‘I? Far from it. I thought him a consummate puppy, and I saw that he looked down on us as inveterate savages.’
‘He was a favourite with your ladies, I think?’
‘Certainly not with my sister, and I doubt very much with my cousin. Do you like him?’
‘No, not at all; but then he belongs to a class of men I neither understand nor sympathise with. Whatever I know of life is associated with downright hard work. As a soldier I had my five hours’ daily drill and the care of my equipments, as a lieutenant I had to see that my men kept to their duty, and whenever I chanced to have a little leisure, I could not give it up to ennui or consent to feel bored and wearied.’
‘And do you mean to say you had to groom your horse and clean your arms when you served in the ranks?’
‘Not always. As a cadet I had a soldier-servant, what we call a “Bursche”; but there were periods when I was out of funds, and barely able to grope my way to the next quarter-day, and at these times I had but one meal a day, and obliged to draw my waist-belt pretty tight to make me feel I had eaten enough. A Bursche costs very little, but I could not spare even that little.’
‘Confoundedly hard that.’
‘All my own fault. By a little care and foresight, even without thrift, I had enough to live as well as I ought; but a reckless dash of the old spendthrift blood I came of would master me now and then, and I’d launch out into some extravagance that would leave me penniless for months after.’
‘I believe I can understand that. One does get horribly bored by the monotony of a well-to-do existence: just as I feel my life here—almost insupportable.’
‘But you are going into Parliament; you are going to be a great public man.’