And he was a modest boy, though his uncle encouraged him to deliver his opinions freely and argue with men.

The little drummer attached to wheeling columns thinks not more of himself because his short legs perform the same strides as the grenadiers'; he is happy to be able to keep the step; and so was Nevil; and if ever he contradicted a senior, it was in the interests of the country.

Veneration of heroes, living and dead, kept down his conceit.
He worshipped devotedly.

From an early age he exacted of his flattering ladies that they must love his hero.

Not to love his hero was to be strangely in error, to be in need of conversion, and he proselytized with the ardour of the Moslem.