“I think the young lady was still in the schoolroom, but though undeveloped, and given to slipping her shoulders out of the bands of her frock, she was very pretty—bony, but pretty—and I was desperately in love.”
“How wonderfully they are alike in height!”
“I believe,” continued the captain, in a slow, ponderous way, though all the while he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his companion’s eagerness, “that if I had made love-offerings to my fair young friend—I never knew her name, Dick, and unkindly fate parted us—they would have taken the form of sweet cakes or acidulated drops, and been much appreciated; but alas!—”
“Oh, hang it all, I can’t stand this! There goes Malpas. He has seen them, and is making chase. Glen, I shall shoot that fellow, or run him through.”
“What for, my boy?”
“Because he is always sitting upon me, and making fun of me at the mess. Hang him! I hate him!”
“Don’t take any notice of his banter,” said Glen seriously, “and if he is very unpleasant, it is more dignified to suffer than to fall out. Between ourselves, and in confidence, I advise you not to quarrel with Major Malpas. He can be very disagreeable when he likes.”
“As if I didn’t know! He was always hanging after our Renée—Mrs Frank Morrison, I mean.”
“Indeed!”
“Before she was married, of course.”