‘An officer and a gentleman, I trust,’ said Colonel Greathed, laying some stress on the first word.
‘No, not exactly; he has promised me that he will leave the service at once.’
‘He will be taken up and shot as a deserter the very next day,’ said the colonel with mock seriousness.
But the old lady took the statement au pied de la lettre.
‘You don’t really mean that?’ she asked, nervously.
‘Of course not,’ put in Herbert.
‘I mean that he is, and must always be, a soldier—at heart. It’s in him, part of his nature, and he can’t put it off like a slipper or a coat.’
Lady Farrington looked hard at the colonel, as if to grasp his meaning more thoroughly, then turned her eyes interrogatively upon Herbert.
‘You have never said a word of this, Herbert, my sweet boy. You have expressed no regrets, have offered no objections—?’
Herbert hung his head rather, and hesitated to speak.