been long enough in the service to hate a � it s so much in every way and the major s hut is such an good one and the garden quite a little paradise major took infinite pains with it yes and my wife is very fond of a bit of garden major replied so i am having the place and painted and made as comfortable as possible and you must help my wife to get settled i m told you re a great hand at anything of that sort well sir i do try to make myself useful sometimes returned jack modestly � i ve been helping mrs oh yes she showed us her furniture said the major taking the words out of jack s mouth � and though mrs won t exactly want you to do that sort of thing i she ll be very pleased if you ll advise her about one or two little things her pictures and plants and so on i shall be only too delighted sir said jack in all good faith i am really out of all that sort of thing the major continued with an air of great good humour � and when i get into any kind of a shop except the other man s wife it s a s or a boot shop i always feel like the bull among the china i i look like it too � ha ha he walked away laughing heartily and jack stood looking curiously after him well you re a queer fish upon my word you are and to think you married my little friend poor little soul no wonder she looks so miserable every now and then and talks about and the as if the old days were paradise then he too turned on his heel and went about his own business which at that moment happened to be something concerning one of his horses while he was talking to the groom passed the door and seeing him came in and as men do they looked at the sleek satin horses together you ve heard the news said as they walked towards the mess together � no � i ve heard nothing except that the are going to live in camp jack answered oh i ve heard that too you knew her when she was a child didn t you � yes what did she marry him for oh i don t fancy she had much choice about it jack said carelessly her mother was the sort of woman who does not give anyone within her range too much rope as a little girl mrs was let to go her own way pretty much but a ghost op the past young lady i believe she had the devil s own time you see the title weighed a good deal with her with the mother i suppose � of course h m what an odd thing it is that titles do weigh so heavily with women as they do i should have thought that all the titles under the sun would never have gilded a brute like that let alone it s being only a title in yes it s rough on her anyway said jack with a sigh by the bye what w as your news oh i � is going to be married � you don t say so and who is he going to marry said looking straight in front of him an � � drum � nonsense cried jack nonsense or no nonsense � it s true asserted positively i had it from himself this morning and what did you say to him i said he was an ass � or something like it and then of course i had to and say that i didn t mean anything personal only that i thought it a pity that soldiers should marry at all till they re out of the service and old what did he say oh he laughed � said i was a jolly old cock that had gone wrong altogether and would never be better till i d in love myself in love � me i the man s wo e � just think of it he ended in disgust jack laughed aloud my dear old chap i can t think of it � i can t imagine any woman ever giving you the chance of knowing her well enough to be in love with her they d give me the chance fast enough no fear said grimly yes i they would but old chap laughed jack � you may take my word for this � you u go on for a time well enough and then one of these fine days you ll get bitten before you know where you are and oh by jove won t you have it bad no mistake about it yes my friend returned as they reached the door of the mess room when i do have it i shall have it badly you are quite right about that � quite right well about two hours after this jack was walking briskly along the narrow high street in which the principal shops of may be found when he literally ran against mrs who came out of a shop attended only by the majestic my dear i ask a thousand he cried i had no idea that you or anyone else was coming out of that shop � i didn t hurt you did i not a bit jack she said laughing and if you had it wouldn t have been your fault where are you going with you if may he answered promptly a of the past oh yes indeed you may � i am going to the s and then to a s little shop where they have odds and ends to make my drawing room look pretty the major tells me that you are going to be grand 