You won't do it.
Capt. G. Hang it, a man has some duties toward his family, I suppose.
Capt. M. I remember a man, though, who told me, the night after Amdheran, when
we were picketed under Jagai, and he'd left his sword--by the way, did you ever
pay Ranken for that sword?--in an Utmanzai's head--that man told me that he'd
stick by me and the Pinks as long as he lived. I don't blame him for not
sticking by me--I'm not much of a man--but I do blame him for not sticking by
the Pink Hussars.
Capt. G. (Uneasily.) We were little more than boys then. Can't you see, Jack,
how things stand? 'Tisn't as if we were serving for our bread. We've all of us,
more or less, got the filthy lucre. I'm luckier than some, perhaps. There's no
call for me to serve on.
Capt. M. None in the world for you or for us, except the Regimental. If you
don't choose to answer to that, of course--
Capt. G. Don't be too hard on a man. You know that a lot of us only take up the
thing for a few years and then go back to Town and catch on with the rest.
Capt. M. Not lots, and they aren't some of Us.
Capt. G. And then there are one's affairs at Home to be considered--my place
and the rents, and all that. I don't suppose my father can last much longer,
and that means the title, and so on.
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