"
He bowed low before her.
"Madame, you have made me the debtor of my enemy's outrage. Those words
from you are more than sufficient compensation for it."
"A poor one, I fear! Your Colonel is your enemy, then? And wherefore?"
He paused a moment.
"Why, at first, I scarcely know. We are antagonistic, I suppose."
"But is it usual for officers of his high grade to show such malice to
their soldiers?"
"Most unusual. In this service especially so; although officers rising
from the ranks themselves are more apt to contract prejudices and ill
feeling against, as they are to feel favoritism to, their men, than
where they enter the regiment in a superior grade at once. At least,
that is the opinion I myself have formed; studying the working of the
different systems."
"You know the English service, then?"
"I know something of it."
"And still, though thinking this, you prefer the French?"
"I distinctly prefer it, as one that knows how to make fine soldiers and
how to reward them; as one in which a brave man will be valued, and a
worn-out veteran will not be left to die like a horse at a knacker's."
"A brave man valued, and yet you are a corporal!" thought Milady, as he
pursued:
"Since I am here, madame, let me thank you, in the Army's name, for
your infinite goodness in acting so munificently on my slight hint. Your
generosity has made many happy hearts in the hospital."
"Generosity! Oh, do not call it by any such name! What did it cost me?
We are terribly selfish here.
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