develop. At least, this is what folk say who have had experience.

Now, the Mother Superior of a Convent and the Colonel of a British
Infantry Regiment would be justly shocked at any comparison being
made between their respective charges. But it is a fact that,
under certain circumstances, Thomas in bulk can be worked up into
ditthering, rippling hysteria. He does not weep, but he shows his
trouble unmistakably, and the consequences get into the
newspapers, and all the good people who hardly know a Martini from
a Snider say: "Take away the brute's ammunition!"

Thomas isn't a brute, and his business, which is to look after the
virtuous people, demands that he shall have his ammunition to his
hand. He doesn't wear silk stockings, and he really ought to be
supplied with a new Adjective to help him to express his opinions:
but, for all that, he is a great man. If you call him "the heroic
defender of the national honour" one day, and "a brutal and
licentious soldiery" the next, you naturally bewilder him, and he
looks upon you with suspicion. There is nobody to speak for Thomas
except people who have theories to work off on him, and nobody
understands Thomas except Thomas, and he does not always know what
is the matter with himself.

That is the prologue. This is the story: -

Corporal Slane was engaged to be married to Miss Jhansi M'Kenna,
whose history is well known in the regiment and elsewhere. He had
his Colonel's permission, and, being popular with the men, every
arrangement had been made to give the wedding what Private
Ortheris called "eeklar." It fell in the heart of the hot weather,