Look at
that little villain, Richards. He has just cleared the table, and
done it with all the coolness of a professional marker. The young
scoundrel ought to have been in bed two hours ago, for I hear that
tat of his is really a good one. Not that it will make any difference
to him. That sort of boy would play billiards till the first bugle
sounds in the morning, and have a wash and turn out as fresh as
paint, but it won't last, Doolan, not in this climate; his cheeks
will have fallen in and he will have crow's feet at the corners of
his eyes before another year has gone over. I like that other boy,
Wilson, better. Of course he is a cub as yet, but I should say
there is good in him. Just at present I can see he is beginning to
fancy himself in love with Miss Hannay. That will do him good; it
is always an advantage to a lad like that to have a good honest
liking for a nice girl. Of course it comes to nothing, and for a
time he imagines himself the most unhappy of mortals, but it does
him good for all that; fellows are far less likely to get into
mischief and go to the bad after an affair of that sort. It gives
him a high ideal, and if he is worth anything he will try to make
himself worthy of her, and the good it does him will continue even
after the charm is broken."
"What a fellow you are, Doctor," Captain Doolan said, looking down
upon his companion, "talking away like that in the middle of this
racket, which would be enough to bother Saint Patrick himself!"
"Well, come along downstairs, Doolan; we will have a final peg and
then be off; I expect Bathurst is beginning to fidget before now.
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