A SERIOUS CASE.

Feilding Star, Volume IX, Issue 89, 28 February 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SERIOUS CASE.

There were amorig the offioers before Sebastopol some young Guards-, men, who seemed to treat the war as a very good joke. They were of the innocent lambs mentioned by poor Whyte Melville in one of his books, frisking in the sun on their way to the shambles. One of them had been a Queen's page, and was conceited accordingly. He made a point of being always late for parade. As he was adjutant of a regiment, this was rather anovel fault to deal with. His commanding officer was a soldier of long experience and. great abilities, but he was not blessed with the amiable gift of good temper. He used to fall into a towering passion at the shortest notice; To be sure, he would. fall out of it as promptly. At least he threatened to put the young Guardsman under arrest if he should continue to make his appearance so long after the " assembly '* had sounded. The adjutant coolly wiped his face with a cambric pocket-handkerchief and said — ' .; ?:. :■: " My dear fellow, you are truly very disgusting, to bully one in such hot weather." It -was freezing at the time, and the ground was covered with snow. Bis colonel lost his temper, of course, and sent him to his quarters under arrest, calling him ah infernal scoundrel. The ex-page rightly judged that this was going rather far, and he addressed a complaint to the general commanding. We were in the orderly-room when it was handed to him- ; he read it, and gave it to me to read. " Your special duty," he said, "is to transact all business we have with Turks. This colonel is a regular Turk. I leave you the case to settle as you think fit." The fact was, he never liked to be obliged to apply his principles of severity, and I perfectly understood his wish to have the matter concluded amicably. The colonel and his adjutant were sent for. I told them that they had both allowed themselves to use unbecoming language as officers, but that their fault might be overlooked if they made proper apologies. I added that repeated lateness on parade was a military offence, which must be treated as such. The Guardsman, in most suitable terms, begged to be forgiven for his want of respect to his chief. The latter began in the same kind of tone, but, perceiving a provoking smile on his adjutant's face, he broke out again and exclaimed — .- "I am required to apologise. _ I do apologise. You are not an internal scoundrel; but, sir, you are an impertinent puppy ! " This was too much for my gravity, and I could not help laughing. The, colonel looked at me with astonishment, then laughed. The adjutant laughed, too, and we all shook haSCs^ I repeated to the general how the affair had been terminated. I saw that he was greatly pleased but he looked even more" savage than usual. "It serves me right," he grumbled; "I was a fool to let so good-natured a fellow as you deal with so serious a case." — From " With Lord Strafford in the Crimean War," by J. H. Skene.