"
"That's just what I've been thinking, sir," said I, with equal gravity,
"about my old hat."
"You're keeping that story for Margaret, you young dog, but she's bound
to tell me. I was out of bed till two o'clock this morning, listening to
her clatter about getting married quick, and walls of Troy, and ham and
eggs. She nearly prated the top of my head off, and did not kiss me
good-night till I'd told her for the seventeenth time that there was no
need to worry about you. Seventeen times"--a vigorous sniff and a merry
twinkle--"I counted 'em."
It was obvious nonsense, but it pained me.
"It was very kind of her, sir," I said at last.
"Humph!" said he, and turned to talk with the Irishmen. I kept a sharp
look out on the square below, hoping for a glimpse of Margaret, paying no
heed to the earnest conversation buzzing in my ear. Princes and dominions,
and marches and battles, were nothing to me as I stood there fighting for
mastery over myself.
I was pulled back from these slippery tracks of thought by the Colonel,
who gripped my arm and whispered, "Here they come, Oliver."
I looked to the door and saw the chiefs filing into the room, led by
Murray, with the greater ones immediately behind him and the others in due
degree, till the room was fairly crowded.
Pages:
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411