"Come, Colonel, be a father.

What has the poor boy done ?" "He has deserted--a thing I have seen a fellow shot for, and he has left me a prey to parental anxieties." "And so he has me, for that matter.

But I forgive him.

Anyway, I should like to hear his story before I condemn him.

Why, he's only nineteen and four months, come Martinmas.