"We must be the best of friends, Hans," I declared heartily.
He blushed with pleasure. "I should like it. You look awfully strong, cousin," he replied, looking at my biceps.
"You'll make a far stronger man than I am." It was as welcome as jam on a trench crust ten days old; and I kept at it until I felt I could safely lead round to the subject of his sister and learn how the wind blew in that quarter.
"Of course Rosa's a good sort in lots of ways, but she's getting so bossy," he declared boyishly. "She's the eldest for one thing, and then, you know, she's come in for old Aunt Margarita's fortune, and—well, she likes to run things, and I don't like it."
"A man can't be expected to," I agreed with an encouraging smile.
"That's just it. She thinks a fellow's never grown up. I can stand it from mother; but Rosa won't understand that six years' difference is one thing when a fellow's a kid of ten and another when he's nearly eighteen. I shall get my commission in another month or two, you know."
I made a note of the fact that my "betrothed" was about four and twenty and inclined to be "bossy," and let him rattle on about the army, a subject of which he was very full.
"Are you going to join your regiment, cousin?" he asked presently.
I looked appropriately blank and gestured.
"Oh, I forgot," he exclaimed, blushing again. "But can't you remember anything?" he asked, gathering courage for the question.