheque for his commission. It's been the hope of my heart to see
the lad in the army, and it's been his hope also. We've had a quarrel,
sir, and I don't mind confessing that it is my fault. The lad's a good
lad.' His voice began to tremble. 'But he's throwing his life away for
a freak. I've bowt his commission, and here's the letter from the London
agents to say that the whole thing is complete. I know he's here, for
I heard him as I crossed the barrack square. I'd like you to help me to
bring him back to reason.'

The Colonel took a whip from the table and struck a blow upon the door,
which was one of his substitutes for bell-ringing.

'Private Jervase,' he said, 'is drilling a squad in front of the Cupola.
Send him here.' He waved his visitor to a chair, and plunged into the
examination of a heap of papers which lay before him. Jervase nursed his
silk hat in both hands and waited, listening to the scattered noises of
the barrack square and catching amongst them his son's voice with a sort
of fatal sound of command in it.

'Is he going to talk to me like that?' asked the father of himself;
and the minutes went slowly by until Colonel Stacey's batman tapped
respectfully at the door, and announced 'Private Jervase.'

'I'll leave you,' said the Colonel, gathering his papers in his hand,
and darting towards the doorway.

'I beg you won't, sir,' cried Jervase the elder, 'I shall be more than
obliged to you, sir, if you will help me to bring my boy to reason.
There,' he cried, casting a letter upon the table, 'is a notice from
the London agents that his commission is bought and paid for. There's
my cheque for a thousand pounds, and if that isn't good enough for him,
there's fifty twenty-pound notes of the Bank of England, and he can have
both of 'em with as good a heart on my side as if he took the one and
left the other.'

The Colonel looked from the son to the father, and back from the father
to the son.

'Really, Mr. Jervase,' he said, 'I don't see that this is much of an
affair of mine. I wi