I'm sorry for Mister Bluebeard,
I'm sorry to cause him pain;
But a terrible spree there's sure to be
When he comes back again.



ONLY A SUBALTERN

Not only to enforce by command but to encourage by example the
energetic discharge of duty and the steady endurance of the
difficulties and privations inseparable from Military Service. -
Bengal Army Regulations.

They made Bobby Wick pass an examination at Sandhurst. He was a
gentleman before he was gazetted, so, when the Empress announced
that "Gentleman-Cadet Robert Hanna Wick" was posted as Second
Lieutenant to the Tyneside Tail Twisters at Krab Bokhar, he became
an officer and a gentleman, which is an enviable thing; and there
was joy in the house of Wick, where Mamma Wick and all the little
Wicks fell upon their knees and offered incense to Bobby by virtue
of his achievements.

Papa Wick had been a Commissioner in his day, holding authority
over three millions of men in the Chota-Buldana Division, building
great works for the good of the land, and doing his best to make
two blades of grass grow where there was but one before. Of
course, nobody knew anything about this in the little English
village where he was just "old Mr. Wick" and had forgotten that he
was a Companion of the Order of the Star of India.