“Oh, that’ll be all right,” said he.  “I’ve booked my seat in the train.”

I think that George, my subordinate, sometimes forgets who I am and what importance attaches to me.  I feel that he ought at least to consult me formally before he decides what instructions I am going to issue to him.  After all, I am only fifteen years younger than he is.

“You will proceed forthwith to Italy,” I said, “and will there study the local conditions on the spot.  You will then take such action as the occasion seems to you to demand.”  George was cleaning out his pipe, so for once he didn’t interrupt.  “You will report progress to me in triplicate.”

George frowned.  Having been the Supreme White Man in some African district for dozens of years before the War, all his hair seems to have got into his eyebrows, and his frown is a terrible thing to see.

“At any rate,” I said, “you might just drop me a post-card to tell me how you’re getting on.”

George’s eyebrows stood at ease and then stood easy.

“It’s all very well for you,” I added.  “But what about me, when it comes to totting up your travelling allowances later on?”

George has private means, which work out at about one-and-fourpence, less income tax, a day.  Consequently he is a little careless about money matters.  “Oh, that’ll be all right,” he said.

* * * * *

George was away for three weeks.  What he did all the time I’m sure I don’t know, though I kept on reporting to my superiors that the necessary steps were being taken and the requisite measures were being initiated.  When he got back he wanted to start in at once telling me all about it.  But I said no, and insisted on getting down to the War.

“In making out travelling claims,” I said, producing the appropriate Army Form, “care should be taken to comply with the instructions contained in the King’s Regulations.  We have a quarter of an hour before your breakfast will be ready.  Let us deal with our more formidable enemies, the Pay People, first.”

George is the sort of person who gets you into trouble on the very first line of any Army Form.  Asked as to his rank, he told me he was a Second Lieutenant in the Army, temporary Lieutenant, acting Captain.  All these ranks get a different rate of allowance.  Which of the three was George in fact?

“A man of your age ought to know better,” I said.

We were half-an-hour late for breakfast, and even so George hadn’t got to the station of departure, as far as A.F.O. 1771 was concerned.

I determined to devote the morning to the matter, clearing the court for the purpose.  Our Mr. Booth, however, who is intolerably precise and accurate in these matters, had profited by my absence at breakfast to collect a folio of relevant Orders and Instructions, numbered one to seventy-three consecutively.