Well, I must not be proud! I cannot say I found the subject of
handcuffs to my fancy; and it was with more asperity than was
needful that I reproved him for the slip about the name.
'Yes, Mr. Ramornie,' says he, touching his hat. 'Begging your
pardon, Mr. Ramornie. But I've been very piticular, sir, up to
now; and you may trust me to be very piticular in the future. It
were only a slip, sir.'
'My good boy,' said I, with the most imposing severity, 'there must
be no slips. Be so good as to remember that my life is at stake.'
I did not embrace the occasion of telling him how many I had made
myself. It is my principle that an officer must never be wrong. I
have seen two divisions beating their brains out for a fortnight
against a worthless and quite impregnable castle in a pass: I knew
we were only doing it for discipline, because the General had said
so at first, and had not yet found any way out of his own words;
and I highly admired his force of character, and throughout these
operations thought my life exposed in a very good cause. With
fools and children, which included Rowley, the necessity was even
greater. I proposed to myself to be infallible; and even when he
expressed some wonder at the purchase of the claret-coloured
chaise, I put him promptly in his place.
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