'His pay is a matter of importance to him.

You are aware of the smallness of a subaltern's pay.
'I,' said the General, 'I say I feel my poor half-pay, having always been a working soldier myself, very important, I was saying, very important to me!' 'Why did you retire ?' Her interest in him seemed promising.

He replied conscientiously, 'Beyond the duties of General of Brigade, I could not, I say I could not, dare to aspire; I can accept and execute orders; I shrink from responsibility!' 'It is a pity,' said she, 'that you were not, like my nephew Reginald, entirely dependent on your profession.' She laid such stress on her remark, that the General, who had just expressed a very modest estimate of his abilities, was unable to reject the flattery of her assuming him to be a man of some fortune.

He coughed, and said, 'Very little.' The thought came to him that he might have to make a statement to her in time, and he emphasized, 'Very little indeed.

Sufficient,' he assured her, 'for a gentlemanly appearance.' 'I have given you your warning,' was her inscrutable rejoinder, uttered within earshot of the young people, to whom, especially to Elizabeth, she was gracious.