HIS HONOUR'S WASHING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7422, 7 June 1902, Page 6

HIS HONOUR'S WASHING.

A TRUE STORY OF THE BOER ( WAR. (Pall Mall Gaiettt.) Antonio Speranza, captain on sufferance in his Majesty's Regiment, was a sufficiently honest, if not a popular, officer. The- lottery of birth and breeding militated against his chances in life. In him his sweet mother and 'detestable father had blended <badly. Antonio drew from the one parent the good looks which rendered him popular with a certain class of women, from the other a character and bearing which made him intolerable to the majority of men. -Added ' to this was the restricted mental range, consequent upon a boyhood spent within the confined area of the Malta seaboard. Either of these blends was sufficient to wreck him. as a man. Their amalgamation made him impossible as a soldier. Yet he survived until he became a captajn. He possessed that tenacity of purpose which, is the child of an inestimable self-conceit. His own battalion would have nothing of him, so. 'he contrived to exist by "jobbing' 1 here and "jobbing" there. A two years' probation in the Indian Staff Corps, a trial with the Egyptian Army, West Africa, for a time, a spell of enteric fever, and he was a captain. He was not deficient in brains and honesty, and would have made a good soldier if he could only have focussed his mental ability — focussed it beyond his own immediate vicinity. Thus when the war broke out in South Africa the general drain upon the officer ranks of the Army carried Antonio Speranza to the front. His specialty was "muck train, and in due course, as the cream was skimmed off -the top of the executive m Pretoria, Antonio found himself supporting a brass-bound hat in an important centre. He had long mastered the details of nis job. Transport and supply came to him aa a second nature. Thus he had ample time upon his hands to turn his attention to the employment which, pleawd him most. This was love. Now, in the particular centre in which Antonio found himself there was little that a refined Englishman would have selected for this subtle pursuit. But Antonio was of another kind; and, as has been said, he was a man who found favour with, a certain class of women. Antonio was soon the centre of an admiring Dutch coterie. But success, unless stimulated by failure, is a dismal pastime, and there was one fair daughter of our enemy proof against Antonio's blandishments. The yellow-haired Chris Van Heerden would hold no conversation with the stranger within the gates. Kindness and threats alike were of no avail. Was not fair Chris's heart away on commando, with tne staunch youth who, eighteen months ago, as a Cape Town student, had seized a^ rifle and who was now an acting-commandants How could this insignificant little stranger, in his overpowering staff cap with its aggressive colouring, hope' to compete with Koos Naude? . , . There came a day upon which the fair Chris seemed to relent. "At last!" said Antonio to himself, and as he plumed his feathers -he put his foot into the toils. "My sweetheart is an Englishman. I cannot love two Englishmen, for they will fieht. My sweetheart is in the shire Regiment at Doodlepoort. But if you will let me send some ehirte which I have washed for tim by the next convoy to Doodlepoort, I will, perhaps— perhaps try and be nice to you." _ t +1, «- "Of course you can. Let me have them by Thursday. I will send them for you. "Oh you are kind. How can you be so kind to a poor Dutch girl? When did you say that the next «onvoy would start.' "At one o'clock on Friday morning. You must let me haveyour packet not later than Thursday night." .. "Oh, thank you; thank you so much. Captain Speranza. Why are you so different to the others? Good-bye!" • "When shall I see you again? " Oh, you may see me any time you like, now!" .... , t And while Antonio was smiling in selfcomplaisance at his success, the fair Chris was transferring to Acting-Commandant Naude the information which she had! gleaned. "Another British. Reverse!" yelled the