'I was always hangin' about there whin I was off duty an' Bragin wasn't,
but niver a sweet word beyon' ordinar' did I get from Annie Bragin.
"'Tis the pervarsity av the sect," sez I to mesilf, an' gave my cap
another cock on my head an' straightened my back--'twas the back av
a Dhrum Major in those days--an' wint off as tho' I did not care, wid
all the women in the Married Quarters laughin', I was pershuaded--most
bhoys _are_ I'm thinkin'--that no woman born av woman cud stand against
me av I hild up my little finger. I had reason fer thinkin' that
way--till I met Annie Bragin.

'Time an' agin whin I was blandandherin' in the dusk a man wud go past
me as quiet as a cat. "That's quare," thinks I, "for I am, or I should
be, the only man in these parts. Now what divilment can Annie be up
to?" Thin I called myself a blayguard for thinkin' such things; but
I thought thim all the same. An' that, mark you, is the way av a man.

'Wan evenin' I said:--"Mrs. Bragin, manin' no disrespect to you, who
is that Corp'ril man"--I had seen the stripes though I cud niver get
sight av his face--"_who_ is that Corp'ril man that comes in always
whin I'm goin' away?"

'"Mother av God!" sez she, turnin' as white as my belt, "have _you_
seen him too?"

'"Seen him!" sez I; "av coorse I have. Did ye want me not to see him,
for"--we were standin' talkin' in the dhark, outside the veranda av
Bragin's quarters--"you'd betther tell me to shut me eyes. Onless I'm
mistaken, he's come now."

'An', sure enough, the Corp'ril was walkin' to us, hangin' his head