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Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936

"From Mine Own People"


Capt. M. (Aside.) 'No fault of yours if either weren't all you say. You've
forgotten the time when you were insane about the Herriott woman. You always
were a good hand at forgetting. (Aloud.) Not more mad than men who go to the
other extreme. Be reasonable, Gaddy. Your roof-beams are sound enough.
Capt. G. That was only a way of speaking. I've been uneasy and worried about
the Wife ever since that awful business three years ago--when--I nearly lost
her. Can you wonder?
Capt. M. Oh, a shell never falls twice in the same place. You've paid your toll
to misfortune--why should your Wife be picked out more than anybody else's?
Capt. G. I can talk just as reasonably as you can, but you don't understand--
you don't understand. And then there's The Butcha. Deuce knows where the Ayah
takes him to sit in the evening! He has a bit of a cough. Haven't you noticed
it?
Capt. M. Bosh! The Brigadier's jumping out of his skin with pure condition.
He's got a muzzle like a rose-leaf and the chest of a two-year-old. What's
demoralized you?
Capt. G. Funk. That's the long and the short of it. Funk!
Capt. M. But what is there to funk?
Capt. G. Everything. It's ghastly.
Capt. M. Ah! I see.
You don't want to fight,
And by Jingo when we do,
You've got the kid, you've got the Wife,
You've got the money, too.


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