Years after, when in an important position, he met his former victim, now a general, and congratulating him on his career said:—
'Perhaps I made your success by giving you that tanning at Sandhurst.'
I wonder whether there was murder in the heart of the grim old warrior at the recollection. Of course that would not be strange, for many a time officers have been actually shot in action by their own men.
Here is a perfectly true story, only neither the men nor the officer need be specified.
A colonel who had grossly mismanaged the regiment knew his fate was sealed.
So when the men paraded for the engagement, he said:—
'I know you mean to shoot me to-day, but for God's sake don't do so until we have won the battle.'
This was greeted with a cheer, and he came back safe to be decorated and to play whist at his club as badly as any member in it.
I am not sure that cards ought not to be considered part of every lad's training. If a man goes through life without touching a card, he probably loses a good deal of innocent amusement, and debars himself from much pleasant society. If he learns to play when grown up, he may find it a costly and unsatisfactory branch of education. But if he is taught to play reasonably well as a boy, and is shown that excellent games can be had without gambling—I do not consider an infinitesimal stake, in proportion to his means, gambling—he will have an extra amusement made for him and a relaxation after his day's work.
A near relative of my own gets his club cronies to play bridge with his son, aged eighteen, and pays his losses, in order that he may be thoroughly grounded in the game. The lad is a capital boy, and all the better for his early association with elder men on their own level.