“What would you like to be?”

“Something abroad. Something—so that you could see things.”

“A soldier?”

“Or a sailor, miss.”

“A sailor sees nothing but the sea.”

“I’d rather be a sailor than a common soldier, miss.”

“You’d like to be an officer?”

“Yes, miss—only—”

“One of my very best friends is an officer,” she said, a little irrelevantly it seemed to Bealby.

“I’d be a Norficer like a shot,” said Bealby, “if I ’ad ’arf a chance, miss.”