“Poor fellow! he mustn’t come to you for his character.”
“Poor fellow! Yes, that’s what he is—an awfully poor fellow. Corporal May? Corporal Mayn’t, it ought to be. No, he needn’t come to me for his character. He’ll have to go to Roby, who is trying his best to get him promoted. Asked me the other day whether I didn’t think he was the next man for sergeant.”
“What did you say?”
“Told Roby that he ought to be the very last.”
“You did?”
“Of course: right out.”
“What did Roby say?”
“Told me I was a fool—he didn’t use that word, but he meant it—and then said downright that fortunately my opinion as to the men’s qualities wasn’t worth much.”
“What did you say to that?”
“‘Thankye;’ that’s all. Bah! It set me thinking about what a moll the fellow was in that cave business. It was sheer cowardice, old man. He confessed it, and through that your accident happened. I don’t like Corporal May, and I wish to goodness he wasn’t with us to-night. I’m hopeful, though.”