"That doesn't sound like a very hard task, sir," I replied.
"It isn't—only there's a condition goes with it. In order to entertain properly an officer of my rank, there will have to be a lady to do the honors of the table."
"But, where can I get the lady, sir?"
"I'll find one for you—the lady you have seen riding with me. She has long possessed my deepest respect."
I scratched my head back of the right ear:
"If you respect the lady so much, sir, why don't you marry her?"
"Stupid fellow!—because I already have a wife."
"Look here, sir," I said after a moment's deliberation, "I have eaten all sorts of ammunition bread during my experience as a soldier; I have cheated and stolen; but I have never occupied a position so low as the one you want me to accept."
"But, my lad, consider the advantages: Plenty to eat, and drink, and nothing to do—that is one alternative; the other: in the trenches night and day, bread and water! I will give you half an hour to think it over; if you refuse I shall offer the position to some one else—some one who is not so squeamish as you."
That was a long half hour!