It will be seen the first was good enough.
Perhaps two days after, Master Ronald put in an appearance by himself.

I had no hold upon the boy, and pretermitted my design till I should have laid court to him and engaged his interest.

He was prodigiously embarrassed, not having previously addressed me otherwise than by a bow and blushes; and he advanced to me with an air of one stubbornly performing a duty, like a raw soldier under fire.

I laid down my carving; greeted him with a good deal of formality, such as I thought he would enjoy; and finding him to remain silent, branched off into narratives of my campaigns such as Goguelat himself might have scrupled to endorse.

He visibly thawed and brightened; drew more near to where I sat; forgot his timidity so far as to put many questions; and at last, with another blush, informed me he was himself expecting a commission.
'Well,' said I, 'they are fine troops, your British troops in the Peninsula.